While most online stores abroad will charge you import duties if the total amount of your purchases goes beyond Php 10,000 (as mandated by our local laws), there are some online stores that take care of import duties for you, and the Nike Philippines online website is one of them. Even if the online store is actually based in Singapore, the site explains that “any applicable duties or taxes are included in your order total during checkout.”
While that should be the case for any orders made on the site that is over Php 10,000, there are some instances that their courier (which is usually DHL based on my experience and the experience of others) would make mistakes and insist that you have to pay for duties. This happened recently to Project 7 to 1 Founder Carlo Ople when he ordered two Nike sneakers (both GR pairs) valued at over Php 10k.
What happened? Despite Carlo ordering Nike multiple times through the site, this became the first time that DHL informed him that he had to pay import duties. He is not alone with this problem, as a lot of people shared the same problem on his Facebook post. Even Nike Philippines’ customer service insisted that you should not pay import duties.
Was the problem resolved? After Carlo contested the charges (which took around five calls), DHL finally informed him that there was a glitch in their system in how the items were tagged, thus confirming that no import duties have to be paid. While the package was delayed, Carlo did not have to pay for import duties.
What happens if you are being charged for import duties when ordering products at the Nike Philippines website? Know your rights and contest the charges. The process may be tedious, but it is your right to contest them especially if the site explicitly states that they will not charge you import duties.
