Shipping forwarders from USA - guide & feedback

[griffin]

Shopmate (set up by Australia Post for Australians to have American items posted to an American address and forwarded to you in Australia) is closing February, to make way for Singapore Post to take over...

On 25 February?2022, the ShopMate parcel-forwarding service will close.

To ensure that parcels arrive in Australia before the closure, here's what you need to do:

• Order early. All parcels will need to arrive at the ShopMate centre in the USA before 10 January 2022. Consider delivery delays in the USA and any wait times for items you order
• Pay for and declare any outstanding parcels that arrive before 10 January 2022 by 17 January 2022 so that they can be shipped to you in Australia
  
• Take a look at our FAQs for more information
• Please remove your ShopMate shipping address anywhere you’re using it

Any parcels remaining at the ShopMate centre in the USA after 17 January 2022 will be returned to the USA merchant, and you may be charged for this*, but we want to help you avoid that happening. If you have any questions, please contact us on 1300 624 475 between 8am-6pm (AEST) Monday – Friday (except national public holidays) or by email on shopmate@auspost.com.au. The team will be available to answer questions up until 25 February 2022.

Our ShopMate partner, Singapore Post has launched VPost in Australia and can ship to you from the USA, UK, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia. Consider using VPost for your parcel-forwarding needs in the future.

I use comgateway now, as they can order on your behalf (for a fee), which gets around any retailer that only accepts American credit cards (like Hasbro) or refuses to ship to known shipping forwarders (like Target).

[Sinnertwin]

I'm just curious, with most, if not all of the Target Red Card etc etc TF exclusives being readily available at Asian online retailers, EB, why are people still purchasing from the US?

[griffin]

I'm just curious, with most, if not all of the Target Red Card etc etc TF exclusives being readily available at Asian online retailers, EB, why are people still purchasing from the US?

I have to admit that shipping forwarders for Transformers toys in recent years has been less necessary, as most Hasbro exclusives have been released here or from several Asian sources. But for those more limited items that sell out too fast during their pre-order period (at reliable sources), or for items that people only decide on getting later when they are released (I'm one who doesn't like pre-ordering months before something is released, as I can end up with a lot of items to keep track of or budget for at a time that might not suit me)... they can sometimes be available for longer on American sites, as America is the home of Hasbro, so they get the most stock in the world.

For me, I wanted some of the R.E.D. figures, and they aren't coming here... nor is it easy to find many of them online for a reasonable price. Since the Walmart website had all but one of the ones that had been released so far (as of last week), I placed an order because that was so much more convenient, but they don't ship outside of America... so submitted my request to the Comgateway site, and the toys arrived at their location in four different boxes... which they can consolidate into one box for a small fee, making it a lot cheaper to ship.

I also have used the Japanese Shipping forwarder WhiteRabbitExpress a few times as well, for the more obscure items that weren't sold through HLJ or on Asian sources that I trust.

I think a shipping forwarder remains an option if there are no other reliable or available options, and I don't want to be constantly having foreign friends helping me out if I can't return the favour.