Balikbayan Box Major Rule Changes

[intrepid]

2 hours ago, Huggybearman said:

We have shipped many boxes over the years and up until recently only required the briefest of description of contents such as 'general household items'. No copy of senders passport was required. All our boxes arrived untouched by customs.

We shipped a couple of boxes last week and had to provide a more comprehensive list of contents and a copy of the senders passport.

It will be interesting to see if their transit through Philippines customs are equally trouble free.

Ken

 

HBM,  Did you notice if anyone had shipped larger than normal boxes or odd sized boxes?  Just wondering because I'm considering a box just a little larger than the normal Jumbo we ship. 

[Huggybearman]

Hi Intrepid. The shipping company I use, Forex in London, which is owned by UMAC based in Manila, had all sorts of sizes and shapes. I guess not all are shipped under the BB concession, but the largest I have shipped was 4ft x 2ft x 2ft which is quite a bit larger than their Jumbo box.

Ken

Edited September 21, 2017 by Huggybearman

[Huggybearman]

It would appear that the new rules are to be suspended until 31st March 2018 following representations by OFW's.

http://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/national/‘common-sense-won’-dfa-recto-hail-suspension-of-balikbayan-box-tax-rules-boc-team-to-craft-revisions/ar-AAt2gnU?li=BBr8Mkn&ocid=mailsignout

 

Ken

[Tukaram (Tim)]

My sister collected a bunch of books for us to donate to a school.  She talked to the BB shipper and he said we can ship as normal.  She is putting the box together now and will ship it soon... we shall see... 

[OnMyWay]

Does anyone have any recent experiences to relate, for shipping BB boxes US to PH?  I searched the internet and there isn't any news articles since last October, about the time this thread ended.  I searched the BOC website and it also had nothing new.

[earthdome]

9 minutes ago, OnMyWay said:

Does anyone have any recent experiences to relate, for shipping BB boxes US to PH?  I searched the internet and there isn't any news articles since last October, about the time this thread ended.  I searched the BOC website and it also had nothing new.

We shipped a single BB January 2018 and it arrived with no problems, business as usual.

[OnMyWay]

1 minute ago, earthdome said:

We shipped a single BB January 2018 and it arrived with no problems, business as usual.

I was hoping someone had shipped something past that March 2018 date mentioned in the Huggybear article.

[Huggybearman]

4 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I was hoping someone had shipped something past that March 2018 date mentioned in the Huggybear article.

Nothing seems to have changed. I shipped three boxes in December 2018 and they arrived with no fuss or bother as usual 9 weeks later from the UK.

[OnMyWay]

I contacted the woman I used in Ohio to ship my Forex boxes 5 years ago.  She said the only change is that you have to provide a list of the contents.

[Dave Hounddriver]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

you have to provide a list of the contents.

Do you provide a 10 page itemized list?  Or just say "household utensils"