Great 'Buy now from the US' Hunt.

LucyLocket

helenyw wrote:

I've never tried these mail forwarding services myself, but sounds like a good idea.
You have to sign up, and get your own US mailing address, useful for all those free postage offers on websites. They then forward the items to you for a fee.
http://www.myus.com/
http://www.mailforwarding.biz/

Thanks for this helenyw. I made a lot of use of the late lamented 'shop the states' who were great value, so much so that they have now stopped trading :-(. I have been wondering about an alternative and one of these may do. Even in the absence of 'shop the states' I have still bought gymboree clothes for my dd. Great clothes, great sales prices, reasonable postage and packing and while you may still have to pay a handling charge and also duty (if the value is high enough) , you avoid the real killer charge of VAT because kid's clothes are exempt :T

tenof26

i want to buy a pair of heelies from the states, they are like near £100 here, but only $70 there, so even with shipping would be cheaper

alas everywhere that i find online doesnt ship to uk :-(

edit : just read the mail forwarding above, may give that ago!

edit edit : or maybe not at those prices :-(

anyone ordered shoes from the U.s.a before?

there shoe sizes are out to by 1 arnt they?

newleaf

tenof26 wrote:

there shoe sizes are out to by 1 arnt they?

Be careful with sizing. I take a size 6 and a half in UK, and it's a 9 in US.

emmalou_2

Yeah im an 8 but wear a 10-11 over there - be careful

overworked_underpaid

I have found http://www.newegg.com/ to be very cheap for Computer hardware, cameras, electronics, etc.. But unfortunately they do not post to the UK. However it is worth buying if you happen to visit the States or get someone to buy it for you and post to the UK.

slojo

I have used https://www.aclens.com (contact lenses etc) - very smooth service, never any problems

davet_3

lol so we haven't actually found anything that's cheap to buy from the US then yet?

mrs_lds

cd's are very cheap out there and dvd's at walmart but beware with the dvd as they may not be compatable with your player.

yankee_rower

I always get make-up sent to me. I use Clinique and it is half the price in the US (the almost make up is $17.50 from Nordstroms and around £17 here.) if you know your colours, it is well worth using a forwarding service or a friend to send it to you. I also get shoes. I picked up a pair of UGG loafers on the Nordstroms sale for $55.

Given postal prices, you have to think about what is worth it to get. Things like make up are great, bulkier items are unlikely to save you any money. US Postal Service has a calculator on their website if you can guess the weight of something - https://www.usps.com. If you ship via surface, have it insured. I have had a number of things go astray that were not sent airmail.

Becareful, you'll likely to be charged VAT on any package that lists a value of over about $35 if it is a gift and somewhere around $20 if it isn't.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_001454&propertyType=document

Keep in mind that when travelling from the US you can only bring back £145 worth of goods, that said, I've gone through LHR about 8 times in the past 18 months from the US and they seem to be only concerned with DVDs, software, and cigarettes, somehow rowing machines escape their notice.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageTravel_ShowContent&id=HMCE_PROD_010220&propertyType=document

^!£$&

Thanks guys you have given me some great ideas for shopping in the us and I just realised my aunt who lives in the states is visiting in september So I'm going to get some item sent to her and ask her to bring them over!

Also One of my fav us sites to shop on is http://www.davidandgoliathtees.com they have a great range of clothing and acessories for teens and youngsters and the prices are so much cheaper than in the uk! And they do post to the uk!

Also https://www.urbanoutfitters.com
& https://www.oldnavy.com are great clothing stores but they dont post to uk!