Never Shopped Out: A Shopaholics Resource

Like most mail forwarders, Bongo offers a US Address to users, as well as mail and document scanning and a Personal Shopper service that allows you to shop a stores that will not accept internationally issued credit cards.

Bongo offers two plans - pay per use and a subscription plan. The advantage of the subscription plan is that you save a greater percentage off the shipping costs than you do on the pay per use (25% to be exact). The only other downside of the pay per use is that you can't consolidate your parcels. So if you receive two parcels within two days of each other, they will be sent seperately, rather than being packaged together and sent as one, cheaper shipment. Still, if you are not shopping very regularly, its nice to see another mail forwarder offering a pay per use plan.

The other thing I like about Bongo is they very clearly state their shipment rates, which can be viewed here. To give you an idea of how it compares, for a 1 pound shipment from Access USA, the cost is $US26.30. For Bongo Pay Per Use it's $48.93 and for Subscribers it's US$32.62. Although that's a bit more expensive, one attractive option for Bongo Subscribers is free consolidation - when you compare that Access USA hits you with $3 per box after the first two parcels (This has probably been the single most expensive factor for me).

Another great feature that Bongo offers, that I haven't seen elsewhere, is the option to ask them to take digital photos of your items before sending them. This would have been so useful in my recent Old Navy debacle of receiving the completely wrong items. Or making sure that eBay item you purchased is in the condition stated before having to worry about sending it back internationally.

You can see a complete breakdown of Bongo's options as compared to other Mail Forwarders on our Mail Forwarding Page , which will not only take you through the basics of Mail Forwarding but lists and compares most major mail forwarders. Since my US address will be soon up for renewal, I'd love to hear from anyone who has used Bongo's services.

Visit Bongo International

Visit Never Shopped Out Mail Forwarding Information  

 **UPDATE  12 January 2007**

Bongo has very kindly provided some further information for us!

Firstly, the Bongo Warehouse is in Bridgeport, Connecticut, so that is where your US address would be based.

Secondly, Bongo has provide some information about how their rates are geared towards being cheaper for heavier parcels

Once a shopper gets over 10lbs (most consolidated shipments), it ends up being less expensive to use Bongo.  Take a look at a 10kg shipment below...

Access USA rates
Each 100 grams, up to 1 Kg = $3.05
Each 100 grams, over 1 Kg = $1.45
Each 100 grams, over 5 Kg = $0.95

If you send a 10kg package...you will pay
1st kg = $30.50
Next 4kgs = $14.50/kg or $58
Each kg after = $9.50/kg or $47.50
Total cost for the 10kg shipment = $136.00

Bongo's cost for the 10kg (22lb) shipment is - $131.35

 I have found they are very helpful, so if you have further questions do shoot them an email!