LebGeeks

infiniteloop

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

It took 35 days to get out of customs
Guess what?
they only have 1 person in the customs for all couriers

BahaaAY

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Finally i got an update (3 updates at once )

16/07/2023 15:53
Item departed to final destination
SINGAPORE-SGSINB
25/08/2023 12:07
Item received at Sorting Center
LEBANON-BEIRUT SORTING CENTRE
25/08/2023 12:08
Item handed over to Customs for clearance
LEBANON-BEIRUT SORTING CENTRE
25/08/2023 12:09
Item handed over to Customs for clearance Retention Reason: Awaiting presentation to customs commissioner
LEBANON-BEIRUT SORTING CENTRE

I hope it doesnt take that long with customs

Last edited by BahaaAY (August 25 2023)

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Hey everyone, how are you all doing?

I wanted to ask if anyone has been using Shop&Ship or any other courier service to ship items to Lebanon lately.
I've noticed that the customs charges are very exaggerated.

For instance, I bought some sleeves from Amazon for only $3, but I had to pay 900000 LBP, which is three times the actual price of the item.
Similarly, I purchased a keyboard for $23 but ended up paying 2,000,000 LBP just for customs. ironically they valued the keyboard "by themself" at 14,000,000 LBP ($157)
"chabeb ta7et arraro min rason ino ysa3ruwa hal2ad?!"

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution?

Last edited by zizo99 (November 15 2023)

nosense

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Hey everyone, how are you all doing?

I wanted to ask if anyone has been using Shop&Ship or any other courier service to ship items to Lebanon lately.
I've noticed that the customs charges are very exaggerated.

For instance, I bought some sleeves from Amazon for only $3, but I had to pay 900000 LBP, which is three times the actual price of the item.
Similarly, I purchased a keyboard for $23 but ended up paying 2,000,000 LBP just for customs. ironically they valued the keyboard "by themself" at 14,000,000 LBP ($157)
"chabeb ta7et arraro min rason ino ysa3ruwa hal2ad?!"

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution?

same experience here, I paid $80 for a $200 item because they valued it at $450 for some reason and there's nothing to be done.

actual robbery.

Last edited by nosense (November 15 2023)

infiniteloop

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Politicians desperately need to steal from us, nothing will change without a true revolution

xazbrat

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Hey everyone, how are you all doing?

I wanted to ask if anyone has been using Shop&Ship or any other courier service to ship items to Lebanon lately.
I've noticed that the customs charges are very exaggerated.

For instance, I bought some sleeves from Amazon for only $3, but I had to pay 900000 LBP, which is three times the actual price of the item.
Similarly, I purchased a keyboard for $23 but ended up paying 2,000,000 LBP just for customs. ironically they valued the keyboard "by themself" at 14,000,000 LBP ($157)
"chabeb ta7et arraro min rason ino ysa3ruwa hal2ad?!"

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a solution?

If there is a big discrepancy, try emailing them and sending them a copy of your invoice and see if you can get that reconciled.  I have had them make errors before in my favor and against me but not to that extent. 

Anyhow good luck and let us know how that goes.

nuclearcat

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

On my experience in many countries, express shipment of items like Aramex, DHL, Fedex is good for items $100-$1000. Point is _express_, it means you need item urgently and ready to pay very premium (cross-border trade) for that.
Anything above or below it becomes headache.
If you are not ready to pay premium - better to search for alternative means of shipping (i didnt found anything in Lebanon :( , outside we was doing "group buying" for cheap items ).

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

i once. shipped a watch they valued it at 400 it qas way cheaper.
ai paid customs but not only that, there's also a special fee to be paid to allow them to clear expensive items on your behlaf so i also paid 50$ ... I stopped using shop and ship, was good during 3900 days but now its too expensive.
on another note, i've had multiple items shipped from china
all arrived on Nov 8,  presented to customs. some cleared after 1 week, some after 20days, but i still have 4 that didn't clear
i'm also paying 200, 000 lbp minimum for each item, some items even cost less rhan that
At least if they're gonna charge us, they should process our packages within consitent time frame.

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

i once. shipped a watch they valued it at 400 it qas way cheaper.
ai paid customs but not only that, there's also a special fee to be paid to allow them to clear expensive items on your behlaf so i also paid 50$ ... I stopped using shop and ship, was good during 3900 days but now its too expensive.
on another note, i've had multiple items shipped from china
all arrived on Nov 8,  presented to customs. some cleared after 1 week, some after 20days, but i still have 4 that didn't clear
i'm also paying 200, 000 lbp minimum for each item, some items even cost less rhan that
At least if they're gonna charge us, they should process our packages within consitent time frame.

I have never had any issues with Shop and Ship. I found them to be the fastest and cheapest among others (I am a Flex user); But, the customs prices are crazy.

What are you currently using as an alternative to Shop and Ship?
I'm planning to try shipping directly from Amazon to Lebanon in the future (many recommend doing that)

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

i once. shipped a watch they valued it at 400 it qas way cheaper.
ai paid customs but not only that, there's also a special fee to be paid to allow them to clear expensive items on your behlaf so i also paid 50$ ... I stopped using shop and ship, was good during 3900 days but now its too expensive.
on another note, i've had multiple items shipped from china
all arrived on Nov 8,  presented to customs. some cleared after 1 week, some after 20days, but i still have 4 that didn't clear
i'm also paying 200, 000 lbp minimum for each item, some items even cost less rhan that
At least if they're gonna charge us, they should process our packages within consitent time frame.

I have never had any issues with Shop and Ship. I found them to be the fastest and cheapest among others (I am a Flex user); But, the customs prices are crazy.

What are you currently using as an alternative to Shop and Ship?
I'm planning to try shipping directly from Amazon to Lebanon in the future (many recommend doing that)

I'm trying to limit my imports really, my old crocs died so i had to order one today, I used shopandship because i'm sure all together it will be cheaper than greedy mikesport who charges 100$ for 20$ slippers. So yeah, just the necessities.
shopandship are fast and reliable, about the delays i was talking about airmail from aliexpress.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

how. long do packages take to showup in 'my packages', i bought something it was delievered 4 days ago to florida address and haven't showed up yet, usually they used to showup same day in NY address. i'm afraid it might have been delivered ro the wrong address

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

how. long do packages take to showup in 'my packages', i bought something it was delievered 4 days ago to florida address and haven't showed up yet, usually they used to showup same day in NY address. i'm afraid it might have been delivered ro the wrong address

Yeah, it happens to me sometimes, some items take 4 days to appear (depending on holidays),
I suggest waiting 24 hours and sending them an email if it doesn't appear.

Last edited by zizo99 (December 8 2023)

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Which credit card do you use for your online shopping?
I currently use a card from Audi, but I've just realized they charge an annual fee of $35.
I've come across other cards like OMT or Wish that also provide online shopping capabilities. Has anyone tried them before? Maybe they have lower fees, not sure.

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

i recently got the touch card, it works for 3 years but they have 3% fee on each transaction

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

i recently got the touch card, it works for 3 years but they have 3% fee on each transaction

How do you deposit money in it?

3% fee each time you place an order using it, or when you put money in it? Bank Audi also charges me every time I want to deposit an amount like 1-3% (don't know exact)

edit: I just checked the touch card it also has 15$ annual fee, much more rational than Audi's one

Last edited by zizo99 (December 12 2023)

zizo99

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Has anyone heard of or tried "suyool.com" I'm curious to know more about it

NuclearVision

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

stay away from digital wallets in lebanon, i had some money and some people had a lot of money a few years back in a wallet named cashu, suddenly they don't have the money anymore and they got away withit just like our banks did.
i'd stay eith fresh accounts for now and use small amounts on-demand

fadijm

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Has anyone heard of or tried "suyool.com" I'm curious to know more about it

I have been using it for two month now. I saved so much from fees from the omt card. Suyool takes no money to put money and no money to withdraw. You can exchange currency in the app. You cannot purchase goods online with lbp must be in dollars. However you can pay in stores with lbp. Suyool is a better alternative

samer

Admin

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Has anyone heard of or tried "suyool.com" I'm curious to know more about it

Suyool takes no money to put money and no money to withdraw.

Not exactly. From their fees page:

Wallet Cash Withdrawal Fees
First $200 (or its LBP equivalent) each month: FREE
After that, 1.5% fees apply on amounts in USD & LBP.

ATM Cash Withdrawal Fees Local Fresh & International
$3.75 + 0.5% fees apply (some banks might charge additional fees)

Pookeepsie

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Anyone that uses shop and ship that purchased a phone from abroad can tell me how will the customs work will it be treated like any other item and when I put a sim I pay in liban post or if it something else

Guitaret

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Has anyone heard of or tried "suyool.com" I'm curious to know more about it

I have been using it for two month now. I saved so much from fees from the omt card. Suyool takes no money to put money and no money to withdraw. You can exchange currency in the app. You cannot purchase goods online with lbp must be in dollars. However you can pay in stores with lbp. Suyool is a better alternative

Oh nice, thanks for the feedback, I hesitated using this one because it is owned by Bob Finance, a service I had very poor experience with, plus owned by a crappy bank that I don't want to support anymore.
To be honest, I am happy with Wish a lot, but the only drawback is that I cannot covert USD to LBP, and you said this is possible in suyool, I Will give it a shot. Question: how much is the exchange rate from USD to LL?

Last edited by Guitaret (January 14)

Eng.Rabih

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Is anyone shipping from USA to Lebanon recently ? I have tried using MyUS to ship a gameboy from ebay to Leb. The declared value of the gameboy is 100 USD. I just got the invoice from Aramex stating customs charges of 1,750,000 LL which is around 19.4$ ! This is 20% of the declared value of a used item so what is it that much random ? Handling fees from Aramex are around 563,000LL nothing major.

Anyone else has any better solutions to ship and avoid these ridiculous customs or atleast have reasonable ones ?

infiniteloop

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Customs nowadays are a joke manipulated by the government
I received 2 pieces of plastic from aliexpress to upgrade my bobovr strap...they took 2$ over 15$ value
Add to that libanpost is now a mafia where delivery dudes are making blackmailing, or ''terbi7et jmilé'' that they brought you the item so you give them extra tips.
I have put a big X on aliexpress till both customs and libanpost are cleansed hopefully with the next government if ruled by different people.
Meanwhile I wait that someone at work travel to bring me stuff from other countries

TokMe3HrsToSolveChallenge

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Is anyone shipping from USA to Lebanon recently ? I have tried using MyUS to ship a gameboy from ebay to Leb. The declared value of the gameboy is 100 USD. I just got the invoice from Aramex stating customs charges of 1,750,000 LL which is around 19.4$ ! This is 20% of the declared value of a used item so what is it that much random ? Handling fees from Aramex are around 563,000LL nothing major.

Anyone else has any better solutions to ship and avoid these ridiculous customs or atleast have reasonable ones ?

That unavoidable no matter your carrier. The customs charge 11% VAT on declared value + 10% import duty totaling 21%, so you didn't overpay.

There's also the "handling fees" which is done by the carrier you chose from MyUS, i'm not sure if all carriers charge the same handling fees or it differs from one to another.

TokMe3HrsToSolveChallenge

Member

Re: Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

Customs nowadays are a joke manipulated by the government
I received 2 pieces of plastic from aliexpress to upgrade my bobovr strap...they took 2$ over 15$ value
Add to that libanpost is now a mafia where delivery dudes are making blackmailing, or ''terbi7et jmilé'' that they brought you the item so you give them extra tips.
I have put a big X on aliexpress till both customs and libanpost are cleansed hopefully with the next government if ruled by different people.
Meanwhile I wait that someone at work travel to bring me stuff from other countries

Out of curiosity, was it two separate packages or where both items in one package from aliexpress?

I remember many years ago Liban Post charged me 5,000 LBP for items ordered from Aliexpress as their fee. I can't remember if it was per parcel or for the whole thing if you have several packages arriving together.

I ordered several things from Aliexpress in December, and none have arrived yet.

Do you remember how long has it taken for your stuff to arrive? Does Liban Post contact you or did you have to do that?