Could anybody possibly transport a very small laptop to my wife in the Philippines from the U.S.?

[Jon and Krissy 452]

Dear fellow group members,

I am trying to get a very small laptop to my wife in the Philippines. Basically, her PC died shortly after I left, it is not repairable. This comes as no surprise, it was acting up for a while.

We have a very young son - he will be one year old in April - and he and I really need to interact over the webcam and voice. I was there for the past six months, until about 3 weeks ago.

I know I could send her money for a laptop there, but they are overpriced, and not very good, for the money. I've priced them quite recently there. Money is also really tight for me right now. :-(

This laptop will be tiny - most likely a netbook - and will weight about 3 pounds.

I can arrange to have someone meet you in Manila, Cebu, or Leyte (my wife and child are in Eastern Samar, but we have family all over).

I am in Northern California at the moment, but I could ship the laptop to anywhere in the states.

If anyone is going to the Philippines in the next month or even two, and could do this, it would be greatly appreciated. I could return the favor at some point, or even manage to give you a bit of cash at this point. Alternately, if you need any advice or information about various places in the Philippines, recommendations of places to stay in different areas, etc., perhaps I could help. I also can build desktop computer systems, and could barter my labor in doing so for you. I am open to other suggestions as well.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Rhein

[Nagishkaw 510]

Topic moved from Off Topic to Philippines.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/129-philippines/

Edited March 21, 2010 by Nagishkaw

[16freekisses 0]

http://www.regalomanila.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=79

The cheapest one there is $649.99.

Hope this helps anyway. :star:

Edited March 21, 2010 by 16freekisses

[Adam & May 4]

The only problem with that is 1 of the usual security questions asked at the airport..."did anyone give you something to pack".

I had to ship a netbook last year to my fiance to just outside of Manila and UPS charged about $179 (still cheaper than buyer a laptop there). There was also a customs fee that she had to pay.

Good luck

[-B&T- 1]

It is very risky to trust online strangers to carry your stuff for your family. You might get scammed or the item will be lost or damaged. It is better send money IMHO and let your wife buy it there to avoid hassles and possibility of getting ripped-off by the Customs.

And vice-versa, Filipinos returning to Philippines should be extra careful or refrain from accepting "padala" or care packages if they barely knew the person who's asking to carry their items and have not checked the contents of the package and unaware that these may contain illegal items . Better be safe than sorry.

[CaMhae 7]

Send it thru FEDEX..my husband always sending me stuff to philippines before..Like vonage router,cp and baby stuff...its only 5 days to get in philippine

Dear fellow group members,

I am trying to get a very small laptop to my wife in the Philippines. Basically, her PC died shortly after I left, it is not repairable. This comes as no surprise, it was acting up for a while.

We have a very young son - he will be one year old in April - and he and I really need to interact over the webcam and voice. I was there for the past six months, until about 3 weeks ago.

I know I could send her money for a laptop there, but they are overpriced, and not very good, for the money. I've priced them quite recently there. Money is also really tight for me right now. :-(

This laptop will be tiny - most likely a netbook - and will weight about 3 pounds.

I can arrange to have someone meet you in Manila, Cebu, or Leyte (my wife and child are in Eastern Samar, but we have family all over).

I am in Northern California at the moment, but I could ship the laptop to anywhere in the states.

If anyone is going to the Philippines in the next month or even two, and could do this, it would be greatly appreciated. I could return the favor at some point, or even manage to give you a bit of cash at this point. Alternately, if you need any advice or information about various places in the Philippines, recommendations of places to stay in different areas, etc., perhaps I could help. I also can build desktop computer systems, and could barter my labor in doing so for you. I am open to other suggestions as well.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Rhein

[Laser1 63]

I know of three inexpensive options:

1) Go to your post office and ship it through USPS- either "Express Mail International" or "Priority Mail International". Postage should be about $50. Your wife would have to pay the Value Added tax and Customs fees when picking it up. The laptop should arrive in 6-10 days. Don't forget to add enough insurance to cover the full price of the laptop.

2) Ship a balikbayan box with the laptop and other items, through LBC or another company. Shipping should cost about $75; the laptop should arrive in 5 or 6 weeks.

3) The most convenient way is probably to order the laptop direct on Overstock.com's Philippines store. Overstock will handle the customs and taxes. Go to Overstock's website, click on the "International Website" link at the bottom right of the page, then choose the country (Philippines). The prices should be much lower than what the gift sites charge.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Laser Lou

[SuperDuper! 230]

The only problem with that is 1 of the usual security questions asked at the airport..."did anyone give you something to pack".

I had to ship a netbook last year to my fiance to just outside of Manila and UPS charged about $179 (still cheaper than buyer a laptop there). There was also a customs fee that she had to pay.

Good luck

You bring up an EXcellent point. Carrying even digital items for a stranger is risky business. Think Risk vs Reward.

OP, better to send the money to have mahal buy laptop there, even if it is not what Best Buy has on sale.

[Kevin- 13]

It's not safe for the sender or the transporter, in my opinion. Since people here can't know that you're a good person, and you can't know if the other people here are good people. Even if the online personality is great, somebody could hack the VJ password.

It's too bad we have to be this cautious, but this is the world we live in.

Also, DO NOT TRUST the regular postal service. The insurance would only cover it until it is in the hands of the Filipino postal service. I sent my fiancee a hand written letter to arrive before Valentine's Day and she never got it. And I'm talking about Valentine's day LAST YEAR. Heheh.

Overstock.com might be an okay option. Just compare it to the local price of course. Looks like netbooks on there start at around USD320 refurbished. Shipping, etc, unknown.

[Laser1 63]

On Overstock, shipping a new $300 Acer Aspire One D250-1325 would cost PhP 20,067 (about USD450); including customs and VAT.

[Kevin-n-Merlaine 14]

I've used FilGifts for a lot of items and have been very happy so far. They have a decent selection of computers and you can't beat their service. I bought a Samsung washing machine and had it shipped to Leyte and it was very reasonable. There is another site where they have some very good deals on computers there in Manila. They supply a lot of internet cafe's there, it's openpinoy.com I'll probably be buying some new desktops from them soon to update my wife's internet cafe. Their shipping is very reasonable (P800 or so to the provinces). Either of those would be a far better option than having someone take one there for you and USPS from here is NOT an option IMO. You'd be very very lucky if she ever got it. I can almost guarantee someone in the postal system there would have a new laptop.

[dianecmea 1]

you can use Manilaforwarders. I've used them 2x & were reliable.

http://www.manilaforwarder.com/stage_planning.html

Mini Medium Balikbayan Box Jumbo Box Bianca Drum Roland Drum

Metro Manila $20 DIY $50 $70 $80 $99 $169

Luzon $25 DIY $75 $85 $109 $179

Visayas $50 $60 $80 $90 $109 $179

Mindanao $50 $65 $85 $95 $119 $189

Hope this helps.

Edited March 25, 2010 by dianecmea

[SuperDuper! 230]

I've used FilGifts for a lot of items and have been very happy so far. They have a decent selection of computers and you can't beat their service. I bought a Samsung washing machine and had it shipped to Leyte and it was very reasonable. There is another site where they have some very good deals on computers there in Manila. They supply a lot of internet cafe's there, it's openpinoy.com I'll probably be buying some new desktops from them soon to update my wife's internet cafe. Their shipping is very reasonable (P800 or so to the provinces). Either of those would be a far better option than having someone take one there for you and USPS from here is NOT an option IMO. You'd be very very lucky if she ever got it. I can almost guarantee someone in the postal system there would have a new laptop.

This plan makes a lot of sense Kevin. Hopefully someone else will try it. It doesn't pay to ship a laptop to the PI. SOmething always goes wrong.

[Richard90027 1]

Dear fellow group members,

I am trying to get a very small laptop to my wife in the Philippines. Basically, her PC died shortly after I left, it is not repairable. This comes as no surprise, it was acting up for a while.

We have a very young son - he will be one year old in April - and he and I really need to interact over the webcam and voice. I was there for the past six months, until about 3 weeks ago.

I know I could send her money for a laptop there, but they are overpriced, and not very good, for the money. I've priced them quite recently there. Money is also really tight for me right now. :-(

This laptop will be tiny - most likely a netbook - and will weight about 3 pounds.

I can arrange to have someone meet you in Manila, Cebu, or Leyte (my wife and child are in Eastern Samar, but we have family all over).

I am in Northern California at the moment, but I could ship the laptop to anywhere in the states.

If anyone is going to the Philippines in the next month or even two, and could do this, it would be greatly appreciated. I could return the favor at some point, or even manage to give you a bit of cash at this point. Alternately, if you need any advice or information about various places in the Philippines, recommendations of places to stay in different areas, etc., perhaps I could help. I also can build desktop computer systems, and could barter my labor in doing so for you. I am open to other suggestions as well.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Rhein

Is it packed full of drugs so I get arrested or shot when I arrive with the package

[A and T 82]

Here is the problem

If you mail it and write what it is on the package and value, they will charge her 100X the price of it in custom fees and taxes

So you got a few choices, mail one to her and let her pay double for it.

Send her money and let her buy it, (probably $200 more than the usa prices)

Or, Buy one and send it via the usa postal, and don't write that it is a laptop, say its something else and claim $0 value , this is high risk , but often works