I tried direct shipping once with a sub-P10k order a couple of months ago. Okay nga! It only took 4-days from ordering to arriving direct to my door.
Minsan kung ifafactor pa natin yung cost at time ng shipping to the US-based cargo forwarder warehouse, plus yung shipping going to the PHL, lumalabas na mas mabilis na yung direct at mas mura pa. Great for small items.
That said, pag medyo marami or malalaki na items at yung total value is above P10K, tapos kung free shipping domestic US shipping naman, sa cargo forwarder pa rin ako dumadaan kasi may package consolidation din sila.
On another note, excited ako haul ko itong nakaraan na Black Friday at Cyber Monday sale, nakalibre na naman ako ng Amazon Prime one-month trial since over $300 ang total order. Got some LPs, SSDs at rock-bottom prices at hard-to-find tech gadgets na wala or overpriced sa Lazada at Shoppee. Nag bigay pa ang Amazon ng additional automatic discounts and coupons na applied on checkout. Nice!
Amazon SEA, where are you!