How to ship belongings from US to Philippines?

do you think that the best to use LBC?  i use to have a guy who would send box from usa to philipines by boat cargo takes 1 month but he quite because he was not making enough money so now i need to send a box by cargo in a boat it ok if it take 1 month to get there from UAS California to  calubian leyte philippines? and if u say LBC still how much does it cost the web site does not say the rate by cargo boat

Cheap is a relative term in the long distance shipping world and I'd be hesitant to trust all my belongings to a company that offered the rock bottom cheapest price. After all, they're moving everything you own and you're putting your trust in them, though I do understand trying to save a buck. My brother in law relocated to the Philippines two years ago and used this company https://www.a1autotransport.com/moving-to-philippines/ so you might try them just to see how their prices compare to others. He didn't seem to have any problems with them so I assume everything went as expected. Good luck!

If you are married to a filipina, you can send what's called 'balikbayan boxes' from any number of shipping sources in North America. We recently used Forex that may have offices in the States also.
We received our 7 boxes both intact and only the handle of our heavy cast iron pan poked through the rough handling official boxes go through. With only 2 boxes left to open, only a poorly packed small glass food container was broken. When packing your stuff, use towels and other forms of padding to ensure safe and intact arrival?
If you know any filipino friends or know any pinoy at your local bank, restaurant or hotel, ask them and they will likely try to help you with info on how to proceed Stateside? Most of them likely send stuff home to their  poorer family members and will know a reliable carrier if you qualify. But most of those balikbayan shipping companies want $, and likely don't care that you are a westerner, and likely won't ask questions if you aren't closely connected to a filipino over here.
What you must have is a forwarding address and contact phone number of someone in the Phils so that when your boxes arrive, they will call them or you for delivery to the address of your choice (usually free as part of their service).
As for costs, we paid C$100/standard larger box (4'x2'x2'), $10/small (2'x2'x15") and $15/tube for rugs, quilts, etc. (can get them at Home Depot for $5 each). The boxes they use are thick and durable, but everyone reinforces them, esp. the bottoms and tops with quality clear shipping tape (Home Depot, Staples, etc.). If you use duct tape, it may melt in transit and weaken your intended purpose. So don't bother? As it won't smear, leave some space for writing the address and Phil contact numbers on the outside cardboard of the box for the receiving company to use? If sending fragile stuff, just wrap it well? The shipping handlers turn these boxes on end and elsewise as they stash in their large shipping containers, etc.
Not sure what else may help you, but make sure your source at the other end is honest and reliable. Some hotels or restaurants might let you use their contact numbers if you reward them for the service, but a trustworthy friend here is likely best. Providing more than one contact number on the outside of the box and on the bill of lading might be helpful.
Good luck...

robhankins wrote:

I am contemplating retirement in the Phils. I am married to a filipina. Does anyone know how best (cheapest) to send personal belongings to the Phils?

As mentioned already, it depends on how much you are shipping. IMO you should not ship any appliances or electronics that only use 110v. Power transformers here are expensive and use a lot of current, I know from experience 😔. If I had it to do over again I would not ship 80% of what we did again. Unless they are very personal items or items that you can't get here.

hi, just wanted to clarify, if the possible expenses listed are in pesos or in dollars?

zincity wrote:

robhankins wrote:

I am contemplating retirement in the Phils. I am married to a filipina. Does anyone know how best (cheapest) to send personal belongings to the Phils?

As mentioned already, it depends on how much you are shipping. IMO you should not ship any appliances or electronics that only use 110v. Power transformers here are expensive and use a lot of current, I know from experience 😔. If I had it to do over again I would not ship 80% of what we did again. Unless they are very personal items or items that you can't get here.

I have shipped many  110V appliances to the Philippines, this response is typed from 110V
laptop.

The solution is easy and cheap without any transformer. There are many youtube videos showing you how, or you can hire an electrician (cheap).  At my house the outlets are marked 110V & 220V.

You don't need an electrician to rewire your whole house, most of you appliances will be in the kitchen. This thread is over a year old

jemil2k wrote:

from US to philippines 40 footer van we collect 200k pesos all in. feel free to contact me if u want to bring ur personal belongings to philippines.  thanks. jemil

Hi I would like to get a quote. I would apprecate it.

@Jemil how to send belongings to Ph? Thanks

I would like to send some things to someone in the Philippines -- some necessities. But I have no idea how to go about doing that?  What stores are in the Philippines?  Thanks

Hold on Enzyte Bob.. you mean to tell me that you have had your 220 voltage stepped down via your wiring infrastructure in your house/apt and sported the voltages with 110 and 220 outlets?  do pray tell oh mon ami...   how did you go about it.. transformers, voltage switches, etc...   I would like to know more about this.  thank you  "the T man"

Some cities in the Philippines use two 110 volt lines to make 220 volts. Just need electrician to use one line to make your 110 v outlets.  HOW TO GET 110V FROM A 220V OUTLET! SIMPLE!!
YouTube · 130,000+ views · 5/6/2019 · by Tech 360 Dallas

tpiro wrote:

Hold on Enzyte Bob.. you mean to tell me that you have had your 220 voltage stepped down via your wiring infrastructure in your house/apt and sported the voltages with 110 and 220 outlets?  do pray tell oh mon ami...   how did you go about it.. transformers, voltage switches, etc...   I would like to know more about this.  thank you  "the T man"

Yes, I have separate outlets for 110 & 220. No transformers just internal wiring at the outlets. Of course they are well marked so family does not make mistake like plugging 110V coffee percolator into 220V or 220V microwave into 110V.

Before the third floor was added on to our house I made sure the contractor made duel outlets. Sometime after that I had a local handyman convert one of the 110V back to 220V, he charged me 500 php. It is a simple job of switching wires at the outlet.

Like Lat61 said, there are many "DIY" videos on Youtube (220v to 110V), just wear rubber gloves.

The only problem I have with Filipino wiring at my place two wires 110 each in to the breaker box so when you wire up your 220 lights you use one leg for the switch so that still leaves 110 volts live in the appliances or lights, i use to have a florescent light in the bedroom and at night it would flicker when off because it still had 110 to the fixture, I had a friend who had his house wired all 110 had to use a breaker box from USA, I hear some houses around Clark are wired 110

Enzyte Bob wrote:

Like Lat61 said, there are many "DIY" videos on Youtube (220v to 110V), just wear rubber gloves.

Better shut off the electricity before start toughing it   

- -
As I have understood it (as it is e g in Sweden but I suppouse at many other places too) a connection to a building has 1, 2 or 3 phazes with 110/120 V each, which can be put together somehow to 1, 2 or 3 times 110/120 V.  (Some machinery and some stoves need 330/360 V connection.)

Only thing if you send electronic items 110 they have to be converted to this area, I was in USA in Walmart and they had Panasonic dvd players $29 I looked on the box and those players are not set up for Asia,  a laptop  should be no problem the charger should be good for 110 and 220 I know mine is

Okieboy wrote:

The only problem I have with Filipino wiring at my place two wires 110 each in to the breaker box so when you wire up your 220 lights you use one leg for the switch so that still leaves 110 volts live in the appliances or lights, i use to have a florescent light in the bedroom and at night it would flicker when off because it still had 110 to the fixture, I had a friend who had his house wired all 110 had to use a breaker box from USA, I hear some houses around Clark are wired 110

Sounds odd. My house in the province is wired with a load wire. a neutral wire and sometimes a ground wire. The load wire measures 220-230 volts and the neutral wire is zero. No double pole circuits and none possible with a common buss bar. Much of the house was wired with black wire so I have to use a meter to determine the load and neutral wires when installing a light or outlet. If I was here when the house was being wired all outlets would have a ground wire.

I brought my vacuum pump from the US for installing split air conditioners. I have to use a step down converter since it is 120 volts. The step down converter I bought at Citihardware only has a 2-prong plug and outlet. I've used it to install 4 split units so far and learned after the 1st one not to touch any metal part of the vacuum pump when it is running.

So why not put in a ground rod? Easy enough. good luck

lcdrski wrote:

So why not put in a ground rod? Easy enough. good luck

The ground rod is easy enough, I've driven in a few. Pulling the third wire through hundreds of meters of flexible conduit in a large two story concrete house not so easy.

Moon Dog wrote:

lcdrski wrote:

So why not put in a ground rod? Easy enough. good luck

The ground rod is easy enough, I've driven in a few. Pulling the third wire through hundreds of meters of flexible conduit in a large two story concrete house not so easy.

Do it the Filipino way, buy a couple hundred feet of lamp cord, why run it through conduit? Just hook it up to your neighbors ground rod in the middle of the night.

All fun aside the effectiveness of a ground rod depends on the soil conductivity.

All the wiring is like that here, but the crazy thing the street lights are 110 volt, you get no neural or ground wire from the transformer just the two 110,  we don't have brown outs, only good thing, and your appliances come with a ground you need to hookup, I use a surge protector on freezer, ref,

A tile layer I had one time had a grinder that was 110 he plugged one prong in the 220 socket the other wire to a piece of rebar in the ground been using it like that for years he said

I have read most, if not all posts. Very informative, but my question is about not the cost of shipping, but taxes. My girlfriend and I are NOT married, pending annulment. I will be buying  a lot (Leasing) until we marry.

What kind of taxes could I expect on $20,000. "Dollars" in value. Most stuff would be construction and hobby tools.  Thanks in advance.

Keith

I have read most, if not all posts. Very informative, but my question is about not the cost of shipping, but taxes. My girlfriend and I are NOT married, pending annulment. I will be buying a lot (Leasing) until we marry.
What kind of taxes could I expect on $20,000. "Dollars" in value. Most stuff would be construction and hobby tools. Thanks in advance.
Keith
-@Kampkos104

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Seems you missed the large amount of information about annulments, I wouldn't worry about the taxes or buying a lot.

The cost of an annulment will leave you broke, too broke to buy anything.

@GallonAlan If you can't put it in your luggage on your way there, you don't need to bring it with you. Just buy whatever you need there.

I have read most, if not all posts. Very informative, but my question is about not the cost of shipping, but taxes. My girlfriend and I are NOT married, pending annulment. I will be buying a lot (Leasing) until we marry.
What kind of taxes could I expect on $20,000. "Dollars" in value. Most stuff would be construction and hobby tools. Thanks in advance.
Keith
-@Kampkos104

Keith, depends on your visa status, I shipped AU 40/50K worth of gear in a 20 ft shipping container 4 plus years ago and put it all in my partners name as a returning Filipino citizen (He holds permanent residency in Australia) and was allowed to, after 6 years out of country ship back a miserly PHP 250K or around AU 7K. They never looked at the container but I suppose the manifest all 8 typed pages and gave up, no taxes or duties.

If you hold an SRRV then US 7K free import of personal belongings, not sure for a married couple.

If you purchase land and lease it at arms length from your lady I think you will find if you marry her the lease will be torn up and it's all hers. Can't lease from wife or siblings by law.

Good luck and wish you well.

Cheers, Steve.

@Kampkos104 We shipped a full container load of household furniture, appliances etc., typical residential contents and when it arrived in Cebu it was inspected by Customs. Following the general advice of trying to put the most expensive things in the back of the container because they will not unload the entire shipment, we did not witness the inspection but they gave us a charge of about 190,000 php ($3800). However, that may not be helpful to you because you have mostly construction equipment which may be subject to much higher taxes, perhaps equal to their present value. I am not sure if you can get a better answer on this forum because that is not usually what expats usually bring over but perhaps you could ask an import-export agent if you can find one listed. Physically they are located near the Customs processing facilities. The suggestion I saw that suggested you leave everything home and buy it here might not be useful since many US style construction products may be difficult to find.

Aeta Tribe said . . . If you can't put it in your luggage on your way there, you don't need to bring it with you. Just buy whatever you need there.

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Maybe for you, many of us used Balikbayan (many) boxes before moving here. My wife's shoes and purses would have taken up all the space in your luggage.

@Kampkos104 I sent a lot of tools here and never paid any tax. My wife would be packing balikbayan boxes and I would be out in my workshop deciding what I wanted to bring. Some of my tools would not fit in a single box so we joined two boxes together which created a 24" x 18" x 48" box. We usually sent 10 or 12 boxes at a time and sent over 60 boxes total, all tax free. We used LBC and the Filipino dude who picked up our boxes marked them clothing and canned goods.

@Enzyte Bob  Thanks for the response. She has her own money and is paying for her own annulment.

If you could address the tax issue, that could be helpful.

regards

Keith

@bigpearl Thanks for the reply, though we're not exactly comparing Mango to Mango, there is worth in your reply. I appreciate your response.

Cheers mate.

Keith

@Aeta Tribe I have heard that from a few people.  It's difficult to say goodbye to everything. I guess I'll ship using LBC. Thanks for the response.

Keith

@Kampkos104 We shipped a full container load of household furniture, appliances etc., typical residential contents and when it arrived in Cebu it was inspected by Customs. Following the general advice of trying to put the most expensive things in the back of the container because they will not unload the entire shipment, we did not witness the inspection but they gave us a charge of about 190,000 php ($3800). However, that may not be helpful to you because you have mostly construction equipment which may be subject to much higher taxes, perhaps equal to their present value. I am not sure if you can get a better answer on this forum because that is not usually what expats usually bring over but perhaps you could ask an import-export agent if you can find one listed. Physically they are located near the Customs processing facilities. The suggestion I saw that suggested you leave everything home and buy it here might not be useful since many US style construction products may be difficult to find.
-@danfinn

Thanks for the response, sounds like shipping LBC is my best bet. "If it don't fit, you must not ship!" A quote from a 90's trial.

Keith

@Kampkos104 I sent a lot of tools here and never paid any tax. My wife would be packing balikbayan boxes and I would be out in my workshop deciding what I wanted to bring. Some of my tools would not fit in a single box so we joined two boxes together which created a 24" x 18" x 48" box. We usually sent 10 or 12 boxes at a time and sent over 60 boxes total, all tax free. We used LBC and the Filipino dude who picked up our boxes marked them clothing and canned goods.
-@Moon Dog

Dude, some good advice here. I've read some good responses , I'm going to use the Balikbayan boxes and say Adios to the rest.

Really appreciate your time and advice.

Keith 

@Enzyte Bob Thanks for the response. She has her own money and is paying for her own annulment.
If you could address the tax issue, that could be helpful.
regards
Keith
-@Kampkos104

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Where did you meet your future bride? online?

She should know the annulment process especially how many years it takes and the cost.

Where did you meet your future bride? online?

Sounds like a Cherry Blossoms kind of guy 🤣

Where did you meet your future bride? online?

Sounds like a Cherry Blossoms kind of guy 🤣
-@Lotus Eater

I don't think a lady who could actually afford an annulment on her own would need to try to hook up with some foreign guy online.

@Moon Dog That is the only tax free way to go. The boxes are sent on a container leased by whomever is the shipper.

I agree with Aeta, sure if there is personal things you can't let go then use the Balikbayan boxes, but just FYI you can find just about everyday usage items that you will need here, some items may take a lot of searching for, but I seem to always find what I need whether it's FB market place, Shopee, Lazada or upscale malls like SM Aura etc....and Now Amazon ships certain items, mostly food items, for free to Philippines if Total is over a certain amount like $45, I believe...

@Enzyte Bob Thanks for the response. She has her own money and is paying for her own annulment.
If you could address the tax issue, that could be helpful.
regards
Keith
-@Kampkos104
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Where did you meet your future bride? online?

She should know the annulment process especially how many years it takes and the cost.
-@Enzyte Bob

Yes, online.