Buy&Ship Review: Forwarding Rates, Overseas Warehouses, Shopping-Agent Fees, Parcel Protection and the HK$20 New-Member Credit

Buy&Ship's forwarding service is operated by Buyandship Limited and its shopping-agent service by Buyforyou Limited, under terms of use (updated 10 June 2026) governed by Hong Kong law. The company's about page cites more than 2 million consumers and more than 4 million shipments a year, with investors including Cool Japan Fund and Mitsubishi Logistics.

There are three services: forwarding, where you buy from an overseas store yourself and have it sent to a Buy&Ship overseas warehouse for onward shipping to Hong Kong; Buyforyou, where Buy&Ship places and pays for the order on your behalf; and Express Checkout, which buys an item straight from a member's shared post. The platform also partners with Mercari, JDirectItems Auction, eBay and SNKRDUNK for agent purchasing and forwarding.

Members copy a warehouse address from "Member Centre > Warehouse Addresses" into the store's checkout as the delivery address, adding their member ID to the recipient name. Once the store dispatches the parcel and a tracking number is available, it must be declared under "My Shipment"; a parcel still undeclared 30 days after reaching the overseas warehouse is treated as abandoned.

Each declaration is either Direct or Flexible. Direct suits a single parcel collected from a Buy&Ship pickup point: credits are deducted automatically on arrival in Hong Kong and any balance is paid electronically at collection. Flexible lets you consolidate up to 10 parcels (counted by tracking number) and choose third-party pickup points or delivery, paying online in advance by credit card or credits when the shipment order is created. Promo codes apply only to Flexible shipments.

Warehouses that forward to Hong Kong are located in the US, the UK, Japan, Korea, Australia, Italy, Canada, China and Taiwan, and the invite page states that members receive 13 overseas warehouse addresses. The US warehouse is in Portland, Oregon, which has no sales tax, and dispatches five times a week from Tuesday to Saturday; the UK warehouse is in Ashford. Parcels from the China warehouse cannot be combined with those from other overseas warehouses.

Buy&Ship's published average delivery times, in working days, are about 4 from Japan (at least five flights a week), 7 to 8 from the US and about 8 from the UK. Once a parcel is checked in and its shipment order created, it is normally sent out within one to two working days, after which members receive the tracking details.

Shipping is charged by actual weight, regardless of box size, and includes local collection or delivery. The rate per pound depends on how you collect: HK$24 at the Lai Chi Kok pickup point, HK$27 at other Buy&Ship pickup points, HK$32 at SF Stores, SF Lockers, Circle K and Cainiao pickup points, HK$34 at post offices and HK$32 for commercial-area delivery; residential and remote-area delivery costs HK$20 more, and the Islands District is not served for now. These rates apply to all overseas warehouses other than China.

The minimum weight is 0.2 lb, charged thereafter in units of 0.1 lb, and any order under 1 lb is charged as 1 lb. Since 22 April 2026, the US, UK, Korea, Canada, Italy and Australia warehouses have added a temporary fuel surcharge of HK$1 a pound; Japan and Taiwan are unaffected. At the US, Canada and UK warehouses no side may exceed 140 cm and the three sides together may not exceed 250 cm (100 cm and 200 cm in Japan and Korea); where volumetric weight exceeds five times the actual weight, the volumetric weight may be charged.

Take a 2.4 lb parcel bought from a Japanese store. Collected from a Buy&Ship pickup point, shipping costs HK$64.80 (2.4 × HK$27); it is HK$57.60 at the Lai Chi Kok pickup point, HK$76.80 at an SF Locker and HK$96.80 delivered to a home. Sent from the US warehouse instead, the same parcel costs HK$79.20 at an SF Locker including the fuel surcharge (2.4 × HK$33).

The HK$20 referral credit arrives within 14 days after the first order is completed, so it normally goes towards a second parcel: another 2.4 lb parcel sent to a Buy&Ship pickup point within 90 days would cost HK$44.80 instead of HK$64.80. Several items bought around the same time are better consolidated at the sorting centre first, because every order under 1 lb is charged as 1 lb, making separate shipments of light items relatively expensive.

Buyforyou serves stores that do not accept overseas credit cards or do not ship to Hong Kong. Buy&Ship buys the item and handles the customs declaration for a service fee of 6% of the item price (US$6 on a US$100 item); you also pay local sales tax where applicable, the store's delivery charge to the overseas warehouse and, in some cases, an additional handling fee, all listed before payment and settled in Hong Kong dollars. International shipping is charged separately once the parcel reaches Hong Kong.

Express Checkout lets members press "Buy Now" on a marked shared post, with no need to register on overseas sites or declare the parcel. Both are covered by purchase protection: loss or damage can be claimed, and items may be returned within 7 days of receipt if unused with tags and accessories intact, with refunds issued about 21 working days after the return is received; underwear, food, opened electronics and second-hand goods, among others, cannot be returned.

Every forwarded parcel carries free basic protection: if the whole parcel is lost, compensation is based on the declared value or invoice price, whichever is lower, up to US$100; if it is damaged, 30% of the shipping fee is refunded as credit valid for one year. Partial loss is not covered.

Buy&Ship Plus is bought at declaration for 3% of the declared value (minimum HK$24, maximum US$1,560 per parcel). It pays up to US$52,000 if the whole parcel is lost, plus the full shipping fee refunded as credit; for damage, 30% of the shipping fee and up to US$100 of item value; and it includes free returns to sellers in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Japan. Under either plan, claims must be emailed within 3 days of receipt and late claims are refused; Buy&Ship may also reject a claim where the declared value is below the proof of purchase.

Parcels can be stored free at the Hong Kong sorting centre for 30 days, then for HK$10 per parcel per day for up to 15 more days; on day 46 a parcel is treated as abandoned. The terms also state that a parcel not collected within 75 days of check-in at the overseas warehouse is treated as abandoned and may be sold, with no refund. Pickup points have their own free storage periods: 3 or 7 working days at Buy&Ship pickup points, 2 working days at SF Stores and Circle K, 24 hours at SF Lockers, and 3 working days at Cainiao pickup points and post offices.

Prohibited items include alcohol and products containing alcohol, live animals, plants, compressed gases, rechargeable batteries and food containing meat; a shipment with prohibited items or one that needs returning incurs a HK$50 handling fee per tracking number. Hong Kong is a free port and levies duty only on four dutiable commodities: liquor above 30% alcohol by volume, tobacco, certain hydrocarbon oils and methyl alcohol, so ordinary clothing, books and electronics carry no import duty.

Register as a new Buy&Ship Hong Kong member through our invite link, and the registration page should show referrer number 5719608463; if it does not, enter the number yourself while filling in your personal details, because it cannot be added once phone verification is complete. Existing members cannot be referred, and each new member may have only one referrer.

After the first order is completed (forwarding, Buyforyou or Express Checkout all count), HK$20 of credit is added within 14 days. One credit equals HK$1, pays only for shipping, cannot be cashed out and expires 90 days after it is added; credits cannot be used together with promo codes, and Direct shipments deduct credits automatically. The invite page also shows a HK$12 shipping discount for registering.

5719608463 is our referrer number. If you decide to register, please do so through the link on this page and confirm that the number is shown before you submit.

As of 24 October 2026, the Buy&Ship app is rated 4.8 on the Hong Kong App Store (10,275 ratings) and 4.6 on Google Play (about 6,660 reviews), with more than 500,000 downloads.

Recent negative reviews centre on frequent forced app updates and some iPhones running hot; the requirement to verify a phone number when forwarding, with SMS codes that never arrive; customer service available only online, slow to reply or closing cases before they are resolved; items damaged by thin packaging; and long waits for forwarding or consolidation. Positive reviews mostly praise the ease of use and access to overseas goods that will not ship to Hong Kong.

It suits Hong Kong residents who regularly buy everyday goods such as clothing, books, models and electronic accessories from overseas stores and can consolidate parcels and use pickup points, as well as anyone who needs an agent to buy from stores that refuse overseas cards. Those planning a second parcel within 90 days will make full use of the HK$20 credit.

It does not suit anyone without an overseas shopping need who simply wants the credit, those who need to send prohibited items such as alcohol or batteries, or buyers of expensive items who do not intend to add Buy&Ship Plus. An account no longer needed can be deleted in the app under "Settings > Account Settings > Account Deletion" or by emailing customer service, which usually completes within a month.