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Shopping & Shipping from the US made easy

By on September 22, 2014 in Lebanon

amazon

So you decided to spend your hard-earned money on a gadget you’ve been eyeballing for a while, but you noticed that it costs a fortune less in the United States. Well, shopping and shipping from the US has never been easier specially with some major US retailers (see Amazon) accepting non-US credit cards. I’ll be mainly focusing on Amazon since it is where you will find the cheapest prices online.

In order to make a purchase on amazon you will need the following:

  • An Amazon account.
  • A US suite address (an address in the US where your goods will be shipped; explained later on)
  • A credit/internet card.

How it works?

In order to ship from Amazon or other online US retailers to Lebanon, you will first need to have a US address that your goods will ship to. This address will be given to you by the shipping provider you will choose. That being said, There are many providers to choose from, the most widely known being Aramex’s shop and ship service, and DHL’s borderlinx service. I personally use borderlinx and I am satisfied with their service so far. I advise that you compare both offerings (and others) and decide which suits your needs best.

Next step is to add your credit card information as well as your billing and shipping addresses to your Amazon account. To avoid any confusion i’ll explain what these addresses exactly stand for:
Your billing address is the address associated with your credit/internet card. This is provided by your bank.
Your shipping address is the US address (suite address) that is provided by your shipping provider.

And that’s about it. You are now ready for your first purchase. You will be notified by email once your items have shipped from Amazon to your US address. You will also be provided with a tracking id so you can continuously check on the delivery process. Once the items have reached your US address, you will be notified of that as well by your shipping provider. Once shipped from the US, expect your items delivered to your doorstep in 1 business week max. You will receive 2 invoices: one from customs, the other from your shipping provider. Mabrouk!

Since the main objective of online shopping is to pay less, here are some tips to optimize your savings:

  1. Look for the cheapest seller.
  2. Make sure your item is eligible for free shipping (mentioned next to the item price).
  3. Choose “standard shipping” on checkout (all the items I have bought using “standard shipping” got delivered to my US address in 4 days tops which is totally acceptable in my opinion).
  4. No matter which provider you are shipping with, always consolidate your packages in order to PAY LESS shipping fees (benefits of consolidating packages explained here).
  5. Before proceeding with your purchase, check the Lebanese customs tariffs in order to know the customs fees applied on the type of product you are buying (note that you pay 0% custom fees on laptops and computer parts!)

Some useful links:

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Custom fees to be imposed on orders from AliExpress?

By on July 14, 2014 in Lebanon

aliexpress-logo

I’m not a big fan of AliExpress as I have tried it once and wasn’t very satisfied with the stuff I received, however I know a lot of people who are literally addicted to it and keep ordering cheap stuff from it!

The reason why these people love AliExpress is because they pay very low shipping fees and absolutely no custom dues when their packages arrive to Lebanon since they’re labeled as gifts, which sounds like a steal if the stuff you’re ordering are of really good value.

However, I’ve been hearing from several sources lately that the Lebanese Customs will soon be forcing high fees on all packages received from AliExpress due to the large amount of orders being placed and affecting local sellers here. But I couldn’t make sure if this is really going to happen or not, so it would be good if someone from LibanPost or the Lebanese customs can confirm or deny it.

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Virginia man arrested for trying to ship weapons to Lebanon

By on December 26, 2013 in Lebanon

w460

Juging by his name, Sam Rafic Ghanem, he seems to be of Lebanese origin, but how stupid can he be? I mean doesn’t he know about the arms trade with Syria through the uncontrolled borders? Even kids here are playing with Klashinkoves, so we definitely need nothing from Virginia!

Sam Rafic Ghanem, owner of an international shipping company with offices in the Washington suburbs, was arrested Saturday after an FBI sting, ABC News said.

The intended recipient of the weapons is not clear, but at one point Ghanem claimed he was recently asked to obtain two guns for an unnamed member of the Lebanese government, according to court documents filed in the case.

Over the past few months, Ghanem and a former employee of his company, Washington Movers International, devised “a scheme to send weapons to Lebanon by hiding them inside automobile parts shipped by the company,” court documents allege.

The former employee, though, was working as “an undercover source for the FBI,” ABC News noted.

Last Saturday, the source picked up Ghanem from his Springfield, Virginia home and drove to Washington Movers International’s offices in Maryland, where Ghanem helped stuff 10 handguns, 10 semi-automatic rifles and 18 “optic devices” into doors and other parts of salvaged vehicles, an FBI agent alleged in charging documents.

The car parts were then loaded into a shipping container, but the weapons hidden inside were “fake,” according to the charging documents. Ghanem was subsequently arrested.

via Naharnet

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