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Moving to Bonaire: Buying furniture local vs. shipping
Bonaire Talk: Moving to Bonaire: Archives: Archives 2009: Buying furniture local vs. shipping
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Peter Bomberg (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #9) on Friday, July 17, 2009 - 12:37 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Everyone, I know the selection in Bonaire is limited, Curacao has more and I can ship from home (Canada) the question is shipping costs 8,000 and my question is since I don't need appliances just furniture and all the content (like dishes, linens, towels etc,,) is the price that much higher that I will make up the 5K (ofcourse I don't know what shipping from Curacao is either, but assuming 2,000) will I save 5,000 buy buying in Canada/US?

Peter

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Debbie B. ~ Jersey Gal(*) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9917) on Friday, July 17, 2009 - 1:16 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ah, Peter, buying on island is hit or miss at best. Some things, such as appliances are fine, even "some" furniture if you get lucky. But, have you ever looked at sheets and pillowcases, towels, and just try and find a matching lampshade when you need one. Ah... been there, done that. I ship what I need and yes, it does cost more $$ than if I bought it on island, but at least I have what I want and the quality as well. You can save a bit by buying it online at a store near Amcar Freight in Miami and shipping it from there to Bonaire, than all the way from Canada. Home Depot in Miami is great also for stuff and there is even a Home Depot Expo there in Miami. Curacao is also hit or miss, so I play it that way, I would still have to fly over to Curacao to find what I needed and that is a plane flight back and forth and then maybe not get all I want or need. Same goes for plumbing stuff, great fun when needing a part. I try to keep spares of everything, never throw anything out as you just don't know what part you may be able to salvage off that to fix another. Shipping to Bonaire, we use Amcar Freight in Miami, Mercy is great to deal with and I have had no problems with anything I have shipped. Funny the things you can't find on island, like a 9x13 baking pan is quite the task, had to have one taken there.

Good Luck, owning a place is a wonderful but sometimes frustrating experience. Thankfully, wonderful is winning out over the other things. Still learning as we go.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By michael gaynor (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3755) on Friday, July 17, 2009 - 2:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

you also need to calculate duty and sales tax..can run as high as 40% in some cases.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Debbie B. ~ Jersey Gal(*) (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9921) on Friday, July 17, 2009 - 3:28 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I won't even tell ya what it was on rattan furniture, but at least I got what I wanted. Waited for a year and half on island to get some, didn't find anything I liked, so I shipped it from the states. Ladders, however, were only 5%. I wanted the ones that fold up and then fold up again for easy storage, were not on island at the time I wanted them.

 


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