Here’s the situation: You have found the perfect gift for your father’s birthday online, you have completed all the information in the shopping cart’s questionnaire, you have pressed the “process order” button, and then you are hit with the dreaded notice telling you that the company only ships to addresses within the United States.
Has this happened to you or someone you know? It can be very frustrating when you feel like you are being discriminated against because of where you live. The truth of the matter is often not so dark, however. Many U.S. Companies have shipping arrangements with the U.S. Postal Service and they are limited to wherever that organization ships packages to. And often the international package shipping rates for sending products overseas through the U.S. Postal Service are prohibitive enough that the company may feel it is not worth the trouble of supporting overseas customers.
But sometimes the situation is more complicated than that. Often U.S. Companies are prohibited from dealing with customers from certain countries by law. There are a number of reasons for this, but most frequently it is because the U.S has placed restrictions on trade to put political pressure on a country whose policies it disagrees with. And sometimes a company wishes to avoid certain countries that are known for intellectual property “piracy” or other acts that would be illegal or harmful to business in the U.S.
Even if you find these restrictions understandable, it does not help you, a law-abiding citizen who has done no wrong, get the birthday present you wanted to buy for your father. Is there any recourse for you? Do you have to travel to the United States and pay outrageous customs fees in order to bring desirable merchandise back home to your own country?
Fortunately for you, there is a very well-established method that allows you to shop in the United States from the comfort of your own home within your own country, even if it is a country that cannot normally receive merchandise from a US company. That method is called package forwarding and here’s how it works.
The primary reason you cannot receive that gift you wanted for your father is because you do not have an address in the U.S. No, you do not have to rent an apartment there. What you need is a package forwarding company that allows you to use their address as the shipping address for the products you buy, and then they forward the package to you. This parcel forwarding allows you to receive shipping from USA companies as if you were a resident there.
What’s better is that the fees are very reasonable and you can receive your packages safely and securely from a company that has successfully handled many packages to be sent from the USA to people living or traveling outside of the country. So you have the benefit of being able to shop with any merchant in the USA without worry or hassle. So what are you waiting for? Start shopping!