For many online shoppers, US online stores offer a variety of items to buy, often at very reasonable prices. Naturally, it is easy to shop from these stores as a US resident, but what if you are living in another country? What if you are buying multiple items from many different online retailers in the US at the same time?
The real issue while shopping for US products from abroad comes down to the shipping costs involved. Dealing with multiple retailers while sitting outside the country can be a huge hassle too. The good news is that there are shopping assistance services like MyMallBox that offer a variety of solutions to help you shop conveniently from US-based shops. The best part? They help you manage multiple orders by providing a free virtual US address as well as value-added services such as combining them into a single package or repackaging your parcel to reduce the overall shipping cost.
If you have experience with online shopping, chances are that you may have purchased multiple items at once. Managing multiple orders can be difficult, especially when you are overseas. It is easy to forget what you have ordered and when your package will arrive at your doorstep.
Fortunately, there are ways to make things easier. In this article, we’ll give you some tips on how this can be done, especially on how to organize multiple orders from the United States.
Tips to Manage Multiple Orders in the US
Here’s how you can manage multiple orders and kiss the headaches goodbye.
1.
Filter orders
If you have a long list of items you wish to buy, you should prioritize the types of products you are most interested in. Look at the orders by payment status to see which ones you have paid for already. These are the ones you can expect to receive soon. Using a filtered list of your orders helps immensely. You can use checklists, spreadsheets, or a mobile app to make filtered lists. It’s also a good idea to keep track of expensive items, which you might need to physically receive on arrival.
2.
Make note of the tracking number to every order
A tracking number helps you to track the status of your order: whether it is being processed, in transit, or has been delivered. Most US stores assign a tracking number for your orders so that’s half your job done. You can also use package consolidation services to organize multiple orders into a single, convenient package, so you’ll only need to track one tracking number and save yourself some bucks in your pocket at the same time!
3.
Find stores that provide complementary products
If you are shopping for multiple items, you might find buying all of them from a single place easier and more convenient. For example, if you are shopping for fashion accessories for a party, you may want to order make-up as well as a party dress from the same online store. This means that all your items will come from the same website, hence, arriving simultaneously. This option would be even better if the store offers free domestic shipping so you can ship them all to your suite address free of cost! Large retailers like Amazon and Walmart offer a one-stop solution for most of your shopping needs. As a bonus, they may also offer discounts if you were to purchase many items in a single transaction.
4.
Search multiple stores for the best deals
Sometimes you can get deals on items in competing stores. Especially during seasonal or holiday sales, you should check out prices and deals from many different online stores. Deals can come in the form of big discounts or free shipping.
Hunting for products and comparing their prices from multiple online stores is a great way to save on shopping costs, however, the process may be time-consuming and require a lot of effort. That’s where services like proxy shopping come in handy. You can request US-based personal shoppers to buy what you’re looking for on your behalf. Most of the time, the experts would very much be familiar with the local online marketplace, therefore, being able to purchase the goods at competitive rates and directly pass on those savings to you.
5.
Consider seasonal purchases
You can buy items of your interest at specific times of the year and there are obvious benefits to this approach. First of all, you can properly plan for your online shopping ahead of time. This will keep your order count low, while you are still able to buy what you want. Secondly, you can avail of attractive seasonal discounts. Conversely, you may also buy some items in the off-season, like clothing, so that you don’t have to wait for active discounts and avoid paying high seasonal prices.
6.
Use package consolidation services
Some shipping services allow you to combine items and multiple orders into a single order. This is called package consolidation, and it can greatly improve your order processing workflow by saving you money on shipping multiple orders at the same time and speeding up delivery times. At MyMallBox, we offer package consolidation services at great rates so if you have a number of packages you wish to combine, sign up here and receive a free US address.
7.
Use free warehousing services & low-cost receiving services
Sometimes you might have to store multiple items in a safe place before they can be delivered. When you place multiple orders across multiple online retailers, it’ll be very unlikely that all items have the same delivery timeframe. For situations like this, having an option to store items for free works wonders, especially if you goods need to be delivered internationally. You can reserve your free warehousing space by signing up with MyMallBox, and using your suite to store your parcels for up to 90 days without incurring any additional costs. If you choose to send your packages to your suite within our Delaware-based warehouse, make sure you fill out an ASN form to qualify for a free package receiving service.
How Does Package Consolidation Help You in Managing Multiple Orders?
At mentioned earlier, package consolidation refers to combining multiple packages or items into a single parcel. Package consolidation is useful in several situations:
- When you want to buy multiple items of the same type, and ship them into a single package (for example, a batch of 10 pet food cans that you want to ship to a single place).
- When you want to combine multiple items into one package (for example, cosmetics with beauty accessories. This way, you get complementary items for your order together).
Aside from the convenience of grouping your items together, package consolidation allows you to save international shipping costs by consolidating multiple packages into a single package. The way this works is that large items are boxed into containers that are assigned a higher dimensional weight.
For example, you might order a bike that weighs 20kg but with a dimensional weight of 30kg for the size of the package. You can add accessories into the package, up to 10kg, and ship them to your address without getting billed for additional weight.
6 Easy Steps to Ship Multiple Orders From the US
You can use shopper helping services like MyMallBox to shop from US online stores and get items delivered directly to your doorstep outside the US. MyMallBox offers warehousing, package consolidation, repackaging, and shipping services, making it very easy for you to handle multiple orders.
1.
Sign up for a free US package forwarding address
Sign up here to become an MMB member. Becoming a member will give you access to a free shipping address in the USA. This will make it very easy to shop at US-based online stores, especially if you are shopping from outside the US.
2.
Start searching for your items
Look for the items you want to buy. You can shop from almost any online store in the US and use our shipping services to deliver your favorite products to your destination of choice. Make sure that you check out our prohibited items page for things that are prohibited from being stored and shipped by MMB.
3.
Choose your buying methods
You can buy items in two ways:
- Buy yourself through our ‘Self Shop’ service.
- If you are unsure of how you can buy your favorite US products, our ‘Buy for Me’ service is just right for you. Our on-site proxy buyers who are well acquainted with the local shopping landscape will purchase the items for you on your behalf. We recommend this option if the shops only accept US credit cards, or your country does not offer payment options such as PayPal.
4.
Keep your items at your US address
Your items will be shipped to the MMB warehouse where they can be stored for FREE for up to 90 days. You can check our pricing page for more information on the costs involved with extra storage.
5.
Consolidate, repackage, or split your packages
You can give instructions to consolidate or repackage your parcels if required, or split them to ship individually. If you want to split them, MMB can help you repackage them for a nominal fee. We recommend this option if you are shipping items with excess weight or dimensions that will incur heavy shipping fees. In most cases, shipping two separate packages with lower weight/dimensions can result in lower shipping costs than shipping one big heavy package.
6.
Get Your package delivered at your doorstep
Once your package(s) ships out from the MMB warehouse, we will give you a tracking number while being delivered to the specified address quickly and safely. If you are already an MMB member, you can take advantage of our exclusive shipping rates.
Ready to start US shopping?
Want to start buying and shipping multiple orders from the US, or wish to know how MMB works to streamline your entire buying journey? You can learn more here.
