Sunday, June 21, 2009

I live in Saudi Arabia. Is it possible to shop on Ebay

I live in Saudi Arabia. Is it possible to shop on Ebay?
I have the shop & ship service so I do a lot of shopping online through Amazon and other websites. Currently, I am contemplating the Ebay experience. Do you know if its advisable to do so out side the US. Thank you.
Saudi Arabia - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I had a girlfriend who lived in Arabia for a while. She tells me customs officers, cover up inappropriate parts of fashion magazines with black markers, some items, they confiscate, and some they arrest you for it. Confiscate, would probably be a woman's rights journal, The arrest part would probably be gay porn. shop at your own risk.
2 :
A lot of websites and i think ebay is one of them dont even ship to places like saudi that dont have home addresses. You might want to make sure they are willing to ship to a PO box. I used to order things from clothing stores (like penneys and sears) until they stopped shipping here. Also, the previous poster was right about the customs searching your things for anything illegal or immoral. However I have a friend that orders things all the time and half of her stuff is alwaus missing. It's a known fact the people who search them take what they want for themselves then when you ask where your stuff is they blame it on the other side or someone who was before them, and you cant prove anything. Do it at your own risk. If Ebay will ship to saudi using fedex or dhl then although it will be pricey its the only thing that gurantees you'll get your stuff.
3 :
some people have set up po boxes in Bahrain and get it shipped there, then go pick it up from there.. but still you need to make sure its legal stuff, no christian religious stuff, no porn, no alcohol, no politcal stuff..
4 :
yes i can advise you to work with ebay. i have a friend who buys in and out of saudi many things on ebay and he even has good reputation between the "frequent users" or something like that. i believe you can use you shop and ship address via aramex or deal straight to saudi address po box. make a couple of buys / sales and you'll be fine.