Frequently Asked Questions
Mostly shoppers.
You simply purchase items from any country and have it shipped to the ‘shipping address’ that your parcel forwarding service provides. After a due process, your parcel will be forwarded to your doorstep.
This depends on the forwarding service you have signed up with.
Some are operational immediately after signup, while some require authentication and verification. If there is a signup fee involved, then once the transaction has gone through, you can start using the account address.
Keeping the current situation of the world in mind, we think you can ship your stuff to almost every country.
However, we strongly recommend you inquire from the forwarding company if they are shipping to the countries you want your packages forwarded to.
This is one of the most frequently asked questions. Yes, you may receive packages for others but they should be addresses to your name or the name we have on your suite.
Since account setup & membership are generally free, we think its only right if everyone has their own account with forwarding companies.
Yes.
Most forwarding companies allow you to add shipping addresses for no charge.
If you still have doubts about anything especially local shipping, then its best to ask the customer support directly and avoid problems.
Almost every forwarder offers a photo service. We suggest you use this added bonus feature and mention that you want pictures of the parcel just before its being packed.
It also helps to read reviews of companies before signing up. Making a call to their CS adds another layer of credibility. Talk to them and ask your concerns and see how they handle the back & forth interrogation.
Yes we have a checklist.
You should visit our Guides & Resources page and read up on all the important pointers.
Its best not to.
There are some forwarding companies which allow ‘additional names’ to be added to the account. If you have signed up with a service that offers this feature, then perhaps adding more names is possible and hence giving access is also permissible.
Tricky situation.
Perhaps you can contact the forwarding service and ask them if they allow combining packages.
You need to double check with your forwarding company for this because some allow and some don’t.
In fact, before your much-awaited letter/mail/magazine ends up in the trash of the warehouse, better check with the support team.
Yes, a lot of forwarding companies do it.
We have personally tried VykingShip for this very purpose. But of course, you need to speak to the support team of the forwarding service to confirm if they will ship within the USA or not.
Yes, it could.
The common practice is that all account holders are notified via email. You too will be informed the same way.
Your next step is to make sure your parcels are shipped out before they close their previous warehouse address.
No. Form 1583 is only filled out if the snail mail is being opened by the forwarding service.
In other words, if you have mail coming into a parcel forwarding service account and you want it to be forwarded as is without any document scan or visual check, then there is NO need for you to fill out Form 1583.
However, due to any payment issue, a forwarding company may still request you to fill and submit the Form 1583 with some form of government-issued photo ID and address verification document.
Some item are prohibited in general, and there are some which are country-specific. The general list is: Ammunition, Biological Objects, Blades/Swords, Controlled Substances, Compressed Air/Aerosols, Currency, Chemicals, Drugs, Explosives, Firearms, Flammable Objects, Lithium Batteries not within a device, Medications, Money, Pornography, among other things.
No! This is not an acceptable practice. Kindly avoid doing this at all cost.
Many accept Bitcoin, perhaps you can simply search the term “bitcoin” in the search bar, and you will get the results for it.
You need to weigh in two things before choosing; speed & customs duty. Courier services are quick, great tracking, insured and come with a certain (read big) custom fee.
Shipping service on the other hand is slow, sparse, late or no tracking, insured, yes but negligible custom fee. If you feel that speed is important and you will pay the price for it when the item arrives at your doorstep, then go ahead pick DHL, FedEx, TNT or UPS but if you don’t mind your country’s postal service delivering your parcel at snail speed (and paying very little or none), then go right ahead and choose USPS, Royal Mail, China Post or others.
You can also read about customs on our dedicated page.
Most shipping companies calculate the actual weight and the dimensional weight and use the larger of the two results for you.
Space matters, so you parcel could be weighing less, but it is still taking precious space in the cargo plane. Keep this in mind when you buy things; this is the biggest reason for high postage fee.
You’ve heard right.
Similar to USPS, UK has a shipper ‘Royal Mail’ – If you choose them as your shipper when sending out your stuff, you will most likely get hit by much lower customs fee or get the package delivered completely free.
Shippers start this sort of inquiry once 2-3 days have gone over the estimated delivery time.
So keeping this in mind, you should inform the forwarding company after waiting 2-3 days – so when they inform the shipper, the team can start the process immediately.
Do keep in mind that delay usually occurs when packages are at the customs office being assessed.
Eek!
You need to contact your customs department and sort out the issue with them. Forwarding companies are not responsible if your item gets confiscated, suspended or held at customs.
In fact, this usually happens when you either do not declare items on your customs declaration, miss-declare the value or that item is prohibited.
To avoid such a scenario, always declare the item, its value or ask your forwarding company if they offer Delivery Duty Paid service.
Please note that DDP only ensures the amount is cleared from customs and not the item itself.
Many countries have unique requirements they impose on incoming shipments.
If your Customs department requires more information to clear your parcel, please provide them what they are asking for. If you do not give them the information they are seeking, they will return your package to the international forwarding service or declare it as ‘abandoned’ and discard it.
Simply send an email to the forwarding company.
Some forwarders even have an option in the account dashboard under ‘settings’.
However, its best to email the support staff.