PostBox-Courier.com how to

For me it's always a question of whether or not I plan on shipping items from multiple sellers or just the one seller. If it's the latter, then sometimes it's cheaper to get the seller to send the stuff directly but not always.

Some sellers refuse to provide a customs friendly invoice whereas Stackry has the option of excluding invoices and then you have to fill in the details yourself.

Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule here.

For example, I bought a modified torch from one of the mods on CPF and although the light costs more than $200, the shipping is only $15. Stackry will never ship it for that amount. You also have to take into account the consolidation fees that shippers charge.

Postbox-Courier is still the cheapest from the UK, by far and he's thinking about opening up a Hong Kong office. He's also still trying to find a USA partner which I will be very glad when he does.

Hope this helps.
 
hilton said:
For me it's always a question of whether or not I plan on shipping items from multiple sellers or just the one seller. If it's the latter, then sometimes it's cheaper to get the seller to send the stuff directly but not always.

Some sellers refuse to provide a customs friendly invoice whereas Stackry has the option of excluding invoices and then you have to fill in the details yourself.

Unfortunately, there's no hard and fast rule here.

For example, I bought a modified torch from one of the mods on CPF and although the light costs more than $200, the shipping is only $15. Stackry will never ship it for that amount. You also have to take into account the consolidation fees that shippers charge.

Postbox-Courier is still the cheapest from the UK, by far and he's thinking about opening up a Hong Kong office. He's also still trying to find a USA partner which I will be very glad when he does.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hilton, thats very informative.
 
Stackry will store your stuff for up to 45 days. So you can shop around for the best deals over 1-1.5 month period, have them delivered to Stackry, and let your items accumulate. You are notified via email when each shipment arrives at their Depot. You can then consolidate all your packages into one big package (it costs $2 per small package to consolidate into a large package), and then ship a single box back to RSA.

Overall, Stackry is more expensive than Postbox-Courier. But the customer service and support, the automated notifications, the online tracking, and everything else just works smoothly. No issues. I don't think you'll be able to bypass customs when using them, as some shippers somehow manage to do.

For a no worries, hassle-free experience, Stackry just works. But you pay a small premium for it, which I think is worth it.
 
Saajid said:
Stackry will store your stuff for up to 45 days. So you can shop around for the best deals over 1-1.5 month period, have them delivered to Stackry, and let your items accumulate. You are notified via email when each shipment arrives at their Depot. You can then consolidate all your packages into one big package (it costs $2 per small package to consolidate into a large package), and then ship a single box back to RSA.

Overall, Stackry is more expensive than Postbox-Courier. But the customer service and support, the automated notifications, the online tracking, and everything else just works smoothly. No issues. I don't think you'll be able to bypass customs when using them, as some shippers somehow manage to do.

For a no worries, hassle-free experience, Stackry just works. But you pay a small premium for it, which I think is worth it.
Click to expand...

Besides the obvious benefit of consolidation i.e. everything arrives together, are there any additional benefits? It appears that you are being charged an additional $2 to consolidate, so aren't you just pushing the shipping cost up unnecessarily? Wouldn't it then be better to ship each item individually - what am I missing here?
 
Saajid said:
I don't think you'll be able to bypass customs when using them, as some shippers somehow manage to do.
Click to expand...

Agreed you can't bypass Customs although you do have the advantage of declaring the package details and associated costs.

I've previously shipped with the USPS option (faster of the two) and the local Post Office does the clearing and delivery. For R37 you can't beat SAPO for clearing fees.

My last shipment I chose the in-house Stackry shipping option which can take up to 30 days to deliver and there is less tracking information available. I paid on the 23rd of July and so far the package is in Germany so patience is a virtue on this one.
 
Tosser said:
Besides the obvious benefit of consolidation i.e. everything arrives together, are there any additional benefits? It appears that you are being charged an additional $2 to consolidate, so aren't you just pushing the shipping cost up unnecessarily? Wouldn't it then be better to ship each item individually - what am I missing here?
Click to expand...

Go their site and check out the shipping calculator. Increase the box size and weight slightly and see how the cost only goes up incrementally. Then take your last size and weight and half that and punch those numbers in and see what the costs are then.
 
Tosser said:
Do you guys use the post-box courier (or stckry) option only when there is no option from the seller to ship to South Africa, or do you use it for all your shipments, even if there is shipping to SA?
I have noticed some shipping options from sellers on E-Bay can be rather expensive, so was wondering if its not better just to use a company lile post-box courier and ship everything through them. What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
I've used Stackry to ship a single parcel, because the seller insisted on using a courier which was going to cost as much as the ordered item, whereas they would ship for free within the US and on Stackry I could choose a shipping option that cost half as much as a courier. In another case I ordered several items from different places and total cost including Stackry's consolidation fee was about the same as what I would have paid for one order from one place if I'd had it shipped directly to me. But other times it has been cheaper to order direct. If you want to save money you'll always have to run some estimates and there will be some guesswork involved because you sometimes don't know the shipping weight of each item or what the weight will be when consolidated.
 
It depends on what carrier is used.

For instance, if you choose USPS, then the local muppets take over but the delivery is pretty prompt. Tracking is a bit vague once the package lands in SA. There's this uncomfortable couple of days where nothing happens but then the Post Office van arrives at your door with banking details printed on a grubby piece of paper. The Randburg guy is very pleasant though.

My last shipment was with Fedex and they pre-clear the shipment so once it arrives in the country you get it the same day. The fedex tracking is fairly accurate time wise.

I've also used the in-house 'Stackry' option but that then uses DHL Global where the tracking is very infrequent and often late. Once the package is here though, the Post Office handles the delivery.

Whatever you do, NEVER use TNT as they are considerably less than useful.
 
So, any news on PostBox-Courier and their US depot? Are they also accepting deliveries to the UK depot? Anyone used them recently?
 
UK is up and running afaik. Last I heard was that US is "still in the works".

Hilton? Isn't postbox-courier courier your baby? (reason I ask is previous correspondence I got from postbox-courier came from a Hilton).
 
I've not heard any news on the USA depot but the UK one is up and running.

I recently brought in two network cards and it cost me £21.
 
crxboy said:
Hilton? Isn't postbox-courier courier your baby? (reason I ask is previous correspondence I got from postbox-courier came from a Hilton).
Click to expand...

Nah, I just use the services. Gary is the dude.
 
hilton said:
It depends on what carrier is used.

For instance, if you choose USPS, then the local muppets take over but the delivery is pretty prompt. Tracking is a bit vague once the package lands in SA. There's this uncomfortable couple of days where nothing happens but then the Post Office van arrives at your door with banking details printed on a grubby piece of paper. The Randburg guy is very pleasant though.

My last shipment was with Fedex and they pre-clear the shipment so once it arrives in the country you get it the same day. The fedex tracking is fairly accurate time wise.

I've also used the in-house 'Stackry' option but that then uses DHL Global where the tracking is very infrequent and often late. Once the package is here though, the Post Office handles the delivery.

Whatever you do, NEVER use TNT as they are considerably less than useful.
Click to expand...

I chose international priority. Which I assume is DHL.

Guess I'll just wait for a call.
uploadfromtaptalk1410433308524.jpg
 
hilton said:
For instance, if you choose USPS, then the local muppets take over but the delivery is pretty prompt. Tracking is a bit vague once the package lands in SA. There's this uncomfortable couple of days where nothing happens but then the Post Office van arrives at your door with banking details printed on a grubby piece of paper. The Randburg guy is very pleasant though.
Click to expand...

Use this website to track USPS shipments (I've not used it for FedEx yet): http://www.postoffice.co.za/tools/trackandtrace.html

Just enter your USPS tracking number and you'll get your local tracking number (the one that begins with "II" and ends with "ZA").

Be warned though: that site takes almost forever to load during peak hours.
 
Good news, fair news and bad news...

The good news - Postbox-Courier now has a USA depot!

The fair news - I compared the shipping costs with my most recent parcel sent using Stackry and their cheapest service (DHL Global 8-30 days). 4.5kgs, 46x33x18 and the Stackry price excluding consolidation fees was $92 whilst PBC's quote is $95. I've asked Gary what the shipping turnaround is as this may be worth the couple of extra dollars.

The bad news - the new depot is in Florida which attracts a 7% tax so the bigger online stores like Amazon will charge you this tax.

I will update once Gary answers my email.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X