Any experience with PlanetExpress ?

[DoubleDTown 388]

Hi.  Has anyone tried PlanetExpress.com ?    It's a business built around ordering things from U.S. or UK companies that don't ship internationally (e.g. Walmart) and shipping the goods to a foreign address.  One could in theory order something from Walmart and have it delivered to a non-military German address.  For some fees of course.  (and don't forget the Zoll..)  Has anyone tried it, or perhaps another service like it? 

[warsteiner70 280]

I've not used Planet Express (does the name come from Futurama?) but I have used Forward2Me (https://www.forward2me.com) for having goods shipped from the UK to Germany, which can no longer be shipped directly due to Brexit.

 

The service works pretty well. You are given a UK address, which you specify when purchasing items online and then Forward2Me receive the items, repack them and forward them on to my DE address.

 

There are a couple of negatives with the service:

 

 - The UK address you are given doesn't match the DE address associated with your DE credit card used to pay for the goods. This means that the website you are ordering from can question whether the card is valid so you need to explain to them that you are using a forwarding service. This isn't a bad thing as it's just confirming the card isn't being used by someone it should be but it does lead to small delays.

 

 - Forward2Me repack the item. They say this is to do with ensuring the package is ready for international travel but they add a charge for this and it means the package is bigger, heavier and costs more to post.

 

 - You are liable for import duty. Normally the package is sent DHL International, which means it can be tracked and the package is held in customs at, whichever airport it arrives at and you receive an email with the import duty that needs to be paid before the package can be released from customs.

 

Overall the service works pretty well but it isn't cheap and the repacakging, international postage and import duty add a lot to the costs of the items you order.

 

There is information about import duty at https://www-paketda-de.translate.goog/zoll/auslagepauschale.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=nui and there is a link further down to the actual customs calculator so you can see roughly how much import duty you would need to pay - https://www-paketda-de.translate.goog/ausland/zollrechner.php?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-GB&_x_tr_pto=nui