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Addendum to the Battle of the Forwarders
As a continuation of last week's Battle of the Forwarders, here's another forwarding company that highly merits our attention and patronage.
Manila Forwarders operates fairly the same way as My Shopping Box and Johnny Air Cargo, but unlike the two, Manila Forwarders has the Pinoy Websurfer feature which has made it a favorite among many an online shopping addict here in the Philippines.
Basically, you sign up for a Pinoy websurfer account and you get an actual balikbayan box with Manila Forwarders. Manila Forwarders becomes the receiving agent for your online goodies and it will then put your items inside your box. Once your box is full, you'll be billed the shipping and handling fee and then the box will be sent to you.
Here's an excerpt from Chame's message to PinoyHomeschool, a homeschool support group, she used Pinoy Websurfer to buy homeschool materials for her son and baby clothes for her daughter:
I started with Manila Forwarder around July 2008 and signed up for a ‘Pinoy Web-Surfers’ account. You can view more details on how to sign-up for anaccount here: http://www.manilafo rwarder.com/ philsurfer. html. During the course of 7 months, I have filled my box from different online shopping websites like Amazon, eBay USA, Alibris, and of course Sonlight. I mainly shopped for books and baby clothes for my daughter.
I thought 7 months was a very long time and feared that their service charge for packing your items in a box must skyrocket by now. I also thought that paying more was way better than having my mom give a litany about my son being better off at a regular school than learning freely at home. I know most of you can relate with this. So I braced myself when I announced that I’m done with my online shopping and that I was ready for them to send me the bill.
I was only charged $10 for packing fee and their e-balikbayan box rate which was only $70. Only 3 weeks after I paid, I got my box in pristine condition! I mean there were no dents on the box – considering that my box only contained books and clothes and no breakable stuff – Manila Forwarder still handled my box with care and I so appreciated that. It beats having to pay extra for FedEx shipping and going through the hassle of dealing with the Bureau of Customs for books that are clearly not for re-sale.
As of this writing, I’m filling up my second box and expecting the same service and care I got from them :D I highly recommend Manila Forwarder for anyone who plans to order their homeschooling materials from the States.
Clearly, Pinoy Websurfer is a great alternative if you intend to purchase a lot of items, enough to fit an entire balikbayan box. It sure beats asking as Stateside relative to receive your items for you and then have them pack the things in the balikbayan box. I also like how Chame was only charged $10 for 7 months worth of storage, my cheapskate heart is pleased:p
I made this chart to compare the services of My Shopping Box, Johnny Air Cargo and Manila Forwarders (please feel free to comment if there's any correction needed). There's no hands down winner and depending on your needs, I think you'll be able to find a suitable forwarder from the three.
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Hi Shoppers,
It has been a while since I visited your blog. It was cool meeting some of you the last time I was in Manila.
Watch out for our July newsletter as there will be some discounts for you friends!
Keep on shopping!
Manny Paez
Shipping Charges fro Los Angeles, CA to Metro-Manila address can go as low as $25.
Please see our rate calculator:
http://www.manilaforwarder.com/oddshapecalc.html
can anyone quote to me the tax of a 600 dollar laptop entering the philiipines by fedex or lbc or manilaforwarders? someone said if ur item is 600 then ur tax is 300...thats half the price!!! any shipper out there that can help me reduce this? thanks
Hi Dyscem,
I think it will be better to check directly with your account handler or email sales@manilaforwarder.com for your specific billing question.
Manila Forwarder is a full service freight forwarder and NVOCC. I believe those volume discount that you mentioned are for Full Container and Less Than Container Loads. Such shipments goes thru Philippine Customs Formal Entry.
Those are totally different from balikbayan box and jumbo box shipments.
For California based clients, Manila Forwarder have a milleage program called suki card that gives them free shipment of their 15 th package without any time limitation.
These program is not applicable with our other program specifically the Philippine-based clients as the cost of running that program is very expensive considering the US manpower and storage cost.
Rest assured though that all of our pricing are carefully studied on a regular basis and our objective is to provide the lowest price possible to our clients without sacrificing the quality of service.
hello po again I was wondering why is it upto now we still didnt recieved our boxes not to think that the bloggers recieved her boxes with in 3 weeks. The handler told me that it will arrived in August 29 in Manila and 1-2 weeks will arrived in Cebu but why is it upto now we still dont have news on the boxes and now its on 3rd week the last time i talked with the handler she said that manila office already shipped out the package to cebu but she did not told me when and where did they ship it,if they already shipped it out we should recieved it but why is it we still didnt recieved the boxes and also ive read when you paid 1000USD you will recieved big discounts.I paid atleast 1000USD for my 2 consecutive shipment do you also count that?And i was just wondering how shall i know that what they billed me is correct since they did not give me overlook on my boxes if how big is it or the lenght, height and width and also the weight on my boxes please let me know sir Thank You
Hi Dyscem,
Manila Forwarder is a full service NVOCC and Freight Forwarder and our services is not limited to balikbayan box and jumbo box shipments.
We have different discount pricing scheme based on single shipments like Full Container Shipments and Less Than Container Loads. This are totally different from balikbayan box and jumbo box shipments.
For California based clients, we have a mileage card called suki card. This allows our California clients to have free balikbayan box shipping for every 15 th box that they sent without any time limitation.
However, this does not apply to other programs including Philippine-based clients as the cost and risk of maintaining such program is expensive considering the the USA labor cost and storage handling.
Rest assured though, that all the programs that we have have been carefully studied and we always offer the lowest price possible to effect the service that is expected from Manila Forwarder.
Check with your account handler about your specific questions.
Hi Dyscem,
Thank you for understanding. That payment method that you did is unusual to our company as we have a few sets of payment method that is more than enough to secure the privacy and financial information of our clients. As I mentioned before we just do not give sensitive information like bank accounts unless we have the client verified. This is for you and our protection. This is the reason why there was a delay in giving you our bank account info. Please be aware that our chat service is being manned by our various staffs both in the USA and in the Philippines.
After investigation, I have found out about your unique case. Your account handler is Miss Reggie, her email is reg@manilaforwarder.com.
Salamat po ng marami and more power sa inyong lahat.
Manny Paez
www.manilaforwarder.com
i forgot to ask as well if do i need to pay TAX po ba for the sea freight they told me i dont need to pay TAX daw po is it true i hope you could confirm this one po Thank You po
HiDyucem,
If your shipment is taxable, usually electronic items or shipment for commercial intents, you should pay tax.
If your shipment is personnal effects and is covered by Philippine Customs Circular on tax exemption, Dept of Finance circular on returning resident, Phil Retirement and Leisure Authority, and or PEZA that should be tax free to the limit provided by such rules.
Manila Forwarder handles both shipments, formal and non-formal entries.
Manny Paez
www.manilaforwarder.com
hello po im so glad that i found you po here in this forum iv been surfing this thread about the Service of MANILA FORWARDER because i really have a problem with them to tell you franktly im really feed up Im so sorry po but i really really need to do this i dont understand why is it your customer service cannot answer my questions even a single sentence and the way they respond is really not good and they always leave me hanging. Ask ko lang po if thats how they treat customers po ba? Im sorry im really supper loaded and i cannot help it, i need to express my feelings everytime i want to talk to them they always pissed me off but i did not tell them that im pissed off ofcors,since from the start i am trying to be friendly and pushing hard so that they might treat me the same way as what i treat them but it seems like they dont care at all.My patience is gone and that force me to surf regarding your service. EXAMPLES:
1. I am asking if you already recieve my payment (they dont answer it)
2. I will email you the bank information ( they dont email it) you need to remind them first that you need the bank information on the next days.
3. If they answer your question its not complete.You need to wait an hour for them to answer your questions.
4. The shipping address is wrong.
So far ito palang yung ma ibigay kong example im still waiting for something from them i want to see if she/he will email me the information what she/he told me.
I apologize for posting this po i just want that you can share why its like that?
Hi Dyscem,
Thank you for your email. It will be of great help if you will identify yourself and give details as we are handling numerous accounts. I know all of our customer service staffs, both in Los Angeles and Manila answers their email as I am cc'ed most of the time.
As a generalization, the common problem that clients encounter is that Manila Forwarder reply sometimes goes to their spam folder as we answer hundreds of email a day. Such volume of email sometimes puts us in the spam folder.
All of our team, including me, checks our spam mail on a daily basis before deleting it. We also recommend this to all.
On the subject of bank account information, unlike before that we have our bank accounts and routing number open to the public, this policy has been changed as there are unscrupulous personalities that commits fraud by printing their own check using such information. We have also instituted more reforms on this that cannot be discussed in open forums like this. All valid clients have our bank information emailed to them on their first shipment when we send them their invoice. If you are a valid client, you should have that information with you and you should be familiar with the procedure.
The clients are also required to fax or email our USA or Philippine Office the deposit slip as it will be time consuming to identify all the daily deposits in our bank accounts.
Please see payment procedures:
http://www.manilaforwarder.com/Payment.htm
Please see all our contact information:
http://www.manilaforwarder.com/contactus.html
Bank Transfer method is really time consuming both to the client and to the merchant as there are some fraudulent individuals lurking the internet.
I highly recommend paypal in doing overseas and internet transaction as paypal does all the security checks for the protection of the client and the merchant.
You may email your account handler the details of your shipment and I am sure we will answer you with the complete
information that you need. I also recommend keeping the email thread or giving your invoice or tracking number in all your communications.
Salamat po ng marami and We will all be waiting for your email.
Manny Paez
www.manilaforwarder.com
hello po thank you for this atleast na clear up nyo po but the customer service what i always speak with they speak Tagalog po so it means Pinoy po sila and i always give them a buzz on Yahoo Messenger and yes po i am paying via paypal just the rest of the payment i make it through bank transfer. (All valid clients have our bank information emailed to them on their first shipment when we send them their invoice. If you are a valid client, you should have that information with you and you should be familiar with the procedure.) How can i identify that i am a valid clien? I register 2 times because Rochelle Arbulante told me she did not recieve my registration so i sent her again the registration and what makes me wonder prior on my registration they already pick up my boxes so i ask them per chat what shall i do and how shall i pay there the short and hanging answers come out. after i register they sent me a short email as in short "just ship it as it is or VIP" huh? i dont understand since its my first shipment after that i sent them email but they did not respond so i let my husband called on that number whats on the email and it seems like she is pissed off the person who is handling my boxes. And they dont give me information such as bank transfer they did not email me such information like that on my first shipment and the invoice they give it to me per chat. But now its my second shipment i paid the 70% paypal and the rest im paying it through bank transfer thats why i am asking the bank information (but its ok they already give it to me per chat)they are still like that but now i dont mind at all i hope everything now will be going smooth.
Thank You po for the respond
hi! question about this whole shopping overseas online thing. how do you shop on sites that only allow credit cards with U.S address?
Hi Anon,
I'm lucky because my sis-in-law has a US credit card and so I put my purchases on her card and then just repay her. I don't know how others do it.
yeah. too bad i wanted to try the recommended shippers in the article. i guess i'm stuck with the multiply sellers since i don't have a U.S. based credit card :(
Same question with Arlene, when will be the $10/month effective?
" Does it count from the time they receive the first item up to the time you ask them to close the box and ship to the philippines?"
What if I have set up my account but I haven't done any shopping yet. Or what if after I received my first box, I stopped shopping after a couple of months? Will I still be charged during those months? I just need some clarifications. THanks.
Hi gel and the rest,
The $10 monthly charge is for VIP members only with some perks and priviledges.
The pay per ship is still free.
The monthly charges of $10 starts from the time a member activates his account and it will be billed on a monthly basis. Of course this is good for frequent shipper as the monthly fee surpases the savings and priviledges that the client will enjoy.
Salamat po.
Manny Paez
www.manilaforwarder.com
Los Angeles, CA
Hi Arlene and Friends,
Manila Forwarder is the pioneer of this US shopping in the Philippines. When we started, it was just a "receive and ship" wherein we receive the package from the internet store and ship it to the person who ordered it in the Philippines.
As in any dynamic business, Manila Forwarder and clients starting adding new features like taking pictures of the items, taking it out from the original packaging and individually wrapping it with bubble wraps, consolidating the shipment for months, and other great perks for the benefit of the client based in the Philippines. It's very personalize that our Philippine client and their handlers become close friends.
Opening a package in it's original packaging also have some insurance issues with our insurance company. Thus we will just consolidate the packages in a balikbayan box without taking out the protective packaging of the supplier unless it's obvious that we can safely do so without putting the item at risk. We will use diligent care and a lot of common sense on a case to case basis on repacking.
As we all know, manufacturers and shopping companies takes time to make sure that each item that they ship are well protected and here we are taking it out from those packaging so that our client's will save in shipping cost as it will be on a smaller package. Thus, smaller shipping charge. On our end, we have have to make sure that the packages are well protected when we repack it without jeopardizing our insurance protection.
All of this of course takes time, effort, supplies, materials, and manpower. But we were not charging extra fee for such discriminating clients until recently.
To minimize those client's who demands special shipping instructions and our insurance risk, we recently decided to charge a monthly fee of $10 to those client's with special requests aside from the published shipping charges that we have. This $10 a month is way below with other companies that charges $30-$50 month for this kind of services plus their shipping charges is based on UPS or FedEx rates.
Those clients who prefer the basic service of "receive and ship" will not be charged extra aside from our published shipping charges. And perhaps extra insurance or tax as the item dictates.
I would also like to take this opportunity that this kind of service is now also available in our Japan Office. Other countries that we have operations will follow soon.
I hope this answers your question. Please do not hesitate to ask. Salamat po.
Manny Paez
www.manilaforwarder.com
Los Angeles, CA
Just to clarify..It says in their website, Manila Forwarder only consolidate for VIP members. How does 10$/month rate work? Does it count from the time they receive the first item up to the time you ask them to close the box and ship to the philippines? But based on Chame's experience as quoted above by jill, she only paid $10 for the packing and $70 for the box for 7months that she had her items held at Manila forwarders. Is that right? I'm kinda confused.
Hi Arlene,
I've alerted Mr. Manny Paez to your question so hopefully he'll answer very soon.
Yes they charge 20-30% of the amount. They also charge monthly fees for some accounts. Aside from that, their shipping charges is based on UPS or FedEx rates which is quite high compared to Manila Forwarder.
Manila Forwarder maintains our own weekly container shipment to the Philippines from USA and other parts of the world. Our rates are very low because aside from our own containers, we also have our own delivery company in the Philippines that is officed inside the Port of Manila. All of this equals savings not to mention the accountability issues.
We also monitor other service providers similar to us to make Manila Forwarder always the best choice. As our slogan said, " Ang Rekomendado ng Kaibigan mo."
Hi! From what I know, the Multiply shippers/shoppers charge you for their shopping services anywhere between 20-30%.
Unlike when you your own shopping using your own CC, it definitely comes out cheaper.
hi! have you tried some multiply stores that ships any order you like from U.S. sites? all you have to do is send them the link and pay for the item. they will order it for you and they ship it to your address. i'm wondering if it's cheaper using the multiply stores or the 3 options above.
thanks!
This is Manny Paez po, owner of Manila Forwarder. I cannot imagine that kind of story would happen with Manila Forwarder as I know the company more than any one else. I sincerely believe that the person who wrote that article who used "anonymous" contact information and later endorsed a different company should be fair and responsible enough in public posting.
Salamat po sa internet at napapadali ang buhay ng tao. Let's just use this responsibly.
Manny Paez
http://www.manilaforwarder.com
Los Angeles, CA
Toll Free 1.800.210.1019
Manila Forwarder Phil, Inc
1200 Collector's Rd,
Manila International Container Port,
North Harbor, Manila, Philippines
click on the address to see map.
Tel: +011.632.241.4462
Tel: +011.632.242.4463
TelFax: +011.632.234.9459
Cellphones:
SMART 0908.122.4894
GLOBE 0915.933.4122
SUN 0923.527.0804
manilaoffice@manilaforwarder.com
I used to have an account with Manila Forwarders until they messed up a lot of my packages. Last year August, I asked them to ship out all my packages. I got the box September, but only half of it was filled and there were missing items. They said I still have some items left in their warehouse. wtf! They charged me $105 for repacking and shipping a jumbo box, but it was not even filled! And I expected to get all my items!
I emailed the manager and really ranted, she apologized and gave me 1 free box. So I said let's try again, maybe it's just this once. November, I did my Christmas shopping and told them to ship everything because most items are gifts and I don't want anything late or left out. I got the box 1 week before Christmas, but lo and behold, there were still missing items! Grr, this really pissed me off. And they did not even offer to compensate for their own mistake. The manager did not even reply to any of my emails! What kind of customer service is that????
To top that off, there was this package from Target which they kept insisting that they did not receive. I had the tracking # from Target, and when you track it online, it will show that it has been signed for by them. After that, I decided not to use them anymore because they were making things sooo inconvenient for me. And you know what? After 2 months of not having anything shipped, they told me I still haven't paid my last shipment and they were going to charge me. I had my credit card statement, and it clearly shows the charges they were making on my card. They wanted to bill me twice for the most terrible service I've ever had!!!!
So now, I'm using FOREX CARGO. Fast communication, much cheaper rates, great customer service, and best of all is that they execute my instructions perfectly. You'll never go wrong with them.
what bad service! and it didn't happen once lang :(
hope manila forwarders cleans it's act soon!
It's my first time to try shopping at Amazon, we bought watches and we're delighted with the fast service of JAC. I can see that JAC has cheapers charges for taxable electronic items than MF and MSB. =)
Here's what I have to say about them: http://www.badudets.com/shopping-in-the-us-has-never-been-easy-with-john...
Meanwhile, I'm tempted to try Manila Forwarders for another round of shopping. What's a plus is they consolidate. Thanks for this post!
You're very welcome :)
Thank you for the post.
Additional information on the "Not Sure" answers:
Our Ocean Cargo Shipping Rate is minimum of $25.
We have an ocean cargo shipping rate here:
For odd shape and sizes:
http://www.manilaforwarder.com/oddshapecalc.html
For Balikbayan box:
http://www.manilaforwarder.com/rates_ebalikbayan.html
About handling fee, its generally free. Minimal fee applies for special packaging requests.
And Yes, we consolidate.
thanks for clarifying some of the details!
Super saya tlga Jillsabs! Ngayon ko lang to nalaman. I've never asked thinking na malamang super mahal. Mom says, the one she used from HK was just around 200-300hkd. But a friend of mom claims that LBC hk is even cheaper, not to mention faster, for the same size of balikbayan box =)
Thanks for sharing this Jillsabs! I have to try Manila Forwarder hahaha
ay that would be great!
it would probably be cheaper since HK is so near. I'm already thinking of the Ikea and H&M stuff I can snap up from HK:p
will make another post if I hear of a HK based forwarder.
How about a forwarding company based in Hong Kong? :)
Hi Vanessa,
I think shipping balikbayan boxes to the Philippines from the US ranges from $60-$80 depending where it's coming from in the US and where it's going in the Philippines, regardless of weight.
Ang saya no?:)
So she was just charged a total of $80? Wow!!!!!! Really cheap =)
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