I’ve been buying stuff from Ebay, mostly books that are not available locally, and it’s all good because I find it a lot cheaper than buying from, say, Amazon and other online stores. My favorite seller never fails to deliver in two weeks or less, with a shipping fee of 4 USD (Priority Mail International). I don’t know why, but items fom this seller are delivered straight to my address whereas books that I ordered from others have to be picked up from the local post office. With the latter, there’s a Php35 customs fee.
Now Php35 is not bad (printed materials are apparently tax-free), but I learned the hard way that other items cost a lot, lot more to import. I ordered a box set of DVDs and it was delivered to the main customs office for inspection. That being my first time to claim an imported item, I just brought my claim slip thinking that all I need to do is to show and take. Imagine my surprise when I arrrived there with a long line of people in waiting, most wearing an irritated expression from the amount of duties and taxes they have to pay. I overheard one lady raise her voice upon knowing that she’ll have to pay Php2,500 to claim a playstation 3 that came as a gift from a relative. It made me really nervous because I didn’t have enough cash with me. True enough, when it’s my turn, I declared the real amount I paid for the item (US$77) and was given a computation that totalled to Php1,900. The price of ignorance. Tsk.
I’ll *never* buy DVD box sets from abroad again. [Truth is, $77 is waaaaay below the real price of that product but I no longer want to recount how I’ve been scammed into believing that I’m buying authentic DVDs. It’s too much insult added to injury already. Again, the lesson learned: If something seems to good to be true, then it probably is.]
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