Balikbayan box - shipping to Philippines

[NoMansLand2020 298]

My wife wants to start shipping thrift clothes to the Philippines for ukay ukay purposes. Is this legal? She thinks she can fit 400 pieces in a 24x24x18 box.... Is this possible? 

[Cyberfx1024 7,978]

39 minutes ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

My wife wants to start shipping thrift clothes to the Philippines for ukay ukay purposes. Is this legal? She thinks she can fit 400 pieces in a 24x24x18 box.... Is this possible? 

Yes, I know someone that does this for their family's store back in Pinas. 

[Illiria 980]

According to Google - nope but that doesn’t mean people don’t do it. 
 

‘The commercial importation of secondhand clothing to the Philippines has been prohibited since 1966 under the Republic Act No. 4653, also known as the "Act to safeguard the health of the Filipino people and maintain the dignity of the nation through the prohibition of the importation of used clothing and rags". It renders a significant part of the ukay-ukay business illegal. There have been many calls to review and amend the law legalizing the sale of imported used clothing by ukay-ukay stores.’

[top_secret 2,062]

13 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

My wife wants to start shipping thrift clothes to the Philippines for ukay ukay purposes. Is this legal?

No

 

13 hours ago, NoMansLand2020 said:

Is this possible? 

Yes

 

BTW, my own wife kind of went on a frenzy whenever she encountered the Salvation Army thrift store.  Too much temptation.🤣

[Vermyndax 33]

16 hours ago, Illiria said:

According to Google - nope but that doesn’t mean people don’t do it. 
 

‘The commercial importation of secondhand clothing to the Philippines has been prohibited since 1966 under the Republic Act No. 4653, also known as the "Act to safeguard the health of the Filipino people and maintain the dignity of the nation through the prohibition of the importation of used clothing and rags". It renders a significant part of the ukay-ukay business illegal. There have been many calls to review and amend the law legalizing the sale of imported used clothing by ukay-ukay stores.’

That says 'The commercial importation..." - I would bet that if you're just sending second-hand clothing to family back home and they don't resell it, that doesn't count as commercial importation. That counts as taking care of your family.

[John & Rose 7,237]

My wife has done this many times.  Two more boxes are getting picked up this Friday.  It includes gifts for family and many items to sell.  They decide what to keep and what to sell, not us.  As far as we are concerned they are keeping all of it.

 

[Kby175 115]

Technically it's a no no but many people ship second hand clothing, I am in the process of moving to the Philippines and shipping quit a bit of my second hand clothing so I don't have to lug it to the airport and deal with possible extra costs of overweight bags. 

[seekingthetruth 1,218]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:30 AM, NoMansLand2020 said:

My wife wants to start shipping thrift clothes to the Philippines for ukay ukay purposes. Is this legal? She thinks she can fit 400 pieces in a 24x24x18 box.... Is this possible? 

No.  Balikbayan boxes are strictly for non-commercial goods.  A box or two for relatives is different.

[Talako 756]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:55 AM, top_secret said:

No

 

Yes

 

BTW, my own wife kind of went on a frenzy whenever she encountered the Salvation Army thrift store.  Too much temptation.🤣

I feel your pain.  Our local Catholic Church/School has a thrift store, and, well, you know...

 

Why buy one dress that you will never wear for $150 when you can buy 50 that you will never wear for $3 each?

 

[Carpe Vinum 2,310]

1 hour ago, Talako said:

I feel your pain.  Our local Catholic Church/School has a thrift store, and, well, you know...

 

Why buy one dress that you will never wear for $150 when you can buy 50 that you will never wear for $3 each?

 

...and shoes...the horror.