My Shopping Box Review Shipping MacBook Pro from US to the Philippines

Shopping online has never been easy, especially you’re shipping an item from abroad into the Philippines. I discovered this My Shopping Box (MSB) when my co-team in a project introduce this to me. It is a freight forwarder and shipping service that gives you personalized address in the US. This address can be used as a shipping address when you purchase an item online either from eBay, Amazon, Newegg and other online stores. Some online shop doesn’t shipped item in the Philippines, only in the United States and this shipping service is the right solution for it. You can also use this service to receive your gifts from your friends and families.

UPDATES as of 11/27/2019: Got a response from MyShoppingBox team that they no longer accept items with lithium battery in it for both AIR and SEA. Full response below.

UPDATES as of 12/02/2019: They officially announced it to their Facebook page during CyberMonday 2019. They no longer ship devices that are powered by lithium/li-ion batteries like mobile phones, power banks, consoles and laptops.

My Shopping Box is now FREE

The good thing about MyShoppingBox, their subscription is now for FREE – meaning you don’t need to pay any more for a subscription and what you only need to do is to Register and get your personalized US address. Before, you have to pay $25 for a one year subscription to get a US address from them.

You can register to MyShoppingBox at my-shoppingbox.com.

Types of Shipment

They have two types of shipment via Air and via Sea. In my experience, the Air shipment takes about 10 to 15 days for your item to arrive in the Philippines – the counting starts when your item arrive in their warehouse. While in Sea shipment it takes longer about 45 to 75 days to arrive to your doorstep.

For item that has lithium-ion like laptops, mobile phones and macbooks which is prohibited in AIR shipment, the only way to ship it is via SEA. For less lithium-ion content like watches, it can be shipped via AIR.

Cost

For the cost, Air shipment has two classes; One for the non-electronics product which is cost around $5.99 per lbs, and the other class is for electronic product which is $8.50 per pounds. But usually they consider items like Router, Hard disk, and other computer peripherals as non-electronics.

On Sea shipment, it only cost around $2.99 per lbs for any kinds of item. This is much cheaper than AIR, but it will take 2 months to get your item. 

Note: The cost may also vary in package sizes or weights – they charge based on whichever is greater. For example, a non-electronic item you want to ship via AIR weight 1 pounds but the package size is too big, it will charge based on the size.

To give you an insight of how their charges works, here are some of the charging cost for specific items. The list below is based from our shipment history in My-Shopping Box:

• Macbook Pro laptop – $17.97 up to $38.87 for SEA only
• Big Graphics card – $59.90 for AIR and $29.90 for SEA
• Big Motherboard – $51.00 for AIR and $17.94 for SEA
• Big Wireless Router (Amped Wireless) – $23.96 for AIR and $11.96 for SEA
• Big Microphone (Blue Yeti) – $29.95 for AIR and $14.95 for SEA
• Gaming Headset – $29.95 for AIR and $14.95 for SEA
• Gaming Headset Stand (Corsair RGB) – $35.94 for AIR and $17.94for SEA
• Mobile phones – $2.99 for SEA only
• Processor – $11.98 for AIR and $5.98 for SEA
• PS4 and XBOX game controllers – $5.99 for AIR and $2.99 for SEA
• SSD storage – $5.99 for AIR and $2.99 for SEA
• Hard Drive storage –$17.00 for AIR and $5.98 for SEA
• Game disk for PS4, PC, and etc – $5.99 for AIR and $2.99 for SEA
• USB flash drives – $5.99 for AIR and $2.99 for SEA
• Desktop RAM kit – $5.99 for AIR and $2.99 for SEA
• Watches – $17.00 for AIR and $5.99 for SEA
• Smart Watch (Samsung Gear S3) –  $17 for AIR and $5.99 for SEA
• DJI Osmo Mobile 2 – $17.97 for AIR and $8.97 for SEA

I also use their service to ship one of my HUGE package the 22inch Cintiq Wacom tablet which is very big and quite expensive when you buy it here in the Philippines, they charge around $281.53 for AIR and $139.69 for SEA. The weight of this package is around 46 lbs. Calculating the total amount of item plus the shipment, I save almost around 20% compare to the price of the item in the Philippines.

My Exciting Experience for Shipping a MacBook Pro

Buying MacBook pro in the US especially on eBay and Amazon is quite cheaper than buying here locally, or online in Apple Store (Singapore), you can save around 20% to 30%. Since I am already using MyShoppingBox, I decided to purchase on eBay instead of buying here in the Philippines. The downside on shipping laptops in MyShoppingBox is your item will only be shipped via SEA, and you have to wait for an average of 60 days to get your item.

So fast forward, I bought a MacBook from eBay – If you want to know where I am buying Apple product, you can check 6ave in eBay. The date that I purchased my laptop is September 7, 2017, and the seller dispatched my item for delivery, night after I bought it. Here is the tracking history of my item going through from New Jersey to California (MSB Warehouse):

Time and date	Place	Message
Thursday, Sep 7, 2017 12:00 AM	KEASBEY , NJ	Picked up
Thursday, Sep 7, 2017 7:55 PM	KEASBEY , NJ	Arrived at FedEx location
Friday, Sep 8, 2017 1:08 PM	KEASBEY , NJ	Departed FedEx location
Saturday, Sep 9, 2017 1:51 AM	NEW PARIS , OH	In transit
Saturday, Sep 9, 2017 1:58 PM	CATOOSA , OK	In transit
Sunday, Sep 10, 2017 2:05 AM	ALBUQUERQUE , NM	In transit
Sunday, Sep 10, 2017 2:30 PM	HESPERIA , CA	In transit
Monday, Sep 11, 2017 9:00 AM	RIALTO , CA	In transit
Monday, Sep 11, 2017 9:03 PM	RIALTO , CA	In transit
Tuesday, Sep 12, 2017 1:56 PM	RIALTO , CA	In transit
Tuesday, Sep 12, 2017 7:08 PM	BLOOMINGTON , CA	Arrived at FedEx location
Tuesday, Sep 12, 2017 11:33 PM	BLOOMINGTON , CA	Departed FedEx location
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2017 7:21 AM	SUN VALLEY , CA	At local FedEx facility
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2017 10:51 AM	SUN VALLEY , CA	On FedEx vehicle for delivery
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2017 4:51 PM	Burbank , CA	Delivered

So it takes about 7 days before my item arrived in My Shopping Box warehouse. Once the item arrived in MyShoppingBox, it will take another 1 to 2 days for it to get listed in your MyShoppingBox dashboard. Once it’s registered, you can now pay the shipping fee for the Item. Since it’s an SEA shipment, I pay lower fee at around $2.99 per lbs and the total amount is $38.87 the chargeable weight is 13 lbs. To pay the shipping fee, you can use your Debit/Credit cardor if you have PayMaya, you can use it as well.

Tracking My Shopping Box shipment from the United States into the Philippines is quite limited, and you can only track it in 2 types of status. In Transit or Delivered. So, the best thing to do is trust MyShoppingBox and wait for your item to arrive in Manila and to your doorstep.

At exactly 60 days after I pay for the shipment from My Shopping Box, I contacted their customer support for follow up, and the status of my item. As expected they reply immediately and they give me the AIR21 tracking number for the local/province shipment (Manila to Gensan).

Tracking in AIR21 is not real time and it will take 4 days for the status of your package to appear in their online tracking system, so the best thing to do is to call their local landline number if you want to follow it up.

The next day (Day 61), I finally received my precious MacBook Pro 15 inch. As expected my package just arrived on time.

To summarize, the time you bought your item online will take you about 60 to 70 days to received your item. Note, this is for SEA shipment only.

About AIR shipment

Fewer worries in AIR shipment, since this is the fastest. In my experience, AIR shipment usually takes about 10 to 15 days for your item to arrive in the Philippines, including Manila to Provinces. If you include the time seller shipped the item to MSB warehouse, just add 3 to 7 days to it.

Handling of Package and Condition

Handling of the package is exceptional, every item that they shipped the item they’re all in excellent condition, good shape including the outside the packaging, no sign of dents or anything. Yes, they open your package for inspection, but they do not tear or open the actual box of your item, expect your item are still sealed and in tack.

Overall

My Shopping Box is the most trusted freight forwarder that you can find online; they have customer support that you can reach anytime to kill your worries. One of the best thing that I’d like most in MSB is they don’t require you to pay additional Insurance fee compare to other freight forwarder.

Regarding Sales tax, some states in United States charge for a sales tax and since MSB warehouse is in California, you need to pay the sales tax when buying item online. Some online stores especially Amazon and Newegg adds about 3% to 5% sales tax on it. For a tip: Most sellers in eBay don’t charge for it, so go for eBay 😉

Hope this review of mine helps your decision or eliminate some of your worries if it’s your first time using MyShoppingBox. If you still not registed in MSB, you can register at my-shoppingbox.com

We’re excited to see more feature from My Shopping Box this coming 2018.

FAQs

Since this review is becoming popular, we got so many inquiry from our Facebook page and emails. Here are some top questions that we receive and can answer based from our experience.

Invalid Credit Cards when Paying Your Shipments

The payment gateway My Shopping Box is using sometimes decline credit/debit card especially prepaid card like PayMaya, GCash, Pioneer, etc.. To fix this, just wait for a couple of hours or even day and pay again using that card again, it should be successful afterwards. The probably reason for this is the payment gateway is unable to reach your bank payment service provider.

Do they ship Mobile Phones, Laptops or Electronics with Lithium-ion Battery?

Yes, they will accept and ship this item. Just make sure it’s brand new or used but the item must be in original packaging. I’ve tried ordering a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S6 and they do accept it. Also, take note that they only shipped it via SEA.

Will they open the Package?

As stated in our review. Yes, they will open the package for inspection, but they will not open the box of your item. In our experience, all of our package are on its original seal and no sign of opening especially brand new item.