i love online shopping and i realise its less of saving money but rather, more on getting things that are unavailable in Singapore. Unfortunately shipping costs do add up but i am adventurous and try various US merchants to see how fast they ship and how much the charges are. some shopping tips and gripes:
at www.oldnavy.com using an international credit card might get your orders cancelled as they need to verify with the bank...i know how to overcome that problem but its a hassle so i have not permanently resolved this. but you might be pleased to know that generally, items which are less than USD$100 might escape their audit checks and pass through. but i have had one order rejected even though it was only USD $20+. take the risk if you wish. afterall shipping from Old navy to any US address is usually USD $5 and sometimes free if you order more than a certain amt.
at www.delias.com, shipping direct to singapore is USD$35 (if i recall correctly), regardless of number of items, weight or size...so i try my best to buy heavy shoes to maximise shipping. Of course the intelligent thing is to gather a few friends, the more the merrier,and shipping costs would be greatly reduced...shipping is fast and items packed well....buying sales items are worthwile. Sizes wise, you might need to be extra careful as Delias caters more for growing teens. good thing is that they have a wide variety of sizes so its more of a trial and error before you get sizes right.
www.victoriassecret.com has international shipping too. items arrive in a weeks time after they are shipped so i love them! shipping is rather costly but look out for "sales" where you can get up to USD$75 off for USD $250 worth of items. that works well for me as shipping for $250 worth of items is $49.95 so the discount of $75 off-sets shipping costs. Of course u can opt for shipping by VPOST or comgateway which might end up slightly cheaper. also the discounts apply to sales items and speical items but NOT clearance items.
www.drugstore.com is also another personal favourite. shipping is usually free to any US address so i use vpost. One huge box of detergent (why i buy detergent from US? don ask me, i am just a crazy shopper), cometics and toiletries cost me SGD $23.90 to ship back. hot favourites to buy are Desitin diaper cream and first teeth toothpaste. both which are only a fraction of the cost even with vpost shipping. of course, i buy my own stuff like max factor mascara, vitamin pills, creams like aveeno products and burt's bees stuff.
www.overstock.com sells wonderfully cheap memory foam and high thread count sheets and big fluffy feathered pillows for really good prices! shipping used to be reasonable too as they did deliver direct to Singapore. maybe it didn't work out for them after my purchase coz suddenly they no longer shipped outside of the US. why why why???? warning though, if u use VPOST for shopping at overstock.com., do note that different items are shipped by different merchants and would end up at vpost in separate packages and vpost would charge by number of packages. so the last time i ordered two sets of 2 pillows, they reached vpost in separate huge boxes so i had to pay double the shipping costs.In other words, i paid a lot for air bcos all the pillows if shipped together, could fit into one box and i wouldn't have to end up paying double. shipping to US address is a steal at a flat fee of only USD $2.95 or sometimes less. my memory foam which would cost me a bomb if i could buy it from singapore, only cost me one hundred plus USD which included shipping. and trust me, memory foams (king sized) are not light!
i wish i lived in the states and i would be a happy shopper!
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