Forwarding Services

... and for the majority of transactions you provide your own invoice (which will be used to calculate customs import fees).

I've used Planet Express (https://planetexpress.com/), and have found it smooth and efficient. They re-ship from the US and from the UK, though I've only used the former.

The big plus for me was that they don't require a subscription. I'm only a very occasional user, and when I was looking at reshippers a while back, I found a lot required an account/ subscription.

Hello everyone.

I have used multiple forwarding services to acquire books outside the U.S.

• Forward2Me.com (based in the UK) is very reliable. They have addresses in the UK, Germany, and the country formerly knows as Turkey. They also have addresses in the U.S. (if you want to forward to the E.U.) Free 30 day storage, small charge to consolidate multiple purchases. No subscription required.
  

• ColisExpat.com (based in France) is reliable, but sometimes they are SLOW in processing incoming shipments. They have addresses in France, the U.K., Germany, Spain, and Italy. They also have an address in the U.S. Yearly subscription required. No charges to consolidate multiple purchases.
  

• BetweenBox.com (based in France) is reliable but expensive. Only address is in France.
  

• Shippn.com is able to accommodate purchases in MANY countries. They use a network of locals to purchase, receive, and forward the parcels. Their service is reliable, but you are at the mercy/speed of the local host. Used it once to buy a book in Brazil, shipping was outrageously expensive.
  

• BuyFromSpain.com is reliable, but they do not consolidate multiple purchases. As the name implies, they are based in Spain.
  

• Reddit.com has a community called r/international shopper - local hosts offering services like purchasing, receiving, consolidating, and forwarding. Plenty of references available by searching for the host's name. Have used hosts in Spain and Italy.
  

• Avoid using ShopandShipBrazil.com - host is unreliable. Scammed me out of $100 after multiple smaller purchases.
  

As always, your experience might differ.

Similar to Predictable Matt, I have had good and smooth experiences with Planet Express. However, both times I have used them, the prices were a bit much for my taste. Perhaps that is just the going cost of business for mail forwarding services and the cost of shipping these days. I'd be curious if anyone has used both Planet Express and Forward2Me and how they might compare?

Also, do any Americans use a UK forwarding service to take advantage of the HarperCollins sales? If so, I'd be curious to know if you find it worth it and are net saving money this way? I have always wanted to try to take advantage of these sales, but figured that the added cost of the mail forwarding process would eat up most of the difference between HC's bigger 40%-50% sales and the availability of many Tolkien books for a 20%-30% discount on places like AwesomeBooks.

Does anyone have a forwarding service they've used from Australia to the US with success?

What's the cost to send a single book from UK to US? I have a book coming today that eBay charged $22 to ship. Not sure if that is reasonable or not.

Luckyshot wrote:

What's the cost to send a single book from UK to US? I have a book coming today that eBay charged $22 to ship. Not sure if that is reasonable or not.

That's pretty reasonable I'd say. eBay usually charges me around $35 for a book from the UK to the Midwest, USA.

Luckyshot wrote:

What's the cost to send a single book from UK to US? I have a book coming today that eBay charged $22 to ship. Not sure if that is reasonable or not.

Looks like Royal Mail would charge roughly £11.60 to £26.15 depending on total weight and which shipping option selection.

As someone who occasionally sells on eBay and ships internationally from the US, I've found the eBay international shipping program rates to be excellent. They are typically the same price or slightly more than what I could find myself via USPS/UPS/FedEx/DHL options but as a seller once my package arrives on the eBay international distribution hub I'm 100% covered on any potential issue the buyer may have so worth it in that regards as a seller. Though I usually give the option to buyers on which they prefer and I'd say in 90-95% of the time they opt to go the eBay International Shipping route vs the other options I have listed.

Also just for comparison, $22 is far less than I ended up paying via Forward2Me on my last two purchases (though one of them was a paperback 4-book boxset) that ebay sellers didn't ship international so had to go the forwarding route.

Velmeran wrote:

Luckyshot wrote:

What's the cost to send a single book from UK to US? I have a book coming today that eBay charged $22 to ship. Not sure if that is reasonable or not.

Looks like Royal Mail would charge roughly £11.60 to £26.15 depending on total weight and which shipping option selection.

As someone who occasionally sells on eBay and ships internationally from the US, I've found the eBay international shipping program rates to be excellent. They are typically the same price or slightly more than what I could find myself via USPS/UPS/FedEx/DHL options but as a seller once my package arrives on the eBay international distribution hub I'm 100% covered on any potential issue the buyer may have so worth it in that regards as a seller. Though I usually give the option to buyers on which they prefer and I'd say in 90-95% of the time they opt to go the eBay International Shipping route vs the other options I have listed.

Also just for comparison, $22 is far less than I ended up paying via Forward2Me on my last two purchases (though one of them was a paperback 4-book boxset) that ebay sellers didn't ship international so had to go the forwarding route.

This Seller didn't have an option listed to ship it internationally, so I asked about it and he restarted the auction with international shipping options. Had several bidders trying to get a book that is common in UK but rare in the US.