G'day y'all!
Goodness gracious (Ha. Get it?) the past two weeks have been super stressful. I apologise for the lack of posts last week. Just as I got back into the groove of posting twice a week again, Uni decided to give me two assignments due on the same day, as well as increased hours at work. But we got through it, and now I don't have another assignment due until the end of October!
One thing that was a little pick me up during the week was the arrival of my Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale order! If you read that post, you would have found out that Lilly Pulitzer does not offer shipping to Australia. Actually, a lot of my favourite preppy brands don't ship to Australia. In order to fix this, I thought that I should try one of the services that allows Australians to online shop from places that don't ship to Australia by providing them a U.S postal address.
There are a few places online which offer a similar service, however, I decided with Australian Post's ShopMate because it is provided by the official postal service of Australia, and therefore seemed more legitimate and secure. Also, did I mention that it is free?!
How it works:
You sign up for an Auspost customer number, and then you sign up for the service. You receive your U.S shipping address, and once you confirm your details, you are good to go! When you make a purchase online at a store that does not ship outside of the U.S, you then enter your U.S. address provided by ShopMate as your shipping address. Your order is then shipped to a warehouse in the US. Upon arrival, you receive a notification to declare the package, which is just like going through customs, and then you pay for shipping to Australia and it is on it's way to you!
Shipping costs are determined by the weight of the package, starting at a base rate of $22.95, and then an additional $4.95 for every 500g. This does sound a bit pricey, however, when you think about it, the shipping rate from stores that do ship to Australia is around the same. Plus, when the store you purchased from offers free shipping within the U.S, you only have to pay for shipping once!
What surprised me most about ShopMate, was how quickly my order arrived in Australia after going through the U.S warehouse! I declared and paid for my order on a Thursday, and the order was here by the following Wednesday!
I had a great experience with the ShopMate service, and I think I will definitely use it again. Full disclosure, I am already planning my next US purchase!
Have you used a U.S shipping address service before? What did you think about it?
There are a few places online which offer a similar service, however, I decided with Australian Post's ShopMate because it is provided by the official postal service of Australia, and therefore seemed more legitimate and secure. Also, did I mention that it is free?!
How it works:
You sign up for an Auspost customer number, and then you sign up for the service. You receive your U.S shipping address, and once you confirm your details, you are good to go! When you make a purchase online at a store that does not ship outside of the U.S, you then enter your U.S. address provided by ShopMate as your shipping address. Your order is then shipped to a warehouse in the US. Upon arrival, you receive a notification to declare the package, which is just like going through customs, and then you pay for shipping to Australia and it is on it's way to you!
Shipping costs are determined by the weight of the package, starting at a base rate of $22.95, and then an additional $4.95 for every 500g. This does sound a bit pricey, however, when you think about it, the shipping rate from stores that do ship to Australia is around the same. Plus, when the store you purchased from offers free shipping within the U.S, you only have to pay for shipping once!
What surprised me most about ShopMate, was how quickly my order arrived in Australia after going through the U.S warehouse! I declared and paid for my order on a Thursday, and the order was here by the following Wednesday!
I had a great experience with the ShopMate service, and I think I will definitely use it again. Full disclosure, I am already planning my next US purchase!
Have you used a U.S shipping address service before? What did you think about it?
That dress is adorable! I am so happy that ShopMate is free, I am definitely going to use them to buy stuff now! Thanks Grace xo
ReplyDeleteThanks! I will have a full outfit post on that dress going up tomorrow, so be sure to keep an eye out for that. Happy shopping! :)
DeleteI am not sure where you're getting your info, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for magnificent information I was looking for this info for my mission.
ReplyDeleteusps address change