Thursday, January 17, 2013

My First Major International Order Part 2 : Customs Taxes


**Link for FIRST PART

So I was derping around the house when a sudden phone call came. It's from a DHL Clearance Support  Agent named Clarissa telling me that the package just arrived in Manila and was appraised by customs. And guess how much my tax was? 

Php 7,207.60 !!!


Okay. So why and what on earth happened with my package that it garnered ridiculously high taxes? Well, let me get some things straight first:

  1. When ordering from ASU Cheap Jewelry, you have the option to appoint how much ASU will put on your "commercial invoice". Meaning, you can choose the declared value of your package so you won't be taxed too much. My original items are worth $100 and I asked them to declare the value as $50. This thing really didn't help with the tax as what you are reading now.
  2. Another thing when ordering with ASU is you can ask them how to describe your item's package. Of course, I made some research first on how to lower your tax to none at all. One is describe your package as a gift or personal use. So I asked ASU to describe my package as "personal use and gifts". Man, I was so wrong about this one.
What happened was the package were described by ASU as effin' "GIFT FASHION NECKLACES 97 PCS". I asked ASU why. They said it was to clear my package from Hong Kong customs. So the good Philippine customs appraised the package with effin' 97 PIECES OF FASHION NECKLACES WORTH $3 EACH!! 

But still, my package only weighed more or less 3.60 kilos. If it was 97 pieces of necklace jewelries, it won't weigh that light! So, I was part to blame right? Yeah, maybe 1/37th part of it. But nothing beats what ASU did to murder my package (and partly, customs).


This is how they taxed me:

Friday, January 11, 2013

Logo Quiz Philippines Answers (UPDATED up to level 16)

Another late post

**SPOILER. I suggest you give the game a try first before looking for the answers. Here's the [link].


I was trying to answer Android's "Logo Quiz Philippines". I still haven't finished it yet so if you know one of the answers, please comment on this blog. It is not case sensitive so you really don't have to capitalize the letters. So here goes some of my answers:

Level 1

  • Jollibee - Metrobank - Petron 
  • UCPB - Philippine Airlines - Yellow Cab
  • Globe - PNB - Cebu Pacific
  • Andoks - BDO - Meralco
  • CD-R King - Caltex - Unioil
  • PLDT - Chowking - Seaoil
  • Magnolia - Red Horse - Smart
  • Sun - Gerry's Grill - San Mig Light
Level 2
  • Greenwich - Megaworld - ABS-CBN
  • Penshoppe - Knorr - Shell
  • Unionbank - China Bank - BPI
  • RCBC - Shakey's - National Bookstore
  • Ayala Land - GMA - Allied Bank
  • Purefoods - PBA - SM
  • Condura - TV5 - Kamiseta
  • Bench - Lucky Me - Robinsons
Level 3 
  • Power Mac Center - LBC - Ayala Malls
  • The Old Spaghetti -UAAP - Mang Inasal
  • PC Express - Folded and Hung - Abenson
  • Century Tuna - Ink for Less - Enchanted Kingdom
  • Teriyaki Boy - Zest Air - Pancake House
  • Datu Puti - Puregold - Mercury Drug
  • Congo Grille - Silver Swan - Gonuts Donuts
  • Sky Flakes - Alaska - Philam Life

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

My First Major International Order Part 1 : Asu Cheap Jewelry

My creative writing juices are not flowing right now but this has been long overdue so I should write it soon. I apologize in advance for the lack of intelligent descriptions if you ever read this.

So!

I own an awesome online shop on Facebook and I was thinking of things that I can add on my shop to sell. Well, accessories are in demand right now so I tried to buy some from Divisoria. At first, it was okay. But I want to explore my options so I decided to try "Asu Cheap Jewelry"







What can I say about them? Well, first of all, although their items seemed like from Korea, they are in fact from mainland China.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Choose your Poison



"Choose your poison."

My colleague came at our team building carrying this sinister looking bottle (one on the right obviously). It looked like it was smuggled from Snape's forbidden potion cupboard. It has ginseng root and two snakes intertwined with each other. No one dared to drink it. Gusto pa daw nila mabuhay. Hahahha.

It's a nice ice breaker for the team though.

The label on the bottle said:
Real specialty from Vietnam
Snake wine (one unit)
Usage: rheumatism, lumbago, sweat of limbs
Dosage: Twice a day each a small cup before meal.