Ordering From Target

Don't ask Kevin ????. But to answer your question no. 

Update: I finally got through to a CSR on the phone. She was quite forthcoming in saying that they have blacklisted several known freight forwarder addresses in Florida and other locations throughout the US.

I asked to speak with a Supervisor and, after another half hour wait, she took my call back number so he could ring me later (doubtful that will happen).

So there you have it. I'll have to find another way to get Target stuff shipped here that they haven't discovered yet. Does anyone have any new shipping strategies?

Posted by: @daveb722

Don't ask Kevin ????. But to answer your question no. 

Hahahaha...that was funny! Kevin would expect that my wife should be happy with the cosmetics available locally!

Further Update: The Supervisor from Minneapolis did call back promptly and we had a very nice discussion. It really helps when you're not all angry and irrational.

Our discussion centered around Target's "Freight Forwarder" policy which states "Target doesn't ship to international freight forwarders or addresses outside the United States."

My contention was that Paradise Freight (and STT Cargo, VI Cargo) are not "international" freight forwarders. They are shipping freight from the US to the US. She did admit that I had a good point but of course there was nothing she could do except escalate my issue to the next level.

I'm over it now and will find another online source for my Target purchases, but, I thought it would be interesting for my friends here on the board to follow along.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and suggestions.

@vicanuck

Why would they blacklist forwarding companies? Did they say why?

When Target first started shipping here directly I ordered a lot from them.  They quickly cracked down on their shipping policies though.  It’s become increasingly difficult to shop with them and find what I want that will actually ship here.  

I still order from Walmart with some frequency but they have been out of stock on many of my regular purchases.  

ive been ordering from amazon more than usual.  I have found that having both a business and a personal account helps with what ships directly here.  I don’t know why that would be but there are a lot of items that won’t ship here on my personal acccount and will with my business account and the other way around.  But they always seem to take forever to ship (I have Prime on both accounts).   

I still have the best luck with fast shipping on eBay.  Although shopping there usually requires a little more effort.   

Posted by: @vicanuck

Further Update: The Supervisor from Minneapolis did call back promptly and we had a very nice discussion. It really helps when you're not all angry and irrational.

Our discussion centered around Target's "Freight Forwarder" policy which states "Target doesn't ship to international freight forwarders or addresses outside the United States."

My contention was that Paradise Freight (and STT Cargo, VI Cargo) are not "international" freight forwarders. They are shipping freight from the US to the US. She did admit that I had a good point but of course there was nothing she could do except escalate my issue to the next level.

I'm over it now and will find another online source for my Target purchases, but, I thought it would be interesting for my friends here on the board to follow along.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and suggestions.

I'd contact Stacy Plasket on this.  What BS.  Probably their lawyers not wanting to have to deal with the myriad of export regulations and restrictions for actually going outside the US.

My experience has been that shipping to VI becomes more and more restrictive. I have never had any good luck with Amazon. EBay orders will occasionally ship to VI. 
Recent order for minor car parts from one of on line retailers was a nightmare whereupon i I could not place the order using my daughters address in US with shipping to her as retailers website kept rejecting the order.
 
ultimately i had to call my daughter and have her place the order and charge to her card.  Later she reshipped to me with shipping and sales tax costs total $76 on $40 of parts value. 

I had a good luck shipping five boat batteries through VI cargo where delivery to FL was free and VI cargo took only $100 for freight. 

We are (USVI) at huge disadvantage here comparing to PR, Guam and HI. Shopping, services, roads, banking, government here sucks. Actually everything here sucks except of the weather and nature. The actual presence of the men does not enhance the value of the island living. One has to accept very primitive lifestyle to be happy here. 

Posted by: @STTsailor

I. Shopping, services, roads, banking, government here sucks. Actually everything here sucks except of the weather and nature. The actual presence of the men does not enhance the value of the island living. One has to accept very primitive lifestyle to be happy here. 

'the actual presence of men" ?? I must be missing whatever point is being made -[ human effect on the environment? ]- if the island  "sucks" why not get a flight ? It is a big world.

I discovered that one of the freight forwarders has a "secret address" that has not been blacklisted by Target yet. I replaced my order and was delighted when it went through. Its on its way now.

Posted by: @vicanuck

I discovered that one of the freight forwarders has a "secret address" that has not been blacklisted by Target yet. I replaced my order and was delighted when it went through. Its on its way now.

Well I hope when that secret address gets blacklisted they "move" to a new address.

It definitely takes a lot more research now to get things here.

I don't have any experience with Target orders, but have figured out a couple things that make other orders less stressful (or at least successful more often).

For car parts, I've had good luck with AutoZone.com

As long as it will ship with USPS, they ship here free on orders over $35 and often have 20% coupons for ship to home. I've ordered from them several times and usually have the parts here in 3-5 days. I have had it take as long as 12 days on an order of brake parts, but pleased over all.

RockAuto still works as well, but they often wind up being more expensive when you take the coupons and free shipping into the equation.

On Amazon orders, it seems like they add  a flat $11.88 shipping on all of my orders (but it covers the entire order). For things I want but don't need in a hurry, I'll add them to a list and wait until I have several things in it to order. When there's something that Amazon says requires special handling and can't be shipped here, I'll often post a question unless there's an obvious reason (lithium batteries, chemicals, etc). Even if Amazon won't ship it, often  'marketplace' sellers will answer and say that they do and I'll buy from them (either on Amazon or directly through their site).

Although it is more work, I've often gotten better delivered pricing and shipping speed buying directly, especially the past couple of months. It seems like Amazon is holding orders for several days before processing them.

Interestingly, if you use a VPN service to facilitate streaming services, you may have to disconnect from the VPN to buy from some retailers ( including AutoZone). Apparently some online stores are starting to block the big VPN company web addresses like they are for freight forwarder physical addresses.

I just chalk it up to keeping the adventure alive.

Good to know AutoZone works.

I've noticed for a long time the Amazon ship date for free shipping in the states varies inexplicably for Amazon fulfilled.  Some orders ship the same or next day.  Other orders sit for days before being shipped and then the actual delivery time may be only 1 or 2 days.  But in any case they usually hit the delivery window identified when the order is placed.

I use the Opera browser which has a free VPN built in for it's web traffic.  And some authenticated web sites definitely behave differently with the VPN enabled it but don't clear errors when something doesn't quite work.