Have you ever wanted to order something from the US or UK? Well, on days like Black Friday, many do regret missing out on that tempting deals on wide range of products. In many other cases maybe the item was cool and you couldn’t find it in India or maybe the product was much cheaper in the US or UK compared to India, and you wanted to take advantage of this but most of the sellers only ship within their country and don't deliver to India. For situations like these, the package forwarding companies come to the rescue.
What is package forwarding?
You might be wondering what is package forwarding and how does it work. Well, it’s very simple actually. Package forwarding companies provide you a virtual address and they receive the product from the seller on your behalf. They then re-ship it to you using international courier services for a fee.
There are many such package or parcel forwarding companies in the market and some of them may not be as good as the others. In this post, we will tell you about the best package forwarding companies if you want to order something from the US or UK and get it shipped to India.
Best Package Forwarding companies
United States
Borderlinx
Borderlinx allows you to create a free account and ships your product from the US to India, using DHL. It gives you the option to pay the customs charges either at the time of creating an order or during the time of delivery.
The services offered by Borderlinx include Concierge payment under which they will make the payment to the seller on your behalf, which is useful if the seller does not accept your card. For this, the company charges a service fee of 5% of the order value. Other features include repackaging, product consolidation, insurance, return support and package storage.
USGoBuy
USGoBuy is another good parcel forwarding service that ships to India. It ships to India via carriers such as Aramex, DHL, USPS and FedEx. They offer services such as product consolidation, repacking, return handling and product holding free of cost for up to 60 days.
Similar to Borderlinx, USGoBuy also offers Buy for me service. However, UsGoBuy charges you a service fee of 10% of the order value. You can pay to USGoBuy using your PayPal account, credit and debit cards. The membership for this service is free of cost and you only need to pay the delivery and customs charges.
Shop and Ship
Shop and Ship is a premium shipping company which charges you a registration fee. You can choose from two packages, the first one is the S&S Basic which costs $45 for a lifetime registration and offers free shipment protection and money back guarantee for orders from 23 addresses worldwide. The premium S&S Flex costs $119 per year and offers discounts on heavyweight items, free S&S protection up to $2,500 and shipping fees per 100 grams.
Shop and Ship is a subsidiary of Aramex and ships using Aramex only. They charge you depending only on the shipping location and the weight. They have divided the locations into two zones and have standard pricing for each zone. Zone 1 includes countries such as the US, UK, Canada, China, etc. where shipping costs higher than Zone 2 which includes countries like Turkey, UAE, Egypt, etc.
Shipito
Shipito allows you to order from three locations in the US, namely, California, Oregon and Nevada. It offers both free and paid membership. In the free service, the company offers your own US address, 3 free photos of the product and free storage up to 90 days. The additional features of the paid membership are tax-free shipping in the US, product consolidation, and multipackage shipments. In both the services, one shipping order costs you 2$ + the shipping charges.
United Kingdom
Borderlinx
Borderlinx also works for orders from the UK. It allows you to create a free account and ship your product from the UK to India, using DHL. It gives you the option to pay the customs charges either at the time of creating an order or during the time of delivery.
The services offered by Borderlinx include Concierge payment under which they will make the payment to the seller on your behalf, which is useful if the seller does not accept your card. For this, the company charges a service fee of 5% of the order value. Other features include repackaging, product consolidation, insurance, return support and package storage.
Shop and Ship
Like Borderlinx, Shop and Ship work for orders from US and UK and the charge for both the countries is same for shipping to India. It is a premium shipping company which charges you a registration fee.
Shop and Ship is a subsidiary of Aramex and ship using Aramex only. They charge you depending on the shipping location and the weight only. They have divided the locations into two zones and have standard pricing for each zone. The Zone 1 includes countries such as the US, UK, Canada, China, etc. and is costs higher than the Zone 2 which includes countries like Turkey, UAE, Egypt, etc.
Skypax
Skypax offers you to register as a free member or a Premium membership for £90 per year. It ships to India using DHL, FedEx, UPS, Dpd and Royal Mail. It offers services such as Concierge payment, package consolidation at £5 / Package, 30 days storage, £100 free cover per shipment and more. Skypax charges a fee of 10% of the product cost for concierge services.
If you wish to enjoy additional services such as product photos, merging of packages, splitting packages, package inspection, etc., you can do so by paying a special fee for each service.
Forwardvia
Forward allows you to register for free and ships to India using Royal Mail, DHL, and Forwardvia carriers. It offers services such as product consolidation, pre-shipping photos, free storage for 30 days, repackaging for £2/package, insurance, parcel inspection, return handling and re-invoicing.
Among the three couriers provided by Forwardvia, the Royal Mail is the cheapest option whereas DHL is the costliest.
