I don’t know how long Borderlinx have been doing this but I just found out the other day they’re charging a 8.5% customs clearance fee for the items you ship with them. Thats in addition to the 5% customs charge for the Kuwaiti authorities. I chatted with their help desk and explained how illogical it was to charge an 8.5% clearance fee when the actual customs fee is only 5% but they didn’t seem to think it was odd so I’ve decided to stop using Borderlinx and instead start using MyUS.com.
For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Borderlinx and MyUS are mail forwarding companies. You sign up with them and they provide you with a US mailing address so you can shop online and mail stuff to your US mailbox. They’ll then ship the stuff for you from the US mailbox to Kuwait.
I always used to consider MyUS as a more expensive option but my friend sent me a link to their Visa Card offer page and with the savings they’re offering the prices actually become pretty reasonable. I don’t have a Visa card sadly so I replaced Visa with Mastercard in the URL and ended up with the Mastercard savings page which isn’t anywhere as good as the Visa offer but is still better than nothing.
Visa Card Holders
– Waived set-up fee ($20 Savings)
– Complimentary Premium Membership for two years (a $120 USD value)
– Save 25% on shipping for first month
– Save 20% with future shipments
Here is the [Link]
Mastercard Holders
– Waived set-up fee ($20 Savings)
– Complimentary Premium Membership for one year (a USD $60 savings)
– 20% off already discounted DHL & FedEx shipping rates for your first month
– 15% off shipping rates after your first month
– Dedicated Customer Service
Here is the [Link]
I’m still using the Shop & Ship for when I am not in a hurry and want to pay the cheapest rate but for my urgent packages I’m going to start using MyUS instead of Borderlinx. I’ll post a followup sometime down the line once I’ve started using it properly and let you guys know how it turns out.
Update: Found the American Express page and turns out it’s even a better deal:
American Express Card Holders
– Waived set-up fee ($20 Savings)
– Complimentary Premium Membership for two years (a $120 USD value)
– Save 30% with future shipments
[Link]
46 replies on “Moving from Borderlinx to MyUS”
I used to use MyUS for all my parcels from the US before I moved to Kuwait. I stopped after one too many surprises like this one: https://instagram.com/p/QpbVc9DToZ
I don’t know if they’ve changed now to allow the option of including the customs in the shipping cost. Without that, I couldn’t deal with never knowing what additional charges might come up on my packages once they reach Kuwait. At least with Aramex there are never any such additional charges like what I’ve experienced with DHL and other couriers.
ok that actually looks pretty similar to what i paid the other day with DHL. A friend shipped some stuff for me from the UK to the Kuwait via DHL and I paid KD28 for customs and KD10 Bayan Fee. The items shipped were worth around KD500.
I was once asked to pay over 30KD in customs and fees on a 15KD Xbox game which was a birthday gift sent to my son from my brother in Oman. Kuwait customs is really messed up and I decided to just stop dealing with that crap. Now I only use couriers that allow prepayment of customs like retailers who use Borderfree. Otherwise, I’m willing to go through Aramex’s bullshit since there are never any hidden fees.
well with aramex if i remember correctly its like a KD1 or KD2 custom clearance fee and if the item is over $100 u pay %5 customs if below 100 u only pay clearance fee.
The rules are different on personal packages than on commercial imports.
If you buy something and then send it via DHL/FedEx/UPS or whatever the rates here are different than if Amazon ships it directly.
I had a similar sticker shock when a friend shipped me something via my Borderlinx box and then I asked the agent and they explained it to me.
Whenever possible, consider doing a commercial shipment.
I stopped using MyUs too, I hate being overcharged by DHL and Fedex. And as for the prepaid customs option, online stores like A&F stopped using it, I guess they were also robbed and I expect mrporter will follow soon.
electronics exempted from 5% duties
well Borderlinx is charging 13.5% for customs and customs clearance regardless hence why I won’t use them anymore
I actually successfully argued with them about mobile phones and laptops not to charge me the 5% customs. However that process will take a few days of correspondence and delay your package.
use: (u shop we ship) 🙂 i think its excellent
you could get discounts by signing up in adslgate.com (the forum signed a deal with MyUS.com to give discounts for the members of the forum) this is the link of the thread :
https://www.adslgate.com/dsl/showthread.php?t=1937440
I don’t know if you need to sign up to get the discount.
^ I suggest you to use http://www.ws1.com , it’s cheaper & unlike MYUS it has no monthly/yearly subscription.
You are da real MVP xD
+1 i like ws1
I’m new in these things, So I’ve been searching for the best service.
What is your recommendation ( easy to use, and fast delivery )
thanks
i found out this yesterday and charged me total of 25kd for a 1kg volume weight and 300$ value, would cost 11kd max by shopandship.
as much as I hate jinxing myself, im been using postaplus for the past year and a half, and thank god, never ever had any issues with shipping my items (total shipped so far close to 30+) anything from pens to full acoustic guitars. items usually shipped in less than a week, you can consolidate shipments and cut costs, and its in New jersey the least tax paid from all of the shipping companies.
I pray that i dont get fuked up, because if posta goes down I have no where to go, I cant approve stupid aramex or any other companies in kuwait, so I might as well quit shopping online all together.
please delete my previous comment, if the service gets more popular they might raise costs like aramex or have delays, its already cheapest in kuwait 1kg shipped at 4.5 kd only. let them figure it out themselves please. thanks and sorry if this request to delete my post is too much.
i have a feeling u r promoting postaplus…lol
I wasnt promoting to be honest, i dont get anything in return of promoting, there is no “ma9la7a involved” but since other people below posted about posta like i did, i dont care if my post gets deleted or not.
I have been using MyUs for fast shipping, and been using postaplus mybox for slow shipping, I no longer have trust in aramex
How different is Posta Plus from Aramex?
Posta Plus is Cheaper and some times faster than aramex, also i gave up on aramex because they kept coming with custom prices that didn’t justify the purpose of it, but even tho I use postaplus i never use their customer service center, but the down side of postaplus mybox is that it doesn’t have gathering shipments that you receive in 1 day unlike aramex when you receive 5 shipments in 1 day they make it 1 shipment as I remember, but postaplus mybox got consolidation for custom clearance but if you ship like 2 shipments its not that worth the wait but better than nothing
im new to these stuff so what do you mean by fast shipping? a 7 days or 12 to 20? can you help to get the best website or service to buy from. i will mostly use it for books and light weight car parts i can wait for a maximum 20 days and doesnt matter if it’s a week only because i wanna get the cheapest price. thank you
I completely dropped Aramex all together, wont be dealing with them if its the last company that do forwarding. I have been a customer for 8+ years but they seem to take you for granted and they think that I wont leave no matter how they treat you. My last experience with them was a total disaster, the worst customer service ever. They lie, they tell you we tried to call but they didnt, they don’t reply to messages to call me back, they promise to pickup an item at a certain time but they never show up. I have all the emails from them. I asked them to weight a shipment before they send it to me because I suspected the weight was wrong, but they still sent it anyway. And I was right, the item weight was 150g while they charged me for the weight of 1.1kg. They refused to come and collect the item for reweighing after more than a month and they want me to go to them. I escalated to their HQ but it seems their HQ, care(at)aramex.com, needed to be escalated as well and was as useless as their own Kuwait office. Anyway I’m no longer dealing with them and deleted all their addresses from my Amazon account and other sites.
Thankfully, a friend of mine at work told me that he stopped using them as well because of their constant price increase and recommended I use Posta Plus. I tried them two times already and I can honestly say that I’m completely surprised that they are actually more professional than Aramex. My last order with them took 5 days from the moment it hit my mail box in London until I had it in my hand, and the price was much cheaper than Aramex. Hopefully their good service will continue.
Postaplus is better than aramex but from time to time you will think aramex is better it depends on the situations that you encounter with them, their shipping times is from 7 to 10 working days, but sometimes when they do not have work pressure or massive shipments income you would receive it in less than 7 working days, but what’s nice about postaplus that when a shipment comes via mybox to Kuwait it stays in clearance for 3 working days or less but mostly 1 to 2 days max, but this also goes with MYUS my laptop came via my US in 3 or 4 working days with custom clearance.
oh forgot to say all customer service in kuwait are bad compared to other countries wither it was aramex or postaplus or even myus their LIVE CHAT customer service is bit annoying and bad, but their call center is really good and nice
I had similar bad experience with Aramex, and now I shifted to Borderlinx. My experience with them so far has been very encouraging, and I feel I’ve found the right company for my US/UK shopping.
I had one issue with posta before regarding volumetric dimension weight, and i was really angry that i got charged way more than i was supposed to. This was like 1 year ago, but I came across a very very friendly lady by the name of Abeer (or 3abeer) she worked for posta plus and have escalated my problem to management, and they refunded me and provided me with a solution I dare any other forwarding company would do the same.
I really believe that customer care at posta outperforms that of borderlinx and aramex. But I am afraid if more people in kuwait start using the service they might increase their prices, you never know in the end its a revenue seeking company, I just hope charges stay the same and no extra cost is incurred like stupid aramex (i quit aramex 3 years ago, best deicision ever).
Guys if we lose posta to overcharges there will be no other company in kuwait that we can deal with, posta right now is like aramex back in the golden days, if this is lost, say bye bye to online shopping all together.
Hi All,
I am Postaplus & I am more than glad to see our satisfied customers here,which is our top priority.
I assure you that in future you will find our service quality growth on higher level as we belive that Sky is the limit.
“Better Keep it Quiet” & “Salue” ,thanks for your comments and dont you worry i did not read the message of deleting your comment & i did’nt even read the earlier comment regarding our charges ;), but i assure you that better rates,service & transperecy is our aim & belive that you will only find growth in it by time.
For those who are not aware of our charges, below is the breakdown:
Lifetime subscription Fees : 7 KD ( mail box in USA,UK & UAE )
First Half KG: 2.500 KD
Each Additional Half KG : 2.000 KD
Custom Clearnce : 1 KD each shipment
Customer Duty : 5% of the total invoice
Additional Features : Shipment Consolidation & Shipment upto 1 meter size is considered as Actual weight with POSTAPLUS.
For more details please contact our hotline : 1881881 or visit our MyBox website:
mybox.postaplus.com
Have a blessed Day 🙂
how many days does it take to say get the package from usa to kuwait ?
any fast delivery options ?
Dear Ahmad,
it takes 7 to 10 working days to be delivered to you ,but we don’t provide fast delivery service .
Never less than 14 days if you’re lucky!! stop giving false information.
Very interesting to see so many different opinions. suppose it all depends on everyone’s personal experience. Myself, I have tried many companies (Aramex, Postaplus, MyUS and Borderlinx).
Borderlinx is the one I have concluded is the best for me. I have been customer with them for quite some time now and never had a problem. no fees for repacking or membership fee.
Just paid for 2 Iphones to be delivered from UK to Kuwait and the cost was only KWD17.35. No duty and tax, no Customs fee! not company can beat that cost for express shipping- delivery in 2-3 business days.
Cant get any cheaper than that with DHL Express delivery.
well they’re not consistent since my friend paid KD50 per phone for shipping and duty with borderlinx.
I just got done with a rather ‘trying’ chat with Borderlinx customer service trying to understand their cost breakdown…
i’m shipping ONE item (clothes) = USD 348, real wt 1.0 Lb, volumetric weight 1.44 Lbs.
Delivery type budget
Shipping (incl USD 10 insurance mandatory) = USD 26.2 / KWD 7.62
Fuel Surcharge = USD 2.36 / KWD 0.69
Total Charge = USD 28.56 / KWD 8.31
Total Customs Charge
Duty = USD 48.91 / KWD 14.23
Calculation (5% on CIF value + handling fee :8.5% value of goods )!!!!!
TOTAL = USD 87.47 / KWD 25.45
The handling fee is a rip off….applicable only on duty paid shipments.
How does this compare with other service providers???
in comparison Aramex charge like Kd1 handling fee
Dear @anonymous
Below is the breakdown for your shipment if you are using postaplus service
2.500 KD for first 0.5 KG
1 KD clearance charge
5 % costumes charge which can be estimated in your case to be around 5 KD
total shipping charge will be around 8.500 KD
This does not include the US tax paid for Borderlinx forwarding address in Ohio. I’m going give Postaplus a try for my next shipment.
you don’t pay US tax with borderlinx, you pay with Aramex. That’s one of the advantages of borderlinx.
Borderlinx is the BEST !!!
Just received by iPhone6 through Borderlinx. What an experience must I say. It took just 3 days for delivery from UK to Kuwait. No extra charges, no surprises on delivery. You pay in advance the shipping cost, duty/tax (if any), and the rest is taken care of by DHL their shipping partner.
Most commendable is their customer support team who are available ALWAYS – 24/7, and they are very prompt and friendly.
I’m writing this post to say THANK YOU to the Borderlinx entire team for such hassle free shopping experience. Highly recommended.
Keep up the good work guys!!!
Whats funny is that you Mustafa are in fact a borderlinx customer care employee!! I’ve spoken to you on the live chat, and now your commenting as a customer.
don’t EVER deal with myUS !!!!!! Last year, i bought a bunch of stuff from amazon.com, total price 200 dollars. MyUS not only lost my stuff, but refused to give me a refund, and showed me horrible customer service ! NEVER AGAIN.
Found this service: http://www.boxhop.com
They seem interesting, though their shipping rates seem to be high.
What about USHOPWESHIP , i have started using them recently after reading one of Marks old review. So far i am getting a good service from them.
I know alot of people who have left Aramex and switched to Posta Plus, i tried getting a mybox from them and when ever i successfully register and try to login again it tells me im not registered!
As for borderlinx i tried once seems good, but express delivery is a hoax! 2-3 days totally not true! Stay with standard shipment atleast you wont get disappointed, consolidated my shipment paid roughly 18kd for shipment, 14kd of an assortment of payments including customs, handling, and whatever. In still surprised that my shipment which is roughly 2.5 kilos would cost that much!
Borderlinx support is one of the worst support service and they try to wash their hands of even if they are at fault. Even if you send them a mail on the claims with pictures and everything still they try to wash of their hands citing the original shipper issue. What a crap service. They need to own their trash if they are Bad. Guys be careful with this Shipper.