Foreign cards get declined
Indian payment gateways reject cards issued abroad routinely, even with matching billing details. An address alone does not fix this, which is why we also buy on your behalf.
Parcel forwarding, explained
Parcel forwarding from India, properly explained
Most parcel forwarders operate out of the United States or the United Kingdom. This one operates out of India, which is a different proposition entirely.
What is parcel forwarding from India?
You get a free Indian delivery address. You order from any Indian store to it. We receive the parcels, inspect and photograph each one, combine them into a single box, handle the export documentation and ship it to your country on a tracked service. You pay for the shipping and nothing else as standard.
The category
Why forwarding exists at all
Online retail is overwhelmingly domestic. Retailers build for one country's couriers, one country's payment rails and one country's returns process, and an international order breaks all three at once. Rather than solve that, most of them simply switch international delivery off.
Forwarding is the workaround that stuck. A company maintains a warehouse in the country you want to buy from, gives you an address there, and bridges the gap between the seller's domestic delivery and your actual front door. In doing so it also fixes a second problem nobody set out to solve: because everything lands in one place first, several orders can leave as one parcel instead of several.
That second effect is usually worth more than the first. International freight has a high minimum charge per shipment, so paying it once instead of five times is where the real money is.
Three ways to get something out of India
How forwarding compares to the alternatives
| Seller ships directly | Wait for a relative | Parcel forwarding | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Works with any Indian seller | No, very few offer it | Yes | Yes |
| Works when your card is declined | No | Yes | Yes, we buy on your behalf |
| Combine orders from several sellers | No | Yes, if it fits | Yes, free |
| You see it before it ships | No | No | Yes, photographed on arrival |
| Predictable timing | Sometimes | No | Yes, 4 to 12 days |
| Export paperwork handled | Sometimes | No | Yes |
| Costs you a favour | No | Yes | No |
If one seller ships internationally at a fair price and you only want one thing from them, use them. Forwarding earns its place when you are buying from more than one place.
What makes an Indian forwarder different
Four problems that are specific to buying from India
The best sellers have no website
Weavers, sweet shops and brass merchants with decades of reputation and no e-commerce presence. No forwarding address reaches them. Somebody has to physically go.
Export documentation is unforgiving
An accurate description, value and classification for every item. Get one wrong and the parcel waits in a customs shed while somebody sorts it out.
Retail packing will not survive
Indian retail boxes are built for a van, not a cargo hold, and they are mostly air. Both problems get solved on the repacking bench.
Using it
What the process actually involves
-
01
Get the address
One WhatsApp message with your name and country. Issued the same day, free, no account to create and nothing to subscribe to.
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02
Shop normally
Order from any Indian retailer as a domestic customer. Use the address at checkout exactly as we give it to you, reference included.
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03
We hold and check
Each parcel is opened, checked, photographed and shelved against your name. Thirty days free while you finish shopping.
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04
One box, to your door
Say the word, we consolidate, repack, document and ship. One tracking number, four to twelve days depending on destination.
Common questions
Questions we get asked most
A company in another country gives you an address there, receives whatever you have delivered to it, and then forwards it on to where you actually live. It exists because a great many retailers will only deliver domestically, and because shipping several orders separately costs far more than shipping them together.
The direction and the problems being solved. US and UK forwarders exist mostly so people abroad can buy from American and British retailers. We exist so the Indian diaspora can buy from Indian sellers, which brings its own obstacles: foreign cards being declined, excellent shops with no website at all, and export documentation that is unforgiving.
Not at all. Most of our customers have a connection to India, but the service is open to anyone who wants something from an Indian seller. Collectors, small retailers sourcing stock and people who simply found something they wanted all use it.
No. There is no subscription, no membership tier and no monthly fee. You pay for shipping when you ship, plus any optional extra you specifically ask for. If you go six months without sending anything, you are charged nothing during those six months.
Nothing, when you are buying a single item from a seller who already ships internationally at a fair rate. Use them. Forwarding wins when you are buying from several sellers, when the seller will not ship abroad, when your card is being declined, or when the shop has no website.
Keep reading
Where to go next
Get your Indian address today
It takes one message, it costs nothing, and you can start shopping the same day.
