Customs Charges

[United Army]

I had a box shipped from the US to the PH last week and when I went to pick it up at lapu-Lapu…customs dues were needed…. I ask them why customs dues and I was told any value over $10 there are customs charges. The box had a value of $28 and I had to pay $34 customs dues along with $6 for the customs forms and $7 for storage fees (the box arrived at 1pm and I picked it up at 4:30pm). I had to see about 13 people for one reason or another before I could get my box, I have never seen such a run around in my life.This is the 4th box that has been sent from the US for me and this is the first time any customs charges were needed and I think a couple of these boxes the value was more the $10, so the law of averages caught up with me.No big deal, I have to remember this is the Philippines….

[Art2ro]

Seems like Customs are again playing their little games in ways of collecting extra revenue for the Philippine government in any way they can, now that they started inspecting anything and everything coming into the Philippines! I guess it's just going to continue from now on and there's nothing anyone can do about the extra custom charges! I also experienced that every custom inspector are not all alike when calculating the import tax and or determining what's taxable or not! We received 3 Balikbayan boxes via "Star Cargo" from San Jose, Ca. in November 2010 and all 3 boxes were opened and inspected by Customs in Manila, but we weren't charged any customs duty tax of the contents! But when I had my brother ship me a small package of my medications via DHL from Ventura, Ca., Customs charged me a percentage of the actual price I paid for them which were at a discount price from my U.S. pharmacy! Just think what the duty tax would have been if I paid the actual cost of each medicine without the discount! I don't have anything shipped to me anymore, it's just too costly nowadays! I only ship out important documents via FedEx or DHL only when I have to send the original documents and that's about all! I'm sure overseas deliveries from anywhere outside the Philippines will eventually slow down putting some of these overseas shipping lines out of business! Edited April 21, 2011 by Art2ro

[Old55]

I had a box shipped from the US to the PH last week and when I went to pick it up at lapu-Lapu…customs dues were needed…. I ask them why customs dues and I was told any value over $10 there are customs charges. The box had a value of $28 and I had to pay $34 customs dues along with $6 for the customs forms and $7 for storage fees (the box arrived at 1pm and I picked it up at 4:30pm). I had to see about 13 people for one reason or another before I could get my box, I have never seen such a run around in my life.This is the 4th box that has been sent from the US for me and this is the first time any customs charges were needed and I think a couple of these boxes the value was more the $10, so the law of averages caught up with me.No big deal, I have to remember this is the Philippines….

If you don’t mind my asking… what shipper did you use FedEx, UPS or USPS? Was it a Balikbayan box?

[Old55]

Seems like Customs are again playing their little games in ways of collecting extra revenue for the Philippine government in any way they can, now that they started inspecting anything and everything coming into the Philippines! I guess it's just going to continue from now on and there's nothing anyone can do about the extra custom charges! I also experienced that every custom inspector are not all alike when calculating the import tax and or determining what's taxable or not! We received 3 Balikbayan boxes via "Star Cargo" from San Jose, Ca. in November 2010 and all 3 boxes were opened and inspected by Customs in Manila, but we weren't charged any customs duty tax of the contents! But when I had my brother ship me a small package of my medications via DHL from Ventura, Ca., Customs charged me a percentage of the actual price I paid for them which were at a discount price from my U.S. pharmacy! Just think what the duty tax would have been if I paid the actual cost of each medicine without the discount! I don't have anything shipped to me anymore, it's just too costly nowadays! I only ship out important documents via FedEx or DHL only when I have to send the original documents and that's about all! I'm sure overseas deliveries from anywhere outside the Philippines will eventually slow down putting some of these overseas shipping lines out of business!

I feel your pain! :3_8_14[1]: This is not good the ability to have items shipped freely WAS very helpful. This kinda extortion is just another negative to living in Philippines.

[United Army]

I had a box shipped from the US to the PH last week and when I went to pick it up at lapu-Lapu…customs dues were needed…. I ask them why customs dues and I was told any value over $10 there are customs charges. The box had a value of $28 and I had to pay $34 customs dues along with $6 for the customs forms and $7 for storage fees (the box arrived at 1pm and I picked it up at 4:30pm). I had to see about 13 people for one reason or another before I could get my box, I have never seen such a run around in my life.This is the 4th box that has been sent from the US for me and this is the first time any customs charges were needed and I think a couple of these boxes the value was more the $10, so the law of averages caught up with me.No big deal, I have to remember this is the Philippines….

If you don’t mind my asking… what shipper did you use FedEx, UPS or USPS? Was it a Balikbayan box?

I used FedEx.

[FlyAway]

I am surprised the larger shipping companies like FedEx even bother shipping to Philippines. Customs must have special warehouses setup specifically for the foreign companies shipping companies. Ship something through LBC and you usually have no problems. If you are fortunate enough to have an LBC office close by that is.A friend shipped a 3 year old laptop via FedEx recently. Customs did the same thing with all the runarounds, fee's and duty charges. His runarounds was via long distance phone calls. He had to make them from US during normal business hours in Philippines! If you send via air by LBC a representative inspects your package before sealing it up. They have a list of items they will collect an additional fee for.http://www.lbcexpres...xableitems.aspx

[United Army]

I am surprised the larger shipping companies like FedEx even bother shipping to Philippines. Customs must have special warehouses setup specifically for the foreign companies shipping companies. Ship something through LBC and you usually have no problems. If you are fortunate enough to have an LBC office close by that is.A friend shipped a 3 year old laptop via FedEx recently. Customs did the same thing with all the runarounds, fee's and duty charges. His runarounds was via long distance phone calls. He had to make them from US during normal business hours in Philippines! If you send via air by LBC a representative inspects your package before sealing it up. They have a list of items they will collect an additional fee for.http://www.lbcexpres...xableitems.aspx

This looks like a good shipper, but it does not service where I'm from in Wis or Minn area. Thanks for this info anyway.

[Old55]

I am surprised the larger shipping companies like FedEx even bother shipping to Philippines. Customs must have special warehouses setup specifically for the foreign companies shipping companies. Ship something through LBC and you usually have no problems. If you are fortunate enough to have an LBC office close by that is.A friend shipped a 3 year old laptop via FedEx recently. Customs did the same thing with all the runarounds, fee's and duty charges. His runarounds was via long distance phone calls. He had to make them from US during normal business hours in Philippines! If you send via air by LBC a representative inspects your package before sealing it up. They have a list of items they will collect an additional fee for.http://www.lbcexpres...xableitems.aspx

Good info! :lol:

[gapotwo]

I am surprised the larger shipping companies like FedEx even bother shipping to Philippines. Customs must have special warehouses setup specifically for the foreign companies shipping companies. Ship something through LBC and you usually have no problems. If you are fortunate enough to have an LBC office close by that is.A friend shipped a 3 year old laptop via FedEx recently. Customs did the same thing with all the runarounds, fee's and duty charges. His runarounds was via long distance phone calls. He had to make them from US during normal business hours in Philippines! If you send via air by LBC a representative inspects your package before sealing it up. They have a list of items they will collect an additional fee for.http://www.lbcexpres...xableitems.aspx

Good info! :lol:

geez, 40% to 200% import tax on selected electronics? might be cheaper to buy local and not have to use a transformer, or as i would do it , dont buy any and live local.as a returning residence i can bring a car back with me tax free , but why? ill just buy a local owner jeep.and not have the customs headache. after all if i wanted allthe western trinkets and gizmos i would just stay stateside. goodbye west hello east. tanks ej.

[MikeB]

I am surprised the larger shipping companies like FedEx even bother shipping to Philippines. Customs must have special warehouses setup specifically for the foreign companies shipping companies. Ship something through LBC and you usually have no problems. If you are fortunate enough to have an LBC office close by that is.A friend shipped a 3 year old laptop via FedEx recently. Customs did the same thing with all the runarounds, fee's and duty charges. His runarounds was via long distance phone calls. He had to make them from US during normal business hours in Philippines! If you send via air by LBC a representative inspects your package before sealing it up. They have a list of items they will collect an additional fee for.http://www.lbcexpres...xableitems.aspx

This looks like a good shipper, but it does not service where I'm from in Wis or Minn area. Thanks for this info anyway.

They don't have an office in Florida either but they referred me to their agent in Jacksonville, about 3 hrs away and he's going to pick up from my house (hopefully!). You can ask through the Contact form on their site if you haven't already.