• Lobby

  • Shipping from abroad (share your experience)

I bought a mobile phone from Aliexpress for $160.00 including shipping via DHL.
On arrival I was telephoned by DHL to provide them with the receipt of the purchase, and was told that there would be charges
for them to clear the item from the airport customs office plus customs fees.
After a few days, my item arrived at DHL Office in Tripoli and had to pay 70,000 lb marked as delivery by DHL,
and 109,000 lb for customs.
That's a total of 179,000 lb or $119.
a month later
This was my first shipping experience (back in the beginning of 2014).
I didn't purchase anything, yet I did get it from Google for my participation.

The address was a plain "Call (PHONE NUMBER) for location" with a zip code of 9999 9999.
I had to pay 14$ for this. The delivery guy had missed me the first time since he didn't get to call me because of my phone being silent, but later-on we did call back and he showed up the day after.

I've received the shipping in a medium sized box, with some papers indicating locations and stuff:


After opening, I got this certificate and sticker inside, the carton of the certificate was bent on the edges, but I'm guessing it's because of the packing, since the packing was 8x bigger than what's in the inside. And here they are:


Total pay: 14$
Deliverer: Fed-Ex
Shipping experience #2.

Pre-ordered from http://oculus.com the DK2, for the price of 350$, shipping to Lebanon costs 135$, so 485$ as a total online payment.

50$ were taken once ordered, and later-on they had taken the whole amount. (two months later after production)
Shipped/Billed On : 20/10/2014
Delivery took less than 3 days, which I found it quite fast, they used the UPS Saver plan.



And here's how the shipping got to me:


Delivered On:
Thursday, 23/10/2014 at 11:00AM

The address contained "Call +961XXXXXXXX for location", but I did include my dad's company ZIP code instead of 9999 9999, so they got it to there.

They took 100$ for customs.

The packing was better than the Fed-Ex one, it was more protective in terms of product. I didn't get any scratch nor indent whatsoever.



Total: 585$
Deliverer: UPS
Guys I need your recommendations. I bought
- Iphone 6 @ 749$
- iPad air @ 449$
- iPad air 2 @ 599 $

Now my question is: is it better to ship each one alone or ship them all together in a single package ?

It's true that a consolidation (all put in one box) would let me save on shipment fees, but I also heard about this 800 USD law of Lebanese Customs where if the amount is over 800 USD, there is some sort of surcharge..

So what would you recommend ?
Either way you will pay a lot. If you have relatives ask them to bring it.
At least you'll be paying 200-300$ for shipping and taxes + customs, unless you do some trick like aliexpress, wrapping and fake value, but it is dangerous in my opnion. Why didn't you buy those from here? It's almost the same and maybe less!
Good luck.
Johnaudi wroteShipping experience #2.

Pre-ordered from http://oculus.com the DK2, for the price of 350$, shipping to Lebanon costs 135$, so 485$ as a total online payment.

50$ were taken once ordered, and later-on they had taken the whole amount. (two months later after production)
Shipped/Billed On : 20/10/2014
Delivery took less than 3 days, which I found it quite fast, they used the UPS Saver plan.
http://puu.sh/crhx2/c52fab603d.png


And here's how the shipping got to me:
http://puu.sh/crhC5/03a52f9508.png

Delivered On:
Thursday, 23/10/2014 at 11:00AM

The address contained "Call +961XXXXXXXX for location", but I did include my dad's company ZIP code instead of 9999 9999, so they got it to there.

They took 100$ for customs.

The packing was better than the Fed-Ex one, it was more protective in terms of product. I didn't get any scratch nor indent whatsoever.
http://puu.sh/crif9/4b954f8d59.jpg
http://puu.sh/crigu/c56091d95c.jpg

Total: 585$
Deliverer: UPS
Wow it's good to see someone in Leb actually went the extra mile and bought one, if you are looking to sell it in the future shoot me a pm :) enjoy your oculus
7 days later
Manufactured PCB in China. 10 PCB with assembly (very simple 5x5cm PCB, just relay, microcontroller,connectors, resistors,capacitors) - $100.75 total
Paid in china for Fedex delivery - $38

First surprise: Package was subject to manual customs clearance.

Second surprise: Customs clearance charges (broker by Fedex) - $100
Additional delivery charges(WTF? From China to Lebanon $38, and inside Lebanon $50????) - $50
Customs charges - $50 (they valued product as 400.000LL, what the hell? how they value CUSTOM not-for-sale, prototype boards if all paperwork was given with them?)

I hope i can solve this question with Fedex next time, manager was friendly, but already it put all my innovations to risk, because customs clearance makes product design completely not profitable (on some products i need 5-8 sample releases, which is $2400, instead of $800). Usually _legal_ product design cost based on certain fixed tax values and estimations, that i should expect. I dont lie in customs declaration, and then they tax me fairly. But... it turned to completely insane values.
So, P.S. Rant. Innovations support my ass. No way Lebanon gets hitech industry here, importing equipment is a hassle, _especially_ anything sophisticated.
Well open a dispute and complain to the seller!
What's those boards' use anyway?
Seller? What seller has to do with Lebanon customs decision? He take care only about shipping and export customs fees.
Seller did all papers correct. Customs in Lebanon decided that boards has commercial value or undervalued.
Some sellers promise no tax.
In lebanon you can't do things right all the time, unfortunately.
NuclearVision wroteI meant what was he intending to build : )
then your question wasn't clear when you said " whats the boards' use "
anyway they are used for many projects , he mentioned micro-controllers and relays maybe some automation , that's just a guess unless @nuclearcat has something specific.

anyway the seller has nothing to do with the a-hole customs we got in lebanon
Maybe they thought you're gonna build a robocop or something !
MohammedSF wroteMaybe they thought you're gonna build a robocop or something !
Indeed, that's exactly what i thought! they raised the proce a little bit.
But really customs in lebanon are a real pain.
Specially for electronics. One would better not buy expensive items, but rather small gadgets.
I might understand consumer products or some factory grade equipment. But hobby tools and prototypes? Thats plainly stupid.
a month later
Anyone who bought from Newegg with a prepaid internet card like Esurf from Lebanon??
I am hesitating to buy Asus board from Newegg or Republic of Gamers that gives 1 year warranty but is more expensive by 50$
vegetaleb wroteAnyone who bought from Newegg with a prepaid internet card like Esurf from Lebanon??
I am hesitating to buy Asus board from Newegg or Republic of Gamers that gives 1 year warranty but is more expensive by 50$
Newegg refuses to accept non-american CC, even if you managed to get it they'll refuse to ship to an address different than the one registered with the card "american/card holder address"..

The same thing goes with Tigerdirect/CompUSA but they went too far blocking international access to their website.
Thanks!
I can use the ''Concierge'' thingy with Borderlinx then for Newegg but as I understood they will take about 25$ commission.
Do you know if the website ''Youbizmart'' accept international cards?