A couple of days back, I decided to buy a Christmas present for my wife. In my usual lackadaisical procrastinating style however–I only decided to buy on the 21st of December, which is barely 4 days from Christmas.
In my defense, I already had a great Christmas present in mind–it was something called the fitbit, a full fledge pedometer that not just records your steps everyday, but also your sleep time and tracks your daily activity. The best part is that the fitbit stores your data on the cloud, where you can analyze it to your hearts content. Not a bad present for a wife whose far more physically active than me :). (does blogging while standing count as a physical activity??)
There was however one problem–the fitbit isn’t available in Malaysia. I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t even find a lowyat seller who had it in stock. Now we really did have a problem.
Fortunately, I found one on Amazon–and Amazon did ship to Malaysia. So after a couple of credit card details were punched in (and a full USD30 for shipping) I manage to place my order on Amazon. The Amazon website promised 2-4 day delivery time-frame but stipulated in no uncertain terms that the order would not reach me before Christmas.
To my utter surprise–the fitbit was at my doorstep on Christmas eve. I was astounded and shocked and all those other things you feel when something unexpectedly good happens to you. So I thought in the spirit of sharing to share with you the experience I had with Amazon shipping–it may be expensive, but it arrives on time.
Here’s the delivery tracking from Amazon (click on the image to enlarge):
So overall I did fork out an additional USD30 (which is roughly RM100), but from my experience grey market importers charge this much extra for things like the Kindle anyway. So an additional USD30 was pretty worth it and the speed of delivery was amazing.
Have you bought anything from Amazon and wanted to share your experience? My experience with other online sellers like book depository and better world books were also good, but that was free shipping which took about 2-4 weeks rather than 2-4 days.
Hi Keith, I bought a microphone from Amazon and had it shipped to a US address of a relative to bring back to Malaysia. The mic however was defective when got it & returned when my relative got back to the US after the 30 days return period. Still got a full refund. The best thing about Amazon is that you can test things before you accept them. SLR’s, lenses, audio gear etc as long as you return them within the allowed period. Here is Malaysia, sorry no go. Electronic stuff are cheaper through Amazon too if they are towards the end of life cycle compared to here.
Bought some ebooks too. Works without a Kindle. I did a short write up on my site http://jameswoo.net/free-or-cheap-ebooks-in-malaysia/ in case others are interested.
I’m using proxy warehouse, Hopshopgo. But the shipping cost is the same, because both using DHL. Advantage Hopshopgo only they offer repackage.
That my story. I have Armenian friend here and awesome income also. He bought complete set of AV set with floorstading KEF speaker from Amazon. Unfortunately, 1 of surround speaker faulty & he request replacement but Amazon CS replied warranty not cover outside US. He pissed & state the review very bad on comment section. The next day, One guy from Amazon (claimed as Manager) called to offer repairing fee in Malaysia or courrier the internal component of speaker (DIY yourself). He choose #2 and the component received a week after.
This story conclude Amazon not only shipped here, but also Support & Warranty.
That’s a great story Norrafi,
I wonder if they’d do it for other items as well….obviously Floorstanding KEF speakers aren’t cheap 🙂
What do you mean by offer repackage? Do they combine your items from other vendors as well?
Yes, combine & reduce package volume.
[…] put things in perspective, I ordered a fitbit from Amazon, and they shipped in from Allentown, USA to Malaysia in 3 days (one the week of Christmas)! So there is no excuse for GDex take 3 days to ship something […]
I used a singapore/malaysia based forwarding company uclick2buy.com who offer US address for parcel quality inspection and consolidation before shipment to Malaysia. Very efficient and no hassle on customs. I used another company who deliver product (Lego EV3) from China, got stucked in customs. Have to go personally and paid the tax duty before collecting. quite a chores!
The rate from uclick2buy is also cheapest in town. At least when I compared almost 10 similar such companies.
For shipment to Malaysia and Singapore from US, you should give it a try.
Santa sent your item.
I want buy a sneaker. It priced 39.50$ & it says “shipping & import fees deposit to Malaysia” is costed 32.78$. So does I need to pay 72.28$ or something??
Wow. This helps a lot. Thanks 😀
I want buy a sneaker. It priced 39.50$ & it says “shipping & import fees deposit to Malaysia” is costed 32.78$. So does I need to pay 72.28$ or something??
Santa sent your item.
Hi Keith, I bought a microphone from Amazon and had it shipped to a US address of a relative to bring back to Malaysia. The mic however was defective when got it & returned when my relative got back to the US after the 30 days return period. Still got a full refund. The best thing about Amazon is that you can test things before you accept them. SLR’s, lenses, audio gear etc as long as you return them within the allowed period. Here is Malaysia, sorry no go. Electronic stuff are cheaper through Amazon too if they are towards the end of life cycle compared to here.
Bought some ebooks too. Works without a Kindle. I did a short write up on my site http://jameswoo.net/free-or-cheap-ebooks-in-malaysia/ in case others are interested.
I used a singapore/malaysia based forwarding company uclick2buy.com who offer US address for parcel quality inspection and consolidation before shipment to Malaysia. Very efficient and no hassle on customs. I used another company who deliver product (Lego EV3) from China, got stucked in customs. Have to go personally and paid the tax duty before collecting. quite a chores!
The rate from uclick2buy is also cheapest in town. At least when I compared almost 10 similar such companies.
For shipment to Malaysia and Singapore from US, you should give it a try.
Wow. This helps a lot. Thanks 😀
I’m using proxy warehouse, Hopshopgo. But the shipping cost is the same, because both using DHL. Advantage Hopshopgo only they offer repackage.
That my story. I have Armenian friend here and awesome income also. He bought complete set of AV set with floorstading KEF speaker from Amazon. Unfortunately, 1 of surround speaker faulty & he request replacement but Amazon CS replied warranty not cover outside US. He pissed & state the review very bad on comment section. The next day, One guy from Amazon (claimed as Manager) called to offer repairing fee in Malaysia or courrier the internal component of speaker (DIY yourself). He choose #2 and the component received a week after.
This story conclude Amazon not only shipped here, but also Support & Warranty.
That’s a great story Norrafi,
I wonder if they’d do it for other items as well….obviously Floorstanding KEF speakers aren’t cheap 🙂
What do you mean by offer repackage? Do they combine your items from other vendors as well?
Yes, combine & reduce package volume.
Thank You for sharing your thoughts. It is good to know that it is kind of a You live, and You learn the process to all of us. Those possible Boxing day sales are something to follow; thank You for pointing them. International shipping to Malaysia can be easy and cheapest. But the Freight forwarders charge at higher prices, but when it comes to the third-party package forwarding company, you can save up to 80% off on your shipment that quite remarkable. I would suggest you check these freight forwarding companies like MyUS, Global Shopaholics, etc. My experience with MyUS isn’t bad, but I like the way Global Shopaholics treat me; they provide me with a free US address for up to 180 days with free storage.
I bought a pair of shoes from Amazon US but the problem was that seller weren’t shipping to my country which is UAE and i really got upset. so the solution was only freight forwarder and these forwarders were charging too much which was unbearable, and i talk to my friend and he recommend me a third party forwarder and i contacted them, they were professional very kind.
so whenever i bought something online i use services of few freight forwarders companies. and these are ship7, and shippingclear.