Shop and Ship is solving a pertinent issue regarding shipping addresses. They have provided 18 shipping addresses around major global cities enabling you to shop or ship items from almost anywhere in the world which may not have been possible with other players who ship from only particular destinations like USA, UK or China.
What is Shop and Ship and what do they do?
Shop and Ship by Aramex is an international shipping service available in over 80 destinations globally that allows you to shop from Canada, China, Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, UK, and USA and they deliver it to you at affordable rates. What they do is simple. They give you access to 18 global shipping addresses to which you can ship the items you’ve purchased online. They will then pick your items from the forwarding address provided and ship them to Uganda.
How it Works
After signing up, you will need to have basic knowledge on how Online shopping works. Aramex’s responsibility starts from the moment the item arrives at their warehouse. Before that, you need to know who to buy and who not to buy from, how to track an item from the seller to the warehouse/forwarding address. If a seller does not deliver, Aramex will not be liable. While shopping, you will enter the S&S local shipping address nearest to your location e.g if you are shipping an item from South Africa to Uganda, use the South African shipping address instead of an American address. S&S will notify you when the item arrives at the forwarding address. You will also receive a payment request asking you to clear your shipping and customs costs. After payment, your package will be delivered to the your address or Aramex lockers/office location. Usually it takes 3-6 working days from all SNS origins. Note that this international shipping excludes time for custom clearance (if any).
What can I ship or not ship
There is a complete list of what can or cannot be shipped and the corresponding destinations. But generally, and to Uganda, items like Flammable Batteries, Walkie Talkie, Drone Cameras, Lasers – as Laser Hair Removal or Laser Pens, Pets Supplements, Standalone Batteries, Power Banks, Government issued documents, Damaged/broken phones of any kind (iPhone, Samsung etc.) Damaged/broken tablets of any kind, Hookah & Hookah Accessories, Samsung Note 7, Nail Polish, Any endangered species products (skin, hair,…etc.), and all Liquids will not be shipped.
What are the Shipping Rates like?
You can check the S&S website for shipping rates to whatever destination you want to ship to. Here are the shipping rates for Uganda.
Rates from S&S origins (USA, China, Germany, France, Spain, Singapore, Canada and Japan) are USD 15.00 for the first 0.5 kg and USD 13.00 for each additional 0.5 kg. Rates from S&S origins (Hong Kong) are USD 15.00 for the first 0.5 kg and USD 10.00 for each additional 0.5 kg. Rates from S&S origins (Italy) are USD 15.00 for the first 0.5 kg and USD 9.00 for each additional 0.5 kg. Rates from S&S origins (UK, South Africa, Turkey, UAE, India, Malaysia, South Korea & Thailand) are USD 12.00 for the first 0.5 kg and USD 9.00 for each additional 0.5 kg.
These shipping rates do not include customs. You are responsible for all customs duties related to your Shop and Ship package. However, Shop and Ship will clear customs of your shipment on your behalf on the payment and collection of the required fees
Our Initial experience and thoughts
We have not yet used the service to actually ship so this experience is based on us using the website. On attempting to sign up we were asked for the usual name, email and password which was okay. Issues came when they asked us for a physical address (Thankfully we have one) which many people do not have. We do not do addresses in Uganda. You are required to pay a one time fee of $45 to be able to access the shipping addresses which you will use when you sign up for the service. Unfortunately, Paypal is the only acceptable mode of payment so one has to have both a Paypal account and a debit/credit card. However upon further inquiry, Aramex Uganda is helping all Ugandan customers sign up with ease. They have slashed registration prices by 99% from $45 to $5 when you use this code (SNS5EBB) on sign up. Those who don’t have Paypal or a credit/debit card can call Aramex on 020 0260 000 and they will sign you up just like that (You’ll have to send them Ugx 20,000 for the sign-up fee) We were able to signup successfully and are now ready to shop. When we do, we shall bring you a write up of our experience shopping and shipping with Shop & Ship
What we like so far
The Help and Tool Box with Track Shipment feature, Currency Converter and Rate Calculator come in handy. 18 global shipping addresses Functional Blog for updates Sign up discount of 99% (You pay $5 instead of $45) Local Customer care were very helpful during sign up process They have an app (Even if we haven’t used it yet)
What we don’t like
Sign up process is a little complicated for the ordinary shopper Not everyone uses Paypal or has a credit/debit card. Paying with Mobile Money isnt clear There are no shipping addresses in Uganda except for a few but that is a requirement upon sign up You are required to upload a national ID (Makes you want to check the Privacy Policy)
Follow Shop & Ship on Facebook and Twitter for more updates and customer service. Have you shopped with Shop & Ship before? If so, share with us your experience in the comments.
