It’s my first time to order from BookDepository.co.uk (emphasized the .uk because there’s also a USA version of their store) and while I’ve heard horrible stories about our post offices here in the Philippines, I still went ahead and purchased a couple of books from them.
I placed my order for these books around the last week of August, and they were dispatched from the HQ from Sep 2-5. Yup, they were mailed off separately; assuming they did that to cut down on shipping costs and from making the package suspicious-looking to the eyes of the customs (who are really scums of the earth, and leeches).
Packages
Three packages stood before me waiting to be opened….
I would’ve been excited to open these packages but the customs person ruined my mood from last week’s pick up. They opened my other package (not the one form BD, t’was another online order) in the post office and went through my stuff and charged me a big-ass fee for it. Let’s just say that the amount I paid for is nearly the same total cost altogether of the stuff I bought online. I’d rather not dwell on that anymore because I waste so much energy on ranting and typing that it’s basically a waste of time.
The packages were stamped by the PO with the following dates: Sep 26, 21 and 16, respectively. I wouldn’t know any of these packages have reached the PO if I didn’t go and manually checked their record book for my name. Ugh. 
So they arrived around 2-3 weeks, normal timeframe for international mail to get here, it’s just the local post office and the corrupt system (I guess) who’s problematic with delivery times. Philippines, when will you ever change your ways?????
Back to the topic…
Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! =)) Here are all the books from BookDepository that I ordered. The first package, which contained the 2n1 journal series (Jay’s Journal and Go Ask Alice), I picked it up from the post office last week. The two other books at the bottom I just go them this afternoon and they were delivered straight to my house. I owe our mailman big time for sneaking it from the customs bitch ‘n’ hag.
New books to read!
On to my first impressions..
- I’ve started reading Go Ask Alice last week since it was the first book that I got out of my order. I just want to point out that it’s a book that I regret buying. I can’t say the same for Jay’s Journal yet but it seems a bit darker than Alice, though I expected Alice to be just as dark. For me it felt that the writing was too childish, petty, and definitely not-at-all depressed and suicide-y that it’s going to make me get hooked-up to the book and not want to put it down until I finish reading it. What the hell was I expecting, this is a supposedly journal from a 14-year old (correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t remember lol) who got hooked on drugs. It’s a best-seller and supposedly a must-read that also got good reviews. I guess I expected too much. I guess I need to lay off the teen books section and grow up. :))
- Hopefully I’m going to enjoy reading the two other books I ordered. ‘If I Love You, I Would Tell You This,’ and ‘Death Is Not An Option’ are both the type of books containing short stories. They both have good reviews and 4-5 star rating on some bookshops online where I’ve checked. Also, I saw ‘If I Love You…’ book at Powerbooks last Wednesday, I got pissed for spending money on buying a book I could’ve gotten locally. Then again… it was a hardbound copy and it did cost more.
- I honestly don’t know what was running around my mind around the time I was looking for books to purchase at BD. I only remember looking for short stories that are good to purchase. I wish I didn’t consider getting the 2n1 package of teen journals. Haha. Wait, I think it was the fact that they were packed together and they both looked like they had intriguing stories.
Oh, BookDepository includes a bookmark in every order. Hahaha. Nifty, I say. Although, for the calendar part, it’s not that usable anymore since we’re almost at the end of the year.
Bookmark freebies
Here’s a photo of all the books.. oops, forgot to take out the two black journals out of their box.
Thanks, Bookdepository!
While the online ordering experience has been fun and exciting for me, I’d have to put a stop to it. I was after trying out the free shipping for orders and owning these hard-to-find books in the local bookstores here in Manila. Both of these things I got to accomplish with my first BookDepository order, so okay, I’m satisfied now that I got them and very much content.
This is the first (after 7 years) and last time I’m buying online in international stores. I just can’t deal with the unfair fees I have to face everytime I have to claim a package at the post office. Their service is also very, very inconsistent and I hate having to wait for a long time.
Don’t they know how agonizing it is to wait for something you only saw online and you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible?!
As for the service of BookDepository, they’re good. Take away the inconsistency of the post office out of the picture, I would totally order from them again. The books got here (in the country) in 2-3 weeks, in perfect condition. I highly recommend them to be the place to search for books that are hard to find here in the Philippines, that is if you wanna risk time and money for it.
The free shipping is 100% real, too. Unless your package gets in the hands of a slug.. I mean, customs officer who’s residing in the inner depths of your local post office. In my experience, the only fee I had to pay for was the postal fee which is PHP 40. Anything above that is usually from the customs. And, well, that’s a different story.
Currently the handling fee or customs something payment at the post office is P112.00. I went to my local post office and asked. My problem is if two of my books do not arrived at the same time and dirrectly to my address(complete with zip code) I might get charged for each and I hope not. -_- Why the heck do we have fees for books? I so hate it.
That’s bargaining to the highest level to only be charged P112 for your package. Imagine mine when I paid close to P2000 for books here at the Paranaque post office. God.
Usually they send a card that we have to go to the post office so we can pay them (I guess, P112 for a package for now (but I really doubt it)) and claim the book/package. I doubt they let the post man pick the payment from us. It has to be the people in the post office who will receive and release the package to us. They open the package and make sure no illegal~ items are in it and then charge it from what they see.
Gusto ko lang itanong kung nasubukan mo nang bumili ng libro sa Thriftbooks at ginamit mo yung standard shipping service nila (Expedited/Standard) at dumating ba sila mismo sa tirahan mo o kailangan mo pang kuhanin sa local Post Office mo?
Back when I used to buy books (not from Thriftbooks though) online, naiiwan sa Post Office and I have to go there and pick it up after I pay up the necessary (expensive) fees. I also just used the standard/regular shipping services that takes months not the speedy shipping service.
Hello! Thank you for sharing your experience. I had my first transaction with them earlier today. I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’m really concerned though because I have been reading quite a handful of blogposts regarding the local door-to-door delivery and in some cases, they were charged a 50-peso fee for who-knows-what by the delivery man (maybe additional local delivery charges as I know books should be tax-free?). But when these people placed their work addresses, they were never charged. Other cases, the people said no additional fees were asked. In some cases as well, I heard that they were notified to instead pick the packages up from the local PO. Do you think it’s a matter of location? I live in Manila and some other bloggers who also live in Manila shared that their orders were delivered at home. What should I expect when the books arrive? I’m not always at home and I fear that some opportunist delivery personnel might take advantage of my kasmabahay and ask for more fees than necessary as she is from the province and has quite a thick accent. Do you have suggestions?
I hope your transaction with Bookdepository goes well! About your question, yes I’d like to think that the post office charges regarding packages and whether should it be taxed or not depends on your location. Either that, or I am just unlucky because a couple of friends who ordered the same item from abroad before got it delivered to their home.
Where I’m from, unfortunately my PO is the Paranaque Post Office and literally all mail that comes from outside the country gets held at customs and taxed (on top of the P50 (now P100) PO fee for holding your mail in the first place (shouldn’t they deliver in the first place though?)). I had a couple of purchases from eBay last December which were all held up for customs inspection upon claiming it there. I thought that was weird because they’re very little stuff AND two of the items I’m waiting to be delivered were sticker sheets in regular envelope. Sad to say, I just let it go. Sayang yung P700 but whatever, the PO is too far from me and I haven’t got the energy to argue incase they do what I’m expecting they would do before I get my hands on those packages.
Books should be tax-free, yes. There’s even this document around the internet about it (http://customs.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/CMC-No.-142-2014-Imports-of-Books.pdf). The gist is, as long as the books coming in are not of commercial quantity or for personal use only, should not be taxed! In my experience, even after I brought a printout of this document at the post office the ignored it and taxed me! The books, by the way, were school catalogs sent for me for free. Hate that I had to pay for it.
Your location is in Manila? Do you live in a condominium? I think you would have better chances getting your packages delivered directly compared to mine. I have a friend who also lives there and borrowed her address before.. all packages were delivered directly to her with no holdups. Las Pinas, AFAIK is also the same PO as mine in terms of the ‘system’ they use. Best chances to just have your mail sent to a provincial address. I also read before that some provinces post offices don’t just about tax anything there… even huge packages! How I wish these good people worked in the city instead!!
Just in case, have your kasambahay prepare at least P100 because that is the standard post office fee now (not including customs). I don’t think the mailman can accept more than that unless there are two packages delivered. Otherwise, they’ll give you a notice to pick it up at the post office.
Hmm I’ve always had a hunch that work addresses were somehow exempted from this crazy customs charging PO fees for packages.. looks like you confirmed it for me. Damnit, I wish I was working in an office just for this advantage hehe.
As much a possible, I don’t want my mail delivered to me now… at least not in my PH home address, unless it’s something delivered to me locally/within the PH. I use US-PH forwarding boxes now and I think they are heaven sent from the hell PH post office.
Hello!! Thank you for replying and for sharing more of your experiences. I’m sorry for the items that you had to let go, though.
Anyway, I ordered 3 books from BD. Two were dispatched last Feb 12 and the last one was dispatched today. Hopefully they arrive on time, or at least the pick-up notice arrives on time. A few months ago, I ordered from a publishing company based in the US and they said the mail is bound to arrive 2-3 weeks for my location and that it should arrive at my doorstep (they used USPS so it’s automatically redirected to PHLPost). Suffice it to say that the pick-up notice arrived 5 weeks instead of 2-3. I can say, though, that I didn’t have much problems with the Manila PO (located near Lawton). Also, since it was my first time for an online transactions such as that, they waived the storage fee (which should have been P100). I hope my latest transactions with BD (since I now have a feeling that they will ask me to pick up instead because I have three packages), will be as hassle-free.
I’m having a feeling that The Paranaque Office is one of the “sketchy” ones giving a bad name to PHPost. Years ago, my mom picked up a package for her cousin and she had to pay a hefty 3000-4000 pesos for it.
Also, I can attest to provincial POs having no taxes or storage fees or something like that. My dad ordered motorcycle spare parts from the US years ago and had to have it sent to our provincial address as his motorbikes are located there. So the package was sent in a big box (almost as big as half a balikbayan box) and my mom was able to pick it up hassle-free. The catch was that the pick-up notice was sent 3 months later than the expected date since the package was forwarded from Manila to the provincial PO.
Lastly, I have another question (sorry, I’m really preparing for this one). What did you tell the PO personnel when you followed up your packages? Since BD doesn’t give tracking IDs? Did you simply mention your name and they looked it up?
Thank you once again for accommodating me.
Oh, thank you for sharing that story of your mom and the Paranaque PO. I knew it, they’re such sketchy corrupt bastards! No way I’m going to pay 1000-4000 pesos to ‘bail’ a package anymore. Remembering my experience, the most I paid was 2k-ish. Still, that fee is ridiculous compared to how much I pay w/ the US consolidated box of packages (to think the box is as big as a balikbayan box AND with the shipping fee, the total comes much lower than 3k!) Speaking of consolidated box, mine finally arrived last week and I’m so happy to get my online orders from December.. hehe. It’s quite a long wait but worth it if the packages are not taxed upon arrival here.
Looks like you got away with the packages w/ being charged just a minimal fee. Fingers crossed for you that it’ll stay that way. 😉 Yeah, provincial post offices have waay more luck! IDK if I mentioned it in my other reply before but Pampanga’s post office is also cool w/ packages meaning they don’t overcharge. They probably deliver mails and packages right on your doorstep.
About your question, I just asked them if I can browse their logbook and they just shrugged and acted whatever about it. Well first I asked if my package already arrived, they said no. I didn’t believe them so I asked. I went ahead and browsed.. didn’t take me hours to find the packages under my name there in the logbook. Lazy bastards.
Try bringing the PDF file printout when you’re asked to pick up a book next time, let me know how it goes. 😛
Hello!
It’s been a while, but I just wanted to share my experience as you requested.
First of all, here’s the summary of my timeline:
Feb. 05, 2016 – Ordered all three books (trilogy)
Feb. 12, 2016 – Books 2 and 3 were dispatched
Feb. 15, 2016 – Book 1 was dispatched
Feb. 19, 2016 – Dated arrival of Books 2 and 3 in Manila Post Office
Feb. 25, 2016 – Dated arrival of Book 1 in Manila Post Office
Mar. 14, 2016 – I picked all of them up from the PO (without the notification letter)
So anyway, what happened was, due to my previous transaction with a US-based publisher last year, I opted to wait for my notification letter. However, it’s been 4 weeks (last week) and still no letter. It didn’t bother me much since I received my notif letter for my US orders 6 weeks after dispatch. My sister found out about my orders last week and, like you, also advised me to personally visit the PO and ask for packages addressed to me. Turns out, she and her husband also had the same experience (claiming a package without both a tracking ID and a notification letter) and I was told that the people manning the Basement Window (claiming area) are kind and will allow me to check their logs.
So today, March 14, I went to the PO and asked the ladies manning the Window Office for packages under my name. The person I talked to was really kind. She voluntarily compiled their list of logged packages (printed papers in a clipped folder) and asked me if I wanted to check it out myself. I agreed immediately because I realized that they were busy (only 3 of them in the office and quite a lot of people claiming packages) and it was to also reassure myself that each and every single one of the list was thoroughly checked for my name. Eventually I was able to find all three packages. She had me sign beside my name on the list and then handed me a piece of paper for me to jot down all the packages’ control numbers. After that, she asked me to sit and wait and then went and collected all of my packages.
After that little wait and it was my turn again, I was, as their usual protocol, asked to pay for their storage fee (PhP 112 per parcel as of 2016). Since I had 3, I had to pay PhP 336. I then asked her “Ate, next time kung may package ulit ako, ok lang ba na dumiretso na ako dito kahit wala pa ung notification letter?”
She then told me “Ay, oo. Ok nga yung ginawa mo eh. At least nakuha mo na silang tatlo nang sabay-sabay. Pero request lang namin, pag may dumating na notification letter, disregard mo nalang. Tapos, paki take note yung control numbers. Kasi dati may customer din na dumating with the notif then hinahanap namin ung parcels niya wala, only to find out na nakuha na pala niya kasi napirmahan na niya yung log sheets.”
So, lesson learned, and to also notify other people who are within my zip area (1003–assigned at the Manila PO near Lawton) that BD purchases can arrive within 1-2 weeks after dispatch even though their website claims 2-3 weeks arrival from AU (my books came from AU). But just to be sure, and to avoid hassle, I would recommend going to the PO after 3 weeks.
All in all, despite my long wait, it was a successful first transaction with BD and a pleasing experience with the PO personnel.
Thank you, Ms. Anna, for your blog and for allowing me to share my experience. 🙂
I’m so happy your post office experience turned out good and the opposite from mine! 🙂 By the way did they charge you customs fees for the books on top of the postal fees? I recently picked up some eBay orders. I won’t na dapat but they kept sending me notices and it got really annoying. Will blog about it soon.
Thank you for writing a detailed account of your story too! Appreciate it lots.
Hello!
Nope, they did not charge me for anything else except for the storage fees (as seen in the pic of my OR in the following link: http://i.imgur.com/Khcph5V.jpg).
They didn’t even ask for the invoice nor did I need to pull out the print copies of the memorandum documents you linked to me last time. 🙂
A sincere good luck to our future online purchases. :)) I do hope they will be hassle-free.
I would love to read your blog post regarding your eBay orders. Should I expect another rant? :))
Waah, lucky you! Yeah they charged me for customs when I picked up my packages. >:( The twist, though, is that the total amount for customs was much less than I was expecting. The total for the post office fees costs more!! Yeah it will be a rant, slight one. Haha!
I wonder why they charge you. Aren’t those books? Or were they something else? I think it’s time to have it sent to a friend’s address which is under the Manila PO. 🙂 It might be more hassle-free or cheaper for you.
They weren’t books but they were small and light enough that it could pass as regular mail. Yeah that’d be very convenient sana but.. she moved to Makati. 🙁 She still lives in a condo though, so their PO *might* directly deliver parcels pa rin. Working on my post! Check back soon hehe. 😀
Also, Thank you for linking the document regarding the books. It saved me quite some time from searching it online.
I ordered a book from BD on April 5, 2017 and was dispatched from the U.K. last April 7, 2017. Per BD’s shipping info, the parcel would’ve arrived 7-10 business days from dispatch date. So I went to Quezon City CPO in NIA Road yesterday, May 5, to see if I have a parcel to claim.
As with other government agencies or offices, the building is clearly in dire need of a major overhaul. What’s even more unnerving and frustrating is that there are only two windows serving the queue—first window has two PO workers with their ledgers and the second collecting fees assessed from the packages. And oh, they also are in charge of releasing Postal IDs.
When it was finally my turn, they asked for a tracking number so they can look at their ledgers (HANDWRITTEN and not a computer in sight) titled by month and followed by P or R (which prolly stands for Priority or Registered mail) but the Ate who assisted me seems to be in a bad mood said they are unable to look it up without a tracking number. I told her that the sender didn’t provide anything. I politely and calmly asked if I can take a look at the ledgers myself but she is being uncooperative.
The other Ate in charge stated that for packages coming in from the U.K. or other countries usually takes a month or two to arrive, and that I return a later time to make sure or just wait for a notification from them.
I have read this blog October last year so I was excpecting some pitfalls along the way knowing how dismal and corrupt our local PO can get, but experiencing first-hand their incompetence yesterday is beyond this world. I have to compose myself from not making a scene.
I shall try my luck next week and be more assertive, and praying that I encounter a PO worker who knows and loves his/her job.
It sucks that most government offices are in dire need of a major overhaul and here we are, suffering from the awful services. I thought that if we have a president like Duterte, our government offices would be renovated since in the city he governs, in Davao, the post offices work well and in good condition.
Hey i would just like to ask; what if i dont own a credit card? I do own a debit card though. Can i pay TBD using my debit card?
Hi! TBD meaning ‘to be declared/decided/delivered(?)’ for a pre-order type of book, right? I think that’s fine as long as you have enough funds in your debit card, coz unlike credit card (the items you pay for, what basically happens is you ‘buy now and pay later’) it will instantly deduct the amount from your funds – with no future obligations to pay it back in the future, though (I’d say that’s an ‘advantage’).
Also, the debit card should have a Mastercard or Visa logo. Otherwise, I cannot assure you that the type of debit card you have can be used for online purchases.
Apologies for the long and late reply but I hope you were able to find this info helpful
hello, i was wondering if the post office sends you some sort of notification if a package arrived for you and you have to pick it up?
Hello. Yes, they will send you a notice when you have a package for pickup in the post office. Be prepared to get charged a pretty hefty fee for it though. Unless your post office is still one of those good ones where they don’t overcharge unjust rates and have people who do their jobs properly. 🙂
If you’re expecting a package though, try to check it up with them from time to time. There should be a logbook there where you can check. Tedious but it will surely get the job done.
I’ve got a question… in what currency did you pay? Philippine Peso or US Dollars? This one question is what has been bugging me before ordering a book.
Hi, I paid in PHP. The website will show the total amount in USD first, then upon payment, it will deduct depending on the currency of the bank you are using. Amount may slightly change depending on the current exchange rate at the time.
Hope this helps!
I’ve ordered from The Book Depository before. The only thing I like about it is that it’s free shipping. However, it takes way too long to get to me even though I order from the US site because it is still dispatched from the UK. I can find cheaper deals elsewhere, but if it’s cheaper on BD (which is never), then I order from them. Or if I ever want to send a book as a gift and don’t want to pay for shipping. BD is good for that.
I don’t think I’ve ever read or heard of those books before.
I still find it unfair for some PO’s to charge sky-high fee over some light packages!
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This interests me. Will probably search for and/or buy one as well. 😀
Why didn’t I have those bookmarks?! Hmm, maybe because the last time I ordered was I-can’t-remember-anymore this year.
I think you should just buy a Kindle 🙂 I got mine last April and I’ve never been happier and I’ve been reading more! Haha of course I was a firm believer of real books before that so I was sort of a hypocrite too.. but it did make me read more than usual so I can’t blame it really. There’s even a new line out right now and super cheap!
I think I’m going to go ahead and look for If I Loved You I would Tell You This. Really intrigued.