Like every year, one of the people who bring merchandise from the United States traveled to New York last week, he did so with his mother. She always goes around this time of Black Friday discounts and in the middle of the year when it’s the change of season. She takes the opportunity to visit her family there, but her trips are also for business. She is in charge of bringing into the country the purchases that her clients make online and sending them to the address in the United States that she provides. She also has the personal shopper service : she personally goes to the store to buy the products ordered by the customer, this service is charged per hour and the rate is $30.
It is a very common activity, especially during times of discounts and promotions. Although she advertises and exposes her rates on social networks, which can range from $3 to more than $100 for an item, depending on weight and size, the traveler, who has been in this activity for five years, prefers to work more with direct referrals. “It is safer than working with people you don’t know and there is more trust, although I have quite a few occasional clients as well,” says the woman who plans to return to the country for the first week of December.
The traveler receives orders from Amazon, eBay, Shein, Macy’s, among other pages. The items she brings as luggage and depending on the quantity she must pay an additional fee for the extra suitcases that she will bring to the country. She along with her mother calculate that she can bring up to two suitcases, in addition to her normal luggage (two suitcases), each. Clothing and technology are the items she brings the most, but she also recognizes that the boom has been declining in recent years. “Before I brought up to four suitcases by myself, now only half,” she reveals.
He explains that there are products that take up almost a suitcase and are very heavy, such as video game consoles, the most requested are the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series save space. “I charge $100 to $150 to bring a console of those dimensions, some are heavier than others, but in the end it is cheaper for the customer.” He assures that the normal price of a PlayStation 5 varies between $500 and $400 in the United States, and on Black Friday it can drop to $300 or less, and in Ecuador the same console on Black Friday can be found for $1,000 in the same official Sony store. On this trip he will bring two consoles in his suitcases.
For other smaller consoles it charges $60, $10 for each controller or video game, for an iPhone or other brands of smartphones it charges $50 per unit, among other products, each with its own rate. The cheapest it charges is $3 for each unit of cell phone cases.
Regarding clothing, it indicates that the arrival of several foreign brands in the country has reduced purchases abroad.
Another traveler who has been doing this since 2012 agrees with her. She remembers that she started with the support of her sister. “She was 23 years old, at that time it was a boom. My sister was a cabin crew and since family members had discounts on tickets, it was time to take advantage. “That’s how I started.”
She says that currently the courier business, as she calls it, is complicated. She says that some airlines allow one piece of luggage of 50 pounds when before they were two, that is, 100 pounds. “Not all airlines now include your suitcase in your ticket. So it is an expense for us,” she states.
Added to this is the arrival of many brands in the country with prices very similar to those offered in the United States, which has also impacted the number of orders, which means that despite having the facility of a locker, orders are low.
What he brings the most are children’s toys, clothes and shoes. “Before, they demanded splashes a lot , but now with the arrival of Bath & Body and Victoria’s Secret in the country, they no longer ask for that product,” she says.
He comments that currently the cost of a pound varies between $8 to $10 a pound. “It consists of the customer ordering what they need online, having it delivered to the address that is sent to them and the only thing they are charged for is the shipping and it is canceled once the products are delivered,” explains the traveler who, before The pandemic traveled every two months, about six or seven times a year, now it only travels twice a year.
He says that the activity is still lucrative, but “looking for a ticket promotion that includes a suitcase, since the purchase of a suitcase varies depending on the airline.”
However, another difficulty that has been added is the controls of the Internal Revenue Service (SRI), which “is constantly investigating this matter with those who manage the courier,” he indicates. (YO)
Source : Eluniverso
