Anybody ever ship to the Philippines?

** 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!

this is my problem too. i see many things here that i want to get a hold of but getting the items here is always a hurdle.

i've only ordered 2 cpf-related items so far which were from amazon and lighthound. like you, i had them shipped to a relative in the us then had her bring them home.

our postal service is a toss-up i think. some say it's okay, others say they never got their items or were slapped with hidden charges that cost more than the item itself. anyway, i'm also interested in whatever info/experiences that anybody might share.

headophile said:

our postal service is a toss-up i think. some say it's okay, others say they never got their items or were slapped with hidden charges that cost more than the item itself. anyway, i'm also interested in whatever info/experiences that anybody might share.

Click to expand...

I think insurance can mitigate the first issue, but it can't spare you from anxiety and disappointment when the shipment you were waiting for never arrives.

The hidden charges - my bet is that they were arbitrarily imposed, but of course, that's my cynicism coming through.

Like you, I'm interested in other people's experiences.

I totally forgot about shipping here via Johnny Air Cargo once before. They charge by the pound, but I didn't know there was a 2-pound minimum. I think I paid around P1k ($20~) for a parcel that cost around P2k ($40) and weighed less than half a pound. It might make sense to do this.

Somebody on another forum suggested shipping via StarKargo, but I think the minimum is $65 for a 20" x 20" x 20" box, and you still need somebody in the US to pack it.

Look up / pm cpm member Mikevelarde - I shipped stuff to him for a while (while I was unemployed).

I've had stuff from DealExtreme delivered directly to Ilocos Sur. About 5 packets now with no problems. Nothing worth more than 20 dollars though. The people receiving the packets never had to pay anything though my sister in law had an embarrassing incident when she opened the packet at the post office counter and found it contained 100 condoms…. ( Hey! She's got 8 kids so far..)

I regularly ship Balikbayan boxes from England but that's not really relevant to your question.

Hola dudes! I am from Davao City Phils. Yeah this is indeed our dilemna because pilferage is a common thing in our country. In case you don't know we have Fenix, Olight and Led Lenser here albeit the models are limited w/ the exception of Fenix. Recently bought a fenix Tk20 for my nephew and a LL M7 for me and I am waiting for a Tiablo A9 w/ collimator and extra op reflector from Canada (kit tronics) but this will be handcarried by my wife's aunt on the 16th. The A9 is only C$73.23, the silver collimator C$21.95 and C$13 for the op reflector. I saw an authentic A9 w/ smo here in Davao and it packs a whooping C$125/P5,500 price tag! In case a fellow pinoy wants to get in touch w/ me my cp# is 0920 9511 825.:twothumbs

Hi There Guys.

I always order my stuff from 4 sevens and my packages never got lost(ordinary shipping). It is free shipping. No taxes to pay if the cost is less than $50. Once i ordered something more than $50 but just had to pay minimal tax. I have been ordering from 4sevens for 4 years already.

Much cheaper to order from 4sevens than buying here in the Philippines.

Hope this helps.

By the way the 4sevens flashlights are so nice.

I also ship to Mikevelarde quite frequently. I've even shipped a laptop over there! I think the fees and duties are rediculous. I can see if there was a local shop that sold a Surefire M6 over there. Then sure, levy the taxes on the shipment. I get that it's an attempt for the government to make money on an item they would have cashed in on had it been purchased in the country. But if the item isn't sold in country, why get slammed with such a big duty?

I don't advocate cheating the gov't out of their share, but if I sell a $1600 laptop to Bandit for $300, he should only have to pay duties on $300.

LightChaser said:

** 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!

Click to expand...

It will go through the post office. Just to sate my curiousity I am going to order an affordable light (about $30) from a Japan based Ebayer who utilizes EMS for shipping. It's fast and safe so I was told by a lady post officer manning a station near my place. She takes care of my US and Japan bound parcels and non so far went astray. Anyway going back to my would be order I also told mister "suki" mailman to keep an eye on it. These dudes can actually persuade them customs guys to make "balato" to them like he did w/ a parcel sent to me from Japan. Took only 4 days to reach me and it was just ordinary air mail categorized. Kanya kanyang diskarte pare. Good pm.:laughing:

Bought a flashlight from DX and claimed it sa post office without any hitch.since 50 dollars lang nothing additional was paid.

but for those items more than 100 then they do impose duties.
and there's a risk of pilferage. if im a risk taker and willing to shoulder
duties/taxes why not.

pero pag mahal ang item i rather have a friend or relative bring it
small package lang naman. and no risk of pilferage pa.hehe

sometimes a little legwork here can do wonders. recently bought my
TK40 sa manila after much sleuthing.

amraspalantir said:

Bought a flashlight from DX and claimed it sa post office without any hitch.since 50 dollars lang nothing additional was paid.

but for those items more than 100 then they do impose duties.
and there's a risk of pilferage. if im a risk taker and willing to shoulder
duties/taxes why not.

pero pag mahal ang item i rather have a friend or relative bring it
small package lang naman. and no risk of pilferage pa.hehe

sometimes a little legwork here can do wonders. recently bought my
TK40 sa manila after much sleuthing.

Click to expand...

How does the Tk40 perform and did you procure it from Eugene Yiu? He be a cool guy. Shipping w/in the Phils. using Fed Ex is free--it was for me hehe. My most expensive torch to date is a SF Z2. A gift actually from an Iraq based American col. renting my bayaw's place. Well actually it was the wife who gave it to me for extra services rendered. It's not what you think mga manyakis hehe!

almejia16 said:

Hi There Guys.

I always order my stuff from 4 sevens and my packages never got lost(ordinary shipping). It is free shipping. No taxes to pay if the cost is less than $50. Once i ordered something more than $50 but just had to pay minimal tax. I have been ordering from 4sevens for 4 years already.

Much cheaper to order from 4sevens than buying here in the Philippines.

Hope this helps.

By the way the 4sevens flashlights are so nice.

Click to expand...

I think I know this guy:thinking:..or maybe I don't hehe. Is that a Polytac Hp you are holding right now broh?

nfetterly said:

Look up / pm cpm member Mikevelarde - I shipped stuff to him for a while (while I was unemployed).

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Like I mentioned, for now, one of my friends (who also happens to be a flashaholic) brings me stuff. I just want to know what my other options are. Again, thanks!

Jay R said:

I've had stuff from DealExtreme delivered directly to Ilocos Sur. About 5 packets now with no problems. Nothing worth more than 20 dollars though. The people receiving the packets never had to pay anything though my sister in law had an embarrassing incident when she opened the packet at the post office counter and found it contained 100 condoms…. ( Hey! She's got 8 kids so far..)

Click to expand...

ROFLMAO!

Taking note: no tax on small orders from DX.

crossliner67 said:

Hola dudes! I am from Davao City Phils. Yeah this is indeed our dilemna because pilferage is a common thing in our country. In case you don't know we have Fenix, Olight and Led Lenser here albeit the models are limited w/ the exception of Fenix.

Click to expand...

I get my Fenix lights from SOE, but I'm interested in the Preon and Quark lights from 4sevens which, sadly, aren't available here.

almejia16 said:

I always order my stuff from 4 sevens and my packages never got lost(ordinary shipping). It is free shipping. No taxes to pay if the cost is less than $50. Once i ordered something more than $50 but just had to pay minimal tax. I have been ordering from 4sevens for 4 years already.

Click to expand...

Thank you! That's good to know. I'd like to know what you mean by minimal tax though. Say, I order $100 ($99, actually) worth of lights, how much tax can I expect to pay? Again, thanks!

jslappa said:

I also ship to Mikevelarde quite frequently. I've even shipped a laptop over there! I think the fees and duties are rediculous. I can see if there was a local shop that sold a Surefire M6 over there. Then sure, levy the taxes on the shipment. I get that it's an attempt for the government to make money on an item they would have cashed in on had it been purchased in the country. But if the item isn't sold in country, why get slammed with such a big duty?

I don't advocate cheating the gov't out of their share, but if I sell a $1600 laptop to Bandit for $300, he should only have to pay duties on $300.

Click to expand...

Another vote for mikevelarde. As for taxes and duties - I get the point. Your point on 2nd hand items is right on the money though - I'd hate to pay more on taxes than for the actual item.

crossliner67 said:

It will go through the post office. Just to sate my curiousity I am going to order an affordable light (about $30) from a Japan based Ebayer who utilizes EMS for shipping. It's fast and safe so I was told by a lady post officer manning a station near my place. She takes care of my US and Japan bound parcels and non so far went astray. Anyway going back to my would be order I also told mister "suki" mailman to keep an eye on it. These dudes can actually persuade them customs guys to make "balato" to them like he did w/ a parcel sent to me from Japan. Took only 4 days to reach me and it was just ordinary air mail categorized. Kanya kanyang diskarte pare. Good pm.:laughing:

Click to expand...

Please report back on this. I don't have a suki in the post office 'coz I've avoided going through them. Honestly though, the ideal situation for me is that you don't need a suki... you're sure to get your items whether or not you have connections in the post office.

Your diskarte is to work the system, mine is to get around it. I guess that means my connections are in other channels.

Anyway, good evening to you too!

amraspalantir said:

Bought a flashlight from DX and claimed it sa post office without any hitch.since 50 dollars lang nothing additional was paid.

but for those items more than 100 then they do impose duties.
and there's a risk of pilferage. if im a risk taker and willing to shoulder
duties/taxes why not.

pero pag mahal ang item i rather have a friend or relative bring it
small package lang naman. and no risk of pilferage pa.hehe

sometimes a little legwork here can do wonders. recently bought my
TK40 sa manila after much sleuthing.

Click to expand...

Seems like $50 is the limit for tax-free shipments. Yeah, pilferage is a problem, but now I'm wondering about a $99 shipment.

TK40... makes my LD10 seem like :candle:

crossliner67 said:

it was the wife who gave it to me for extra services rendered. It's not what you think mga manyakis hehe!

Click to expand...

waiting for the speculation on "extra services rendered" to commence...

If this almejia is who I thinks he is I am really surprised coz this dude like goes to the US just to take a pee there and in fact he is there right now. Everything checks out even the initials. I just don't see the point. He is a family member and was my numero uno "order ako bro" but it's a long story. Sorry to hijack your thread LC hehe......Btw our broker and the suki mailman told me it's about 20%..I'm pertaining to the tax.:thumbsup:..Another problem is the waiting period. It does not really take long for an item from the US to make a touchdown but it gets snagged in them customs office for scrutiny. Pray the customs guy ain't no flashaholic like you este us hehe.

amraspalantir said:

Bought a flashlight from DX and claimed it sa post office without any hitch.since 50 dollars lang nothing additional was paid.

but for those items more than 100 then they do impose duties.
and there's a risk of pilferage. if im a risk taker and willing to shoulder
duties/taxes why not.

pero pag mahal ang item i rather have a friend or relative bring it
small package lang naman. and no risk of pilferage pa.hehe

sometimes a little legwork here can do wonders. recently bought my
TK40 sa manila after much sleuthing.

Click to expand...

hey fellow tk40 owner where'd you get yours and how much did you pay for it? i ordered mine from amazon for around $130 last year. i also have an ld20 that i bought from soe.

guys, do you mind sharing the stores you know that carry quality lights? LightChaser, hope you don't mind

here's my share:

1. SOE at makati cinema square. they carry fenix and surefire. they have most of the surefire product line including the m6. prices are a bit steep though but you do get full warranty and they'll take care of the replacement.

2. Urban at 4th floor virra mall in greenhills. they carry surefire and solarforce. also saw a blackhawk gladius and a classic fulton which i almost bought hehe.

3. MDK somewhere inside cash and carry makati. they have nitecores.


i'm really hoping for more options for local purchases.

headophile said:

hey fellow tk40 owner where'd you get yours and how much did you pay for it? i ordered mine from amazon for around $130 last year. i also have an ld20 that i bought from soe.

guys, do you mind sharing the stores you know that carry quality lights? LightChaser, hope you don't mind

here's my share:

1. SOE at makati cinema square. they carry fenix and surefire. they have most of the surefire product line including the m6. prices are a bit steep though but you do get full warranty and they'll take care of the replacement.

2. Urban at 4th floor virra mall in greenhills. they carry surefire and solarforce. also saw a blackhawk gladius and a classic fulton which i almost bought hehe.

3. MDK somewhere inside cash and carry makati. they have nitecores.


i'm really hoping for more options for local purchases.

Click to expand...

ledlenserphilippines Solingen SM Cebu City. Check out their Ebay site. They have models that are not posted there though. There is also a Blackhawk and Streamlight seller here along Guererro st. but I haven't met the owner nor seen the warehouse yet. He texted me the other day for a demo. Anyway the dude supplies the PNP special unit(s). The Tiablo A9, some SF models and a black or gray Rouge 1 Icon at 511 Tactical Ponciano st..... Fenix and SF @ Tactics Quirino ave. beside Palo at Putok/Twin Pines gunstore.

headophile said:

guys, do you mind sharing the stores you know that carry quality lights? LightChaser, hope you don't mind

Click to expand...

We do mind, since it's beyond the purpose of this thread, and beyond the purpose of the Cafe. Please seek out the proper topical forums for the discussion. It's closed here.

Anybody ever ship to the Philippines? (Part 2)

just reposting this for cpf member LightChaser since his original thread was closed due to a post of mine. please continue the discussion about the topic here. my bad

the original post:

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!

Re: Anybody ever ship to the Philippines? (Part 2)

Wt? Hehe them forum police are so strict:mecry::naughty:. Lightchaser why a Preon and not an Itp A3? The Itp SC2 Eluma seems nice and cheap too.