I did this a few years ago but I lost my previous reviews when I migrated my blog so I can’t post them here unfortunately.

Anyway.

Even with the advent of e-commerce sites in the Philippines, there are still somethings in the US or Europe that are not available here. This time I wanted to buy a pair of glasses of a certain style from a certain brand. I found it on Ebay and had it shipped to My Shopping Box’s (will be referred to from here on as MSB) address in the US. Click here to sign up.

If you’ve just discovered or beginning to discover the joys of third-party forwarding, let me introduce to you what it is and how it works.

When buying from another country, you can have it directly shipped to you— this is what we normally do. But the shipping fees are quite high. $24 for less than a kilo? No, thank you.

Here’s where third-party forwarders like Jinio, MSB and LBC Shipping Cart come in. They have warehouses in the US where you can have your orders delivered, then they would send it to your local address. Sounds simple, right?

The exact process will differ depending on the company and the pricing as well.

Here’s how it went with MSB:

I already signed up with them and got my own “suite” number. This is the address I put in when I checked my item out.

Jan. 9 -ordered from Ebay. I put in MSB’s warehouse address.

Jan. 16 -order was delivered to MSB’s warehouse.

Jan. 17 -MSB alerted me that there’s a package under my name.

Jan. 17 -paid and authorized MSB to mail me the package. I wrote in my home address in the Philippines.

Jan. 19- MSB sent the package.

Feb 1 – received the package.

Overall, it took 14 days for the package to arrive on my doorstep.

Here’s a quick guide:

Once the item is in your account, go to your dashboard

Confirm that the package is correct (they usually attach a picture, just click the “view item” button as seen on the picture above. Then this’ll pop out:

Tick the check box to see your delivery options:

The click check out. You’ll be redirected to this page. Enter your delivery address, choose your mode of payment and voila!

You’re done.

If you’re new to this, I suggest to read MSB’s FAQ page on their website.

A few tips:

If the volumetric weight of your package is higher than its actual weight, you’ll have to pay the latter. Say, your package weighs 1lb but it was packaged in a big box. They will take the box’s dimensions and calculate the volumetric weight based on that. So it’s possible that you will have to pay 3x more than the actual weight of your package. What I do is contact the seller and ask them to pack it as compactly or as small as they can without compromising the security of the package.

I suggest getting insurance for high value products.

Taxes? Customs taxes? They got it covered.

They don’t do consolidation so better buy stuff from one store if possible.

If you have questions, feel free to write a comment or send me an email.

Happy shopping 😀