Let’s face it, imported products sold and distributed in Saudi Arabia are not necessarily on par price-wise with what you may find online, which is why most people have turned to shipping services such as Aramex, DHL’s Easy Shop, UPS’ World Ship, and many others currently entering the fray for their shopping (and shipping) needs. Among these newcomers is the US-based (but Saudi-operated) Shop Gates. Located in Akron, Ohio, Shop Gates utilizes UPS’ fast and efficient World Ship service to delivers your purchased goods to the UPS branch nearest to your home.
My experience with Shop Gates has been quite extensive. I’ve ordered many items during the 6 months I’ve been a subscriber. Here’s an overview of what you should expect from the service in general:
Shop Gates offers consumers two separate subscriptions for their shopping needs: World Ship Basic (SR 112) and World Ship Plus (SR 225 annually). Both options guarantee your shipment will arrive within 3-5 days but the pricing structure differs slightly. For both services, you pay $12 US (SR 45) for the first pound. For each pound that follows, you’ll pay $8 (Basic) or $7 (Plus). Other options include holding your shipment, requesting a photo, or repackaging your shipment to reduce overall weight.
How it works is you sign up and receive an email containing your US mailbox address in Ohio (tax-free). Once you’ve placed an order, you have to visit their website and inform them of your recently shipped item by providing a tracking number (found in the ‘package shipped’ email) and the contents of the shipment. Once they receive it, they will contact you and before your shipment can be sent, you are obliged to pay via Bank Deposit (from any Saudi bank), credit card, or PayPal. Once your payment is processed, they will immediately send the shipment and provide you with a UPS tracking number so that you can track the shipment’s progress.
After testing the service a couple of times on several different occasions, I can safely come to the conclusion that this is by far the cheapest solution to forward your packages from the US to KSA – and it doesn’t hurt that it’s also extremely fast. However, the service does come with its kinks. Customer service (or lack thereof) is extremely slow and lazy; I mean Saudi-style. When your package is sent to them it can take upwards of 9-14 hours for them to send you an e-mail and receipt for immediate payment. Also, informing them of an upcoming shipment isn’t necessarily convenient as their site is somewhat clunky. On a side note, while some may not view it as a bad thing, their website is entirely in Arabic. An English option wouldn’t hurt.
To conclude, should you switch from Aramex to World Ship? Well, considering its downfalls, it’s still a faster, cheaper solution than Aramex or most other shipping companies out there.
Visit their website at shopgates.com/world-ship (Arabic) for more information.
The rates are tempting! however when i clicked the site, the rate table (comparison) shows $33 to $34(basic) for the first pound.
Could i have missed something? How can we get same rates you have mentioned?
Thanks for the clarified review & Looking forward
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Ah, yes, I apologize for this inconvenience. I forwarded this article a few weeks ago to Khaled and it was just published today.
Last week, ShopGates introduced new prices to try to give more flexible options for customers who would like to ship larger items. I don’t agree with this new pricing policy (from $12 to $33? I mean c’mon), but their services are still the same.
The main catch is you could pay via local transfer through several Saudi banks. Again, I apologize for the mishap.
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No problem, they still seem to give appealing services, making it easy for local payers. I might give them a test later when i have mega shipments
All the best
Thank you
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Be careful, lot of site advertise low rates and you will fell for the trap. This is great forum, I run a very demanding business here in UAE, I am currently using http://getmyusmail.com they have the fastest service to Middle East, they keep me informed and I found them very trust worthy. I did not see anyone mention them but they are a large player in USA, they do freight and cargo shipping as well and so far I am happy with the service they provide me. Take a look and decide for yourself.
Nora
UAE
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Thanks Essam for writing about this great company,
I am a regular customer with World Ship since day one, there service is really great, Fast, Reliable and cheap (If your shipment is more that 5 lb)
I subscribed as a PLUS member (NO annual fee for subscribtion now) & really benifet the free (SmartPack) Repackaging service they have.
This link will help the reader if he/she wants to subscribe http://www.worldship1.com/en/individuals.aspx
I shipped 22 shipments with them during 2009 and I am really Satisfied. no problems at all no delays in shipments.
The Plus account gives you 8 free repackaging wich is (8*3=$24) so be smart when you going to subscribe.
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They are the worst shipping services, they are charging money for fake services ( such as packaging $4).
and if you are unlucky and want to return an item then they will suck you dry, they will charge $15dollars and also charge you the shipping cost to return the item.
the shipping cost i can understand that but $15 for what ? if the item you are buying are $10 or $1 then why should i pay more than the price of the item just to return it ???????????????????????????????????????????
and also they are poor in providing safe packing for your fragile shipments!!!
i purchased a a compute component which is fragile and they absolutely did not do anything to secure it in the box(which is provided by UPS) and the box did NOT cost a penny!!!!!!!!! and they charged $4 dollars for that!!! of course the shipped compute component came to me damaged!!!
I never recommend their services to anyone, unless i hate them then they deserve to be stuck with such a poor shipping services!!
Really, i rate them -1000000!!!
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Salam Khaled bro,
Hope you are fine and doing well. Is it possible for you to ship my stuff from US?
I just wanna buy 1 processor but don’t wanna spend money on sign-ups for 1 processor.
TY.
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