LebGeeks

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#1 January 11 2023

zizo99
Member

any experience with B&H?

Hi everyone,

I have been searching for information on B&H on this forum but it looks like the latest post was about 2 years ago.
I was wondering if anyone has any updated information on B&H or if anyone has recently made a purchase from them. Specifically, I'm curious to know if they still ship directly to Lebanon without using a third-party shipping courier like (Shop & Ship). Additionally, I would like to know about customs fees and B&H return policies for broken or malfunctioning devices.

Thanks in advance for any information you provide.

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#2 January 11 2023

m0ei
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

They're very good, they'll ship very fast as well, same day or the next day. Their support is also top notch, so you can blindly go with them.

I always buy from them, never had any problems, except for once an open box/used cheap Lenovo laptop which came without a charger. I simply emailed them then they shipped instantly a brand new charger for the laptop and they covered the shipping cost.

B&H has nothing to do with the customs, you will pay customs here like any other order shipped via DHL. Just make sure that the total is below $900-1000 (including shipping) or you will end up paying for "to5lis".

Last edited by m0ei (January 11 2023)

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#3 January 11 2023

zizo99
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

Thank you for providing this useful information.

From what you have told me, DHL will handle to delivery of the item to your doorstep, correct?
I am interested in purchasing a very specific monitor from them, as I haven't been able to find it in Lebanon.

Is it necessary to provide any invoice to DHL or another party to confirm that the item is valued below 900$ in order to avoid the handling cost charges, as you stated?

Last edited by zizo99 (January 11 2023)

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#4 January 12 2023

AVOlio
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

On a similar note,

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.
Although they are asking for high shipping and import fees along with the price of the item, but the option is still there.

Check it out.

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#5 January 12 2023

xazbrat
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

AVOlio wrote:

On a similar note,

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.
Although they are asking for high shipping and import fees along with the price of the item, but the option is still there.

Check it out.

I have noticed that too.  IMO, probably cheaper and faster than S&S. 

Also, if you want possibly more dodgy items at a bigger discount, you can buy a lot of things on ebay direct to Lebanon too.  Lots of stores/sellers will accept normal credit cards in addition to PayPal.  There are usually 10 or 12 places that they don't ship to, and our country unbelievably isn't on many lists.

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#6 January 12 2023

zizo99
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

I checked it and found that many items do not offer shipping to Lebanon, and many others require a minimum quantity to ship to Lebanon.

I even couldn't find any monitor that can be shipped to Lebanon

xazbrat wrote:

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.

No, S&S is still half the price of what Amazon is offering.

Last edited by zizo99 (January 12 2023)

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#7 January 12 2023

AVOlio
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

zizo99 wrote:

I checked it and found that many items do not offer shipping to Lebanon, and many others require a minimum quantity to ship to Lebanon.

I even couldn't find any monitor that can be shipped to Lebanon

xazbrat wrote:

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.

No, S&S is still half the price of what Amazon is offering.

Item must be shipped and sold by Amazon, not third party resellers.
I just checked a couple of gaming monitors, and Amazon showed quotations for shipping directly to Lebanon!

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#8 January 13 2023

xazbrat
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

zizo99 wrote:

I checked it and found that many items do not offer shipping to Lebanon, and many others require a minimum quantity to ship to Lebanon.

I even couldn't find any monitor that can be shipped to Lebanon

xazbrat wrote:

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.

No, S&S is still half the price of what Amazon is offering.

Here's a monitor that can be shipped to Lebanon (at least for me)  LG UltraGear  The issue--$300 for the monitor and $150ish for shipping and customs which is broken down as $110ish for shipping and 45ish for customs.  I looked at B&H for similar sized monitors and shipping ranges between $70 and $200, with no provision for customs.  Aliexpress is a mess--shipping from $300 to $120,000 /s.   I didn't bother with S&S with this example though.

You will definitely be limited by what can be shipped here as many of the LG monitors on B&H showed up, but showed USA only.  For things like monitors, TV's, power supplies and cases, the cost to ship even from places like Aliexpress, Banggood etc. is too high for single quantities. If you are looking for specific components, look around and figure out the best way to get it here and to getting a refund if something happens along the way.

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#9 January 13 2023

zizo99
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

that monitor you mentioned will cost $66 using S&S (i am a flex member), still cheaper than using Amazon directly. That's what i meant.

However, I am currently in search of an ultrawide monitor and have not been able to find any that can be shipped directly to Lebanon.
My main concern with purchasing a monitor from abroad is the warranty and return policy, as it is a costly device and if any issues arise, the shipping back and forth to have it fixed can be a huge concern.

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#10 January 13 2023

xazbrat
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

zizo99 wrote:

that monitor you mentioned will cost $66 using S&S (i am a flex member), still cheaper than using Amazon directly. That's what i meant.

However, I am currently in search of an ultrawide monitor and have not been able to find any that can be shipped directly to Lebanon.
My main concern with purchasing a monitor from abroad is the warranty and return policy, as it is a costly device and if any issues arise, the shipping back and forth to have it fixed can be a huge concern.

Yeah a freight forwarder like S&S does have its advantages, but this is one of its biggest drawbacks.

I looked around on B&H and they appear to have a decent selection of ultrawides that ship here.  I don't know if you are looking for a specific one.  Anyhow, good luck.

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#11 January 13 2023

AVOlio
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

zizo99 wrote:

that monitor you mentioned will cost $66 using S&S (i am a flex member), still cheaper than using Amazon directly. That's what i meant.

However, I am currently in search of an ultrawide monitor and have not been able to find any that can be shipped directly to Lebanon.
My main concern with purchasing a monitor from abroad is the warranty and return policy, as it is a costly device and if any issues arise, the shipping back and forth to have it fixed can be a huge concern.

You are basically afraid of what exactly happened with me.

Shipped LG UltraWide 34GK950F Gaming Monitor with S&S.
I received it broken.

Firstly, I managed to get the tax refund back from Amazon.
Then, after I noticed that I received a cracked screen, the entire dispute process began.

I immediately contacted S&S about their insurance.
First, they did not want to even cover for insurance, but after many emails and after contacting their international corporate office, they finally agreed to not charge me a single dollar for shipping a replacement monitor from the US to Lebanon, (and funny enough, there were no official customs / import duties related to this shipment not like the first one, this shows that they can smuggle items in at their own will) however they did not agree to ship the broken one back to Amazon.
So I contacted Amazon again, and after many many emails, they agreed to reimburse me for the shipping charges of shipping the broken monitor from Lebanon to US and send me a free replacement and they refunded the shipping charges as Amazon credit in my account.

I knew I was expecting something like this to happen before making the decision to order, but like you, since I wasn't able to find a decent true gaming ultrawide monitor in the country, I took the risk and proceeded.

And I don't regret it, once you go ultrawide for a monitor, you can never go back to regular 16:9.

Last edited by AVOlio (January 13 2023)

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#12 January 13 2023

zizo99
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

You're not providing much motivation man, haha
It's frustrating to consider going through all of this.
I think I'll get it from B&H, as I've heard they have excellent customer service. Hopefully, things will go more smooth and without using any 3rd party courier

Last edited by zizo99 (January 14 2023)

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#13 January 13 2023

m0ei
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

zizo99 wrote:

Thank you for providing this useful information.

From what you have told me, DHL will handle to delivery of the item to your doorstep, correct?
I am interested in purchasing a very specific monitor from them, as I haven't been able to find it in Lebanon.

Is it necessary to provide any invoice to DHL or another party to confirm that the item is valued below 900$ in order to avoid the handling cost charges, as you stated?

Yes, DHL will handle the delivery. You will pay customs + vat and some extra DHL fees.

No need to provide them any invoices, B&H will hand over the invoice to the shipping company.

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#14 January 13 2023

HzSamer
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

I tried them with Kanto Living YU6 speakers, my friend bought a 700$ camera lens. Also 3 months ago, my friend order a laptop with a value of 1350.

You can easily know their shipping fees from their website in the cart. We used DHL which is the best option for Lebanon, the item will be delivered in a week or less.

You can contact DHL on the phone and ask them about the fees you gonna pay, so it depends on the value of your item.

DHL has fees for "تخليص", which depend on the value of your item. They will give you these fees when they know exactly the value. It was in $ but at the rate of 1$=8000LBP.

Also, there is a "delivery order", which was 365000LBP, but I think this is only for a very pricey item because I was asking them about a 5000$ shipment.

The second thing you will pay is the "customs fees" + VAT which can't be predicted at all.

- Try contacting them on phone two times at least, because sometimes the employee doesn't give you the correct answer.

- For the B&H return policy, I think you are responsible for returning the item to the USA. You can chat with B&H support and they will respond to any question.

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#15 January 13 2023

HzSamer
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

AVOlio wrote:

On a similar note,

I just found out, that items on Amazon, sold and shipped from Amazon are being directly shipped to Lebanon as well.
Although they are asking for high shipping and import fees along with the price of the item, but the option is still there.

Check it out.

Nice one, I never notice it. I bought a book last week from amazon and costed me with S&S flex 9$ for shipping. I checked amazon now and the shipping fee is 20$. But will check it later for other items and see.

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#16 January 14 2023

zizo99
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

HzSamer wrote:

Nice one, I never notice it. I bought a book last week from amazon and costed me with S&S flex 9$ for shipping. I checked amazon now and the shipping fee is 20$. But will check it later for other items and see.

Books have been delivered via Amazon for years now.
I have ordered many books that way, it's not new

Last edited by zizo99 (January 14 2023)

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#17 April 26 2023

Mastermind
Member

Re: any experience with B&H?

Is it possible to estimate the customs fee + vat on an order? i'm considering of ordering 5 items that costs $800 + $60 shipping, the same items costs in lebanon around $1260.
assuming vat is 11% on USD, it will be max $90
$300 difference is a lot but it all depends on how much the customs will cost, if the final difference is less than 100$ I don't think it's worth it to take risk and order online.

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