Forward2me is a UK-based parcel-forwarding company that offers online shoppers an address in the UK. So, if you’re shopping at a UK-based store and they only ship to the UK, or they charge big shipping fees to ship to your country, you could send your order to Forward2me’s UK address and they’ll ‘forward’ it to wherever you are in the world. As well as the UK, Forward2me also offers shoppers addresses in in Germany, Japan, and Turkey. They also have a tax-free warehouse in Guernsey. The only one they’re really missing is the US, but hopefully they’ll get to that soon!
Visit Forward2Me and create an account
How much does it cost?
It’s free to create an account on Forward2me and to send your order there. The costs come from forwarding your order to your address and the main fee here is the courier delivery fee. Naturally, the cost varies depending on what you’re ordering. If you’re ordering a t-shirt from abroad, it’s going to be much cheaper than say ordering a flat screen TV due to the size, weight, and insurance requirements.
Thankfully, Forward2Me have a shipping calculator on their website where you can estimate the shipping cost. It’s not perfect and it can be hard to work out the exact dimensions of the item (particularly if Forward2Me are going to be repacking it) but it definitely helps give you an estimate of what costs you can expect. That way you can decide whether forwarding your item is going to be worthwhile or not.
When you use the shipping estimation calculator, you’ll see that there are a number of different couriers and services that you can use. These vary in price, usually depending on how fast they can deliver the item. It’s a good idea to estimate the shipping costs as forwarding packages isn’t always cheap, especially as most package forwarding companies like Forward2Me prefer to send items with couriers rather than with snail mail. You may also have to consider customs and import taxes as well.
Positive & Negative Points
The following are some of the main positive and negative points about Forward2Me
Positive
- Overall, Forward2Me is well-rated on sites like TrustPilot and Feefo
- It’s possible to combine several orders and have them repacked into one order (additional fee)
- Protect+ insurance is available on many items (additional fee)
Negative
- Snail mail services (such as the UK’s Royal Mail) aren’t usually listed and only a courier is given as an option. This means ordering small items like a book or CD now become much more expensive
- The shipping calculator makes it difficult to estimate the costs for much larger items like a bicycle. To get a proper quote, you should really contact Forward2Me directly
Will I have to pay customs?
It usually depends on the value of the item you’re sending and where you are in the world. If, for example, you’re sending it from one EU country to another (e.g. Germany to Portugal), it’s unlikely you’ll have to pay customs. If you’re ordering from a UK e-commerce website and shipping to the US or Australia, on the other hand, it’s more than likely there will be a customs charge. Some items manage to slip through, particularly if it’s something inexpensive like a paperback book. If you try to send a laptop or a smartphone, however, you can almost certainly expect customs charges.
Whether it’s better to buy the item locally or import it and pay customs is difficult to say and depends on the item and you’ll need to estimate the maths to decide. Often people use package forwarding companies when the item isn’t available locally and shopping from abroad is the only way to get a hold of it. If the price of buying it locally is more or less the same as importing it from abroad, it’s probably better to buy locally as this way you know all of the costs upfront.
Similar Companies
Forward2Me isn’t the only package forwarding company out there. Some other UK-based companies include:
(A longer list can be found here)