For those looking to buy from US retailer's and/or UK retailer's (who don't allow overseas shipping) let me introduce you to New Zealand Post's YouShop!
Firstly, it's very easy to create an account, it's free so even if you set one up and don't use it for a long time, it's there when you want to use it.
I first used my US address which is in Portland, Oregon for a Bath and Body Work's order and I've since used it to buy Tarte Cosmetics and some lip product's I bought from a US youtube friend of mine in her blogsale.
Once you create an account, you receive an automated email from YouShop setting out your UK or US address (both must be setup separately) and then you can start shopping online.
Then you go to the site you want to buy from in this case let's say it's Bath and Bodyworks www.bathandbodyworks.com, you simply create an account with the retailer/business and use your US or UK address for delivery, then use the PayPal function when you go to pay. It's a good idea to google for discount codes etc as well before checking out the order - every little bit of saving help's. When you sign up to Bath and Bodyworks you get sent promotional email's often with discount codes etc so there's alway's a deal going on eg 2 x 3 candle's for US$22 instead of US$20 each and so on.
Once you place the order and pay with Paypal, the retailer eg Bath and Bodyworks will post the parcel to your US address and it's up to you (within your YouShop account) to have given YouShop the information on the New Zealand delivery address that you want your packages forwarded to, if you do that when you create your account then you don't need to change it, unless you move.
You don't need to worry about your credit card not being accepted (if there's a PayPal option use that because it's a lot simpler) I've never come across a credit card, paypal problem but I do understand that they happen from time-to-time, as long as you list the billing information for the credit card to be at your US address, or list your billing address as your NZ address but your delivery address as the UK or US address. I haven't tried ordering from Bath and Bodyworks and sending it to my UK address but there's no reason to because Bath and Body Shop stock a lot of product's like EOS, Victoria's Secret, The Balm etc and their based in Coventry. I used to shop with them quite often for thing's I couldn't get year's ago - before I become a blogger and then I discovered package forwarding companies.
Once the item's arrive at your address, you receive an email saying if you want item's shipped to login to your account and you can see the packages are waiting for instruction's. Simply go to the Warehouse area within your account and click yes to send, put in some detail's about the cost of the order and NZ post work out the postage charge to send from the US address to your NZ address (the more you spend, the higher the postage cost because it's calculated on the price you spent and weight).YouShop can remove the unnecessary packaging a lot of companies use and will use the original box where possible. If you have a few order's and want them shipped at once, you can do that as well but bear in mind the heavier the item's weigh, the more the postage charge will be and if you order (I think) more than $NZ400 worth of stuff online then Customs can open it and charge you Import duties and Taxes so the key is less is more to keep the postage cost's down - you can also Track packages!
I've used both my US address (about 4 times) and my UK address once. I've not yet received my order from the UK but I did receive and track down myself the parcel had arrived but I didn't receive a notification it was received and was waiting for instruction so I've had to query that, it's the first time and I think I might've ordered a couple of thing's they might need to clarify we can receive and as you know it probably won't be allowed into the country. It's fruit contained in beauty product's and I didn't think of the strict quarantine rules we have here until the day after I'd ordered. I'm hoping for the best.
YouShop is really easy to use, it's the cheapest and quickest overseas package forwarding company I've used and I previously used a popular one based in the US but they don't send US mail they send by Courier and the Courier charges were double or triple the cost of the item's I bought so I stopped using them. I really hope one day, in the not too distant future, Australia has a package forwarding company so I can buy thing's from Target and Priceline so until that happen's - and if it ever does, I'll be shopping in person in September when I'm in Sydney for my very first IMATS.
If you know of another New Zealand based package forwarding company, please let me know.
If you use YouShop, please let me know what you think of their service (so far pretty good for me) apart from the UK query but I'm sure I'll be contacted asap.
I'm thinking of also making a video about YouShop in the future. I think it'll be a lot easier to talk about and I can answer any question's you might have, but if anything changes with YouShop that I notice, I'll let you know.
I definitely recommend giving them a try and see what you think of their service.
Disclaimer
I'm writing about YouShop because I like their service and I want to spread the word (a lot of people may not know about it) so that mean's this post is not being paid for by a PR company for New Zealand Post, nor New Zealand Post. It's Unsponsored and I haven't been given any kind of discount code or anything like that, it's 100% honest information on how YouShop work's. I'm sure I've forgotten a few small thing's about the ordering process but I'm not claiming to be an expert. The above images are from the YouShop website, no Copyright Infringement intended. I thought it'd be easier to show you how it work's with the picture diagram along with my written explanation.
