Ebay.com is the world’s largest online auction and shopping website where people and businesses buy and sell a wide variety of goods and services worldwide. You can get a pretty good deal buying stuff at online auctions. Many Kenyans, however, fail to take advantage of Ebay because they either don’t know how to go about it or are unsure about having Ebay purchases shipped to Kenya.
Instructions to Ship to Kenya from Ebay
- The first thing you need before you can do business on Ebay is a PayPal account. Ebay owns PayPal, the global payments provider, and uses the company to process all payments. If you don’t have a Paypal account, head over there now and open an account. Ensure you link your bank debit or credit card to PayPal in order to pay for purchases on Ebay.
- Next, open an Ebay account and start shopping.
- Now, there are two ways to ensure items you purchase can be shipped to Kenya.
- The first and most obvious way is to ascertain if the seller ships to Kenya. This you can do by clicking the “shipping and payments” tab and seeing if the item ships to Kenya. If it does, then go to point 4 below.
- If the item doesn’t ship to Kenya, then you need to use a US Shipping address. You can ship to a relative in the US who can then forward the item to you or alternatively use a forwarding service such as MyUS
or Shipito. Both companies offer US shipping addresses at very fair terms. Use the address they provide you with to check out and they will forward the package to you in Kenya. - When checking out, the address listed as your shipping address will be displayed. Change this address to the new address you wish to ship to, and complete the transaction.
Tips and Warnings
- If you don’t want to spend money on expensive courier services, insert your Kenyan shipping address in the format below:
- Your name,
- Your Physical Address e.g. Buru Buru
- The City/Town
- Your PO Box, Your Postcode
- Your city, Kenya
- Using the format above, ensures the package is shipped using via the Post Office. You will receive a card in the post box and collect your package from the counter.
- Shipping to Kenya takes between 30 and 60 days.
- Ensure you always pay via PayPal and avoid any seller who asks you to pay via wire transfer, Western Union or Moneygram because you won’t be covered by Ebay’s Buyer Protection.