Best place to order laptop to fiance in Manila

[Puppythecat 89]

3 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

I sent an old Fujitusi laptop back in 2007, I declared value like 300 and it was about 3 years old. When it got there Fed Ex wanted me to pay extra 300 USD to customs/duty to release the laptop for shipment.

 

I had always been told the reason laptops are so expensive and so outdated in the Philippines is due to the high tariff / customs duty on them when they enter the country.  

 

I think you got lucky, but like I said if I tried it I am sure I would get stuck with a high import tax to release it for delivery.

I can think of a few possibilities.

First like I said if I shipped it myself customs could say I was lying about the value and make up what they want to extort whereas shipping directly from the vendor they can't say I made up a low value

 

Second Duterte seems to have made corruption... less accessible to some people that it was in the past 

 

Third I shipped it to her office so they might have been less willing to bother trying to extort from an international company than an individual.

 

Or I could have just gotten lucky or maybe the people that specialize in extorting foreigners were home from Covid.

[NoMansLand2020 298]

We are just buying a second hand one. The Facebook Market has a ton of listing. Fiancée needs it in a hurry for kid's schooling. Shipping is horrible in the Philippines and having to pay VAT is a joke. 

[flicks1998 1,044]

Just to add to this thread on shipping to the Philippines, I did another order on Amazon for some headphones.  Order was done on September 15 (US time) and the item was delivered today (Sept 24th in Philippines).  No extra duties, etc.  Amazon continues to be really reliable for shipments from the US to the PI.