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How to buy on amazon USA & get it shipped to Cameroon

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Have you ever thought about buying an item on Amazon from Cameroon but haven’t been able to do so because Amazon doesn’t ship the item to Cameroon or because you lack knowledge on how to buy on Amazon from Cameroon and get it shipped to your Cameroon address (doorstep)??? or probably because you don’t have a credit card???

What ever be your case (hinderance(s)), in this article, I’m going to show you how to buy any item on Amazon and get it shipped to the DHL office in your city for pick up within 4 business days.

So in this article, these are the topics we are going to cover….

  • Why Amazon is the best online shop to buy from in Cameroon
  • Requirements for buying on Amazon from Cameroon
  • How to Place an order on Amazon from Cameroon
  • How to get an item/package shipped from Amazon USA to Cameroon
  • How to Calculate and Pay Custom duties for your Amazon items
  • How to pickup your Amazon purchased item at the DHL office in your city

Without any further delay, let’s get down to business.

1) Why Amazon is the best online shop to buy from in Cameroon

If you intend to buy any item online from Cameroon, the best place to look for that item (without thinking twice) is on Amazon.com (the US Amazon online shop).

For those of you who don’t know, Amazon.com is the Number 1 online market place where you can find almost any kind of item at affordable prices.

Since online merchants around the world scramble to sell their products to millions of online shoppers (around the world) who visit the online market place for shopping, the price of most items on Amazon are very affordable due to the stiff competition amongst the merchants on the platform.

Apart from affordability of items, another aspect which makes Amazon the best online shop for home based Cameroonians is their tons of customer reviews.

Amazon is best known for their honest customer reviews and this has made it impossible for the “Chinese” to sell their low quality items of their platforms.

When most people buy items on Amazon, they often come back to give their feedback about the items (both positive and negative feedbacks) and this helps other customers to decide on whether to buy a particular item or not.

When shopping on an international online shop (like Amazon, Fashionova, Ebay etc), you want to make sure that your purchased items arrives Cameroon in good condition without any issue as it would be very costly to return the item if the item is bad.

By reading the feedbacks of customers who have purchased and used an item you intend to buy on Amazon from Cameroon, you can make accurate judgement on whether to buy the item or not.

If the average customer ratings of a product you intend to buy on Amazon from Cameroon, is less than 3 stars, then the product is probably a fake product hence you shouldn’t buy the item…but if the average customer ratings is 4.0 and above, then the product is good.

I personally often buy only the best selling products on Amazon from Cameroon with tons of positive reviews.

In addition to the aforementioned selling points, Amazon is the best online shop for Cameroonians because they offer very fast shipping i.e. delivery within USA takes just 5 business days and in addition to that, Amazon often offers free shipping for items whose price tag exceed $25.

Amazon customers who have subscribed to the Amazon prime service (for express delivery) can receive their purchased items within 2 business days and shipping is free for all items purchased by the Amazon prime subscribers.

Somebody may be thinking, BUT I’m in Cameroon, what has express delivery in USA got to do with me. Don’t worry, i will explain this later when we get to the delivery section.

So Amazon is the best online shop for Cameroonians who wish shop online.

With Amazon, you are sure of receiving your purchased item(s) undamaged and your Amazon purchased item will last a long time and with the help of honest reviews from verified customers, its very hard to buy a fake product on Amazon

2) Requirements for buying on Amazon from Cameroon

To buy any item on Amazon from Cameroon, you will need the following items.

  • A credit card –  Amazon accepts payment for items via credit card (Debit card and prepaid card).

Just like most online shops, Amazon accepts payments for items via Credit cards…and this is a huge barrier to most Cameroonians who wish to shop on Amazon as only a handful of people own credit cards in Cameroon…and Amazon doesn’t accept payment directly via Mobile Money.

Don’t have a credit card??? no worries, nowadays there are indirect ways you can use to buy on Amazon from Cameroon without a credit card.

The best way Cameroonians without credit card can successfully buy on Amazon from Cameroon is by using the Mobile Money funded virtual credit cards (VCC).

Simply put you can buy a virtual credit card (VCC) from the VCC issuers in Cameroon with Mobile Money and then use the VCC to shop on Amazon. Read the article about how to get a virtual credit card in Cameroon, to learn more about VCC or how they function.

I have helped so many Cameroonians (without credit card) to buy on Amazon with virtual credit cards.

NOTE: You don’t need to provide a long list of documents or fill a form in order to get a virtual credit card from the VCC issuers in Cameroon.

All you need, in order to get a virtual credit card from a VCC issuer in Cameroon, is a valid ID card and money in your Mobile Money account to be able to purchase and fund your virtual credit card.

You can purchase and fund a VCC from the comfort of your home…and start shopping online in Cameroon within 20 minutes.

So if you don’t have a credit card (prepaid card or debit card) for shopping on Amazon, you can buy a virtual credit card from the comfort of your home and use it to buy any item on Amazon or any online shop.

Virtual credit cards functions exactly like the normal credit cards issued by the banks.

The only difference between virtual credit cards and the plastic cards issued by the banks, is the fact that virtual credit cards can only be used for making online payments.

In other words you can’t withdraw money from a virtual credit card (VCC)…you can only fund and use it for online shopping, payment of subscriptions and services.

The procedures to get a virtual credit card in Cameroon is very simple and fast.

If you are finding it difficult to get a virtual credit card in Cameroon for shopping on Amazon or any online shop that accept credit cards, simply WhatsApp me and i will guide you on how to get a virtual credit card for shopping on Amazon today, from the comfort of your home (no stress).

Ok now that we have sought out the payment issue (Number 1 barrier to shopping on Amazon), let’s move to the next requirement.

  • Secondly, you need to have adequate amount of funds in your Credit card (virtual credit card) in order to purchase an item on Amazon.

For example if you wish to buy a 25000frs ($50) Android smartphone from the US Amazon online shop from Cameroon today, you just need to deposit 25,000frs in to your credit card and then use the funds in your card to buy the 25,000frs smartphone on Amazon.

Those people who are using the virtual credit cards, can fund their cards via Mobile Money i.e the virtual credit card issuers in Cameroon has made it possible for the VCC holders to transfer money from their MTN & Orange Money account to their Virtual Credit card.

Once you have funded/loaded your VCC with enough cash, you can start shopping on Amazon.com from Cameroon.

  • The third requirement for shopping on Amazon from Cameroon is a Valid Cameroon ID Card.

You will need a valid Cameroon National ID card in order to collect your Amazon purchased item from DHL when it arrives Cameroon.

  • Last but not the least, You will need a US Address in order to buy on Amazon from Cameroon.

For those of you who don’t know, most of the merchants selling on the US Amazon online market place don’t want their items to be shipped to the African countries for varied reasons.

Some of the reasons include;

  1. High rate of missing items
  2. High returns rate due to damaged items.
  3. High cost of delivery especially for items that are heavy.
  4. Credit card fraud and chargebacks

Due to the above reasons most sellers on Amazon have limited shipping of their items to US, Europe and the Asian countries.

If you have ever tried to buy an item on Amazon from Cameroon, you must have seen a message which says THIS PRODUCT DOES NOT SHIP TO CAMEROON…meaning that Amazon can’t ship the product to Cameroon.

So, to buy on Amazon from Cameroon, you will need a US address; where Amazon can ship your purchased item (since most sellers on Amazon limit shipping of their products to US).

Cameroonians who have Bushfaller brothers, sisters, relatives, friends in the United States, can use their US address to buy on Amazon and the product will be shipped to their US address.

Once they receive your purchased item from Amazon, they can later ship (forward) the item to your Cameroon address using fast shipping companies like DHL Express, UPS, FedEx etc.

But for people like you and i, who don’t have any relations in the United States, we can only buy on Amazon from Cameroon, using the US address provided by the freight forwarding companies.

Some body may likely want to ask what is a freight forwarding company???

Freight Forwarding companies are shipping companies in the US which makes it possible for people (who are outside of US) to buy items on Amazon and have it shipped to their doorsteps.

The Freight Forwarding companies are just like that brother, sister, friend in the US who receives your package from Amazon and later ships (forward) the package to your Cameroon address via shipping companies like DHL, FedEx, UPS etc..

They are called freight forwarders because they receive and forward Amazon packages to Amazon customers who are in countries where Amazon don’t ship items.

So don’t be intimidated by the term; “Freight Forwarding”.

The brother or sister in the US, who also receives your package from US Amazon and later ships it to you via DHL Express, UPS, FedEx etc, is also offering the same service offered by the US Freight Forwarding companies (but for free).

How the Freight Forwarding Companies Makes it easy for Cameroonians to Buy from Amazon and ship their Amazon purchased items to Cameroon.

Like i mentioned earlier, Freight Forwarding companies (also known as package forwarders) are companies in the US which makes it easy for people out of US, to buy products on Amazon.com and have their purchases shipped to their doorsteps.

Freight Forwarding companies act as middlemen between the Amazon online store and customers outside of USA….thereby giving Cameroonians the opportunity to buy items they would not have had the opportunity to buy on Amazon from Cameroon.

How the Freight Forwarding Companies makes it possible for Cameroonians to easily buy from Amazon…

The Freight forwarding companies will give you a US address which you can use to buy on Amazon from Cameroon.

When filling the order form on Amazon, in the place where you are asked to enter an address, simply enter the US Address that you got from a US freight forwarder.

After you have placed an order on Amazon using the US address (provided by a Freight Forwarding company), Amazon will ship the purchased item to the freight forwarding company.

After the Freight Forwarding company receives your product, they will immediately send you an email to notify you that your package (from Amazon) has arrived at their warehouse and also tell you the amount of money (shipping cost) you need to pay so that they can immediately forward (ship) the product to your doorstep (Cameroon address).

After you have paid the shipping cost charged by the US freight forwarder, they will ship the product to your Cameroon address via DHL Express, UPS, FedEx or any shipping company of your choice .

Most Freight Forwarding companies often ship packages to Cameroon using DHL express.

With DHL express, a package usually takes 1 to 4 business days to arrive at your doorstep (Cameroon address). DHL also offers a tracking number so that you can track your package till it eventually arrive in Cameroon.

Somebody may likely want to ask this question; how do i get a US address from the US Freight Forwarders ???

Its pretty simple!

All the US Freight Forwarding companies have websites; where you can easily sign up for free and obtain a US address.

Procedures to buy on Amazon from Cameroon via the Freight forwarders.

Buying on Amazon from Cameroon, using the service of the US Freight forwarders is very easy and super fast.

These are the simple steps you need to follow in order to successfully buy on Amazon from Cameroon and have your package shipped to your doorstep…




Step 1: Visit the website of one of the US Freight Forwarding Companies.

Go to the website of one of the US freight Forwarders to Sign up and get a US Address.

You can easily find the websites of the popular US Freight Forwarders, by simply doing a Google search….i.e. just type the keyword “US Freight Forwarders” in to the Google search bar and you will find the popular US Freight Forwarders on the first page of the Google search result.

In my opinion, MyUS Freight Forwarding company is the best Freight Forwarding company in the US. I have bought many items on Amazon from Cameroon using MYUS package forwarding service.

Like i mentioned earlier, sign up is free! and you don’t need to pay a dime to get a US address from a Freight Forwarder.

When signing up or  creating an account on the website of a freight forwarding company, you will be required to enter the address of your home in Cameroon. This will enable your freight forwarder to ship (forward) your package to your doorstep.

When creating an account, also make sure that you use an accurate name and phone number.

Your name should be exact order as found on your national identity card.

Ok after you have successfully signed up and obtained a free US address from an US freight forwarder of your choice, you can then go to Amazon and start shopping.




Step 2 : Start shopping on Amazon from Cameroon

After you have successfully signed up and obtained a US address from a Freight Forwarding company, go to the amazon website and start shopping on Amazon from Cameroon.

Step 3 : Create an account on the Amazon Website

Before you can start shopping on Amazon.com from Cameroon with your US address, first you will need to create a free account on the Amazon website.

After you have created your Amazon account, you can start shopping on the Amazon website.

Step 4: Buying on Amazon From Cameroon Using your US Address

After creating your free Amazon account, search for the product (item) you wish to buy on Amazon from Cameroon.

After you have found the product, add the product to your cart and proceed to check out.

On the Amazon checkout page, enter the US address you obtained from the Freight Forwarder (that’s the address where Amazon will ship your purchased item(s)).

After you have entered the US address, next…enter your credit card or virtual credit card details and click on the place an order button to finally buy the product. After you have done that, your credit card or virtual credit card will be debited.

Amazon accepts all types of cards issued by the Cameroon banks…be it prepaid or debit cards…Master or Visa card. You just need to have money in your card.

All virtual credit cards are also accepted by Amazon.




Step 5: Your Freight Forwarder will receive your purchased product from Amazon.

After you have placed your order, Amazon will ship your purchased item to your Freight Forwarder.

Shipping from Amazon to your Freight Forwarder is free.

Like i mentioned earlier, Amazon often offer free shipping for most of its products and their shipping speed is supper fast. So no matter the weight or dimension (size) of your package, Amazon, will ship it to your freight forwarder for free.




Step 6: Your Freight Forwarder will ship your package to your Cameroon Address.

Once your Freight Forwarding Company receives your package from Amazon, they will immediately send you an email to notify you that your package has arrived at their warehouse.

After you receive this notification, go to the website of your Freight Forwarder and sign in.

After you have signed in, you will see the amount (shipping cost) that you need to pay to your Freight Forwarder, so that they can ship your package to your address in Cameroon using fast shipping companies like DHL, UPS, FedEx and other package shipping companies.

After your Freight Forwarder has shipped your package using any carrier of your choice (DHL, UPS, FedEx etc…), they will give you a tracking number so that you can track your package till it eventually arrives at your doorstep.

TAKE NOTE !

The shipping cost charged by the US Freight Forwarders, depends on two factors;

Weight of the product &
The dimension of the product.

For example the shipping cost of a package which weighs 1kg or less will be lower than a package which weighs 2kg or more…and a package with a large dimension will cost you much money to ship to your Cameroon address.

However, almost all the US freight forwarders have a shipping cost calculator on their websites; where you can find out the shipping cost of an item you wish to buy from Amazon…in order to prevent you from buying an item on Amazon that you won’t be able to pay its shipping fee.




How to Check the Shipping Cost of an item Before Buying the item on Amazon From Cameroon

It is always advice-able to check the shipping fee of any item (you intend to buy) before purchasing the item on Amazon from Cameroon.

For instance if you wish to buy a 55 inch TV on Amazon from Cameroon, the first thing you will do, is to check the shipping cost that will be charged by the US Freight Forwarders to ship the item to Cameroon.

Its very easy to check the shipping cost of an item in advance.

To check the shipping cost of any item found on Amazon, you just need to go to the websites of the Freight Forwarders and click on the link to their shipping cost calculator (also known as rates calculator).

On the shipping cost calculator page, you just need to enter the weight and dimension of the item to get the shipping cost of the item (in advance) before placing an order on Amazon.

Somebody may likely want to ask, where do i get the weight and dimension of the item i wish to buy ???

On Amazon, you can find the weight and dimension of any item.

After checking the shipping cost of the item you intend to buy, if you find out that the shipping cost is too high, don’t buy the product or else you may end up abandoning the product at the warehouse of your Freight Forwarder because you can’t pay the shipping cost.

Ok let’s move to the final step…




Step 6: Custom Clearance (Payment of Custom Duties & import VAT)

After your package has arrive in Cameroon, you will be expected to pay custom duty before the package can be delivered to your doorstep or the DHL office in your city for pick up.

For those of you who don’t know, custom duty is a tax levied on goods imported from another country in to Cameroon.

Custom duty is often calculated as a percentage of the value of the purchased product.

For example if the value (purchase price) of the item you bought on Amazon is $100 and Cameroon charges 20% as custom duty on the item, you will be expected to pay $20 (20% of $100) as custom duty before the item can be delivered to your doorstep.

In other words if you don’t pay the custom duty levied on your shipment, the item (package) will be held by the Cameroon custom officials.

It should be noted that custom duties rates varies from commodity to commodity while Import VAT is fixed..i.e. the Cameroon government may charge a fixed percentage of the purchase price of an imported goods.

Custom duty tariff charged, depends on the category of product imported in to the country.

How Custom Duties and Import VAT are calculated by the Cameroon Custom Officials

If you import a Mobile phone which cost $100 and the custom duty rate for mobile phone is 20%, you will be expected to pay $30 as Custom duty before the Mobile phone can be delivered to your doorstep by DHL.

20% of $100 = $20 for Custom Duty

It is also good to check the amount of custom duty and import VAT tariff which will be levied on your shipment before you even buy the item on Amazon from Cameroon.

So many Cameroonians have abandoned their shipments at the Cameroon customs warehouse in Douala because they can’t pay the custom duty levied on their purchased item.

Those abandoned items are later auctioned by the customs officials.

You can find a comprehensive list of Custom duties and taxes tariff for every category of commodities, on the Cameroon custom website.

Do your Arithmetic first, to avoid experiencing the same issue.




After reading all the above information, somebody may likely want to ask this question…how do i pay my custom duty and import VAT tariffs ???

Its very simple!. Most shipping companies (especially DHL), will pay the custom duties and also take care of all the paperwork involve in the custom clearance.

Less than 24 hours after your package arrives at the DHL warehouse in Douala, DHL will send you an SMS to inform you that your package has arrive and also tell you to come to their warehouse to fulfill custom formalities.

When you go to the DHL warehouse in Douala, DHL will ask you to reimburse the money they paid to the customs (as Custom duty). In addition to that, DHL will also charge a 10% disbursement Fee on the value of Import VAT & Duties paid.

Like i mentioned earlier, after you have fulfilled all custom formalities, DHL will bring your package to your doorstep.




So those are the 6 simple steps to buy any item on Amazon from Cameroon and have your package shipped to your doorstep.

To conclude, i will give you a summary of the whole procedure of buying on Amazon from Cameroon

After you have figured out an item you wish to buy on Amazon from Cameroon, this is what you need to do to buy the item on Amazon and have it shipped to Cameroon via the US Freight Forwarding companies.

1) Check the shipping cost of the item i.e. how much the US freight forwarders will charge you to forward the package to Cameroon. If you can pay the shipping cost, you can proceed to the next step.

2) Check the amount you will be expected to pay as custom duty and Import VAT tariff on the item. If you can pay the custom duty and VAT tariffs together with the shipping cost mentioned above, you can proceed to the next step.

3) Sign Up and get a US address from a US Freight Forwarding Company’s website.
You can get a free US address from the website of  the MYUS Freight Forwarding Company.

In my opinion, MYUS Freight Forwarding is the cheapest freight forwarding company.

I have used MyUs freight forwarding agency to buy so many items on Amazon.com and Ebay.com from Cameroon.

4) Create an Account on the US Amazon website  (Amazon.com)

Frequently asked questions about buying on Amazon from Cameroon.

  • Does Amazon ship to Cameroon???

One of the questions i get asked often is, does Amazon ship to Cameroon??? in fact this is the question which prompted me to write this post.

In 2018, Amazon launched an international shipping program called “Amazon Global” extending their shipping services to Cameroon and other African countries.

This was welcome with great joy by the Africans online shoppers.

However only few items from certain categories were eligible to be shipped to Cameroon and other African countries.

TVs and other fragile items are still not eligible to be shipped to Cameroon and other African countries.

In addition to that most sellers on Amazon still don’t permit Amazon to ship their products to the customers in Cameroon and other African countries due to the reasons mentioned above.

For those of you who don’t know, only 10% of the products found on the Amazon online shop are owned by Amazon.

Most of the products available for sale on the Amazon online shop are owned by independent merchants around the world.

Those merchants ship their products to the Amazon warehouse (Amazon Fulfilment centers) in the US, so that Amazon can help them to sell their items on their online market place.

Once their products have been shipped to the Amazon fulfilment centres, it would be listed for sale on Amazon.com and Amazon takes care of the delivery when somebody places an order.

When  a customer buys an item, Amazon processes the order and ships the item to the customer.

Since Amazon is just a middle man who sells products on behalf of merchants, it is the merchants who makes the decision of whether they would like their products to be enrolled in the Amazon international shipping programme i.e. if a merchant doesn’t want his or her product to be shipped to the customers in Cameroon and other African countries, Amazon won’t ship their items to Cameroon.

On the product page of any item on Amazon, Amazon will tell you if a particular item you are interested in, is eligible for shipping to Cameroon.

If the item you intend to purchase from Amazon in Cameroon is not eligible for shipping to Cameroon, you will see a message which says THIS ITEM DOESN’T SHIP TO CAMEROON.

But if its eligible for shipping to Cameroon, the cost of shipping to Cameroon as well as the custom duty for the item will be displayed on the Amazon website.

Since Amazon doesn’t ship most items to Cameroon and other African countries, the US Freight forwarding companies have come to complement the partial Amazon global shipping service.

So if Amazon doesn’t ship a particular item in Cameroon and other African countries, the Amazon customers in Cameroon can use the service of the US freight forwarders to get the item shipped to Cameroon.

  • Does Amazon collect custom duty in advance???

For items that are eligible to be shipped directly from Amazon USA to Cameroon, Amazon will often tell you the shipping cost of the item and the estimated custom duty for the item.

You will be expected to pay the shipping cost and the estimated custom duty for item before the item can be shipped to Cameroon.

The estimated custom duty charged by Amazon is extremely high as compared to the custom duty fee charged by the custom officials in Cameroon.

Due the extremely high advance custom duty charged by Amazon, so many Cameroonians avoid the Amazon direct shipping and instead go for freight forwarding service as its far cheaper to pay custom duty in Cameroon than via Amazon (in advance).

Due to the high shipping cost and advance custom duty charged by Amazon, i always advise Cameroonians to always use the service of the US freight forwarders when shopping on Amazon from Cameroon.

  • What are the requirements for shopping on Amazon from Cameroon???

Summarily, these are the 4 things you need in order to shop on Amazon in Cameroon include…

  • A Credit Card or Mobile Money Funded Virtual Credit Card
  • Adequate funds in your credit card or virtual credit card that can cover the cost of the item and shipping from US.
  • US Address from a US freight forwarder.
  • A valid national identity card (driving license or passport)

Ok those are the 4 things you need in order to buy any item on Amazon from Cameroon

  • How long does it take to receive my item from Amazon in Cameroon???

Most US freight forwarders often ship items to Cameroon via DHL express.

With DHL express it takes about 4 business days for an item to be shipped from USA to Cameroon.

  • Does Amazon accept Mobile Money payments???

No, you can send payment via Mobile money on Amazon, but you can buy indirectly with Mobile Money by buying a virtual credit card with the funds in your Mobile Money account and then use then use the VCC to buy any item on Amazon.

  • Does Amazon Accept returns???

Yes, how ever it would be very costly return an Amazon item after it has been shipped to Cameroon.

So its important that you read the customer reviews for any product you intend to buy to ensure that you don’t buy a fake product.


Ok we have come to the end of this article, if you have any question, leave a comment below or send me a message on WhatsApp if you need very quick response.

If you want me to help you buy on Amazon from Cameroon, WhatsApp me.

I will take care of the entire process for a little token.

 

1 Comments

  1. Please how do you know the custom fees to be paid here? For example what percentage will you pay for a watch you bought?

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