Offtopic:

[jrmejia 31]

I want to send a laptop to my fiancee's mom. It is better to buy it here in USA and send it to her or buy in the phil.? I want something not too expensive. It is basically for basic usage like internet,..etc. The two options I am looking for are wifi+webcam.

On that note, any one knows of a good online pcstore in phil.(cebu)?. I like to monk and check some them out?

Thanks in advance.

Edited August 7, 2010 by jrmejia

[Hank55 5]

I want to send a laptop to my fiancee's mom. It is better to buy it here in USA and send it to her or buy in the phil.? I want something not too expensive. It is basically for basic usage like internet,..etc. The two options I am looking for are wifi+webcam.

On that note, any one knows of a good online pcstore in phil.(cebu)?. I like to monk and check some them out?

Thanks in advance.

I looked into this and I think you can save money and buy a better equiped model over here in the States. Shipping and Customs and cheaper price in US I still you will come out ahead.

hank

[Tero 105]

Before you buy here, I'd advice you do some research on how much you would pay for customs to clear it when it gets to the destination country. Know that you might have to add up the costs of the laptop+shipping+customs+etc, and compare to what it would cost you to just get thesame over there.

[jrmejia 31]

I looked into this and I think you can save money and buy a better equiped model over here in the States. Shipping and Customs and cheaper price in US I still you will come out ahead.

hank

It is true that if i ship it there they have to pay taxes? where can I find more information about that?

[zeth77 0]

It is true that if i ship it there they have to pay taxes? where can I find more information about that?

for me its better to buy here a laptop rather than there coz u know what they will goin to pay at the custom here before they will get the laptop and it cost 100$ coz that's what i did when my husband send me a laptop. it add more cost to you, and besides there is a cheaper laptop also here at the mall, its about 500-600$ u have a wifi+camera in one, rather than u buy ther a laptop woth 300$ for example and then u goin to pay at courier worth 150-200$ and then the mom of your fiancee will goin to pay again at the custom when they received tha laptop worht 100$. so what do u think is best? its stillup to you where do u want to buy.

[A and T 82]

Here is what you do, buy a laptop/netbook etc pack it extremely well , your choices are balikbayan box $100 to ship, but bypasses customs , Or the regular postal service, but mark the item as $0.00 and write NO VALUE , usps only covers up to $50 if its lost anyway, so its a gamble, but that gets it there with no custom fees/taxes

If you put its worth any value, customers there will charge 5x the value, unless you bribe them.

If you ship via fedex or UPS, they will think its expensive and all charge customs etc.

They have computers there, but of course they are all about $200 over priced or more. And lots of not so modern computer hardware, and cd-r king accessories are just junk from china

[jrmejia 31]

This is what we decided to do:

Since my fiancee is in Dubia and her manager is going to the phil (she leaves near the house of her mom) we are going to buy the laptop in Dubai and send it to her mom. In Dubai they do not send taxes. I already we$tern union her. (excuse my slang)

CASE CLOSE: thanks for all the help.

[tallcoolone 102]

Ship a laptop from USA to PI and use Fed X, DHL, and you will pay around $300 in customs and duty (Been there, Done that)

If you have time ship it in a Balikayian Box with other stuff and it should clear without customs and duty

[jrmejia 31]

Ship a laptop from USA to PI and use Fed X, DHL, and you will pay around $300 in customs and duty (Been there, Done that)

If you have time ship it in a Balikayian Box with other stuff and it should clear without customs and duty

i will try that for the next request. We found another solution..not the best but the easier way out

[Hank55 5]

i will try that for the next request. We found another solution..not the best but the easier way out

I wont advise to bypass customs however if they are that bad then find another way or buy it there.

Are you visiting anytime soon? You can bring it as it was yours and then just leave it there.

[~happyndinlove~ 540]

for me its better to buy here a laptop rather than there coz u know what they will goin to pay at the custom here before they will get the laptop and it cost 100$ coz that's what i did when my husband send me a laptop. it add more cost to you, and besides there is a cheaper laptop also here at the mall, its about 500-600$ u have a wifi+camera in one, rather than u buy ther a laptop woth 300$ for example and then u goin to pay at courier worth 150-200$ and then the mom of your fiancee will goin to pay again at the custom when they received tha laptop worht 100$. so what do u think is best? its stillup to you where do u want to buy.

You're not nagging, are you? LOL!

Edited August 8, 2010 by ~happyndinlove~

[omahagreg 2]

I wont advise to bypass customs however if they are that bad then find another way or buy it there.

Are you visiting anytime soon? You can bring it as it was yours and then just leave it there.

I got very lucky sending a laptop to my fiancee. I purchased a netbook, and it was about $250. No sales tax since I purchased online. I removed the computer from the box, removed anything that made it appear new, and sent it DHL. Shipping was a hefty $110, after getting the online shipping discount. I listed the netbook as a second hand netbook, with a value of $90 on the customs declaration. I shipped on a Friday, and the computer arrived in Davao on the following Wednesday. The duty collected was 500 pesos, or approx the 12% VAT of a $100 computer.

As I said, I was lucky. Often customs in the Philippines will revalue the items you send, and they especially like to assess electronics a very high price. I was expecting the customs fees to be up to 8000 pesos (quite possible with the VAT, duty of 10%, storage fees, processing fees, etc.) I was fortunate the computer was not scrutinized more.

If I could do over, I would have purchased the netbook, used it during my initial visit for internet, then just left it behind. That is by far the best option on getting a laptop into the Philippines. However, even at $372 (16,700 pesos), I did better than the typical 22000-25000 pesos it would have cost there.