Shopping with Grabr
Have you ever looked online and seen something you love; only to realise it is only sold in another country? I know I have, and sometimes there is a way around it. For instance, some stores ship worldwide and there are companies out there that will act as a middleman. The trouble with this, however, is it often costs you a lot more, and if you decide to use a business as a middleman it can be tricky to work out all the ins and outs of it as well.
In fact, a whole lot of work has to go into getting you an order from abroad via the postal system.
So I was interested when online shopping company Grabr got in touch – they allow you to shop the globe, but it is done with a difference.
Grabr is a peer-to-peer delivery network and works as so: Let’s say for example there is a pair of shoes you would just love to own in New York; you log onto Grabr, sign up as a consumer and set up an order. This can be done in a couple of ways: you can choose to search the Grabr shop filled with things other people have asked for, you can paste a link from a website, and lastly, if you’re not 100% sure of what you are after, you can manually enter all the details about the item.
Once you have found the item you want you need to set up the order, which will cost you:
The RRP of your chosen item.
Traveller’s reward – this is how much you are willing to pay the traveller to bring the item to you.
Service fee – this is 7% of the total.
Once you have completed all that, you sit back and wait for someone who it travelling from your items location, to your home town (or nearby) and is willing to pick up a bit of extra spending money by bringing you your goods.
What happens if the traveller doesn’t bring me my goods?
Grabr holds on to all the money until the item has been delivered, so you can be safe in the knowledge that no goods means you will get the money back.
All of this means the process of getting goods via Grabr is a lot less complex, cutting out all those middlemen, which in turn cuts down the chance of it getting lost in transit.
What’s more: if you are a traveller yourself, you can sign up to be a Grabr Traveller for people seeking items and look to earn yourself some more money.
Personally I am really interested to see how Grabr works and I have set up a grab for a personalised pet pillow from Moscow – can you imagine Sally on a pillow how cute! Hopefully, someone will agree to bring it over to me and I can update you on just how Grabr works.
What do you think of the idea of Grabr, would you give it a try?
I simply adore this post! Sometimes it can be confusing for me, the process of international shipping! Thanks for explaining it so clearly!
Grabr sounds like an awesome company! Do they deal with all the currencies or is it in just 1 main one?
Thank you for sharing this post.
Such an interesting read.
Thank you!
This sounds like such a great idea. I think it could end up getting quite costly so I think the item would definitely have to be worth it but I think its something id use xxx
enjoyed reading this post greatly
Thanks for info
I don’t do enough online shopping shopping to need a traveler service, but the idea is super cool. I hope your cat pillow from Moscow comes to you door soon!
Never heard of this service so thanks for the into. Certainly worth considering.
I had never hear of this, sounds a great service though.
As an online shopper this is a great idea. I shop from a few places out of the US so I know how much of a struggle it can be.
Shopping online is so much easier ! I’ve always wondered the steps when it’s over seas or anything
I love to shop online. No i can understand why it takes so long to arrive. I will have to give Grabr a try.
This sounds like a great service. Never heard of it until now although can’t wait to try it soon.
Yes, I have seen many items I would like, then find out they have to be shipped from overseas. Import duty, shipping costs etc put me off buying. I wonder if international airline baggage costs would be any cheaper. Cabin luggage is free, but bigger items in the hold plus the traveller’s fee may cost more than shipping and import tax.
I have never heard of Grabr but I think it is great that the have cut out the middle man and created a clearer and concise experience.
This is such an interesting concept. Might have to take a look x
What a great idea! I don’t know if I could be patient enough to wait for someone going to where I needed, but I am going to give it a try!
This looks a great idea, so many times I see items on American sites that don’t ship to the UK, the disadvantage of being a bit of a weird goth I suppose!
I am a slow traveler but definitely move time by time so this looks perfect on me. Thanks for the info! 🙂
It’s fun that they have found a new concept for shipping. Shows that there’s always a way to think outside of the box (pun not intended). 😉
This looks like a great service to use. I normally shy away from international purchases and shipping, but I may give this one a try.
I usually find what I need from suppliers delivering to the UK but find it an intriguing concept. Clever thinking from whoever came up with the idea.
Thanks for sharing but I’m not sure my lady needs another way to shop. She’s already cornered the national market. Grabr will help make it an international effort.