Shipping to India from Amazon.com

Leap of Faith

 

In my previous blog post I wrote about the issues I faced when ordering for a pair of shoes on Amazon.com (not Amazon.in). However, I wanted to follow up and share my experience on the entire process - especially since there doesn't seem to be too much information online on whether the system's functional. Does shipping from the US to India using Amazon.com actually work?

Positively Positive

Yes, it does! In brief, barring the initial hiccup with the phone number, the entire process was amazing.

For starters, apart from shipping, Amazon charged me a fixed price to deal with what they labeled "Import Fees Deposit". This is the amount paid to clear customs and to deal with other handling charges. I really like this since it does away with paying the courier chappy (read: middle person) those charges - which is what I'd done previously while importing an item from the US. 

Rupee for the Yuppie

 

Another area Amazon earns a brownie point is in the checkout process: They gave me option to pay the entire amount in rupees or in US dollars. This made it really convenient since I could look at the amount and decide whether I wanted to go ahead or not; all this without the hassle of having to convert the amount in dollars, get a ballpark figure (depending on the exchange rate of the day) and hope that's what I'd be charged. Fantastic!

The Aramex Effect

Next, I'm delighted to report that the item arrived earlier than expected and in mint condition. The package wasn't even slightly damaged and the shoes were well-packed. The item arrived by Aramex - which is a logistics company based out of Jordan (that I didn't know about until a few weeks ago). Even though I chose "AmazonGlobal Standard Shipping" and didn't expect any kind of tracking, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that this wasn't true. Indeed I was able to track the package as it made its journey halfway across the globe, online. Aramex also has a notification option that shoots you an e-mail once the package has been delivered - which is really neat. 

Hip Hip Hoor"A"

So two cheers to Amazon and Aramex for making this a super shopping experience! Even after adding the shipping charges, the shoes I imported worked out cheaper than similar shoes I'd have gotten at the local store here in India. So, all in all, this has been a great experience and realization. Buying items from the US doesn't look like a mysterious and scary proposition anymore.