Buying items overseas using Aramex Global Shopper – does it work as well as we said?

A few months back I posted about Aramex Global Shopper and how I planned to use them to bring my Mooli Camera Bag over. On paper (and this blog) they ticked all the boxes and really sounded impressive. You sign up online for a small once off fee. You are then given a host of addresses in various countries all over the world. When you purchase items online you ship to the designated country address using your Aramex Global Shopper ID as a reference. Once the package arrives at the address it is then shipped to you via Aramex. The whole process is said to take roughly 6 days and Aramex handles the tax issues. They charge you the shipping and deliver to your door.

In my initial post you’ll remember that I said I planned to use the service to bring in my camera bag. This was a bag I’d been “rewarded” after I funded a kickstarter campaign. The Mooli team shipped the bag to my Aramex UK address and let me know. I then went on to the Global Shopper website and logged in – here you’re able to track the parcel progress relatively easily. Because this was a kickstarter campaign (and possibly because we were hoping to get away with it), the bag was shipped without an invoice.

Aramex Global Shopper immediately flagged it on their online system so I could see. Without an invoice they wouldn’t be able to move the item from the UK to SA. I asked Mooli to generate one (which they did) and sent it through. Less than 24 hours later I received a notification that my bag was on the way to SA. That notification came through on the Thursday afternoon. On Friday I went online to track my bag and was notified that my total shipping costs would come in at just under R500. The package weighed 1.9kg. I paid the outstanding amount online via PayPal.

On Tuesday morning I received a text message to notify me that my bag would be delivered that day. It arrived at 11am. Other than the small hiccup involving the invoice it was the most pain and import hassle free process I’ve been through. I once purchased a Yoda golf club cover for an ex boyfriend. It took ages to hunt it down, sitting at customs, and they ended up charging me R300 to get it out of their clutches. That didn’t include the shipping. A golf club cover is far smaller and lighter than my bag.

All in all I was impressed with the Aramex Global Shopper experience and I plan to use them often in the future. I also finally have my Mooli Camera Bag! Isn’t she GLORIOUS?

Have you used Aramex Global Shopper yet? What has your experience been like?