so how...which is cheaper? i going to order Astro A40 wireless which is 3kg...and cost $390 sgd without including shipping fee...if add shipping fee will be about $500 liddat...which should i use? the box is 12x12x10 and weigh 3kg o.o
Vpost? Borderlinx? Comgateway?
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tekster
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i don't quite get this statement "cos when u shop, they will request u to put in the invoice and the cost and lookout ur items"
anyway, guess it works like borderlinx. no need send invoice to them.
touchme
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yr volumetric weight is 4.5 kg, shiping vpost $45 after 10% discount. Plus,You can sho more and not incur gst for other itens <$400. Though shipibg will be 5-7 days slower than cgw. Acty, loophole, u can siam $33 gst, if u know how...
AshleyRiot
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AMAZON shaver
03/14/2011 8.03 kg $ 218.99 Select for shipping
Total weight to be shipped: 8.03 kg
Total duty: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Total tax: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Shipping: $ 56.67 SGD 72.21
Fuel surcharge: $ 7.36 SGD 9.38
Total: $ 64.03 SGD 81.60
8kg for a shaver...that is beyond words...I think the shaver can be used to shaved elephant's hair...bloody BL charge by volumetric weight...so exp...and I can't seem to find any discount coupon for it...I even asked their CSO they dun wanna give just tell me some BS anwer to find from their site blah blah blah...
Last edited:
tekster
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AMAZON shaver
03/14/2011 8.03 kg $ 218.99 Select for shipping
Total weight to be shipped: 8.03 kg
Total duty: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Total tax: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Shipping: $ 56.67 SGD 72.21
Fuel surcharge: $ 7.36 SGD 9.38
Total: $ 64.03 SGD 81.60
bloody BL charge by volumetric weight...so exp...and I can't seem to find any discount coupon for it...I even asked their CSO they dun wanna give just tell me some BS anwer to find from their site blah blah blah...
i guess it's more volumetric weight ba. cause recently i also ordered some contigo water bottles and my shipping costs me close to USD30. i was like "wat in the world.... ??"
after receiving my box, then i realise the box is indeed v big, but weight is damn light.
the_dog
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AMAZON shaver
03/14/2011 8.03 kg $ 218.99 Select for shipping
Total weight to be shipped: 8.03 kg
Total duty: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Total tax: $ 0.00 SGD 0.00
Shipping: $ 56.67 SGD 72.21
Fuel surcharge: $ 7.36 SGD 9.38
Total: $ 64.03 SGD 81.60
bloody BL charge by volumetric weight...so exp...and I can't seem to find any discount coupon for it...I even asked their CSO they dun wanna give just tell me some BS anwer to find from their site blah blah blah...
Borderlinx is prone to data entry c@ck-up, sometimes their input weight is far off the actual weight. Like my package was originally assessed at over 18kg, then after chasing them to re-measure, became 2kg.
Better get them to check package size again.
Red_Cheesepie
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This is my review with Comgateway:
Ordered item from amazon on 6 Apr and arrived at 8 Apr at CGW address. Few hours later got confirmation email from CGW. Made payment, but payment not successful due to system maintenance. Payment only successful after around 2am portland time. Got my tracking details and email 19 hours later (9pm portland time). They used DHL Express worldwide and tracking shows that DHL actually picked up package at 10.43am portland time and already at depart facility now. Everything was smooth till now.
Regarding package, I cannot comment much as I only bought a Bluetooth headset which is very small and light. Actually weight is 0.28kg, volumetric wright is 0.49kg and CGW charged me 0.50kg which is correct.
So far, buying via CGW is faster and cheaper as compared to buying direct from amazon (offer international shipping for this item). Estimated arrival date is 13 Apr. If buy from amazon direct will be $6 SGD more and estimated arrival date is 18 - 28 Apr.
Update:
Got my item on 11 Apr 1100H. Total only took 5 days (including sat/sun) for the item to reach me from Amazon. Great service and tracking.
Ordered item from amazon on 6 Apr and arrived at 8 Apr at CGW address. Few hours later got confirmation email from CGW. Made payment, but payment not successful due to system maintenance. Payment only successful after around 2am portland time. Got my tracking details and email 19 hours later (9pm portland time). They used DHL Express worldwide and tracking shows that DHL actually picked up package at 10.43am portland time and already at depart facility now. Everything was smooth till now.
Regarding package, I cannot comment much as I only bought a Bluetooth headset which is very small and light. Actually weight is 0.28kg, volumetric wright is 0.49kg and CGW charged me 0.50kg which is correct.
So far, buying via CGW is faster and cheaper as compared to buying direct from amazon (offer international shipping for this item). Estimated arrival date is 13 Apr. If buy from amazon direct will be $6 SGD more and estimated arrival date is 18 - 28 Apr.
Update:
Got my item on 11 Apr 1100H. Total only took 5 days (including sat/sun) for the item to reach me from Amazon. Great service and tracking.
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tekster
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hmmm.... guess i didn't have a good experience then. my order was received on friday 1apr. i thought by monday 4th april monday i will get to ship my order, but it didn't happen until the 5th april tuesday. which i thought was quite a lousy service cause i could have received my order a day earlier by thurs. so it was delayed by a day.
and i can't tell what's the diff between express and normal. i got the 15% no doubt, but i didn't feel it's express in any way.
borderlinx is much faster. if it's received on fri, by mon i can be sure to post the item. the same amount of time (without express) to ship it to me also took the same 4 days.
auto upgrade one. just choose standard service. anyway, no diff one la. it will still take 4 days to reach you.
belgarathc
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Anybody has any April discount coupons for borderlinx?
4days so fast? i ordered in amazon on 15april, delivery estimated is 21-Apr to 23 April leh, you mean it could be earlier? sorry for the question 1st time order from overseas. please be patient with me
Reading through the thread, I realised everyone has their fair share of complaints about each company (vPost, comGateway, Borderlink), so none are really perfect.
I've been an active online shopper for years, and mostly used vPost during this time (at least 3 years), and my review of vPost can be summed up as such:
- relatively slow and cannot choose when to receive, so most of the time I end up having to collect at post office myself
- tedious matching invoices back and forth (this one is seriously sian)
+ BUT it is generally reliable
+ despite recent rate increases, still relatively cheap (and there's always discount codes for over S$40 transactions)
I know several here have complained of vPost losing packages, but I have completed probably over 20 transactions with them (each time between 5-10 packages on average), and they have never lost anything for me. One time in 2009 they took a little longer than usual locating one package to deliver locally (so it might have been misplaced), but it still got to me in the end, so I guess I've been lucky on that count.
On my last vPost shipment however, one of my packages was a videogame which obviously won't be too big in size, but somehow someone on the US side entered one of the dimensions wrongly, adding a "1" in front of it, so it's width became over 100 cm long, and I got charged "volumetric" weight accordingly.
Now, even though it was actually quite a glaring error on their part (box so small and light how to have such a high shipping charge?!), I actually wouldn't mind if the refund process was simple and hassle free, but it turned out to be quite troublesome.
First I called vPost cust svc, they told me to go down to the post office to get it correctly measured and refunded, so I spent my lunch hour waiting at the post office only for them to be unsure what to do about it, until they finally called someone at vPost who directed the branch manager to verify the dimensions and fax them the delivery notice with the correct measurements.
So I thought they'll take it from there, but a week later, they sent me an e-mail asking me to scan and e-mail them that same delivery notice again, without a single apology for all the inconvenience and hassle I had to go through to make up for that error.
Around the same time I needed to pre-order something from a US store which only took US-issued cards, and somehow vPost's conceirge refused to do pre-orders, so I tried comGateway, who were fine with taking the pre-order. Unfortunately they somehow took a more expensive shipping option when I specifically asked for them to take the cheapest one (which was free with my >US$100 order).
I actually ordered a small item I didn't really need to reach US$100 and get free shipping, so when they ignored that and took the express shipping, kinda defeated the purpose of the whole thing and made me pay a lot more.
That order only recently got fulfilled, so going to get CGW to deliver soon, but from my initial experiences, my review of comGateway can be summed up as
+ very, very easy-to-use interface (makes vPost's primitive e-mail invoice system look awful)
- seems quite expensive (a lot of hidden costs all over the place - fuel surcharge, holding surchage > 3 items, etc, and they round every package up to nearest 0.5kg, which can really add up)
No comment on customer service or anything yet, but their high costs are quite a turn off, so might not be using them again. Will stick to vPost's crappy invoice e-mail system if I have to.
Always wanted to try Borderlinx too, cause it's the only one of the three that does conceirge for UK, but they're not accepting my Citibank debit card for now.
Does anyone know of any other UK conceirge services?
I've been an active online shopper for years, and mostly used vPost during this time (at least 3 years), and my review of vPost can be summed up as such:
- relatively slow and cannot choose when to receive, so most of the time I end up having to collect at post office myself
- tedious matching invoices back and forth (this one is seriously sian)
+ BUT it is generally reliable
+ despite recent rate increases, still relatively cheap (and there's always discount codes for over S$40 transactions)
I know several here have complained of vPost losing packages, but I have completed probably over 20 transactions with them (each time between 5-10 packages on average), and they have never lost anything for me. One time in 2009 they took a little longer than usual locating one package to deliver locally (so it might have been misplaced), but it still got to me in the end, so I guess I've been lucky on that count.
On my last vPost shipment however, one of my packages was a videogame which obviously won't be too big in size, but somehow someone on the US side entered one of the dimensions wrongly, adding a "1" in front of it, so it's width became over 100 cm long, and I got charged "volumetric" weight accordingly.
Now, even though it was actually quite a glaring error on their part (box so small and light how to have such a high shipping charge?!), I actually wouldn't mind if the refund process was simple and hassle free, but it turned out to be quite troublesome.
First I called vPost cust svc, they told me to go down to the post office to get it correctly measured and refunded, so I spent my lunch hour waiting at the post office only for them to be unsure what to do about it, until they finally called someone at vPost who directed the branch manager to verify the dimensions and fax them the delivery notice with the correct measurements.
So I thought they'll take it from there, but a week later, they sent me an e-mail asking me to scan and e-mail them that same delivery notice again, without a single apology for all the inconvenience and hassle I had to go through to make up for that error.
Around the same time I needed to pre-order something from a US store which only took US-issued cards, and somehow vPost's conceirge refused to do pre-orders, so I tried comGateway, who were fine with taking the pre-order. Unfortunately they somehow took a more expensive shipping option when I specifically asked for them to take the cheapest one (which was free with my >US$100 order).
I actually ordered a small item I didn't really need to reach US$100 and get free shipping, so when they ignored that and took the express shipping, kinda defeated the purpose of the whole thing and made me pay a lot more.
That order only recently got fulfilled, so going to get CGW to deliver soon, but from my initial experiences, my review of comGateway can be summed up as
+ very, very easy-to-use interface (makes vPost's primitive e-mail invoice system look awful)
- seems quite expensive (a lot of hidden costs all over the place - fuel surcharge, holding surchage > 3 items, etc, and they round every package up to nearest 0.5kg, which can really add up)
No comment on customer service or anything yet, but their high costs are quite a turn off, so might not be using them again. Will stick to vPost's crappy invoice e-mail system if I have to.
Always wanted to try Borderlinx too, cause it's the only one of the three that does conceirge for UK, but they're not accepting my Citibank debit card for now.
Does anyone know of any other UK conceirge services?
1) of course you can, unless you are using their Concierge service.
2) no need, just make sure you use the exact Borderlinx address of your account as your shipping address with the merchant.
hellocello
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anyone knows of any besides Borderlinx that does concierge for UK shipping?
The item I'm looking for has run out at the US website n is only available on their UK website. *cries*
The item I'm looking for has run out at the US website n is only available on their UK website. *cries*
Looking for one too. Just asked this at the bottom of my long post three posts ago, so hopefully someone can find something.
Can't use Borderlinx cause I don't have a Citibank credit card.
How does comgateway charge gst??
Declared value + shipping + insurance??
my orders as followed Total Declared Value:US$ 253.32 and US$29.08 for shipping n insurace.
i wont be charged gst will i? n how they calculate xchange rate?
Declared value + shipping + insurance??
my orders as followed Total Declared Value:US$ 253.32 and US$29.08 for shipping n insurace.
i wont be charged gst will i? n how they calculate xchange rate?
yes, GST is based on CIF (cost insurance freight) value, as per regulations. as far as i know, CGW will include any calculated GST into the shipping and insurance quote.
touchme
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after 3 experiences with vpost in the past.
I've been using cgw the last 3 times..pleasant, fast, but somewhat costing and weighing a little unfair...Merchant;s parcel delivery reads 2.0 lbs, cgw weighs 1.02 kg, and rounded to 1.5kg on 2 pkgs.
Now reverting to vpost for a few tries, to recoupe my lost faith with them.
Also due to pro-rated weighing and gst based on individual itme or invoice, to lower overall costs..
will report their improvement if any.
I've been using cgw the last 3 times..pleasant, fast, but somewhat costing and weighing a little unfair...Merchant;s parcel delivery reads 2.0 lbs, cgw weighs 1.02 kg, and rounded to 1.5kg on 2 pkgs.
Now reverting to vpost for a few tries, to recoupe my lost faith with them.
Also due to pro-rated weighing and gst based on individual itme or invoice, to lower overall costs..
will report their improvement if any.
tekster
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4days so fast? i ordered in amazon on 15april, delivery estimated is 21-Apr to 23 April leh, you mean it could be earlier? sorry for the question 1st time order from overseas. please be patient with me
4 days is from USA to get to you, not from amazon to forwarder.
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