Category: Shopping

Just got back from dropping off Nat at the airport. While there I saw the D&G Motorola V3i Razr. Looks pretty pimpin but costs a whopping KD160.

I’ve been searching for new sneakers recently but was disappointed with my usual brand’s new collection. So, I decided to give Nike iD a shot. For those of you who don’t know what Nike iD is, its basically a website for Nike that allows you to choose from a collection of sneakers and then you could customize the colors anyway you want. I managed to create 2 sneakers (pictured above) which I liked but I couldn’t buy because it turns out they require a US visa card for payment. Hopefully once U Shop We Ship launch their virtual Visa card I will order them. The prices are very decent also, a pair of the sneakers above which are customized by me cost only $60. Try it out. [Link]

So I emailed Amazon today asking them if instead of them mailing me a cheque for my MacBook $100 rebate I could get a gift voucher in that amount. Amazon just replied apologizing telling me that wasn’t possible but gave me a $15 gift voucher for any inconvenience caused by this situation!

They are always super friendly. When I ordered my MacBook they originally told me my package would ship on the 15th of June, they then told me they would ship it earlier on June 9th and as compensation (don’t ask) they upgraded my shipping. They then told me there was a delay and my package would actually ship on the 20th of June and gave me a $30 voucher as compensation. My package finally ended up shipping on the 13th!

They have the best customer service ever.

Sometimes I can’t purchase stuff online because they require a US based Visa card or a Paypal account. My usual action then is to ask a friend who lived in the States before and has an American Visa card to purchase the item for me and then I pay him back.

Now there seems to be a way around this.. epassporte.com. Basically you get a “virtual” visa card from them which has a US billing address. You can then fill up your virtual card using your regular visa card here in Kuwait. By virtual they mean digital as in you won’t get a physical credit card you can hold in your hand, you just get the numbers.

Anyone tried this service? I am thinking of trying it out myself. [Link]

update: OK seems they are not very trustworthy.. [Link]

My MacBook is in my U Shop We Ship mailbox. My MacBook arrived there today after they had already sent out this weeks shipment. If it was Aramex I would have had to wait until their next scheduled shipment but since this is U Shop We Ship I chose the option “Ship Now” and my package is now going to be shipped today. Can’t wait till I get it.

This is extremely frustrating. Orignally I was told by Amazon they would ship my MacBook on the 15th of June. I was then told my MacBook would instead ship earlier on the 9th of June and as compensation (don’t ask its amazon) they upgraded my shipping to next day. Now I am being told my MacBook is going to ship on June 20th and as compensation I was given a $30 gift voucher. Amazon is being very nice with me but fuck I want my MacBook!

Urgh, according to Amazon my MacBook should ship out today. I preordered the MacBook on May 23rd and have been waiting ever since then. I even have overnight shipping which means once it ships out today it should arrive to my mailbox tomorrow but my order is still open and there is no sign of it shipping. The suspense is killing me!!

A while back I posted the Foof prices at zMacShop and I mentioned how good the prices were compared to the prices online. Well today I passed by Mac & More in Marina Mall and they also got foof’s except they are nearly twice as expensive.

regular ipod foof
zMacShop: KD8
Mac & More: KD14

nano ipod foof
zMacShop: KD7
Mac & More: KD12

These comparissons are for the exact same foofs just two different stores.

I just got my Body Groom today from U Shop We Ship. It arrived to my mailbox in the States on the 2nd and it got delivered to me today in Kuwait which is the 6th. Thats 4 days to get from the US to Kuwait but it also included a Sunday which is a day off, so its usually should take 3 days.

I am very satisfied so far. The most impressive part is the fact that I paid for my package using Knet while the package was in the US. This also got me a 2% discount which is not much but better then no discount. My MacBook still hasn’t shipped from Amazon since they still don’t have it in stock but I just changed the shipping address to U Shop We Ship. The reason for that is USWS can clear my laptop from customs AND I can pay them the customs fee online with my Knet card. Thats very convenient and I love it. I am now going to start using USWS as my primary US mailbox and keep Aramex as secondary for my magazines. [Link]

FYI: Package arrived today morning at 10AM to Kuwait according to the tracking info. Delivery guy dropped it at my office around 12:30PM.. 2 and a half hours later. Thats something not possible with Aramex.

I passed by zMacShop yesterday to get a foofpod for Nat. They have a pretty nice selection of foofs in various colors for the regular ipods and the nanos. While there I also noticed they also had Booq and STM brand of laptop sleeves if anyone is interested.

zMacShop finally got their shipment of Foofs. If you don’t know what Foofs are click here. Here are the models they have available and their prices:

foofbag corduroy 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofbag acrylic 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofbag faux fur 15″ PB/MB KWD 10.000
foofpod faux fur 3G/4G/5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod corduroy 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod corduroy iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod denim 3G/4G/5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod denim iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod hbone 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod hbone iPod Nano KWD 7.000
foofpod pinwale 5G iPod KWD 8.000
foofpod pinwale iPod Nano KWD 7.000

I have been looking for an alternative to Aramex Shop and Ship for a long time now and haven’t been able to find one. Don’t misunderstand me, there are other options to Aramex which I have even mentioned before, but none provided me with everything I needed. They were either cheap but slow or fast but expensive, or even lacked some of Aramex’s basic features like package tracking. Now though I think I found another better option and its called U Shop We Ship.

I found out about it from a user who commented on one of my older posts and I decided to check it out. The first thing I did was check out how much the shipping would cost for an item that weighed 1KG and I compared it to Aramex and they both turned out to be priced identical. I then started to read more about their service and it turns out not only do they have all the features of Aramex but they also have additional stuff. Here are my favorites:

You have the option to destroy unwanted mail
You know how sometimes you get a stupid envelope which is just a bill for some magazine and you end up paying like KD2.5 for it. Well with U Shop We Ship (USWS) if you find junk mail in your mailbox you can have them destroy it for you.

They offer immediate shipping
You can have them check your mailbox and mail you stuff either once a week, twice a month or once a month AND you also have an option to have an item shipped immediately no matter what your shipping frequency is by paying a certain fee. This could be worth it when ordering a big item like an ipod or laptop and you really want it as quickly as possible. Just to clear what this means is say you have your shipping frequency set to once a week and it turns out they check your mailbox every Monday but your item arrived to your mailbox on Tuesday, instead of waiting till next Monday to have them ship your item you can have them ship it right away on Tuesday.

You can pay for your packages online
This is the coolest feature, something I have been wishing Aramex would do. I hate carrying cash with me, I am a plastic type of guy and so I hate it when Aramex delivers a package and I need to have an unknown amount ready to pay the guy. With USWS you pay for your packages online using either Knet or Visa. This feature sold me instantly.

I just got my account setup with them and I am going to try it by buying the Philips Bodygroom and mailing it to my new mailbox. Oh and you can change the shipping frequency yourself from the prefrences menu once you login and you can also change your login password, two things you also can’t do with Aramex. Their Kuwait office number is 4724673 but you can only sign up from their website. [Link]

Note: You not only get a US mailbox but also a UK and UAE mailbox. They also use Skynet Worldwide Express to ship the packages.

update: BusyNow pointed out to me that in their FAQ they have a discount section which mentions a variety of ways of getting discounts on shipping, something which you would never get with Aramex. [FAQ]

I decided to go ahead and place an order for the MacBook. Heat issues or no heat issues I don’t care.

1 “Apple MacBook MA254LL/A 13.3″ Notebook PC (1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive)- White”
Subtotal of Items: $1,099.99

Shipping & Handling: $11.24
——
Total: $1,111.23
Est.A9π/2% Instant Reward: $-17.45
Gift Certificates: – $411.52
——
Total for this Order: $682.26

You can now preorder the MacBook’s from Amazon:

Apple MacBook 1.83Ghz White
Apple MacBook 2Ghz White
Apple MacBook 2Ghz Black

Today morning I checked the comments on my post from yesterday called The V3x and I read a comment by Omar who said I could find the V3x for KD120 which is basically the same price as the phone on Amazon. So I called Fono up and asked them if they had a version with only an English keypad and they said yes, so awhile ago I went and picked up my phone from Fono. First impressions.. well I realized how ugly and out dated my Sony Ericsson K700 is. The phones OS does seem confusing but I am guessing its because I have been using Ericsson for most of my life. The coolest feature on the phone is the fact that I can charge it using my Nikon’s USB cable. The data/charging port on the V3x is your standard USB input found on most USB devices like external harddrives and digital cameras. Very practical. The screen inside is gorgeous, very sharp and huge! Gonna finish up some urgent work and then fiddle with my phone a bit. I hate new phones since I am always worried about scratching them..

update: just tried video calling with K.thekuwaiti, I feel so futuristic now

update 2: to get it working with isync you need to install a plugin which you can find [here]