US postage forwarding

[Soviet Fox]

Hi guys, have seen a few comments where people have said they a US postbox or reshipping service.
Ive tried the search functions but cant seem to find a topic on it.
What are some personal experiences, tips or recommendations people have?

Is it worth it? can you make decent savings or is it just for bulk purchases

(or just point me at the right thread)

[DarkHyren]

There's a few threads around, but nothing seems recent so might as well post here.
I personally use www.shipito.com for any of my US mail forwarding.
I've found their service to be quite useful over the years, prices aren't too bad, lots of different options of what provider you'd like to use.

With any mail forwarder the savings can range from tiny to huge, it all depends on the item in question.
There have been times when a US seller (most often on ebay) has quoted some obscene price to ship to Australia (for example US$30 to post a tiny transformers missile) but using these sorts of services can drop that down to under $10.

[millhouse]

There's a few threads around, but nothing seems recent so might as well post here.
I personally use www.shipito.com for any of my US mail forwarding.
I've found their service to be quite useful over the years, prices aren't too bad, lots of different options of what provider you'd like to use.

With any mail forwarder the savings can range from tiny to huge, it all depends on the item in question.
There have been times when a US seller (most often on ebay) has quoted some obscene price to ship to Australia (for example US$30 to post a tiny transformers missile) but using these sorts of services can drop that down to under $10.

Ever used them for anything big and heavy? I'm looking at ordering 7 rolls of wallpaper...

Serious question. Non TF related.

[DaptoDog]

I have been using myus.com for a few years and have been very happy with them. Free premium annual membership for AMEX cardholders. They charge based on weight, not volumetric weight, so large things that don't weigh a lot ship very reasonably.

[philby]

There is an Australia Post service called ShopMate, but it's something like a $25 flat fee then add on whatever they charge per 500gm or something. It might not even save much money depending on what you are getting. I haven't used any so far.

[DarkHyren]

Ever used them for anything big and heavy? I'm looking at ordering 7 rolls of wallpaper...

Serious question. Non TF related.

Lets see. Here's a few of the bigger parcels I've had forwarded (please note measurements are in American so use google or something to put them into metric so you can understand them )

Dimensions: 15.00″ x 20.00″ x 11.00″
Weight: 7.6 lb
Cost: US$78.75

Dimensions: 11.60″ x 20.00″ x 10.40″
Weight: 4.1 lb
Cost: US$39.65

Dimensions: 16.00″ x 18.00″ x 11.00″
Weight: 5.1 lb
Cost: US$48.56

Each of those items was going to cost nearly double if I had of sent them direct to me rather then with the forwarder, but in most cases that's because of scummy sellers trying to rip off non-yankee doodle dandees

You can also use their postage calculator to get some rough ideas of what options are available: http://calculator.shipito.com

[Soviet Fox]

There's a few threads around, but nothing seems recent so might as well post here.
I personally use www.shipito.com for any of my US mail forwarding.
I've found their service to be quite useful over the years, prices aren't too bad, lots of different options of what provider you'd like to use.

With any mail forwarder the savings can range from tiny to huge, it all depends on the item in question.
There have been times when a US seller (most often on ebay) has quoted some obscene price to ship to Australia (for example US$30 to post a tiny transformers missile) but using these sorts of services can drop that down to under $10.

Awesome, I will check them out, I am seeing a whole heap of ridiculous quotes for shipping, I think smalljoes was the worst, $100+ to ship a single carded figure (GiJoe not TF)

I have been using myus.com for a few years and have been very happy with them. Free premium annual membership for AMEX cardholders. They charge based on weight, not volumetric weight, so large things that don't weigh a lot ship very reasonably.

That seems like it would be beneficial for boxed items etc to keep the costs down for shipping what is essentially air, I'll check it out.

There is an Australia Post service called ShopMate, but it's something like a $25 flat fee then add on whatever they charge per 500gm or something. It might not even save much money depending on what you are getting. I haven't used any so far.

I will never, ever, ever choose Auspost unless I have to. I checked out Shipmate when it launched and in most cases for hat I wanted it turned out dearer, the only bonus was a local company that *Shouldn't* go bust.
I just can't fathom the whole "We'll post it slower and charge more" business model while the CEO is getting paid in the millions (Half of which he donates to a "Charity" run by his brother).

I've looked at doing this a couple of times but it just makes me so nervous in case something goes wrong. Do they break down the packages to make them lighter before postage?

how do you generally work out what it's going to cost you before the item shows up?

[DarkHyren]

I am seeing a whole heap of ridiculous quotes for shipping, I think smalljoes was the worst, $100+ to ship a single carded figure (GiJoe not TF)

Yep that's one of the main reasons I decided to look into shipping forwarders in the first place, lots of American ebay sellers for example hugely inflate the cost of postage, that particular item you mention should only cost about $30 tops to post directly to Aus by my best guesstimate.

I've looked at doing this a couple of times but it just makes me so nervous in case something goes wrong. Do they break down the packages to make them lighter before postage?

Generally not, the different companies normally just take off/black out the sticker with their address on it and put a new sticker with your address on it when you schedule it to be posted out to you.
A lot of them do however have the option to remove outer packaging to try and minimize the size if you want, you can even get them to remove an item from its retail packaging and post it as is in the smallest possible box or bag/envelope that will fit the item.
As well as this a lot of them have the option to consolidate packages, meaning you can order like 10 items from 10 different sellers and the shipping forwarder will package them all up into one box to mail it to you, thus saving a chunk more.

But as I said, these are all optional things you can do with forwarding companies, by default they will just slap a sticker with your Aussie address on top of the parcel they received and mail in to you as is.
If you don't ask for package consolidation or ask them to open your package to inspect contents or minimize it they wont even open your parcel.
Also worth mentioning, these companies generally use all the normal postal services that are available like USPS, FedEX, UPS etc etc as well as their own couriers, most of which allow you to chose different levels of insurance at whatever extra cost those companies charge.

how do you generally work out what it's going to cost you before the item shows up?

If you know the approximate dimensions of the item you are ordering a lot of the forwarders have a postage calculator, the one for shipito is fairly accurate http://calculator.shipito.com

Browse around, a lot of the forwarders have a free membership that allows you to explore their system and test the waters, check out the different options that are available.

[Sinnertwin]

I would recommend Shopmate as an absolute last resort
All they did was measure the parcel (cubic volume/not repacked) which arrived at the shipping center, slapped an AustPost label on it, then sent me an invoice
You're much better of using some of the others mentioned above.

[Megatran]

I would recommend Shopmate as an absolute last resort

Thanks for being our guinea pig.