Sending a gift to Cebu by Post

[worthingmale]

Hi

I am going to send a gift to Cebu and was wondering on the address. Are there any Cebu people who can help me please.

1) The address does it have to be in English and Tagalog or will it be ok in just English.
2) I will send it by Royal Mail is this a good idea
3) I have been given a Cebu city zip code of 6000 - is this correct ?

Thanks
Nigel

[Steve.r]

Better you send it by LBC, I have never had anything arrive from the UK sent to me, ie, birthday/christmas cards

[worthingmale]

Sorry, what is LBC?

[Steve.r]

LBC are a shipping company who send balikbayan boxes and goods to the Philippines. If you are sending anything of any value, best go this route. Many of us use them to send goods there from the forum.

look here: http://www.lbcexpress.com/

[Michael Parnham]

Better you send it by LBC, I have never had anything arrive from the uk sent to me, ie, birthday/christmas cards

I had loads of mail sent to me whilst in Dumaguete, my sister forwarded quite a number of items via Royal Mail including my renewed Debit card also I received mail from State Pension regarding annual increase and all the mail took approx. two weeks to arrive!

[worthingmale]

I am worried that it is an electric item (phone) so not sure if batteries are allowed, if tax will need to be paid.

Hmm what to do? A friend is going out to Cebu in March but that is a long time away.

[grahamw48]

Have you met the recipient ? :Erm:

The parcel will likely get opened and stolen by the way, if sent normal mail.:thumbsdown:

Letters are usually ok.

[raynaputi]

Never send anything electronics or such via post..trust me, the Philippine customs would charge it with extortionate fees, even if you tagged it as GIFT. :thumbsdown: You'd rather use a balikbayan box. You can use LBC like the others have said and there is a small box that you can avail. The customs fee will be included in the price because LBC handles all the customs fees for all their shipments as long as you declare the items in the box. I usually put "OLD" or "USED" in the items' descriptions, i.e. "Old/used clothes". My family was never charged any fees and the box was delivered at their doorstep too, unopened. If you send via post, the recipient will have to claim it from the post office. He/she will have to open the parcel there and the Customs will have to compute the customs fees and taxes. Most often than not, the fees will be 2x or even 3x the price of the items.

Just read this recent news. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/393089/scitech/socialmedia/phl-customs-officials-ruin-little-boy-s-christmas

[worthingmale]

Grahamw48 - don't worry all is good on that front, but thanks for the reminder about common sense

[Rosie1958]

I've never had so much as a card sent by Royal Mail successfully delivered to a residential address in Philippines (Paranaque, Manila). However, sending them to a commercial business address was usually more successful ........ :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Michael Parnham]

I've never had so much as a card sent by Royal Mail successfully delivered to a residential address in Philippines (Paranaque, Manila). However, sending them to a commercial business address was usually more successful ........ :xxgrinning--00xx3:

We used to collect our mail from Dumaguete Post Office. We were advised by the postman who delivered mail to the apartments we lived in. He said that mail from overseas had to be collected! :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

Personally I'd consider either LBC small box (takes weeks to deliver) or even a DHL small packet. I doubt DHL will take a cell phone with battery but worth checking with them.

I've had some mail delivered into Philippines and some not.
The oddest thing though is that any card or letter I sent that contained a banknote never ever made it. Sometimes the card did .....alone. :icon_lol:

Don't know how they do it unless they steam open on a large scale :icon_lol:

[cheekee]

I sent a mobile to Sheina in Cebu with DHL.

It got there fine in three days but the tax I had to pay to the Philippine authorities was ridiculous.

[grahamw48]

Better, though less romantic, to send the cash for it through Western Union.

Only Charging £2.90 for up to £100 at the moment....no other costs.

You can do it all online, direct transfer from your bank, and the money is there minutes later. WU will email you when it has been collected.

[grahamw48]

I of course made sure I was there to help my sweetheart pick out her new (birthday present) phone. :lovecouple:

[cheekee]

I of course made sure I was there to help my sweetheart pick out her new (birthday present) phone. :lovecouple:

Great you could do that mate.

Sadly I didn't realise the tax you have to pay when sending a phone. It was the only way I had to see my mahal on Skype and be able to message each other as she didn't have a phone.

Had to bite the bullet as the only way she could receive the phone was to pay the extortionate tax bill.

[mendoza82]

Any electronics you send to philippines automatically you going to pay tax,even if it's secondhand or old gadgets..my husband sent me a tablet and phone before thru DHL it took only a week but the tax I payed for it was a bit shocking

[grahamw48]

Great you could do that mate.

Sadly I didn't realise the tax you have to pay when sending a phone. It was the only way I had to see my mahal on Skype and be able to message each other as she didn't have a phone.

Had to bite the bullet as the only way she could receive the phone was to pay the extortionate tax bill.

Oops, reading that back I come across as a smug bugger. Not my intention at all.

Happy New Year to you and your other half. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[cheekee]

Oops, reading that back I come across as a smug bugger. Not my intention at all.

Happy New Year to you and your other half. :xxgrinning--00xx3:

It's ok mate. I wasn't having a go at you. Just found the level of tax I had to pay was ridiculous.

Happy new year to you and Mercedes also.