# Shipping household goods



## Caridad (Apr 21, 2013)

Hi. I am a filipino now a US Citizen. My husband and I decided to move back to philippines due to unstable economy here in the US and the country seems unsafe for our 6 little children.. My question is, we wanted to take our stuff to the philippines since we bought a property in Palawan. How do we do it and how much will it cost. I read something before that you can get a 20 or 40 ft van to shipp goods to the hilippines and also that I can get some sort of one time fee from paying the customs for whatever fee it asks. The problem is we don't know how to start. I wonder if somebody here could help us! We really appreciate your help.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Here's a link to the Philippine Bureau of Customs with phone numbers, email and address, they also have a FAQ tab, if you read that it's anything goes even on bringing personal stuff here, you might also want to ask questions with the shipper from your area but really it all comes down to when you go pick up your goods here, seems like you have valid concerns, I would go with your gut feeling. Hopefully someone else has experience.

Link below:

Contact Us | Department of Finance: Bureau of Customs


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## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

Caridad,

I would check with some local OFWs and see who they use for cargo forwarding. Cargo Forwarders typically ship via Sea Containers (like what you are looking to use). Last I heard, those containers can cost $2-3000 to purchase and not sure how much to rent for a shipment. I would also make sure that the container will be delivered to your place and not just port to port.

Expect a lot of hassle from the distant end to get your stuff released from customs, no matter what you have for documentation. Their goal is to frustrate you into paying them extra money to move things along quickly. You should only have to pay minimal tariffs (for some reason $300 comes to mind). Make sure that you are using your Balikbayan status for this shipment.

I have not done this but know of a few people who have. Also, the destination port will be charging you "storage fees" every day that your container sits waiting for customs clearance. So if you can find a cargo forwarder that delivers door to door, that will help ensure that the hassle is bypassed and you pay only once (when you contract the shipment).

Best of luck,

Jon


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## Caridad (Apr 21, 2013)

Thanks guys for all your quick help. I will try and visit the link mccalleyboy and for that info Jon.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

I have wondered myself how practical this is for when we make the big move. I've been in the PI malls and it seems appliances and such, though maybe poorer quality, at the least don't cost much more than the US (I see you're in Panama). I'm leaning more towards having a whole house auction and dumping it all and starting fresh with the money made. 

Has anybody else done this?


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

I dumped almost everything, who wants to deal with the hassles here, I tried to warn the wife not to keep buying all the crap she wanted, we had no house, just military housing, she didn't listen. 

You can have a balikabyan box or several of them sent here (For must haves) and it will arrive at your door no more fee's. I have been told that Subic free port has many appliances but it's too far for me. The thing to remember though is if you buy it here and it does break usually it's much easier to get fixed and also I don't mess much anymore with converting the power to 110 volts, I now prefer to buy things here that match the electrical grid. 

With the money saved you could safely buy things here that work here, it's terrible hot and certain things will either rust or like couches become rodent homes, I have seen some that look real comfortable and reclined made out of hard wood with real nice compfortable large pads the small rodents love the traditional sectional and huge couches we are used too, they don't work so well here, well crafted dinning tables and the works are not expensive. 

If I could go back in time I would have sent two more Balikabayan boxes one with the pizza maker and hot dog cooker and bun warmer, high quality water jug containers, difficult to find and way over priced if you do find them along with Igloo coolers, as many as possible, another blunder was the old Tonka toys found in some of the antique shops, made out of steel and the kids can ride them without worry of destroying them, toys here barely get out of the package before they break and buy them over and over again. 

Quality accessories for the computer also are here but a hassle to find or double priced, such as headsets, thumb drives, mouse's, I use the Trackball mouse good luck in finding those here, beds, don't buy their mattresses here they cave in quickly, I ended up buying a rubber mattress King sized, forgot the name of it? I think NASA invented it, but the rubber is high quality and doesn't cave in or even degrade, real firm and comfortable, bug and rodent free.

Quality knife sharpener is a must, along with quality knifes, I actually bought a box of knifes from the second-hand store in the US, what a savings they get expensive here and rust easy if local.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

The 110 conversion is a good point, one I was going to make and promptly forgot. : )

Finding real hotdogs for that hot cooker is a whole other thread lol

My next trip I'm considering using wheeled Igloo coolers as my luggage! Just stuff in a collapsible duffel for the trip home to US.


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

Frabelle cheese hot dogs, not sure if you have tried these out, they came out about a year ago, I have tried them all and nothing comes close, can be found be in any large grocery store.

Great idea for luggage the Igloo coolers, wish I thought of that!


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## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

mcalleyboy said:


> I dumped almost everything, who wants to deal with the hassles here


A thousand times this. Bring your irreplaceables with you in your luggage along with your clothes and ship over the rest of the must-haves in a Balikbayan box.

I agree on the computer accessories. A lot of the stuff there is junk and the good stuff costs money. Any other high quality name brand stuff may be worth bringing over, but furniture and other houseware kind of stuff I would ditch it there and buy new things when you settle down.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

mcalleyboy said:


> Frabelle cheese hot dogs, not sure if you have tried these out, they came out about a year ago, I have tried them all and nothing comes close, can be found be in any large grocery store.
> 
> Great idea for luggage the Igloo coolers, wish I thought of that!



mcalleyboy, btw I measured my "cooler luggage" at Sam's Club tonight and it's 58 inches so I'm good to go next trip lol. Delta limit is 62.


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## Spectre13 (Oct 8, 2013)

Great question--and one I'm currently researching, too.


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## lefties43332 (Oct 21, 2012)

cvgtpc1 said:


> The 110 conversion is a good point, one I was going to make and promptly forgot. : )
> 
> Finding real hotdogs for that hot cooker is a whole other thread lol
> 
> My next trip I'm considering using wheeled Igloo coolers as my luggage! Just stuff in a collapsible duffel for the trip home to US.


The holiday cheesedogs are really good. Small dogs but very tasty


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## Jerry123 (Sep 21, 2013)

Dear mcalleyboy...thanks for the moving information. I'm planning for Subic Bay, April 2014. Planning ahead I was thinking of bringing a new TV until I found this quote: (((Okay, on the TV thing. I know this kind of news doesn't make headlines but it is something to consider before shipping a TV now. The Philippines National Telecommunications Commission has made their choice on the format for digital TV/Cable broadcasts to be implemented by the end of 2015.
The have chosen to adopt the ISDB-T as their new standard for digital TV. This signal is incompatible with US televisions which have ASTC digital receivers. You can go read up on it by just using the formats for your search terms. This means that unless the cable company there is going to offer converter boxes (if they even exist) to display an ISDB-T signal on a TV with an ASTC tuner, your US/Canadian TV will become useless for watching TV there.)))...!! 
I copy & pasted, saved to ask and hoping you can verify this. Actually all expats with their American import TVs may not work soon! Here's another appliance I'm not shipping. Thanks Jerry123


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

*HD TV's*



Jerry123 said:


> Dear mcalleyboy...thanks for the moving information. I'm planning for Subic Bay, April 2014. Planning ahead I was thinking of bringing a new TV until I found this quote: (((Okay, on the TV thing. I know this kind of news doesn't make headlines but it is something to consider before shipping a TV now. The Philippines National Telecommunications Commission has made their choice on the format for digital TV/Cable broadcasts to be implemented by the end of 2015.
> The have chosen to adopt the ISDB-T as their new standard for digital TV. This signal is incompatible with US televisions which have ASTC digital receivers. You can go read up on it by just using the formats for your search terms. This means that unless the cable company there is going to offer converter boxes (if they even exist) to display an ISDB-T signal on a TV with an ASTC tuner, your US/Canadian TV will become useless for watching TV there.)))...!!
> I copy & pasted, saved to ask and hoping you can verify this. Actually all expats with their American import TVs may not work soon! Here's another appliance I'm not shipping. Thanks Jerry123



Large HD TV's are more reasonable here now, not as expensive as before. I thought it had to do with HD TV's but? 

The best information I could find on this was a LinkedIn article with many comments, here's the header unsure if I can post the short cut but with this you should be able to find the article.

"Philippine: Fight on the choice of standard ISDB-T or DVB-T2?"

At the end of this LinkedIn discussion there's a short cut to the most current article from Oct 2013. 

What I got from the discussion was that it would be cheaper on cell phone products or applications if they switched formats, real cheap on the cost of phones ..... but looks like they battle with the final decision.

Most of my appliances were purchased here because of the voltage conversion issue the real concern is appliances you can't live without besides the TV, high quality espresso machines or ? Your favorite quality crock pot, you can order appliances from a select few companies in the US but the real quality items don't ship to the Philippines or they won't ship them here so the next step would be to have family members ship them in a box another hurdle.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

One of our relatives in the PI is a cable TV provider, I'll check if he knows about this.


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## overmyer (Aug 15, 2013)

Jerry123 said:


> Dear mcalleyboy...thanks for the moving information. I'm planning for Subic Bay, April 2014. Planning ahead I was thinking of bringing a new TV until I found this quote: (((Okay, on the TV thing. I know this kind of news doesn't make headlines but it is something to consider before shipping a TV now. The Philippines National Telecommunications Commission has made their choice on the format for digital TV/Cable broadcasts to be implemented by the end of 2015.
> The have chosen to adopt the ISDB-T as their new standard for digital TV. This signal is incompatible with US televisions which have ASTC digital receivers. You can go read up on it by just using the formats for your search terms. This means that unless the cable company there is going to offer converter boxes (if they even exist) to display an ISDB-T signal on a TV with an ASTC tuner, your US/Canadian TV will become useless for watching TV there.)))...!!
> I copy & pasted, saved to ask and hoping you can verify this. Actually all expats with their American import TVs may not work soon! Here's another appliance I'm not shipping. Thanks Jerry123


If you've got cable TV, the cable box handles the signal. You would only need a converter box to capture and decode OTA digital broadcasts.


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## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

*Converter box*



cvgtpc1 said:


> One of our relatives in the PI is a cable TV provider, I'll check if he knows about this.


He said don't worry....just like in the US 3-4 years ago when it all went digital only and half of us were still analog there will be a converter box....if this happens.

And like overmyer said, those with cable boxes didn't have an issue, at least in the US.


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## tessvalencia (Feb 19, 2014)

You may ship some of your items or balikbayan box through filoutlet.com


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## JimnNila143 (Jul 23, 2013)

I am not certain but I think you are permitted up to FIVE [5] Balikbayan boxes that you can bring with you on the aircraft plus 2 pieces of luggage plus your carryon. The remainder of your personally property, too large to fit in a Balikbayan box, ship via steel container on a vessel that sails. Unless the regulations have changed, you are permitted to import $7,000US in value of personal property duty free, the rest has to be charged a duty tax. This duty tax is charged at the value of the items. There are certain items that cannot be imported, you need to look at the postal service website to see what can and cannot be imported into the Philippines.


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## Phil_expat (Jan 3, 2011)

Caridad said:


> Hi. I am a filipino now a US Citizen. My husband and I decided to move back to philippines due to unstable economy here in the US and the country seems unsafe for our 6 little children.. My question is, we wanted to take our stuff to the philippines since we bought a property in Palawan. How do we do it and how much will it cost. I read something before that you can get a 20 or 40 ft van to shipp goods to the hilippines and also that I can get some sort of one time fee from paying the customs for whatever fee it asks. The problem is we don't know how to start. I wonder if somebody here could help us! We really appreciate your help.


A friend of mine did do this. He and his pinay wife moved from Europe to the Philippines and they shipped everything in their home in a shipping container. I do not remember the exact details but he said they had something like 60 to 90 days to ship those item customs free when they entered the country. He did say an automobile would be tax.


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## Glen48 (Jul 6, 2012)

sell every thing and buy new here only keep the very basic stuff


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## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

Glen48 said:


> sell every thing and buy new here only keep the very basic stuff


I agree but there are some things that you have to get from "home" and those need to be shipped via a cargo forwarder.

I came with 2 suitcases. I have chipped away at the rest of stuff over 7 years and am 99% there.


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## Glen48 (Jul 6, 2012)

Plus the cost of finding a truck to get it to your door and the risk of having it stolen during the transfer like I had,
All you need is a tooth brush, pair clean shorts and a bottle opener.


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## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

Glen48 said:


> Plus the cost of finding a truck to get it to your door and the risk of having it stolen during the transfer like I had,
> All you need is a tooth brush, pair clean shorts and a bottle opener.


Well......... maybe more than one pair of clean shorts


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