# Amazon Shipping



## ldwand (Nov 9, 2014)

Hi, does anyone here have some advice on getting things bought thru Amazon shipped to the Phils in other words how does one go about it. Watched some YouTube videos but not up to date. Heard Amazon worked out something with customs here but not sure. Thanks


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

Some items can't be shipped her by Amazon or other companies I found that out once when ordering a crock pot so only the lower quality products seem to ship here that was my experience.

Amazon website has a link to Philippines orders or items allowed to ship here just below their name upper left-hand side. And make sure the VAT tax is included it should be or you'll end up forking out 12% of the cost upon delivery.


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

I have ordered several things through Amazon with great success. They include an estimate of customs duties and taxes and are generally spot on. If there is any adjustment it always has been in my favour, I just got about $40 back on several items that I had received.

However not every item is available for delivery to the Philippine.

Every item that I have ordered so far has arrived intact and within a reasonable period from the initial estimate, sometimes even earlier. So far no shipper has used USPS which would mean PhilPost at this end.

I am currently trying one of the freight forwarders myus.com (There are others, just ask Mr Google about them.) You get a delivery address that looks like a street address in Florida, have Amazon or any other vendor ship to them and they repackage and consolidate the order and ship in one package. They do not cover or estimate customs and taxes so you will have to pay that and find out how much at the same time when it arrives.

So far they have been good at identifying all parcels delivered and the web site is very intuitive and informative about the status of my parcels.

One time delivery as arrive is free, to get 30 day storage and consolidation of packages plus a discount on shipping is $7 a month and to get your US mail delivered and forwarded on a set schedule is $33 a month with some forms needed to be authenticated and submitted.

Amazon does not let you pick the delivery courier but I found that DHL is about the best and most reliable. MyUS,com lets you pick courier and level of service. I will be using DHL from them. Shipping by MyUS.com is strictly weight based so that will be a bonus if you want to order something large for its weight.

As a rule of thumb, you can easily spend 50 to 100% over selling price to get the article in hand here.

And watch out for voltage differences. Even though Philippines uses type 1 receptacles and plugs, like the US or Canada, they are 220 v here not 120 v as in North America. I know it is not always an issue with a lot of modern electronics but with some stuff, like kitchen equipment, it may be an issue. (Frequency is different here and that may also impact the usability of items, especially those that have a clock or electric motor in them.)


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

I use "US GlobalMail" for everything. If you use a vendor such as FedEx, DHL et al to forward from US Global they go thru the airport where there is another PH government Customs "fee" They charge you for handling and storing and inspecting (usually by Xray) which is an additional time delay where they seem to take extra time which increases the storage fee. I did use UPS to have a Ham Radio antenna sent to me which came directly to me with no apparent stop of at the airport so no "extra" Filipino taxes and fees. I like using US Global as the final packaging vendor because they will give you number of options on who will send it to the Philippines. Many of the non-critical items I will forward using the USPS international service which is tracked but then goes thru the Philippines system. I have befriended the staff at the local post office and they texted me as soon as a package arrives...there is a flat fee for them 112 pesos but I avoid the airport customs game. The fee for the USPS is quite a bit cheaper but does take a week or so longer. I do this quite often with Amazon because I order used books on a regular basis but have US Global do the final international shipping. I might very well be full of you know what but my understanding is that there is no "extra" fee for items under 10K pesos...I have never been charged in that regard and have been shipping for 3 years now on a regular basis. Sorry for the disjointed reply. Oh by the way, you give the estimated value to the shipper for the US customs form...I am alway very conservative rather than chance testing the limit of the tax free allowance...


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Rebaqshratz said:


> I use "US GlobalMail" for everything. If you use a vendor such as FedEx, DHL et al to forward from US Global they go thru the airport where there is another PH government Customs "fee" They charge you for handling and storing and inspecting (usually by Xray) which is an additional time delay where they seem to take extra time which increases the storage fee. I did use UPS to have a Ham Radio antenna sent to me which came directly to me with no apparent stop of at the airport so no "extra" Filipino taxes and fees. I like using US Global as the final packaging vendor because they will give you number of options on who will send it to the Philippines. Many of the non-critical items I will forward using the USPS international service which is tracked but then goes thru the Philippines system. I have befriended the staff at the local post office and they texted me as soon as a package arrives...there is a flat fee for them 112 pesos but I avoid the airport customs game. The fee for the USPS is quite a bit cheaper but does take a week or so longer. I do this quite often with Amazon because I order used books on a regular basis but have US Global do the final international shipping. I might very well be full of you know what but my understanding is that there is no "extra" fee for items under 10K pesos...I have never been charged in that regard and have been shipping for 3 years now on a regular basis. Sorry for the disjointed reply. Oh by the way, you give the estimated value to the shipper for the US customs form...I am alway very conservative rather than chance testing the limit of the tax free allowance...


Same one I use. Very pleased with their service and have never had any problem.

Fred


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## Tukaram (Dec 18, 2014)

A lot of the items on Amazon I want will not ship to the Philippines, so I tend to use Lazada. I have looked at other options, like JohnnyAir and MyShoppingBox, that give a US address. You send it to the US address (cheap or free shipping usually), then they charge you to ship it to the PIs. Some combine boxes for you, some give you the option of air or boat shipping.

I have not tried any of them yet, but they look like a good option. Many guys have recommended various services.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

Rebaqshratz said:


> I might very well be full of you know what but my understanding is that there is no "extra" fee for items under 10K pesos...I have never been charged in that regard and have been shipping for 3 years now on a regular basis.


This is correct. Express shipments under p10,000 pass through without any duties and taxes. Philippines finally bowed to pressure from the big three express carriers DHL, Fedex and UPS, and now has a less corrupt system for these low value items. Higher values, I'm not sure.

I worked in the express industry and back in the 90's it was really bad here. Our office literally kept piles of cash in the office for the several payoffs needed to get shipments through customs. Sometimes, you would take it across a line and pay one guy, then across another line and pay another guy! Nowadays, it is more civilized corruption.

In Amazon, if you save your PH address in your address book and choose it, you can chose to only show items eligible for shipping to PH.

Amazon Int'l shipping can be a really good deal for some items. They have huge leverage with the big three express shippers and others, so their rates have come down. You can experiment with the rates to PH and also the p10,000 limit, which is around $190.

For instance, there are some shirts I like for about $25-35 each. Add 1 to the cart and shipping to my PH address is $16.40. Add another and the shipping only goes up to $18.81, so the incremental shipping for the 2nd shirt was only $2.21. You can keep adding small items and the incremental shipping is not that much. When you add enough items to go over the ~$190 value limit, you will start to see a big deposit required for duties and taxes. Stay under the limit and avoid the deposit and subsequent duties and taxes. I added 5 shirts at $28.99, total $144.95. Shipping is $26.04. They will usually ship UPS, DHL or Fedex and they items might be split up, dependent on where they are available and ship from.

I did notice one new change, a negative. The p10,000 limit appears to include shipping now. I thought before it was only the value of the goods.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

US Global is perfect for that and a real person answers the phone should have a problem or question.


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## dodger501 (Jul 11, 2016)

I use shippingcart dot com.
They are quick, use LBC to deliver locally, never had a problem.


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## mikelv49n (May 23, 2018)

i shipped a phone to Cebu thru Amazon. I am in Las Vegas.
Picked out the item paid for it and 5 days later it was delivered to there home.
There was a problem with the phone Amazon e mailed a return label it was returned at no charge and 10 days later they had a replacement item in there hand and everything worked great.
Easy to follow on line where the item was at all time, friendly on the phone and only cared about making me happy with there service and the product.
I would use them again.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

M.C.A. said:


> Some items can't be shipped her by Amazon or other companies I found that out once when ordering a crock pot so only the lower quality products seem to ship here that was my experience.
> 
> Amazon website has a link to Philippines orders or items allowed to ship here just below their name upper left-hand side. And make sure the VAT tax is included it should be or you'll end up forking out 12% of the cost upon delivery.


M.C.A. - I shipped rubber straps without a problem by Amazon just last week but the turned down shipping printer heads for a fancy HP unit (reassigned when I left my law practice lol). The small print was that they, the print heads, would be shipped from another vendor. I wonder if that is the go-no go criteria. I know that companies need an export lic from the State Dept or DoD (depending on the nature of the item) wonder if that is why some of Amazon can and some of it cannot be sent direct to the PH??? Who knows???


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

*High end products*



Rebaqshratz said:


> M.C.A. - I shipped rubber straps without a problem by Amazon just last week but the turned down shipping printer heads for a fancy HP unit (reassigned when I left my law practice lol). The small print was that they, the print heads, would be shipped from another vendor. I wonder if that is the go-no go criteria. I know that companies need an export lic from the State Dept or DoD (depending on the nature of the item) wonder if that is why some of Amazon can and some of it cannot be sent direct to the PH??? Who knows???


Maybe that is what's going on all I know for sure that high-end products will not ship to the Philippines so you're left with cheap low-end items to choose from online but these high-end products are sold in Manila if you do a search these companies are there and what a hassle to find them and get your product, I also needed some electronic parts for my HP laptop but HP is located in Manila only.


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

Rebaqshratz said:


> ....... I wonder if that is the go-no go criteria. I know that companies need an export lic from the State Dept or DoD (depending on the nature of the item) wonder if that is why some of Amazon can and some of it cannot be sent direct to the PH??? Who knows???


I think that it is more likely that the particular vendor simply does not want the extra hassle that comes with shipping overseas. Extra forms to fill in additional care in packaging etc. They may think that the extra business does not pay the extra costs.

Lots of stuff one vendor will not ship can easily be purchased from another vendor.

Another possible explanation is that the manufacturers want to protect their sales channels. I have had non Amazon vendors explain that they could not ship to a foreign country or even to my re-shipper because that would violate their agreement with their manufacturer. The manufacturer may have set up foreign sales channels that prohibit reselling into foreign markets.

If you look at the lists of prohibited items on shipper web sites it is mostly about stuff prohibited for import, perishable and/or dangerous goods or military goods. High tech alone does not show up on the lists unless it is high tech with a military specific application. I don't think printer heads would qualify. (Most likely made in China anyway lol)


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

Print cartridges sold here in Philippines are not compatible with printers bought from a different region, even if they are the same model as sold here. I suspect that the opposite is true, print cartridges bought outside the Philippines will not be compatible with printers bought here. They are geo locked to a specific region.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

This is the explanation from Amazon regarding what does and what does not ship to the Philippines.

Can't Ship to this Address


This may be because:

Dimensional shipping limits - standard shipping to these regions are limited by the overall shipping size which include a maximum length or girth of 108 inches and maximum weight of 70 lbs.
Large and/or oddly shaped items may not be eligible for shipping.
Hazmat - certain hazmat items (including but not limited to lithium batteries) are restricted from shipping to these areas.
Restricted Product - Products offered for sale on Amazon.com must comply with all laws and regulations and with Amazon's policies. For more information see Restricted Products.
Address type - certain address types preclude shipping speeds, due to carrier capabilities.
Amazon may be restricted from shipping to your country due to government import/export requirements.
You are shipping to a U.S. freight forwarder but your order contains items that are restricted from exportation.
Amazon may be restricted from shipping to your country or location due to manufacturer restrictions or warranty issues.
You may have chosen an offer from a seller who doesn't offer international shipping. Try looking for another seller.
You may have chosen an offer from a seller who doesn't offer shipping to your address due to the nature of the product (Perishable, Heavy/Bulky, Hazmat). Try looking for another seller or a similar product.


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