Mail forwarders / Shipping items to Australia

I have noticed a big difference between the digital world (information shared over the Internet) and physical world.  In the digital world, we read or hear about new products that are available anywhere in the world.  Our physical world is limited with where we live, what stores are available, and what products distributors are interested in bringing into the country.

Because of this disconnect between the digital and physical worlds, we are left wanting to buy things that are not necessarily available to us where we live.  Which is where online shopping comes in.  You can buy from anywhere in the world and have it shipped to you.  Sometimes, that is.  What happens most of the times is that the web site will not accept your credit card because you are out of the country or they don't offer good deals for international clients.

Now you understand the need for mail forwarders.  A mail forwarder is a company which will assign you a US/UK or any other country address (depends on the forwarder).  Then, when a parcel arrives to your "new" US address, they will forward the parcel to your Australian address.

Why would you do something like this?  For example, I am looking to buy a phone from Best Buy in the US.  The phone is available at Best Buy for US$530, while it is available here for roughly US$750.  I cannot go to Best Buy's US web site to order the phone, as they don't ship to international addresses.  What I CAN do is go to Best Buy and ship to my mail forwarding address.

There are a lot of different mail forwarding companies out there, but the main things to look for are: their shipping prices and their handling fees.  After investigating several companies, I would recommend comGateway, MyAmericanShipper and Shipito.

I like comGateway as they provide you with an address in Oregon from the start.  This helps greatly if you order from US electronics stores, as Oregon does not have state sales tax.  If you go through Shipito and use their CA address, you will end up paying 8.25% in state tax alone.  Comgateway does not require you to pay a monthly service fee, but it will only ship items through DHL.  Picture of the package as well as the scan of the packing slip are also available to you.

MyAmericanShipper seems to offer easy, no-fee forwarding of parcels, including consolidation of packages.  One problem with their service is that the address is in Florida, where the state tax is 6%, so some online orders will incur this cost.  They charge no fees.  I think they make money off of the shipping charges.  Even still, the shipping charges look reasonable compared to other good forwarders.  Unfortunately, it is not possible to get your mail forwarded.

Shipito has a lot more account options, but the main difference boils down to larger selection of shipping options where you get a super cheap option to send through USPS.  Be mindful that it will take a LONG time if you choose the slowest USPS option (up to 5 weeks).  With Shipito you also get to write your own customs declaration, which may be advantageous in certain cases.

There is another, easier option for purchasing items from the USA.  You can go through www.priceusa.com.au and get them to buy the item for you.  They will then ship it directly to you.  The fee charged by PriceUSA is about 5% of the total item cost, including all USA and international shipping charges.  For certain situations, this may turn out to be the best alternative for buying that special item from the USA.