Welcome to Part 2 of my Guide to Buying Shoes Off Wedian, International Shipping Edition. By now, all domestic shipping should be completed. You can check this by visiting the “my order” tab in the Sugargoo main menu and checking the status of your orders. The next step is to QC or quality check to the best of your ability. A simple side-by-side comparison with a few Google searched images will usually suffice, but I advise spending at least a few minutes per pair, as international shipping is the bulk of the total cost. The number one rule with international shipping is that every gram and centimeter matters. Save as much space as possible, as even a few shoeboxes can add 20 dollars to your shipping cost and increase your chances of being seized. I recommend removing all shoeboxes, tags, and other unnecessary materials that could potentially raise your shipping cost. Sugargoo will remove these for 10 cents if you either check a box titled ”shoebox removal” or by directly messaging your agent.
Now, select check each item’s estimated weight and find a combination of items around 8000 grams. As referred to in the prior blog, 8 kg or 8000 g is our target weight because it balances both the chance to get seized and the shipping cost. To explain this further: US customs has a small chance (around 1%) to seize your item as counterfeit goods. If this happens, your items are incinerated and lost forever. In order to minimize this risk, you can make the haul smaller and lighter to give less of a reason to be randomly searched. 8 kg is the base number for minimal risk, and it is possible to push this up as high as 15 kg if you are not afraid of losing your items. The advantage of this higher weight is reduced shipping costs per item, forming the counterweight of the risk vs. price problem. A good rule for weight is that 8 kg will cost just under 200 dollars and if you add shipping to the total cost of each pair with 8 pairs, (1 pair of shoes hovers around 1 kg) adding 25 dollars to the cost.
Now, after making the above decisions on weight and haul size, select each of the items you want to internationally ship and click “submit parcel”. The next step is critical: pay extra for shockproof packaging, box reinforcement, waterproofing, and anything else that you think will make your haul safer during transit (though I do not recommend vacuum packaging). This is to protect your items, as international shipping is notorious for damaging items in transit. Once finished, you should submit your order, but do not pay yet.
The next part is a trick that can save you on average 300 grams of weight per item. Sugargoo will not process your order until you pay for shipping, but this allows us to request a 2 dollar service called pre-packaging. This service essentially tells the agent to weigh the package on a scale and adjust the price of shipping accordingly. This is essential because the original shipping cost was calculated based on the estimated weight, not the actual weight of the shoe. The estimated weight is always greater than the actual weight, so this can result in reduced shipping costs. After your package is reweighed, the price in the “my parcel” tab will be adjusted to the actual weight and dimensions of the package. Finally, it is time to pay and ship. Once again, I highly recommend using PayPal to protect your card information because around a year ago, Sugargoo accidentally leaked all of its credit card data. For shipping type, I recommend EMS as it has the fastest shipping time (2-3 weeks) for a reasonable price. E-EMS is also fine if it is cheaper than EMS, but it is a bit slower. For the budget people, you can use SAL for a lengthy 2-4 month wait but overall cheaper price. Also, remember to declare your package for 11 dollars per kilogram in the declaration box.
Congratulations, your haul is on its way to the US. It should arrive within a few months, depending on your choice of shipping. If you followed all these instructions, your haul should arrive intact with all of your items in it. Remember that this does not only apply to shoes, as almost anything can be bought for a lower price than in the US. I have seen people stick clothing, room decor, and even jumbo packs of candy in their hauls. I will leave a few of these links at the bottom.
Pre-Packaged: https://sugargoo.com/index/item/index.html?tp=mall&tid=25
Husky Clothing: https://alaska-reps.x.yupoo.com/albums
Other Random Sugargoo Services: https://sugargoo.com/index/mall/lists/cid/3.html
November 3rd, 2022 at 10:18 am
Anton,
I found your blog post incredibly interesting. Generally, individuals find themselves paying a significantly greater amount for items when they are making a purchase in the United States as opposed to an international location. This may be for a variety of economical reasons, however, the fact remains that it is significantly more cost efficient to purchase valuable goods from international locations. Many individuals know this to be true, but are unsure about the process behind purchasing goods internationally. Your post goes into detail about how one can safely and cheaply purchase highly expensive shoes online whilst making sure that they are delivered safely and in high quality. While I have never done this with shoes, I have certainly ordered brand name clothing from international sites to receive it at a more affordable price. I believe that there are only benefits to these practices, as it allows one to receive items at high quality and low prices. The longer shipping times are generally worth the decrease in overall price in my opinion. There are many affordable ways to receive valuable goods, and one can save a significant amount of money by simply doing their research on how to obtain the items which they desire.