Expat Community > Philippines

TommyGun
Joined 2021
Posts: 26

Shipping Hobbyist/Maker Type Items

3 years ago

I am considering moving to the Philippines to retire in the next year and need some advice regarding shipping my personal belongings. I’ve decided that shipping 10+ Balikbayan boxes is likely the right choice. I will be parting with most all that I own but there are some items I am having strong reservations about parting with. The plan is to first visit the Philippines and lease a place so that I have an address to send the items to. I will address the items to either myself, a GF or neighbor. I will then hop on a plane and take up physical residence. Please shoot holes in this plan (i.e. you cannot ship items to yourself or to your neighbor).

The concern I have is that I am an electronics hobbyist and have over the past 40 years amassed a wide assortment of parts bins filled with resistors, integrated circuits, transistor, transformers and the list goes on. Also, I have soldering irons, oscilloscopes, power supplies and multimeters. To replace all of these items would be VERY costly and EXTREMELY difficult.

Will I be charged tariffs on these items?
Will the items be prohibited from entry?

On a similar note, I also have amassed a fair amount of chemistry glassware (beakers, flasks, condensers…). What few chemicals I have won’t be shipped. Same questions as above. For these items I am more concerned that they will suspect that I am some sort of Breaking Bad type which is the polar opposite of the case (I don’t even like drinking). I am more open to parting with more of this equipment that the electronics though.

Any advice or two cents you can add would be both welcome and appreciated.

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