Good offer, $4 off postage.
That said, still waiting for my last order shipped June 3rd. Iherb airmail is funny - quickest package took 10 days, longest one 4 weeks. Might have to do with Taiwan customs inspection?
I stopped doing the $4 postage option. I did it twice and it took 3 weeks both of those times.
Paying 4 bucks extra for the $8 DHL option is definitely worth it.
[quote=āFormosa Fitnessā][quote=āFlakmanā]http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2014/06/06/409474/Importing-drugs.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+forumosa%2Fchinapost+%28China+Post+OnlineĀ±+Taiwan%2C+News%29
Saw this article about new rules about sending vitamins to Taiwan.[/quote]
That is some BS right there. This government is doing everything humanly possible to kill off business on the island. 99.9% of the problem drugs are coming from the one place that this administration canāt sell the island to fast enough. The recent regulations are so bizarre and Byzantine as it is that no one can tell us how to comply with them and bring in our supplements. The government simply regulated the heck out of it without providing a clear path for anyone to navigate the system. And our supplements come from New Zealand, which has some of the tightest food safety rules in existence.
This is getting extremely frustrating trying to run a business here.[/quote]
I would be very interested in talking to someone who could actually navigate the Customs bureaucracy.
However, whenever I talk to Customs officers, they just say, āLeave your phone number, weāll call you back later.ā
Summer special in iHerb
Free International Airmail Shipping for Orders Over $40.00!
(where available, limited to 4 pounds)
Caveat
As a general rule:
ā¢Orders going through DHL or UPS have tracking information, and are delivered a lot quicker than International Airmail.
ā¢Orders going through International Airmail are scrutinized less by customs in your country and subject to less custom duties, but have no tracking information, and take longer for delivery.
Hi folks,
As before, I used iherbās awesome deal for free international shipping. I placed the order on June 19 and the package arrived today, just under a month later. Even though it was sent via international airmail, it appears to have been opened by the customs peopleāthough happily it did get through without custom duties. My order, btw, was just over US$40.
Guy
[quote=āafterspivakā]package arrived today, just under a month later.[/quote]For me thatās too long to wait. Unless itās a re-order of something I usually buy.
Yup, thatās exactly what I was doing: stocking up on staples (in this case, my preferred toothpaste!).
Guy
I ordered some Kava capsules from iHerb. Too weak, couldnāt feel anything. Waste oā money.
Iām brushing my teeth as I type. Very pleased with my purchase! 
Guy
Most recent iHerb order: I placed the order Saturday July 19; it arrived yesterday, Thursday July 24, five days total - and thatās with a typhoon day presumably slowing things down, and for that matter with it not even being shipped until the work week started in the US. The DHL option. Value around $70, plus $16USD for shipping.
For those who actually manage to use the free airmail shipping option: how do you manage the weight/cost? Is that only possible with vitamins and the like? Iāve tried and failed to get over $40 while also under 4 pounds. But then again, if that freight option takes a month or so, versus the 4-6 days Iāve routinely had with DHL, then I figure itās not worth it to me anyway.
Most of this current shipment was dried grains and beans - and of course the jar of tomatillo salsa didnāt help the weight either.
Ey? Every time Iāve used the DHL option it has cost me $8 USD.
Ey? Every time Iāve used the DHL option it has cost me $8 USD.[/quote]
Heavy shipment: dried grains and beans, remember. One dollar per pound over eight pounds? Something like that.
Iām having problems with my latest iHerb order: DHL shipping, value about $50 / 1500NTD, weight about 10lbs. Itās being checked by customs, and if my wife is navigating the paperwork and phone trees correctly, Iāll need to pay 30% tax, and an extra inspection fee of about 1200NTD, hence pretty much doubling the price. Plus I need to provide customs with a translated list in Chinese of all of the items, and a photocopy of my passport. Apparently the import law was revised in September of this year, and that may or may not be why Iām getting hit by this.
I was informed by email that was entirely in Chinese.
Shipment contents: some spices, some chocolate chips, quinoa, organic canned crushed tomatoes, dried black beans, bulgur. Would any of those be a red flag? Would āorganicā be a red flag at all, seeing as how when I buy American organic products here the āorganicā has often been blacked out with a marker?
So, an inquiry: is this something new and I can expect this kind of hassle to become routine, or have I just been unlucky?
And of course itāll piss me off no end if the government, having demonstrated conclusively that they canāt guarantee the food of safety in this country, has now made it more difficult to buy food from outside of the country.
I had no problem with my last order at the end of October for $70 in protein powders. Hope yours was a fluke.
I know they did change some procedures with regards importing stuff a while back (they look at invoice amount donāt they), then they briefly banned Taobao, but now Taobao is back with a roar doing a massive business here. Taobao will be easier now if one can source through there.
I guess your shipment got stopped due to weight issues (illegal substance testing?), aswell as the fact that importing seeds is difficult here.
lostinasia, youāre not alone. My last iHerb order took 19 days to get to me from Taoyuan.
When the shipment arrived in Taiwan, I, too, was asked to identify the brand names of all the items in the order and supply a Chinese translation of their product descriptions plus a copy of my passport. Like yours, the message I received was in Chinese, and no explanation was given for the document demand.
A few days later I was informed that I owed duty. Customs uses its own exchange rates, with the result that the value of a shipment I had calculated to be NT$2947 was determined on arrival to be NT$3019. Duty owed: NT$922. Ouch! But that wasnāt the primary cause of the delay.
My order included a one-quart bottle of MCT oil (pharmaceutical grade). First I was told I needed an import license for it. When I supplied the FDA ruling that no license was needed for bringing in such a small quantity, I was told that I needed approval to be exempt from the licensing requirement. It took some days to figure it all out, but eventually I obtained and submitted the approval. Four days later I still hadnāt received the goods. Reason: Customs couldnāt deal with the fact that the exemption approval carried my Taiwan ID number (as requested on the approval application form) instead of my passport number, even though my passport number was clearly printed on the copy of my ID that I had to submit to obtain the approval. Somehow DHL managed to sort that out and get the goods released.
Once I had the goods, I placed another iHerb order, this time well under the duty threshold and containing no oil. It arrived within 5 days without incident.
I have no idea if there are particular items that are triggering special checks or if random inspections are now being made of shipments containing any foodstuffs. Anybody know?
On the Chinese side: I suspect Iād be totally lost if my wife werenāt handling it for me. Then again, if she werenāt around, my Chinese probably be a lot better by now.
The woman (at DHL? Customs? not sure) my wifeās been speaking to seems to think this is going to be normal for all iHerb orders going forward, but Iām relaying that third-hand through a series of people who may not know whatās going on, so take it with a package of organic sea salt. She also has reported that a lot of the problems are connected to the changed import laws around vitamins, and because iHerb also sells vitamins, their shipments are a bit more likely to be dinged - and people are sometimes facing vitamin tariffs because, for example, a grain or whatever is advertised as āGood source of iron!ā on the packaging. More of the third-hand info: this can be a particular problem with DHL, and going with one of the other shipping options may be better.
Anyway, weāve sent a translation of just the product names, rather than the ingredient list, along with a scan of my passport. Weāll see if that works. No word yet on what the extra charges are going to come to.
On weight: Iāve had plenty of packages in the 12 pound range before, so I doubt thatās what raised a red flag for this 10 pound package. As I said, Iām still hoping this is just a fluke, and not the new normal.
[quote=ālostinasiaā]On the Chinese side: I suspect Iād be totally lost if my wife werenāt handling it for me. Then again, if she werenāt around, my Chinese probably be a lot better by now.
The woman (at DHL? Customs? not sure) my wifeās been speaking to seems to think this is going to be normal for all iHerb orders going forward, but Iām relaying that third-hand through a series of people who may not know whatās going on, so take it with a package of organic sea salt. She also has reported that a lot of the problems are connected to the changed import laws around vitamins, and because iHerb also sells vitamins, their shipments are a bit more likely to be dinged - and people are sometimes facing vitamin tariffs because, for example, a grain or whatever is advertised as āGood source of iron!ā on the packaging. More of the third-hand info: this can be a particular problem with DHL, and going with one of the other shipping options may be better.
Anyway, weāve sent a translation of just the product names, rather than the ingredient list, along with a scan of my passport. Weāll see if that works. No word yet on what the extra charges are going to come to.
On weight: Iāve had plenty of packages in the 12 pound range before, so I doubt thatās what raised a red flag for this 10 pound package. As I said, Iām still hoping this is just a fluke, and not the new normal.[/quote]
No, itās not a rumor and yes the government is actually cracking down hard. Basically you wonāt be able to buy much via the mail and bring it into the country starting next year. This little loophole with iherb will be drying up fast.
chinapost.com.tw/print/409484.htm
[quote]Importing drugs restricted starting next year
Friday, June 6, 2014
The China Post news staff
Starting from July next year, the government will impose restrictions on bringing and mailing over-the-counter drugs and supplements to Taiwan from abroad.
People will not be allowed to bring in or mail more than 1,200 vitamin tablets to Taiwan; furthermore, people will only be allowed to send no more than two batches in a given year.
Those who fail to follow the regulations will be fined.
Starting from July 1, 2015, people will need to apply for a permit from the Food and Drug Administration in order to mail over-the-counter drugs to Taiwan. No more than 12 bottles, tubes or 1,200 tablets of nonprescription drugs may be mailed. Furthermore, the permit can only be applied for once in a six-month period.[/quote]
Yes, and the laws are definitely absurd, especially given the total unreliability of anything sold in Taiwan, but those laws as best I can tell seem just to apply to vitamins - yet now (at least according to this woman, as relayed 2nd/3rd hand), any shipment by iHerb, even if itās just the dried beans and canned tomatoes and spices that Iām getting, will also suddenly be facing the same import restriction just because iHerb also happens to sell vitamins.
I dunno. Iām having a bad Taiwan year. I shouldnāt let this sudden hassle get to me until it becomes a pattern.