If you hear the term “package forwarding service” for the first time, don’t worry, except its benefits, we are going to explain to you also what it is and how does it work. If you are an experienced online shopper, you have probably heard of it already. Our question is, did you realize what benefits a package forwarding brings?
Table of Contents
- What Is A Package Forwarding Service?
- 1. Lower Shipping Costs
- 2. Package Consolidation
- 3. Assisted Purchase
- 4. Additional Services
- 5. Access To Domestic International Online Stores
- Summary
What Is A Package Forwarding Service?
Package forwarders (sometimes also called parcel forwarders) are companies that provide you with an address in a country (usually in the USA due to a high number of worldwide known online stores). This address you can later use for ordering products from the stores that don’t ship internationally. But, the user doesn’t end there. If you have friends, in the USA, for example, you can advise them to ship their gifts to you to your US address (or, if they would like to surprise you, they can use a package forwarding service by themselves).
How Does The Package Forwarding Company Work?
When you sign up with a package forwarder like Planet Express, you get the US & UK address. This address is the same address as the address of their warehouse. The only difference is that your address also contains your name and a unique suite ID.
John Doe
17224 S. Figueroa Street #A1234
Gardena, CA 90248, USA
Based on this suite ID, they are able to link incoming packages to your account. Once they receive the package addressed to you, you get a notification email so you can request additional services and the delivery to your country.
1. Lower Shipping Costs
Usually, international shipping rates are much lower when using package forwarders compared to official carriers’ retail prices. Package forwarders are able to negotiate much better rates which means that you can save up to 80% when shipping internationally. We are sure that your wallet will be thankful for that. We also recommend you read Planet Express case study where you can see huge savings on shipping. If you want to calculate the shipping costs from the USA/UK, feel free to use the Planet Express postage calculator on their website.
Planet Express postage calculator | Source: Planet Express
2. Package Consolidation
Package consolidation is a very popular feature among international shoppers. It is merging several packages into one. This brings several advantages.
- You save money on shipping thanks to reduced volume and weight.
- You don’t have to send packages one by one from different stores, but you just let Planet Express store them in their warehouse. Once they receive all your packages, you request the consolidation.
Consolidation process | Source: Planet Express
3. Assisted Purchase
You may notice when you tried to shop in a US online store, that they have refused your credit card. It was probably due to their payment policy. Plenty of US stores don’t accept foreign credit cards, so if you desperately need the product, you have only 2 options:
- Ask somebody in the US to order the products for you (it can be time-consuming, unreliable, and pricy).
- Or, you take advantage of the Planet Express Shop For Me service. Basically, you let them know what and where do you want to buy, add the deposit (using your credit card, PayPal,
Amazon Pay, bitcoin, or wire transfer) and they will buy it for you.
4. Additional Services
Additional services like taking pictures of the content of the package, special request where you describe exactly, what do you want (remove invoices, split the package, check the condition of the content…), adding fragile stickers or bubble wrap, are very useful. According to Planet Express, some of their customers already received both left shoes, damaged glasses, devices that didn’t work, etc. So, if you order from eBay, for example, it pays off to let them check the contents (check their pricing). You save yourself a lot of trouble.
5. Access To Domestic International Online Stores
And last, but not least, you get access to US online stores that don’t ship internationally, or have very limited international shipping options. It opens countless new opportunities for you. Shop from stores like Amazon, Walmart, eBay USA, Poshmark any many more!
Popular US stores and brands | Source: Planet Express
Summary
Package forwarding is very useful but just a few people know how to take full advantage of it. We hope our list of benefits of using a package forwarder will help you when shopping from the US stores.
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