Visa has partnered with the international shipping platform and shopping facilitator shipnow2.me to enable Visa cardholders in the Middle East to shop at thousands of US e-tailers that do not ship internationally.

Shipnow2.me, in conjunction with its parent company SkyPostal, a leading international mail and package service provider, offers customers a physical tax-free US address, allowing non-US residents a hassle-free solution to fulfilling online purchases from popular American brands that have an online retail presence.

Through its partnership with Visa, shipnow2.me will now bring its offering to the Middle East, giving Visa cardholders in the region exclusive access to a vast selection of US e-tailers.

Shipnow2.me will offer a discount of 50 per cent discount on all shipments from November 28 to December 12.

Karim Beg, Visa’s head of Marketing in Mena, said: “Visa is excited to partner with shipnow2.me to bring this service to customers in the GCC, Lebanon and Jordan. Through shipnow2.me, shoppers will now have access to US merchant sales and the best deals in the US, while enjoying the confidence of safe and secure transactions through the Visa network.”

In instances where e-tailers do not permit transactions on non-US credit/debit/prepaid cards, customers can avail the ‘Personal Shopper’ feature that processes the purchase on their behalf, Beg said.

The users can simply fill in the shipnow2.me order form, informing the shopping facilitator of the details of their purchase, and the ‘Personal Shopper’ feature makes the purchase for them with a minimal additional fee, he added.

Unlike many other shipping platforms, there is no registration membership fee and a price comparison engine allows customers to search for the best price on what they are looking for, a statement said.

In addition, shipnow2.me processes returns free of cost, or at a very low cost depending on the weight of the product and the return policy of the merchant website.

It also offers an international duties and shipping estimator, customs clearance and handling, free insurance of up to S$200 and an overall saving of up to 80 per cent on international shipping costs.

A J Hernandez, chief executive officer of SkyPostal, said: “E-Commerce retail solutions are rapidly growing in the GCC, Lebanon and Jordan and we are pleased to enter into an exclusive partnership with Visa in the region to offer all its cardholders the chance to avail of exciting discounts and promotions that would otherwise be beyond their reach.”

“Shipnow2.me works by removing barriers and allowing cardholders to shop from the US with the same ease as any US resident while saving up to 80 per cent in shipping costs when compared to other international shipping companies.

“Available to Visa cardholders in the GCC, Lebanon and Jordan, shipnow2.me re-delivers the purchases to the customer’s local address at competitive shipping rates. With its unique designated tax-free address, shipnow2.me exempts registered users from the 7 per cent State sales tax; the State sales tax in the USA can be as high as 9.45 per cent and with this unique address shipnow2.me customers pay zero per cent.

“All retailers are obliged under Federal Law to honour this unique Tax Free Address. The Tax Free address makes products available to Visa cardholders at even more highly desirable prices to customers in the Middle East,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service