Published: Thursday 29th October, 2009 | Author: Parm Mann
Companies: BundleBox (All BundleBox content)
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email to a friendFinding a useful website these days isn't exactly easy, but we've stumbled across one that our readers might find interesting.
It's called Bundle Box, and it's designed to help consumers buy products from the U.S. and have them shipped internationally. Why would you want to do such a thing? Well, there could be a few reasons; you might fancy yourself a product available exclusively in the U.S., take Microsoft's Zune HD for example, or you might find that the product you're after is far cheaper if purchased in the States.
If that sounds like you, Bundle Box reckons it can take the guess work out of buying from the U.S. Here's how it works - register for a free account, and you're provided with a Bundle Box shipping address. You can then purchase items from your U.S. retailer of choice and have them sent to your Bundle Box address, which is essentially a warehouse.
Once your purchase arrives, Bundle Box calculates the import duty, VAT and shipping costs, and charges you a fixed amount to have the item shipped internationally. With import duty already taken care of, you don't need to worry about being stung by customs - and if delivery charges seem a little too high, it's also possible to store multiple items and have them shipped together.
Sounds like a useful way to get your hands on U.S. exclusive products, and when the exchange rate is favourable, it could open the door to some useful bargains, too.
We recommend readers analyse the small print first, and if you do decide to give it a whirl, why not share your experience with others in the HEXUS.community forums?
Link: BundleBox.com
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From Amazon.com
Zune HD 32GB : $289 = £175
+
Total estimate including import duty & VAT:
£91.96
Total cost = £266ish
Direct from UK retailer + £219 inc free shipping (actually £217 when I just looked as a random £2 discount was applied to mine?)
http://www.crazycameras.co.uk/zune-hd-32-gb-video-mp3-player-platinum-product_100410.html
So on that case it looks like it would be much easier to buy from an importer.Quote
parcel2go.com have been doing something simlar for a long time now:
https://www.parcel2go.com/import-services.aspx
I would highly recommend people steer clear of Parcel2Go. They are a bunch of utter morons (and that's putting it VERY politely). :censored:
I used their USA import service for the first time way back in July 2006 and they lost my parcel (worth around £80). I sent their import manager (*Anneka Adams-Mercer*) numerous e-mails (and many phone calls) spanning almost 6 months trying to claim my money back for both the cost of the import service and the parcel itself and got absolutely nowhere due to her ineptitude. The whole ordeal caused me so much stress that I just gave up in the end. However, if I had the time and patience I would have definitely taken them to court as I can't stand companies that do this to people.
It seems I'm not the only person who thinks the same...
http://www.parcel2gosuck.co.uk/Quote
The warehouse will be in america, so I doubt that UK costoms would be allowed to visit, even if they where interested, which I doubt.
Even if they had a warehouse in the UK they would still be OK, as they only have to declare it as a bonded warehouse, and charge tax on anything that leaves.
Eh? It's nothing to do with the UK customs - I'm fairly certain that if BundleBox went bust you wouldn't be getting your stuff posted to you by their administrators.Quote
Eh? It's nothing to do with the UK customs - I'm fairly certain that if BundleBox went bust you wouldn't be getting your stuff posted to you by their administrators.
Thats an interesting point.
Your stuff in the Bundle box warehouse belongs to you, and even if Bundle Box went bust it would still be yours, so the administrators would not have the right to sell it off to clear other debts even if they wanted to. You would only be a creditor of Bundle Box if you had paid for membership or shipping in advance. In that respect Bundle box are like any other shipping company.
I would say that if they went bust, the administrators would not automatically send you your stuff, instead they would probably offer to post it to you anyway, at a higher cost than you expected. Even if you decided to abandon your stuff rather than pay the higher postage rates, the administrator would probably have to give you all the money they get from re-selling it rather than sharing between creditors.Quote
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