Our shopping service can help you buy from U.S. stores that do not ship to parcel forwarders. We'll buy on your behalf and ship to your international address, quickly and hassle-free.
Big Apple Buddy is a personal shopping service — your friend in the US. You tell us what you want. We buy it from the US store, check it, pack it well, and manage the shipping to your door.
A package forwarder is different: it gives you a US address, and you do the buying yourself. You pay with your own card, track your packages, and deal with the store if anything goes wrong. That works well for many shoppers — and it usually costs less.
If you want one accountable company to handle the whole process — buying, checking, packing, shipping, and any problems along the way — that's Big Apple Buddy. We charge more for it; that's the product.
Here is an honest side-by-side comparison with three well-known package forwarders. Facts about other services come from their own published pricing pages and Trustpilot profiles, retrieved on August 23, 2026.
| Big Apple Buddy | MyUS | Stackry | Shipito | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who places the order at the US store? | We do — we buy your items for you with our US payment methods. | You do. A paid Buying Assistant add-on can buy for you. | You do, with your own card. No buying service is listed on their site. | You do, or use the paid Assisted Purchase add-on ($8.50 + 4.3% processing + 8% commission). |
| What if the store rejects your international card? | Not a problem — the purchase is made by us, so store card restrictions don't apply. | You'll need the Buying Assistant add-on or another way to pay. | You'll need a card the store accepts. | You'll need the Assisted Purchase add-on or another way to pay. |
| Do you manage a US address and incoming packages? | No. There is no address to set up — you order, we handle the rest. | Yes — you ship your orders to your MyUS address. | Yes — you ship your orders to your Stackry locker. | Yes — you ship your orders to your Shipito address. |
| Who inspects and repacks your items? | We do — every order is inspected and repacked before shipping, included in our service fee. | Repacking included; consolidation $2.99 per package. | Consolidation $3 per package; repacking $5. | Consolidation $5.50 per package ($3.25 with Premium). |
| Returns and warranty claims — who deals with the store? | We do. We made the purchase and hold the receipt, so we can run a return or warranty claim for you (a service fee applies). | You deal with the store yourself for items you purchased. | You deal with the store yourself for items you purchased. | You deal with the store yourself for items you purchased. |
| Membership and service fees (as of August 23, 2026) | No membership. Service fee: $30 per order under $200 in total product cost, $50 at $200 or more, plus $15 for each additional item. Shipping is quoted separately. | Free Single Package plan (consolidation $2.99 per package); Premium $9.99/month after a 30-day trial; Business $10/month. | Free membership; receiving $2 per package; consolidation $3 per package; repacking $5; storage free for 45 days, then $0.08 per day per pound. | Free account (processing $3.25 per package, consolidation $5.50) or Premium $10/month or $60/year (processing $2.25, consolidation $3.25). |
| Trustpilot rating (as of August 23, 2026) | 4.6★ (689 reviews) | 3.4★ (13,515 reviews) | 4.2★ (14,304 reviews) | 4.1★ (10,301 reviews) |
A forwarder's total cost depends on how many packages you receive, the consolidation, storage and handling options you use, and the volumetric weight of your shipment — check each provider's pages for their full schedule. Our service fee is a fee, not your total cost: the product price and international shipping are separate, and customs duties, if any, are billed by your country's border authority.
Sources: each provider's published pricing pages and Trustpilot profiles, retrieved August 23, 2026. We review these facts quarterly and remove anything we can no longer verify.
The honest summary: if you're happy doing the work yourself, a package forwarder will usually cost less. If you want it handled end to end by one accountable company, that's Big Apple Buddy.
No. Big Apple Buddy is a personal shopping (buy-for-me) service. A freight forwarder gives you a US address and you do the buying yourself. We do the buying for you: we purchase your items from the US store, inspect them, repack them, and manage the shipping to your country.
A package forwarder receives packages you bought yourself and ships them onward — you manage the US address, the payment, and any store problems. A personal shopper places the order for you, checks the items, packs them, and manages the shipping. With Big Apple Buddy, one company is accountable for the whole process.
Usually not, and we say so plainly. Self-service forwarding generally costs less. Our service fee — $30 per order under $200 in total product cost, $50 at $200 or more, plus $15 for each additional item — pays for our work: we buy, inspect, repack, manage the shipping, and deal with the store if something goes wrong. International shipping itself is quoted separately.
Nothing changes for you — we make the purchase. Big Apple Buddy buys your items with our own US payment methods, so store restrictions on international cards or billing addresses don't apply to your order.
We do. We made the purchase and hold the receipt, so we can run a return or a warranty claim with the store for you; a service fee applies. With a package forwarder, you deal with the store yourself from abroad.
Check out our Facebook and TrustPilot pages for more customer testimonials!
Phillis and her team were so prompt (email replies within hours) professional, and most importantly I received exactly what I ordered, exactly when they said I would.....with a personalized note inside my package from Phillis. LOVELY TOUCH!
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Big Apple Buddy is a professional company and doing business with them is an absolute pleasure. I tried it from South Africa and thanks to Phillis Chan and her team, I enjoyed the purchasing process just as much as the product I purchased.
View
Thank you so much to Big Apple Buddy for the super great purchasing experience! Phillis was very prompt and helpful, updating me via emails all the way from quote to delivery to Singapore. It's like having a personal friend in the US!
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Big Apple Buddy is here to make your shopping experience easy and hassle-free. Our unique shopping platform allows you to buy from multiple U.S. stores in just a few clicks. If you can't find what you're looking for, we'll go and personally source the item for you.
Browse millions of products from hundreds of U.S. stores on our shopping platform. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to checkout.
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Browse millions of products from hundreds of U.S. stores on our shopping platform. Add items to your cart and select your country at checkout to see the shipping costs.
BROWSE PRODUCTS
Can't find what you're looking for on our shopping platform? Simply tell us what you'd like to buy and we'll back to you with a custom quote within 24 hours.
GET A QUOTEBig Apple Buddy is a personal shopping service based in New York. We're here to help you buy products from the U.S. that you can't get in your own country. Our service will help you source items from the U.S. and ship them to your international address. We've partnered with FedEx and UPS to offer fast and reliable shipping to 76 countries worldwide. All of the countries we ship to are listed below.
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