LightChaser
Newly Enlightened
** Please pardon the long post. It's a bit of a rant with a bunch of questions for anybody who's tried to ship anything over here. **
I'm based in the Philippines, and the worst part about participating in a forum like this or CPF is seeing so many items being bought, sold, or traded on this forum that (1) have ridiculous markups tacked on them when I find them here, or (2) simply aren't available here.
Having an item shipped here usually adds quite a bit to the price tag, and yes, I realize that this contributes to what I describe as a ridiculous markup. Even then, I have very little faith in our postal service - I'm not quite willing to 'tempt' them with the cool stuff I want to EDC. On top of this, I'm also worried about taxes, duties, or whatnot that can be levied on any items I import. Yes, I'm sure this also contributes to those ridiculous markups I hate so much.
Now, my current solution is to order online, have it shipped to a CONUS address, and have a friend or relative bring it back here in their luggage. Counting on relatives is difficult as they don't have definite schedules for flying back and forth between here and there. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a flight attendant and who flies there on a semi-regular basis. For now, I have a solution. I have to rely on his schedule for shipments, and I usually toss an item or two in the shipment for him too.
What I'm wondering about now is what my other options are, so here are a bunch of questions:
1. Have you tried regular shipping directly to the Philippines from sites like Amazon, 4sevens, and others?
1a. What kind of items were they?
1b. What was your experience like?
2. I don't think Amazon ships knives or multi-tools here. I could be wrong - have you had a different experience?
3. 4sevens has free worldwide shipping, but they also have options for International / Global Priority and International / Global Express, both from USPS.
3a. What do these options offer over regular shipping?
3b. Will the parcels still go through the local postal service? This is really the part that troubles me.
4. This has more to do with my concerns over the local postal service. Have you had issues with parcels disappearing in the mail? On the flip side, are you confident with the Philippine Post Office?
5. If you've had any parcels shipped here successfully, what taxes or duties did you have to pay? What percentage of the stated amount should I expect to pay? Can I even expect a consistent percentage, or is it up the the person handling my parcel?
6. I've thought of using FedEx, DHL, or other couriers to bypass the local post and ship here directly. Based on FedEx's rate calculator, I can expect to pay $50 to $90 shipping - way too much for items under $100. Do you have any other suggestions?
Like I said, I have a working solution for now, but I'd just like to know if shipping an item here directly is a feasible option.
Thanks!
I'm based in the Philippines, and the worst part about participating in a forum like this or CPF is seeing so many items being bought, sold, or traded on this forum that (1) have ridiculous markups tacked on them when I find them here, or (2) simply aren't available here.
Having an item shipped here usually adds quite a bit to the price tag, and yes, I realize that this contributes to what I describe as a ridiculous markup. Even then, I have very little faith in our postal service - I'm not quite willing to 'tempt' them with the cool stuff I want to EDC. On top of this, I'm also worried about taxes, duties, or whatnot that can be levied on any items I import. Yes, I'm sure this also contributes to those ridiculous markups I hate so much.
Now, my current solution is to order online, have it shipped to a CONUS address, and have a friend or relative bring it back here in their luggage. Counting on relatives is difficult as they don't have definite schedules for flying back and forth between here and there. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a flight attendant and who flies there on a semi-regular basis. For now, I have a solution. I have to rely on his schedule for shipments, and I usually toss an item or two in the shipment for him too.
What I'm wondering about now is what my other options are, so here are a bunch of questions:
1. Have you tried regular shipping directly to the Philippines from sites like Amazon, 4sevens, and others?
1a. What kind of items were they?
1b. What was your experience like?
2. I don't think Amazon ships knives or multi-tools here. I could be wrong - have you had a different experience?
3. 4sevens has free worldwide shipping, but they also have options for International / Global Priority and International / Global Express, both from USPS.
3a. What do these options offer over regular shipping?
3b. Will the parcels still go through the local postal service? This is really the part that troubles me.
4. This has more to do with my concerns over the local postal service. Have you had issues with parcels disappearing in the mail? On the flip side, are you confident with the Philippine Post Office?
5. If you've had any parcels shipped here successfully, what taxes or duties did you have to pay? What percentage of the stated amount should I expect to pay? Can I even expect a consistent percentage, or is it up the the person handling my parcel?
6. I've thought of using FedEx, DHL, or other couriers to bypass the local post and ship here directly. Based on FedEx's rate calculator, I can expect to pay $50 to $90 shipping - way too much for items under $100. Do you have any other suggestions?
Like I said, I have a working solution for now, but I'd just like to know if shipping an item here directly is a feasible option.
Thanks!