American forwarders thread - Stackry, Am-Forward

[Marcus Aurelius]

After reading the unfortunate trouble moscone bail bonds had with Stackry and the discussion around it I thought it might be an idea to have a dedicated thread for all these forwarding companies. It has to be pointed out most forum members had a good experience with Stackry thus far.

Websites, shipping costs, feedback, photos of packaging and the like could be collated here as several American labels do not export to the British Isles or indeed other parts of the globe. And there are some excellent releases over there which we can watch with region free players and PC software. Not to mention sales in the USA seem to be better value for example than those here with the UK often being called Treasure Island by many retailers.

For my own part I am waiting for several items from Kino and Scream Factory to be consolidated before shipping and have been a little spooked by MBB's unfortunate experience.

[Modman]

The two forwarders I have used are Stackry and Shipito, not had an issue with either. My own personal opinion is that Stackry offer better value e.g. longer free storage, no purchase taxes and lower general costs, I appreciate others may have a different view?

FYI My consolidated packages are mostly 3LBS or more in weight - always arrived boxed, often with a bubble bag or two added.

[Fabhui]

Had my first ever Stackry shipment arrive today.

I had consolidated several orders from various companies and it was a mix of 4K discs, blu rays and vinyl LPs.
I paid the extra for extra bubble wrap, fragile stickers etc and was pleased to see that between each vinyl LP they had separated them with a piece of cardboard.

I used the slowest and cheapest shipping option which took around 3 weeks to reach me.

I'll definitely be using them again.

[Blatttman]

Pleasantly surprised to see my Stackry order should be delivered by Yodel today.
So far, this is my fourth order and I've had no problems, my sympathies For those less fortunate but I'm sure Stackry will make amends, I had a minor issue with consolidation and found customer response good and prompt through email.
For me Kino/Barnes and Noble sales(Criterion) made using an importer essential........Just too many title's not available over here!
This time 22 blurays, 18 from the Kino winter wonderland sale.
Like Fabhui I always go for the slowest cheapest shipping option(DHL)
Value this time £191.66 sterling. Import charges to be added£45.33, so be warned and be a good boy/girl(unlike me) if you want to avoid those and keep it below £135.
I always declare value accurately ,not because I'm particularly honest but for insurance in case of claim!
Still works out only £12.07 a bluray including Stackry costs of £28.43 so I'm happy, assuming arrives in good order

[cheecheung]

Cheapest method for Stackry is showing as Global Media for me. How reliable are they? Does it come with tracking? My order is over $100.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by cheecheung

Cheapest method for Stackry is showing as Global Media for me. How reliable are they? Does it come with tracking? My order is over $100.

Yes it comes with tracking and Global Mail use DHL International Parcel Direct, on average my shipments take between 10 to 12 days.

[Blatttman]

Yesterday's delivery
P1190383.JPG
Just under 4 lbs, pretty tightly packed box with a little extra brown paper packing. All in excellent condition.

[cheecheung]

For those that use Stackry do you pay for insurance?

Just read this on their website: 'Stackry does not offer Shipment Value Protection for certain carriers: DHL Global Mail Priority and USPS.' Does that mean there is no point paying for insurance if I use DHL?

[Marcus Aurelius]

Trying to verify a payment card with Stackry is an enormous pain.

You enter your card details and they then deduct a small amount to see if it is actually your card. You then have to confirm the value of the amount deducted and currency used on the Stackry site to be verified by delving into your online account.

Three attempts and three failures. Entered the exact amount in GB Pounds Sterling and selected that currency only for it to deemed incorrect.

I've sent them an e-mail explaining how very unenamoured I have been of the process and also an attached screenshot of the amounts from the account.

Yours Rather Miffed.

[cheecheung]

Originally Posted by Marcus Aurelius

Trying to verify a payment card with Stackry is an enormous pain.

You enter your card details and they then deduct a small amount to see if it is actually your card. You then have to confirm the value of the amount deducted and currency used on the Stackry site to be verified by delving into your online account.

Three attempts and three failures. Entered the exact amount in GB Pounds Sterling and selected that currency only for it to deemed incorrect.

I've sent them an e-mail explaining how very unenamoured I have been of the process and also an attached screenshot of the amounts from the account.

Yours Rather Miffed.

I just entered my card details once the package was finalised and it went through with no issues.

[Blatttman]

Originally Posted by cheecheung

For those that use Stackry do you pay for insurance?

Just read this on their website: 'Stackry does not offer Shipment Value Protection for certain carriers: DHL Global Mail Priority and USPS.' Does that mean there is no point paying for insurance if I use DHL?

Well I certainly paid extra for insurance using DHL, after consolidation you will be offered various options for shipping, from memory free insurance with packages up to $100. Over that you pay a flat charge, I think mine was $6. or there abouts to the value you declare. For peace of mind I'd say worth it! Thankfully so far no packages damaged or lost so haven't had to claim.

Payment I've used PayPal as I do for the majority of online shopping. No problems.

[raphph]

This arrived today from stackry in two days via fed ex. Not bad to get In time for Xmas eve.

[ZeppelinRules]

I've no idea how much this site costs. If anyone can help me with this scenario i would be very grateful.

Say i ordered 12 Kino blus at $9 each for a total of $108 and had it all sent to my stackry address, how much would stackry then charge me to send that order over to the UK inc any import fees?

I understand this may vary and any average, ball park figures would be great. TIA.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by ZeppelinRules

I've no idea how much this site costs. If anyone can help me with this scenario i would be very grateful.

Say i ordered 12 Kino blus at $9 each for a total of $108 and had it all sent to my stackry address, how much would stackry then charge me to send that order over to the UK inc any import fees?

I understand this may vary and any average, ball park figures would be great. TIA.

Ball park $32 dollars including $6 insurance that's using global mail which is there cheapest service. I have not factored in import fees because very few get charged them particularly if you keep below £135; unlikely to need to consolidate as Kino normally keep an order together in one package.

[ZeppelinRules]

Originally Posted by Modman

Ball park $32 dollars including $6 insurance that's using global mail which is there cheapest service. I have not factored in import fees because very few get charged them particularly if you keep below £135; unlikely to need to consolidate as Kino normally keep an order together in one package.

Thanks for the reply. It was cheaper than i thought.

[chip75]

Originally Posted by ZeppelinRules

Thanks for the reply. It was cheaper than i thought.

It would cost around $30 for shipping plus $6 for insurance ($100 is covered for free). It will depend on whether you're getting BDs with slip covers and 2-3 discs as that may bump your weight up.

But if Kino ship everything together then you'll save on consolidation fees (taking items out of their original shipping containers and creating a new one, that's $2 per package*). They can basically plonk a new label on the Kino shipped box.

*Amazon seem to split things these days in the US so you could end up with multiple deliveries, some folks end up with consolidating 7, 8 or nine packages in one and it can add a bit to the total.

[cornman]

Anyone had issues with Stackry trying to apply $5 "bad address" fees?

I had my second package arrive to them, got a notification that a "bad address fee" of $5 will be charged because "it was either missing the locker number, had an incorrect locker number or was addressed to a name not listed on the account".

Only all that information was all present, correct and clearly visible on the shipping label photographed by Stackry upon arrival. Their warehouse agent has just written the exact same locker number that was already on the shipping label again in pen.

I contacted their customer service to point this out and have been told that their warehouse agent had to add the locker number as it wasn't included. It's literally printed clearly on the label, the warehouse agent just duplicated it in pen.

First time using the service and so far not impressed that they're charging random fees and trying to gaslight customers. Is this a common thing with them?

[chip75]

Originally Posted by cornman

I had my second package arrive to them, got a notification that a "bad address fee" of $5 will be charged because "it was either missing the locker number, had an incorrect locker number or was addressed to a name not listed on the account".

That's weird, if it had the incorrect information then how would they know it was yours? as I assume they're dealing with thousands of different names/addresses/locker numbers!

Stackry seem to be suffering from a bit of Holiday woes, with that charge and the plastic bags incidents from a week or two back.

[drush9999]

Sounds like badly trained or uncaring temporary staff for the christmas rush.

[grahams76]

Just had a consolidated order (from three original orders) for 18 blus arrive in a thick cardboard box bound by blue gaffer tape. It did take three weeks to arrive but with Christmas and Omicron that's not bad.

As a nice bonus, Kino decided to pack two copies of Chato's Land too.