How I ship items from my US address to Nigeria

Posted on Thursday May 19, 2016 at 8:10:25:

There is USA shipping address that I use when shopping on US websites from Nigeria and I use the address as my shipping address while checking out from the US shopping website. I've bought things from Amazon and eBay and normally have them sent to my US address when the seller doesn't offer direct shipping to Nigeria yet. I got a US address from a US company that does the shipping service for me and they provide me with an address to use where I can warehouse my items for a while before initiating an international shipping request with them using my online account.

All I basically did to setup the US address is paying for a 1 year membership account with my Visa/Mastercard issued to be by my bank in Nigeria and they don't charge me any other fee other than the international shipping cost which I can always estimate using their online shipping cost calculator. There is also a variable fee to be paid if my items stay in their warehouse for more than 30 days and so I do my best to ship items within that free warehousing period.

What I normally do is buy things on US websites like Amazon, Argos or eBay, ship them to my US address after making payment with my debit card or Paypal. I may buy one or multiple items and have them delivered at different dates to my US address and it gets consolidated into a single package.

The shopping website normally issues me with a tracking number to trace my package until it arrives at my US address and I also get a notification from my US shipping partner that I've received a package in my warehouse.

When I'm ready to have my package delivered to me in Nigeria, I normally log into my shipping account with my US partner and initiate a shipping request in my account while also selecting the items I want to be shipped which includes all my package. I also get to choose which courier I want to use e.g. DHL or Fedex.

I get billed an amount in US dollars which would be debited to my bank account and my package gets sent to Nigeria through an international shipping service like DHL, Fedex or UPS and I also get a tracking number I can use on their website to track my package until it gets to Nigeria which normally takes about 5 working days.

After my item arrives Nigeria and particularly Lagos, it gets taken to custom and it gets cleared. If they have any issues such as customs delaying it until an import duty has been paid, I may be contacted by DHL, Fedex or UPS office in Nigeria to make payment into their account for the custom duty which I have to do so that my package will be released. It doesn't happen all the time but at random times and I just consider it as part of the cost of importing items to Nigeria from the USA.

After my item has arrived Nigeria and I get a notification on the tracking website that my package it out for delivery, I normally receive the delivery the same day and so I wait for them at my address to receive it.

So, I'm able to have items sent to me from the USA to Nigeria because I have a US shipping address and it normally takes about 5 working days for me to get it in Lagos Nigeria.

You too can Get a US address from my US shipping partner if you want to.