I decided to purchase a monitor — the LG 27UD58P-B 27″ IPS 4K UHD monitor — from Newegg.com. It’s US list price at the time of purchase was $279.99. The PH price was PHP 15,053.99 for an effective 53.76:1 exchange rate. This exchange rate isn’t too bad and it appears that Newegg still forces the converted price to end with .99, at least for items they sell directly (non-Marketplace items).
After adding the item to the cart, the estimated VAT was PHP 1806.48. This is exactly 12% of the unit price. The shipping cost was PHP 2586.50 for World EggSaver Express (2-3 Business Days). The next lower shipping level, World EggSaver Standard (3-5 Business Days), was priced about PHP 50 lower.
During checkout, the quoted tax changed to PHP 2,298.34 (~15.3%) and is now labeled as Est. Duty & VAT. I still haven’t figured out what formula Newegg uses to calculate duty and VAT. I tried checking out other monitors and the effective tax ranged from 23% to 35%. All-in, my total order cost was PHP 19938.83 or about $375.
I found the shipping cost to be quite reasonable. The monitor shipping weight is about 22 lbs. If I had used ShippingCart, the shipping cost alone would have been at least $154. Even though I wouldn’t have had to pay the VAT with ShippingCart, I think my over-all cost was still lower ordering from Newegg directly.
I placed the order on 10/29 and it shipped the same day. It was originally scheduled to be delivered on 11/05. It arrived in Manila on 11/01 but did not get cleared by customs until 11/06.
I read some people complain about FedEx charging some clearance and warehouse storage fees upon delivery. Fortunately I did not have to pay any additional fees to FedEx or to the Bureau of Customs. All in all, I think I would directly order from Newegg again if I find the total price, with duty, VAT and shipping to be competitive with using services like ShippingCart.
Thank you for this.
Hello, was your card charged in PHP or was it charged in USD then converted by your bank? Did you have any issues with payment like having to verify the purchase first? And what bank do you have? Thank you in advance. I’m planning to snag an RTX 3070 on launch day and your help will be very much appreciated.
I used a BDO Visa debit card. The Newegg Philippines site lists prices in PHP so my card was charged in PHP. I didn’t have to do any extra manual payment verification step with either Newegg or BDO apart from the automated SMS OTP during the checkout process.
Thank you, AmbitiousPawn! I hope you have a nice day!
waa the product delivered in good shape?