Best USA Forwarding Service for the UK - MyMallBox [Review]

Thanks to MyMallBox, I was able to get everything in the pic above, most of which are either not available in the UK (fresh, Apple leather care, generous GWPs such as those Clinique chubby sticks) or have sold out (Hourglass palette).

MyMallBox is a US based package forwarding company I discovered back in March, when I felt there had to be a better option than the poor value forwarding service I'd been using for years. Since then, I've never looked back.

Getting started is simple - sign up for an account to receive your own unique MMB address in their warehouse, select this as the shipping address when purchasing, done! When your order arrives at their warehouse, you'll be notified via email. You can then decide whether to ship it or wait to consolidate it with other packages.

Reasons why MMB is awesome:

♥ Unlike MyUS, Bongo, etc, MyMallBox has no sign up/activation/monthly/membership fees. The only service fees are for their purchasing service Buy For Me, in which case it's 3% of the total + $4.50.

Pricing screenshot taken from their website.

♥ Located in Delaware, a state with no sales tax. This means cheaper (and therefore more) shopping! Using my previous forwarding service in a 7% sales tax state for comparison, on a $300 order shipped to MMB, I instantly save $21.

♥ Fantastic support - Friendly, polite, fast & efficient. No canned responses. Any requests I've had, such as removing promotional leaflets from my packages, have always been dealt with swiftly - simply brilliant! Can't fault them in any way.

♥ They are super efficient. All of my packages have been consolidated & shipped in less than 1 (business) day, often on the same day! When I've needed their Buy For Me service, my orders have always been processed in 1 day or less.

♥ Only 3% + $4.50 for assisted purchasing. Probably the most reasonable fee I've ever encountered. Buy For Me is great for sites that only accept US issued credit cards or won't ship certain items (GWPs, deluxe samples, fragrances, some brands etc) internationally. If you have any discount codes, just let them know in the comments section.

♥ Other than the aforementioned Buy For Me fees, there are no handling fees - no fees for storage, repacking, packaging materials, consolidation, throwing out leaflets...

♥  Everything comes well packaged in a sturdy box. I've shipped all sorts from plushes to handbags to beauty products and have never received a damaged item.

♥ Discounted international shipping rates (check out their Shipping Calculator) with DHL offered as well as USPS. Most USA forwarding services only offer USPS, or USPS Express (aka EMS), which equals Parcelforce in the UK. Not only is EMS generally slower & less reliable than DHL, if you get hit by customs, expect to wait a few days to hand over £13.50 + 20% of the total value of the package (if it's over £15) before Parcelforce will deliver it. DHL's handling fee on the other hand, is £8, but they at least send a bill afterwards so there's no delay in you receiving the package.

However, MMB's website and the way items are catalogued can be a bit confusing. For example, one of my parcels contained 2 items, yet under my account it was listed as "beauty products - 4", so I panicked a bit thinking the store messed up my order. Turns out MMB had counted the samples I didn't know about, hence the discrepancy. It would be better if items were listed individually, or if it was possible to notify them of incoming items. Even with this minor inconvenience though, MMB is by far the best US based forwarding service I've used.

Basically, I'm all set! If I want anything from Japan, I'll use either FromJapan or Tenso; if I want stuff from the US, then MyMallBox is my go to option.

If you'd like to give MyMallBox a try, sign up via this link to receive a free $5 towards your first shipment!