[ NIHON BUNKA KENKYUU ] BUNKEN 101: Reviews, comments, and insights on Japanese pop culture.
Note: This article also appears in a modified form at KALYE PINKY.
We all love purchasing Japanese music CDs and DVDs from online stores — it’s faster, cheaper, and you have a wider assortment of titles to choose from. Unfortunately, having your stuff held up at Customs is a reality, and all J-pop collectors will have to deal with it into sooner or later.
As many of you are more or less aware of, the Bureau of Customs is the government’s taxation arm for incoming goods from overseas. They have the authority to detain and inspect any parcels for possible dutiable goods. As a rule all parcels — gifts or otherwise, are automatically taxable, but the Bureau alone can determine if the taxes on your parcel can be waived in your favor.
If your parcel is taking longer than the usual 5-7 business days for EMS shipping, chances are it has already been put on hold by the Bureau of Customs. One sure way of finding out is phoning the EMS Office at the Pasay City Post Office (also Metro Manila’s EMS Sorting Facility) at (02) 854-3580, and asking them to locate your parcel with the tracking number given by the online store.
If the Office confirms that your parcel is with Customs, you have two options: 1) you can wait for your neighborhood postman to deliver your claim slip; or 2) print out your tracking information from the foreign Post Office website (Japan Post, etc.).
Head on over to the Pasay City Post Office (along Domestic Airport Road, near 6-11) with your claim slip/tracking information, two valid IDs, and a thick wad of cash. Oh — and something to pass the time, like a good book or a portable gaming console; you’ll thank me for this later.
At Pasay City Post Office, the guards can help you locate the Customs Office — which is basically a warehouse down the end of the left-side parking lot. Inside, talk to one of the PhilPost ladies, and she will confirm your identity as parcel owner, take down your parcel number and add it to the inspection queue.
Now comes a long wait; depending on how busy the Office is at that time of year (the Christmas season is always horrific), waiting for your parcel to reach the front of the queue will take anywhere from half an hour to two hours. Once your parcel is on the inspection table, you will be called by the Customs Inspectors to supervise the parcel opening and explain what the items are and where they came from.
If your CDs came from an EBAY seller or someone from LiveJournal, and your purchase either came without invoice or with an under-declared invoice, you’re in luck as the inspectors may decide to waive your taxes and fees, and let your parcel go with just the PhP 35 releasing fee.
However, if your CDs came from an online store with the proper documentation, or it is a large order from any source (and by large order I mean 1 kilogram and up), the taxman goes to work. Taxes and duties on CDs and books are calculated as [(Product Value + Shipping Costs) * 10% Duties] + [(Product Value + Shipping Costs) * 12% VAT] + [PhP 750 Customs Processing Flat Fee].
So, if your entire parcel has a declared value of USD 100, the calculations will be [USD10 * PhP 43 Currency Conversion] + [USD12 * PhP 43 Currency Conversion] + [PhP 750] for a total of PhP 1696. Yikes ^^;; All that’s left to do now is fork over the amount indicated in the tax calculations, pay PhilPost their PhP 35 releasing fee, and your music is now free to go home with you.
Getting taxed exhorbitantly for something as trivial as CDs is enough to give even the most stout-hearted collector hypertension, so here are a few tricks you can use to avoid wallet drain:
1) Keep your orders small. Parcels costing USD 50 or less are less likely to be flagged for taxation by Customs Inspectors.
2) If buying from an EBAY seller or from LiveJournal, ask them if they can under-declare the value of your purchase. This will also unfortunately lower your insurance claims if the parcel gets lost or damaged, but that is rather unlikely to happen, compared to having the parcel held up by the Customs Office.
3) Limit your purchases from online stores located in North America or Europe. Taxes on Asian currencies like the Japanese Yen, the Hong Kong Dollar, or the Singapore Dollar are cheaper when converted to the Philippine Peso compared to the United States Dollar or the Euro.
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Wednesday, 19 March 2008hello—all articles on the website are link-free, as long as the links are directed to the OS website, and the text is not copied verbatim without credit to the site. thanks!
Posted by magnetic_rose at 10:03 AM
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
Thursday, 3 April 2008I also buy online - Amazon.com (Manga) and YesAsia.com (CDs). YesAsia packages are OK and swift (delivered right at my doorstep), however, it’s a different case with Amazon packages. It takes an average of 20 business days for delivery. AND, I always have to claim the package from the Central Post Office.
Posted by makkun at 08:44 PM
Monday, 7 April 2008All registered mails/parcels (14-21 days transit time) must be claimed from your local post office, because this requires a signature from the recipient before they release the goods. This could be the standard shipping method of Amazon.
Standard/International Priority Air Mail and EMS shipping will be delivered directly to your shipping address without the need of the signature from the recipient. However, for packages that has a declared value of usually more than US$50 and up, these will be held up at the post office for customs inspection.
Posted by fairydanceinthehaze at 10:42 AM
Hi, I would like to request for permission to link to this post. I will be linking it on a PinoyExchange thread which is currently discussing about difficulties in obtaining/retrieving parcels (specifically clothing) shipped from abroad. Hoping for a favorable response. Thank you!
Posted by Ligaya Haruka at 04:38 PM