They’ve Arrived!
Posted by Aurus | Filed under Online, Reads, Site | 66 views
Ze books I’ve ordered from Amazon.com at the beginning of the month have arrived yesterday. Yippee! I’ve already started reading the first one. I must say, shipping costs and customs duties are a huuuge pain in the ass. Yes, they cost me more than the books did. But I really really really wanted those books and they’re not available here - I’ve looked and I’ve asked.
I didn’t really mind paying extra for shipping - I opted for a courier service because our local post office really puts the snail in snail mail, and I wanted to receive my order ASAP. But come on! The customs duties made me want to cry. Well, not really. I was more annoyed.
If only ordering stuff from other countries weren’t so costly. And if only we had a local Amazon site like China and Japan do. I’d be ordering stuff online all the time. Oh well.
If you have any online shopping experiences that you’d like to share, I’d very much like to hear them. =]
Oh by the way, I’ve updated the site a bit, particularly the sidebar and the About section.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
You should’ve haggled a bit. Custom duties in the country are soooo arbitrary that it’s sickening.
My friend from US shipped us 4 manga books and the custom officials want to charge us 1,100php for it. >_> I ended up paying just 250 + 30(postage fees) by saying that I’m just a student and I can’t afford to shell out that much. Of course, no receipts. ^^;;
So the Manila Post Office is no different either huh.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
My order didn’t go through the post office - DHL delivered it and they paid the custom duties in advance on my behalf. But thanks for the tip, will keep that in mind next time.
February 12th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
That’s not right. D: I called up the Bureau of Customs when we had this bout with the post office. Bottom line is, customs should just be around 22% of package value (12% VAT + 10% customs). I’m sure they’ll try to add all those “credible” sounding tax shit like shipping tax, etc. But written laws are logical, it should never go beyond the value of your package. So I stick with the 22% rule. D:
My guess is that the DHL guy is trying to rip you off. Does the receipt indicated the amount of tax and the breakdown?
February 12th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
And I highly doubt that DHL will pay your fees in advance. o_O Because it’s not a guarantee for them that you’ll pay back. It’s a credit risk.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:13 am
The receipts are from the Bureau of Customs and the breakdown is indicated. I think it’s customs that’s ripping people off. =S
Thanks for the heads up.