So after enjoying the Young Living SG products, you have a hankering to try the YL USA products? And no wonder. With the largest selection in all the YL branches, YL USA has so many wonderful oils and products that would be a wonderful accompaniment to what we have in SG.
These are my suggestions for making it worth your time and money to do an USA order.
1. First, check out what are the monthly free gifts for USA. Usually YL USA gives freebies at 190 PV, 250 PV and 300 PV.
2. If you are going to get the items shipped back to Singapore, my advice to you is try to consolidate your purchases to save on shipping and gun for the 190 PV promo. Why? Because FedEX shipping starts at USD28 even for one bottle of essential oil so it makes sense to consolidate your orders. With a 190 PV order, you probably would be at USD30+ shipping unless you have really heavy or bulky stuff (Like Balance Complete).
3. For shipping back to Singapore, you also wouldn’t want to hit the 250 and 300 PV tier thanks to our lovely Singapore GST. The customs tax you for your order once the value exceeds SGD400. This includes your order value, the freebies value and the shipping charge. So getting the 250 and 300 PV freebies isn’t so worthwhile in the long run.
4. You can try to contest the tax by getting YL USA to provide a letter but in my personal experience, there’s a lot of paperwork, liaising with customs, FedEx and YL USA that puts me off altogether. So deep breathe now… just do the 190 PV order.
5. A safe guide to avoid GST is to ensure that your order and shipping do not exceed USD250. Leave the buffer for the freebies. Ignore the PV value because some items do not have 1 USD = 1 PV, e.g. diffusers.
UPDATE on 7 Feb 2015: The USD250 is calculated when the USD/SGD exchange rate is 1.32. Currently it has soared so please calculate the conversion accordingly. You want to calculate the value of the freebies at RETAIL PRICE (not member’s price) because that’s how YL will declare the value to the customs.
6. Bonus tip for those who wonder whether they can do an Essential Rewards (ER) order with USA. Yes you can! Just login to the USA site with your usual credentials and click on Essential Rewards [full steps]. Insert the ER template and do your order. There you go! Happy as a clam! Bonus is you earn PV on this order and ER orders have subsidised shipping. It’s only a few USD dollars shipping but hey free money (and PV)!
7. What if you don’t want to do an USA ER order next month? Simple. When your first order has arrived, call or email YL Singapore (not USA) and request them to remove the USA ER template. Well you better set a reminder to remove it otherwise you get the same shipment again next month.
8. USA ER dates are snapped up VERY quickly in the month so grab your date fast. Or contact Live Help to have them manually set up the order for you.
9. For ER SG members who are still in their 1 year membership, please note that if you still want your SG quarterly freebies, you still have to do your SG ER order each month. The freebies are on the condition that you do not skip a month of SG ER.
10. For those after a year of ER membership like me, this means you are as free as a bird. You can switch your monthly ER orders between SG and USA; something I do pretty often.
Happy shopping!
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School of Young Living (Singapore) 