Buying from US Stores Beyond Amazon: eBay, Walmart and Best Buy via Shipito

Amazon is only one of the American stores, and quite often not the cheapest. Car parts and collectables are on eBay, electronics at Best Buy, toiletries and clothing at Walmart or Target. But most of them will not ship to Europe. Buying through Shipito gets round that: the store sends the goods to your US address and Shipito forwards them to you.

How buying from US stores through Shipito works

After you register, Shipito assigns you a US delivery address where you have your purchases from American online stores sent. Once a package reaches the warehouse it shows up in your account, and you choose a carrier to Europe and pay for the shipping.

A Free account comes with an address at the California warehouse, where stores add sales tax to the price. A Premium account, at $10 a month or $60 a year, opens the Oregon warehouse, where no sales tax is charged. The full process from registration to delivery is in the guide to buying from the USA with Shipito. Here I only deal with what is different at individual stores compared with Amazon, which has a guide of its own.

eBay, Walmart, Best Buy, iHerb: what to watch at each store

American stores differ in two respects: will they accept a foreign payment card, and will they deliver to the address of a forwarding warehouse? Shipito itself warns that a store may cancel an order sent to its address, and advises contacting support if that happens.

eBay

On eBay you buy from individual sellers, and many of them ship within the US only. A US address opens up those listings as well. Check two things: does the seller ship to forwarding services (some rule it out explicitly in the description), and how long do they take to dispatch? With auctions, keep an eye on the free storage period. A Free account has only 7 days.

Walmart and Target

The big chains are where a foreign card is most often declined, or where the system cancels an order going to a warehouse address. Sometimes paying by PayPal helps. Sometimes nothing does. Then assisted purchase is what remains, and it is covered below.

Best Buy

With electronics from Best Buy, settle three things before you buy: the voltage and plug (the US runs on 120 V with different pins), the warranty, which is usually not valid in Europe, and the batteries. Devices with a built-in lithium battery can travel by air, with restrictions, while loose batteries and power banks are often refused by carriers altogether.

iHerb

iHerb ships to Europe directly, so Shipito mainly makes sense here when you add the supplements to other purchases in one shipment. With supplements and cosmetics, also check that you are allowed to import them. Some substances that are common in the US are restricted in the EU.

The same principle applies to Nike, Sephora, Macy’s, B&H and small brand shops. Try ordering directly to the US address first, and turn to assisted purchase only when that fails.

When a store rejects your card: assisted purchase

Assisted purchase means that Shipito orders and pays for the goods on your behalf. It costs $8.50 per order, plus 4.3% for payment processing and an 8% commission on the price. On a $200 item you therefore pay an extra 8.50 + 8.60 + 16 = $33.10.

That is not small change: almost a sixth on top of the price. So treat assisted purchase as a rescue for things you cannot buy any other way, not as your normal way of shopping. For ordinary goods, try PayPal or a different card first.

Consolidation: why it pays to shop at several stores at once

Consolidation means that Shipito repacks several received packages into one box and sends them as a single shipment. International shipping is the most expensive line of the whole purchase and the first kilo costs the most, so one 3 kg shipment works out far cheaper than three 1 kg ones.

Outside Amazon this matters twice as much, because you are ordering from several stores at the same time. Take three packages (eBay, Walmart, Best Buy) on a Free account:

• processing: 3 × $3.25 = $9.75
• consolidation: 3 × $5.50 = $16.50
• $26.25 in total before shipping

With Premium it would be 3 × 2.25 + 3 × 3.25 = $16.50. The catch is time. On a Free account every package has to arrive within 7 days of the first one, otherwise storage fees start to build up. What the ocean crossing costs is covered in the article on shipping costs from the USA to Europe, and you can work out if Premium pays for itself from the Shipito review and pricing.

Customs duty and VAT on purchases from the USA

Every shipment from the USA is charged import VAT from the first euro at the rate of the destination country, 17–27% depending on the member state, on the price of the goods including shipping. On consignments up to €150, expect a customs duty of €3 on each item since 1 July 2026; above €150, duty depends on the type of product. Electronics mostly carry zero duty. Clothing and shoes do not.

You state the value of the goods in the customs declaration, and it has to match the store invoice. Undervaluing it is the quickest way to a detained shipment, because customs officers know how to look prices up. The customs calculator gives you the exact sum, and the rules are in the guide to customs and VAT from the USA to Europe.

When buying through Shipito is not worth it

Buying through Shipito is not worth it for cheap goods you can find in Europe, or for heavy and bulky items. Before you order anything, add up the whole price: goods, sales tax, Shipito fees, shipping, VAT and duty. On a $20 T-shirt you pay more in fees and shipping than for the T-shirt.

• Worth it: things not sold in the EU, US editions, parts, brands with a large price gap, several purchases at once.
• Not worth it: a single cheap item, goods available on Amazon’s European sites, furniture and big boxes, anything you might want to return.

Because a return to the US is expensive and slow, and most people give up on it. The main alternative to Shipito is Planet Express, and the two services are set side by side in the Shipito vs Planet Express comparison.