Pobox ph Review

Please read the updated 2016/2017 review here

This is a long overdue review - I intended to finish this post days after my first box from Pobox.ph, but I'm now finishing this post long after my second box has arrived, lol.
While a lot of U.S. online stores can ship directly to the Philippines, it doesn't always goes as smoothly as planned. Your package can get held at the customs office for tax, so you have to make an appearance to retrieve your package. I'm not sure how it is in other areas, but where I live, you can only claim packages on Thursday-Friday afternoon and there are lots of people waiting in line. Even door to door services can be a nightmare -  I remember the first time I bought a Fancy Box, the taxes were already paid but when it was delivered here I was still charged almost 2k for the box. I paid for it and it's a good thing Fancy.com refunded the tax that I paid for, but if I didn't have cash with me that time when the box was delivered it would be a hassle because the items will probably be shipped back to Fancy

Enter Pobox.ph - Register at their site first, then just shop at any U.S. online store and have your items shipped to their address. Add the items you've bought on their website (along with the tracking number, quantity and other info), and wait for them to be marked as received. Alternatively, since you can track the items yourself, you can just email them once all your items has arrived on their warehouse (sometimes, it will take a few days upon arrival at their warehouse before they will mark your item as received). They will consolidate your items and have them shipped directly to your house. (Not all online stores will allow you to place a different shipping address apart from your card's billing address. In cases like that, please contact Pobox.ph first and give them the link/s of the item/s you want, they will give you a quote on how much the items are *plus their service fee, I presume*, and they can shop on your behalf).

In my experience, it takes about a month after your box has been loaded to the ship before it reaches you. I don't think it's a long wait at all, especially considering how convenient and cheap it is. It's also surprising how much items can fit on the box (they have five different sizes). My first box from them was a red box (23” x 16” x 17”), and the second one was a smaller yellow box (any box with total dimensions of 43”-50”).

So far, I haven't had any missing items but I've read stories of other people who had some missing items from their box. The boxes gets randomly inspected by the customs (in the U.S. and here locally). Not that I'm accusing anyone but since your box may pass through many hands, some items may end up "missing".  You can avail for an additional insurance, just in case. However, I would advise to refrain from buying expensive items that can be easily pocketed (like watches, jewelry, etc.).

Another thing I like about Pobox.ph is their customer service. It takes them about a day to reply (their customer service office hours is 8am-5pm in Philippines time) but so far they've answered all my questions satisfactorily. So rest assured if you do have any questions not covered in their website, just email them and ask away :)




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Brendon said...

I'm glad you had a great service with Pobox. In my current experience, I feel like their email support is too careless that I feel like being scammed. I asked whether my payment was received three days ago. I followed up four times and still no reply. Please tell me I'll still receive my package. http://iamscammer.blogspot.com/2014/11/poboxph-is-this-service-scam.html

Lucy said...

Sana nag-poboxph na lang ako. Sumakit lang ulo ko sa LBC Shipping Cart.

http://ustophshipping.blogspot.com/2015/01/lbc-shipping-cart-good-bad-it-got-so.html

Unknown said...

What about the duties and taxes of your items? Is that handled by pobox? I was planning to buy a number of shoes maybe like 10 or 15 boxes

Unknown said...

What about the duties and taxes of your items? Is that handled by pobox? I was planning to buy a number of shoes maybe like 10 or 15 boxes

Kenken said...

There wasn't any additional duties/taxes that you need to pay for.

Anonymous said...

pobox.ph service sucks lately. items were not consolidated properly, there are SO MANY wasted spaces that can fit in more items, they just throw in boxes after boxes inside the balikbayan box, no consolidation whatsoever.
customer service sucks, they always give empty promises, always delay.... they have too many excuses and they do not care about customers, nothing seems to be going right recently.

AVOID them.

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