[imagesource: Amazon]

We live in the age of extremely instant gratification.

Pandemic or no pandemic, it’s obvious from the gripes on social media that once people have completed the checkout, the clock is ticking.

Here at home, Takealot enjoys some market dominance, but globally Amazon rules the roost. That’s why Jeff Bezos has steadily become richer, and richer, and richer…

US customers can sign up for Amazon Prime and get same-day delivery, but South Africans ordering from Amazon are in for a much longer wait.

According to the site’s Help page, standard shipping (starting from $10) can take “as fast as 18 days”, and priority shipping, which starts from $40, “as fast as six days”.

Both of those are business days, so with standard shipping, you could be looking at somewhere closer to a month. The timeframes provided are estimates, though, and you could strike it lucky, with some customers saying the delivery time is often far shorter than those provided by Amazon guidelines.

Then there’s also the fact that some vendors selling their goods on Amazon do not ship to South Africa, which means you have to make other plans.

In days gone by, you might have had a friend in the US who was heading home soon, and could pop your goodies in their luggage, but that’s certainly not the case in our current COVID-19 climate.

Thankfully, there are companies that set you up with an international shipping address, and handle all of the hassles of getting your Amazon purchase to you.

Have you dealt with something being held up at customs recently? It is the sort of stress factor we could all do without.

Consider this, from Online Business SA:

The best option is to ship products through a courier. It will cost more but you have the peace of mind of knowing that you will receive your purchase and in reasonable time. With postal, the package can make it to South Africa fairly easily. Once your package arrives in SA, you will get a new tracking number.

The problem is that stuff can be stuck in customs for two to three weeks, although it’s not unusual for a parcel to take two months to reach you. There are even reports of packages taking two years to reach the recipient…

All companies that ship through postal are at the mercy of customs and you can have a 2-3 month wait in the worse case scenario.

No thank you.

Many of us start frothing at the mouth at the mere sight of the spinning ‘buffering’ wheel on Netflix or YouTube, so if you think I am waiting months for my goods to arrive, after battling customs, you are sorely mistaken.

The advice about using a courier is on the money, and we’ve had great experiences using Postbox Courier whenever needed.

Signing up is free, and the entire process is very simple:

Three to five working days after your goods arrive at your international shipping address, they’re at your front door, with all of the customs and VAT duties calculated in advance.

You can also get a quick free quote on what shipping will cost before you pull the trigger.

Treat yourself, because the last thing you need is being forced into dealing with customs.

[source:obsa]