Shipping items to the Philippines. Does anyone have experience shipping to other countries?

by adjusted knowledge 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  adjusted knowledge

  I live in the USA and want to ship my game consoles (Xbox, playstation, WI, ect), laptop, and other items to my wife's family in the Philippines. I've used a company locally that ships there at a fix price of $90 per box. So whatever I fit in the box will ship at that rate regardless of weight. They ship it by cargo ships so it will take like 30-60 days to arrive. I've done this before but only clothes and other items of low value. I'm nervous to send higher end items because of theft from officials and others in the Philippines. It may be doing better recently but the Philippines still is very poor and has a very corrupt government.

  I was going to sell the items here and just send them the money, but the children there want the console and they are even more expensive there to purchase. I just can't seem to find a more secure way to send the items without paying exuberant fees. Also am worried about the Philippine government opening it and then holding the items at customs demanding my relatives to pay a tarrif. They've done that before to extort money.
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  sir82

  Wrap them in old Watchtowers. Even if the box is opened, they'll want nothing more to do with it.
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  adjusted knowledge

  lol Good idea. Problem is I don't have any Watchtowers. I need to visit some laundry mats.
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  MaybeSo

  hahaha Sir82
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  JWdaughter

  You might find some in the local immigrant community who visits family in your wife's old neighborhood. Whenever we or family travel abroad, someone is always sticking in a box of something to take to their family in a nearby town. If you know/trust folks that travel there,that is an option. Or wait till you travel on your own. Folks usually go there loaded with other people's stuff. And come home loaded with a lot of other stuff. Americans get a lot of travel allowance and usually just take mostly gifts with them when they go abroad for family visits, rather than the stuff we take for other kinds of vacations. We plan to take other peoples stuff.
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  coalize

  FedEx, UPS or DHL don't make the job?

  And If the local customs official are corrupted, no shipping service will be able to get around that...
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  LisaRose

  I have shipped to the Philippines, I used the USPS, it was a lot less than that, but it was less than a pound. You just have to fill out a customs form, other than that it wasn't any different than shipping to anywhere else, you can purchase insurance in case something goes wrong. You can even do it online at USPS.com.
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  RAYZORBLADE

  adjusted knowledge - I resided in the Philippines decades ago for a short period of time.
  
  I know the boxes that you speak of: the balikbayan boxes. They have a set rate. Usually one price for Metro Manila; higher if the box is going to one of the many provinces and islands there in the Philippines. Regardless of the weight, yes ... just as you speak of. I've seen some of those boxes weigh several hundred pounds. You'd swear someone was shipping bricks!
  
  I have shipped via 'Balikbayan' and made sure I itemized things (here: writing them down). When you're sending clothing items, toiletries and non electronic items, you are usually OK. My boxes (aking kahon) - arrived a bit squished, but all the items were inside, and intact. I remember sending (this is more than 20 years ago), CDs and cassette tapes, VHS/Beta tapes and even a couple of AM/FM Walkmans. They were still in the boxes and in good working order. We compared notes: everything was there. Funny thing, it was AFTER it got there, things disappeared.
  
  I have mailed items, and I lost things almost 4/5 times. So I never send anything via mail, which I know you know is a recipe for theft and disappointment.
  
  Any items that are electronic, I have sent with someone I know who is headed over there to the Philippines. If they have room in their luggage, I kindly ask them if they can take it over for me, usually with a little gift (baon) to the person carrying my gift.
  
  You can give it a try I suppose, inserting some of those things like XBOX and PlayStation in the Balikbayan box, packed way inside the middle of the box. If they are unwrapped, you can also indicate IF there's a problem, that they are USED (not new). I know that there is some declaration sticker or form you sometimes have to apply to the outside of these boxes. I usually kept the descriptions general without detail. But sometimes ... officials at the Port of Manila or Cebu, may try to extort. It happens way more often than not.
  
  I'm with JWdaughter. If possible, locate someone you know, or friends of friends who may be going, and kindly ask for them to take some items. May not get them ALL together, but maybe in a couple of trips in quick succession.
  
  GOOD LUCK!
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  BradnGwen

  Hello AK, we live in San Jose California. I (Gwen) am Filipina and ship to Phillipines

  using LBC. you can google them as they are Nation Wide.
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  kaik

  adjusted knowledge, your PS will not play games made for Asia/Japan market, so consider this, because Sony makes games regionally locked.