Should Malaysians buy directly from UK Liverpool Online Store?

Given Liverpool's success recently in BPL, it comes as no surprise that many would want to purchase the latest kit in support of their favorite team.

But for Malaysians considering buying Liverpool products from LFC online store UK directly, here's a few pointers or tips to make your purchase worthwhile.

1) there is a £15 delivery charge to the Rest of the World (ROW)

2) if your purchase exceeds RM500, you will be liable for Malaysia customs duty and tax and also DHL's duty handling fee of RM20

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So while you are thinking that since there's a flat £15 delivery charge for any number of items, you thought hey why not buy more, but once the purchase (excluding delivery charge) exceeds RM500 the Malaysian customs and tax can be quite high.

How do the Malaysia customs charge?
The duty is supposed to be 10% of the price BUT the price is calculated based on a CIF formula which take into account the Cost, Insurance and Freight.

Means the cost is not just the amount you paid to LFC but include the cost of insurance and freight and tax which did not concern you at all when you paid LFC!

And this CIF rates differ from countries to countries, or so the DHL guy told me.

So for shipments from UK the conversion rate is set at 7.392

Here's an example of how customs and tax are calculated:
Kit is £45, after CIF means RM332.64 and 10% duty = RM33.26 + RM20 duty handling fee
+ add £15 delivery charge


VERDICT
you can buy a Liverpool kit for RM259 in Malaysia BUT you'll end up paying RM371.26 if you buy directly from UK.

So it is not worth it to buy directly from LFC UK UNLESS there's a huge discount / offer by LFC store and somehow your purchase is less than £94 (not including the delivery charge) and you manage to share out the delivery charge with other people / purchases.

My purchase was £140 (+ £15 delivery) = RM836.10
but I paid RM123.50 to DHL
in order to collect the goods

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Additional Documentary Evidence

Actual Invoice from LFC

Malaysia's Customs Calculation page 1

Malaysia's Customs Calculation page 2

Haccer Natural Olive Products from Turkey

Currently Haccer is only available in Turkey (click haccerkozmetik.com/english for their official website) but my boss intends to bring the products to Malaysia if the response is good.

Haccer's line of products include:-
Face Cleansing Gel
Daily Care Cream
Body Cream
Foot Cream
Extra Virgin cold pressed Olive Oil (for consumption)

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So if you are suffering from sensitive and skin allergy and is interested to try Haccer's products, you can write in to me at:-

Jael Tung
c/o Turkuaz Sdn Bhd
217 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman
50100 Kuala Lumpur

Kindly include a self-addressed stamped envelope and I will send to you free samples of Haccer's Natural Face Cleansing Gel and Daily Care Cream.

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In my personal opinion, since the product is made from Olive Oil, it does tend to be a bit greasy. So I am not sure how it will fare with people with oily skin.

Also for the cream, the efficacy will be increased if you rub or knead the cream in your hand before you apply. This helps to activate the ingredients.

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Here is the product information in English for Haccer Daily Care Cream

What do you use when your face ITCH and is super red??

Learnt a new word recently.. it's PRURITUS

pru·ri·tus 
n. Severe itching, often of undamaged skin.

For a list of causes or treatment, click skin-conditions-pruritus

Had a very bad case of pruritus after working long hours in the company during the Malay fasting month this year.

It started with small red bumps / dots that appear suddenly on my face. You know it's NOT acne / pimple cos it itch and you know it's not mosquito bite cos it's just appear even as you type on the computer and it's only on the face, for my case.

2 red itchy bumps

1 bigger itchy bump

Tried many things on the face like:-

Zam Buk - it worked for a while and then suddenly on one night after applying Zam Buk, my whole face was itchy. Maybe cos it's too oily hence trigger an allergic reaction.

Elosone or Elocon - a controlled medicine prescribed by pharmacist. It worked well on the itchiness but it did not prevent new ones from appearing.

Plus is it recommended for use once a day, sparingly and for not more than 3 weeks. Gulp!!

Pregnant or persons trying to conceive should not take it unless the benefits of using the cream outweighs the risk. Double Gulp!! see elocon-cream-and-ointment

Cetaphil - I stopped using my usual Shiseido face products and started on Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser and moisturizing cream - it worked but I was still seeing new bumps everyday.

Cetaphil SPF50 - after reading the warning on the leaflet that if you halved the usage, you halved the sun protection, I applied once, let it absorbed and then applied again. The whole day my face itch and resulted in severe redness the next day.

Photo taken on 3 September 2013

So my boss who recently came back from Turkey recommended:-
Haccer (it's a brand from Turkey) cleasing gel and daily care cream - it worked on the 2nd day of using it. Now in my 3rd day, I dont have any more new bumps on my face. Yeah!!

Photo taken on 5 September 2013

Haccer Face Cleansing Gel

But when I do have itchiness (on and off in smaller dots), I apply Shiseido purifying mask on it. Helps soothe the itch and stem the development of the bumps.

I will continue to monitor my face progress and hope this will be the end of my face allergy episode.

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What I have learnt from this are:-
1) When trying new face products, do it sparingly. Do not apply liberally as I did with Zam Buk and Cetaphil SPF50.

Sometimes you just dont know whether your face needs moisture or to keep it dry. So try to strike a balance.

2) Take oils supplement - olive, fish or evening primrose oil. This helps the skin to heal.

3) Pass motion at least 2 times a day. I never knew that I can do this but I have been consistently doing it for 2 weeks and I never fail to "deliver" the goods. Hehe..

4) Exercise - as much as you can.. I'm pretty lazy on this but even 5 minutes a day is better than nothing.

Like me you can try Tracy Andersons' arm exercise tracy-anderson-arms-exercise

5) But if worse comes to worst, then try prayer and patience. Stress is always bad for your body and face. Relax, eat as organic as you can, exercise and pray.

Like what a friend said, "Face product just make your skin feel comfortable. That's all. Heal it with food or supplements".