Int'l Shipping and Customs Duties

I've been wondering how Ph customs exactly come up with the exorbitant prices whenever we receive items bought outside the country or anything that comes in through mail or courier. We had a very bad experience with having to pay 1600 for an 800 worth of small gadget. There was no explanation except that was from the customs and either u pay or don't get your goods.

Having been here in ROK for a year now with a lot of small gadgets ordered from abroad, I learned that it's easier to figure out their customs tariffs. There's a threshold of 100, 150 or 200 USD and it might be tax free, depending on the goods. I even got my chromebook (worth less than 200 USD) free of tax. We only had to pay about 30USD for shipping through malltail. Hubby says if it goes past the 200 USD, it would be taxed at 10%.

Other than that, we had no worries for any after-shipping cost like tax. We know exactly how much it will cost buying something online from an international site like Amazon.

In the Ph, on the other hand, the rules are not clear. It is a general knowledge that you are in the mercy of the customs officers who happen to handle on your package. Upon reading couriers/forwarding service companies site, I have come across of the 20% tariff that is for customs. I'm like..really? No wonder then.

Here's my list of possible companies that I'll have to research some more.

manilaforwarder, pobox, and JAC.

from manilaforwarder site:

TAXATION FOR FORMAL ENTRY SHIPMENTS.
Items that are subject to tax are those that require AC Power, luxury items, items intended for commerce- have a 20% tax based on commercial invoice for brand new items and 10% for used items. Philippine tariff law applies as we separate formal entry and non formal entry shipments. The fee generally include other fees like arrastre, AMS, and documentations,.

TAX FREE SHIPMENTS.
Personal effects and household goods are tax free. Please see rules.

For tax free shipments, items should not be more than 9 of a kind and for personal use only.