# Shipping Desktop Computers



## DrMark (Nov 6, 2013)

Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?

I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.

Does anyone have experience moving about 3 or 4 standard size desktop computers and servers, about 8 LCD monitors and all the networking equipment? Is there a way to get them into the Phils for personal use only without paying customs fees?

Thanks,
Dr. Mark


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

DrMark said:


> Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?
> 
> I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.
> 
> ...


Don't think so. Customs will most likely allow you one as personal property as they did for me years ago. Beyond that you'll almost surly have to pay duty on the spot. Best advice---trash the computers and bring only the hard drives from each in your luggage and buy needed comp screens etc here. Will cost much less than paying duty..


----------



## overmyer (Aug 15, 2013)

DrMark said:


> Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?
> 
> I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.
> 
> ...


Pack well in balikbayon box and ship that way or just buy new in Philippines.


----------



## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

Also if you are doing real time dealing you are going to need a very fast and reliable internet connection. I don't think these have reached the Philippines yet.


----------



## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

DrMark said:


> Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?
> 
> I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.
> 
> ...


Besides a fast connection remember the time deference. We are at +8 New York is at -4 so you might need to flip flop your days to nights. Also I'd recommend selling all your stuff there and buying new equipment here. You can get top of the line computers or build your own.
As Jet said you'll pay dearly to get them in probably more than they are worth


----------



## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

What you must also be aware of is that the Philippines is a great retirement destination. It's a third world, sorry developing country, so for anything else it can suck. Fast broadband is not universaly available, many are lucky if they have it at all, and you might go to an area that has fast reliable broadband one day and may have for a while for it to suddenly go to rats and stay that way. You also can have unpredicted brown outs of varying lenghts to contend with, again it may not of happened for a while then suddenly it could happen every other day. And don't expect any sympathy from the utility provider. You can make your way by doing business on the net but be preparred to fit it around whats available and bare in mind it may come and go at a whim.


----------



## UltraFJ40 (May 20, 2014)

With that many you're most likely going to be paying tax, and lots of it.

I'd also recommend buying or building once there.


----------



## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

Jet Lag said:


> Don't think so. Customs will most likely allow you one as personal property as they did for me years ago. Beyond that you'll almost surly have to pay duty on the spot. Best advice---trash the computers and bring only the hard drives from each in your luggage and buy needed comp screens etc here. Will cost much less than paying duty..


The desktop cases are the bulky part. If you have the skills you could disassemble and just bring the components to put in new cases bought in the PI.

And opinions vary about living in Angeles City but will say with CommClark(sp) we've had very reliable and high speed internet. I would have no issues working an internet business from there.


----------



## Maxx62 (Dec 31, 2013)

DrMark said:


> Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?
> 
> I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.
> 
> ...


I shipped two desktop computers here last year by putting them inside balikbayan boxes. I also shipped one LCD monitor, but it got broken in transit. I didn't have to pay any tariff on my computers, (no one said anything to me about it) and I simply picked up my boxes in the airport along with the rest of my luggage. 

However, a few days later when I opened my boxes, I found that someone had already gone inside and had opened my computer cases, and had disconnected my hard drives! The side panels were left off the cabinets, and the cables were disconnected from the drives. This was definitely not the way that I had put them into the box back in the US. I don't know if the computers had been tampered with authorities in the US, Hong Kong (where I had stop over) or here in the Philippines? There was no label or note explaining why my computers had been tampered with. (I'm guessing that someone looked at, or cloned my drives?)

One of my computers survived in tact, and I simply had to plug the cables back onto the drives, however, the other machine experienced a controller failure, and it could no longer detect the Sata hard drive. I purchased a PCI controller card and after that I was able to use the machine again. (I'm thinking that maybe someone disconnected the cable while the machine was still powered up.) Keep in mind any personal information that you may have stored on any machine you send here.

Also, in the past I sent a lot of old laptops to my wife's relatives, via balikbayan boxes, and to the best of my knowledge those were never tampered with, and nobody had to pay a tariff. I'm wondering if this might have been due to fact that the laptops were sent in boxes addressed to locals here in the Philippines, while the boxes containing my desktops were addressed to me? (The laptops were shipped via a courier company, while my desktops came with me on a flight.)

Also, once you get your equipment over here, you're going to want to make sure that you have your machines plugged into an electrical outlet that is grounded! When I first got here I simply flipped the switch on my power supply from 110v to 220v thinking that would be the only issue. However, the first time I plugged in a USB device I got a strong electrical shock from my PC. After doing some reading I found out that my power supply in a PC is grounded through the metal chassis of the desktop. If the power supply doesn't have a ground through its power cord, you become the ground anytime that metal surface on your computer. Also, my computer was much more stable once I created a ground for it. 

I'm not the brightest person when it comes to household electricity, so it took me a while to figure it out. Below is a link to a thread I created in this forum when I was having trouble with getting shocks from appliances. Hope my experiences will save others some trouble. 


http://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/319050-household-ac-current.html


----------



## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

DrMark said:


> Does anyone know of a cost effective way to ship all my computer equipment without paying extraordinary fees?
> 
> I do all my personal investing from my home office in the US and have several desktop and laptop computers. My office looks like an air traffic controllers station with screens pointing at me from every direction. I would like to re-create my office in the Phils and work there as I do here.
> 
> ...


I shipped my desktop computer and 24 inch LCD in a Balikbayan box and it arrived safely, but I agree that it could be hit and miss with damage. You will not pay any customs fees.

The LCD later gave out (it was old) and I found that large computer displays are hard to find here. The exception may be in the Manila area but here in Subic the best I could to was get a 24 inch Toshiba TV. Although it has computer inputs, the resolution is not as good as a real computer LCD.


----------



## overmyer (Aug 15, 2013)

DonAndAbby said:


> I shipped my desktop computer and 24 inch LCD in a Balikbayan box and it arrived safely, but I agree that it could be hit and miss with damage. You will not pay any customs fees.
> 
> The LCD later gave out (it was old) and I found that large computer displays are hard to find here. The exception may be in the Manila area but here in Subic the best I could to was get a 24 inch Toshiba TV. Although it has computer inputs, the resolution is not as good as a real computer LCD.


CD-R King is a good sourse for large, reasonably priced LCD displays!


----------



## HondaGuy (Aug 6, 2012)

You can get just about any computer stuff (in Manila at least) but one thing I havent seen there is dual/quad monitor stands. I would fold those up or disassemble them and ship those over in balikbayan boxes. Bring your hard drives in your luggage. Motherboards, cases, optical drives, etc can all be bought locally. If you have a keyboard you are particular to, I would bring that (and a spare) as well. Good luck!


----------

