Get your money back
Check the cancellation email and watch for the refund on your card.
Guide
If a US store cancelled your order because you used a forwarding address, start by making sure your refund comes back. Then choose another route: a different authorized retailer, the brand's own store in your country, or a personal shopper who places the order for you. Stores that refuse forwarding addresses rarely make exceptions, so sending the same order to the same address again usually ends the same way.
In short
Check the cancellation email and watch for the refund on your card.
The store will most likely cancel it again.
Another retailer, the brand's local store, or a personal shopper.
Background
A parcel forwarder (also called a package forwarder, or sometimes a freight forwarder) gives you a US address. You shop at a US store yourself, pay with your own card, and send the order to that address. The forwarder receives the parcel and ships it on to you for a fee.
Forwarders are popular because they are usually the cheapest way to get US products abroad. But they only work when the store accepts your card and agrees to ship to the forwarder's address. (For the full comparison, see package forwarder vs personal shopper.)
The reason
Many forwarders use a small number of large warehouses, so their addresses are easy for stores to recognise. Some stores decide not to ship to them. The reasons they give include preventing resale and keeping sales within the country where the store operates.
When a store has this policy, an order sent to a known forwarding address is usually cancelled, often a few days after you checked out. Two examples, in the stores' own words:
"Best Buy does not ship to known freight forwarders"
"We do not ship to freight forwarders."
These are store decisions, and customer service generally cannot override them for a single order.
Prevention
Before you buy, open the store's shipping policy or help pages and search for "forwarder", "freight forwarder" or "reshipper". If the store says it does not ship to these addresses, an order to a forwarding address is likely to be cancelled. Also check whether the store ships to your country directly, and whether its checkout accepts a card issued outside the US. If a store declines your card, see what to do when a US store declines your card.
Step by step
Keep the cancellation email. When a store cancels before shipping, it normally refunds your original payment method or releases the hold on your card. How long that takes depends on the store and your bank. Apple Australia, for example, says that if it cancels an order after billing you, it refunds the billed amount. If the money has not come back within the time the store gives, contact the store with your order number. If that does not work, contact your card issuer.
If the store has flagged the address, a second order will most likely be cancelled too, and you wait for another refund.
Some US stores ship internationally themselves, or send you to their store for your country. Apple's own help page, for example, points shoppers outside Australia to its international store information.
The same product is often sold by other authorized US retailers, and some of them accept forwarding addresses or ship abroad directly. Compare the full cost: item price, shipping, and the customs duties your country charges.
Buying locally can cost a little more, but warranty and returns are usually simpler.
Some forwarders sell a buy-for-me add-on, and personal shopping services do the whole purchase for you. See below.
Where we fit
Big Apple Buddy is a personal shopping service based in New York. We buy from US stores for you, check the item, pack it, and ship it to your door in over 75 countries.
Think of us as your friend in the US who buys it for you. We place the order with the store ourselves, so you don't need a US address, a US card, or a forwarder account. You can browse products from popular US stores in our catalog, without a VPN, and check out straight away. For eligible items not in our catalog, send us a link for a quote.
What happens after you check out
We are a small, founder-run, boutique service. For over 10 years, customers have worked directly with our founder and CEO, Phillis, and her team, who look after each order personally from purchase to delivery. More about our personal shopping service.
Choosing
Then it will usually cost less. If even one isn't, a forwarder stops being the cheap, easy option.
Our service fee, separate from the item price, shipping and any taxes, is $30 for the first item when the order's total product cost is under $200, or $50 at $200 or more, plus $15 for each additional item. See our pricing page for the full schedule. Comparing a specific forwarder? See our pages on MyUS alternatives, Shipito alternatives and Stackry alternatives, or the full package forwarder vs personal shopper comparison.
Some US stores refuse to ship to addresses they know belong to package or freight forwarders, and they cancel orders sent there. The reasons stores give include preventing resale and keeping sales within the country. For example, Best Buy's international orders page says "Best Buy does not ship to known freight forwarders", and Apple Australia's help page says "We do not ship to freight forwarders".
Usually, yes. When a store cancels an order before it ships, it normally refunds your original payment method or releases the hold on your card. How long this takes depends on the store and your bank. If the money has not come back within the time the store gives, contact the store with your order number, then your card issuer if needed.
It rarely helps. If a store has flagged a forwarding address, a new order to the same address will most likely be cancelled again, and you will wait for a second refund. It is better to choose another route, such as a different authorized retailer, the brand's store in your country, or a personal shopper.
Read the store's shipping policy or help pages and search for words like "forwarder", "freight forwarder" or "reshipper". If the store says it does not ship to these addresses, an order sent to a forwarding address is likely to be cancelled. If the policy says nothing, the store may still cancel orders it flags, so keep your order confirmation until the parcel ships.
You can buy from another authorized US retailer that accepts your address or ships abroad, buy from the brand's own store in your country, use a forwarder's buy-for-me add-on if it offers one, or use a personal shopping service such as Big Apple Buddy, which places the order for you, like a friend in the US. Each store decides whether to accept an order.
Our founder and CEO, Phillis, and her team tell you right away. If another store can supply the item, we offer you that option. You decide whether to go ahead or take a full refund.
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