Is Shipito.com a scam, fraud or a legit service?

Is Shipito.com a scam, a fraud or a legit service? Let's find out.

What is Shipito.com?
Shipito.com allows you to shop in the U.S. and have packages forwarded to you by USPS, Fedex, DHL, Polone Parcel, Shipito Air Mail.

Company information
Shipito
2972 Columbia St., Torrance, CA 90503, USA

Shipito.com services:

• INDIVIDUAL PACKAGES with no monthly or set up fee. $8.50 per package + postage
• VIRTUAL MAILBOX - unlimited size. Consolidation and free storage up to 45 days.
• MAGAZINES and LETTERS are mailed out for just $1. Postage for a magazine is $2.65 anywhere in the world.
• Online account. Details about each package including its tracking number. Select the best shipping method. Email notifications.
• PACKAGE CHECK - they can check content of your package, making sure everything is in good shape and nothing is missing.
• RETURNS and REFUNDS - Help with returns and refunds for products.
• ASSISTED PURCHASES in stores which require complicated verifications or accept only U.S. credit cards.
• Assisted purchases in OFFLINE STORES.

Is Shipito.com a scam, fraud or a legit company?
Several friends of mine suggested me to use Shipito.com. Last year I decided to try it myself. I joined Shipito.com on November 2010. Shipito.com has consolidated 375 my packages saving me tons of money (compared to shipping packages from US shops directly without consolidation).



Moreover Shipito allowed me to avoid sales tax using its warehouse in Oregon. And since the majority of American shops do not offer international shipping, using a freight forwarder (parcel forwarder, package forwarder) was the only option shopping there anyway.

I have sent 40+ packages from Shipito.com using USPS. I have received most of them already and have a tracking number for another one. So far no complaints at all.

Register on Shipito

[yvonneka]

Hmmm......I THINK NOT. seeing as i found this:

Originally Posted by DavidMa

Shipito / Shipito.com
Posted: 2010-02-14 by DavidMa
CREDIT CARD FRAUD !!! STAY AWAY FROM SHIPITO !!!
Complaint Rating:
Company information:
Shipito
2972 Columbia St., Torrance, CA 90503, USA
Torrance, California
United States

Shipito are thieves and criminal, pure and simple. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST !!!

Shipito.com in Torrance, California enticed my fiancée into a monthly membership for $25 and then added an assisted purchase service for which she paid separately $8.50 (plus cost of purchase, sales tax, shipping) and on top of that, they charged 10% commission from the purchase cost, but that wasn't enough... these Shipito scamers charged another 5% pretending to be Visa fees.

When she had to order more items, they kept charging her card for every item they received. She called and cancelled the membership and even paid for an additional month that she didn't use due to their questionable calculations.

Despite this, she continued to be billed $25 a month because of the credit card information that the Shipito scammers got from her membership during registration, which did not cover any assisted purchases. When challenged on these fraudulent charges, the individual introduced as the senior manager explained that the membership was just like buying a car. If you decide to keep it in the garage, you still have to pay for it.

When I explained that according to my own understanding of California and Federal law, Shipito has a right to claim money they feel they may be owed but do not have the right to abuse credit card information or make charges against an account which the owner of that account has clearly stated they do not authorize. Since my fiancee cancelled by email, and has confirmation of the cancellation and since Shipito confirms that the cancellation was due to her stopping the service, they are wrong on two accounts. Firstly, they are charging without authorization citing a membership agreement they have confirmed is closed and secondly as the car analogy is ridiculous since a car is a physical item you own and Shipito is claiming that they should still be paid for existing even though there is no way they could ever provide the services they want to charge for.

One of their useless staff ended our conversation saying that given the economy, they couldn't afford to let anybody cancel their membership and so, by the direction of his boss, whom handles these issues.

I tried to contact them by email about this problems several times with no response. When pressed for the details, they kept sending me to their FAQ page .. Their flustered explanation was to say that the agreement would be in force as long as Shipito decided it was in force, an answer I found rather extraordinary.

I told them that I didn't think that the California or Federal courts would not be sympathetic to that interpretation, to which they outright scoffed and would continue to charge whatever they thought was a proper fee.

Shipito.com has gone beyond mere predatory contract practices and is engaging in outright criminal activity. Do not trust these people with your credit card information as they have proven that they will take credit card info from one agreement and use it to charge for another one. Further, the only cancellation policy they can clearly define is not even existing.

On a personal note, the most annoying aspect of this is that these people arrogantly show you that they will continue to submit credit card charges for which they know they do not have legal authorization to charge (if by no other means in that they themselves confirmed the original membership cancellation) for services they fully admit they are incapable of providing in any reasonable manner.

Shipito are thieves and criminal, pure and simple. AVOID THEM AT ALL COST !!!

Shipito has 60'000+ clients, so you will definitely see negative reviews. They have a great forum, so you can easily find out feedback from many other users. And if you visit other forums, you may notice that Shipito is recommended more than any other freight forwarder.

A couple of comments about the "review":

Originally Posted by DavidMa

Shipito / Shipito.com
Shipito.com in Torrance, California enticed my fiancée into a monthly membership for $25 and then added an assisted purchase service for which she paid separately $8.50 (plus cost of purchase, sales tax, shipping) and on top of that, they charged 10% commission from the purchase cost, but that wasn't enough... these Shipito scamers charged another 5% pretending to be Visa fees.

I've paid $50 for my yearly membership. If you don't need package consolidation, you won't pay a monthly fee at all (by using the Individual Packages plan).

Shipito does charge 10% for assisted purchases, but you don't have to use this service from them. There are plenty of online stores that can ship to Shipito warehouses including Amazon.

Shipito charges the 4.13% bank fee if you fill in your account via a credit card or paypal. But you can use a wire transfer to avoid this fee. Then you will pay $16 only. Wire transfer might be the best solution if you use assisted purchases.

Originally Posted by DavidMa

When she had to order more items, they kept charging her card for every item they received. She called and cancelled the membership and even paid for an additional month that she didn't use due to their questionable calculations.

Despite this, she continued to be billed $25 a month because of the credit card information that the Shipito scammers got from her membership during registration, which did not cover any assisted purchases. When challenged on these fraudulent charges, the individual introduced as the senior manager explained that the membership was just like buying a car. If you decide to keep it in the garage, you still have to pay for it.

I don't really know how to comment this. You fill in your account first, and then the money from your account (deposit) is used. This comment is either too old, or it was written by someone who had never used Shipito at all.

If you continue using your Shipito account, but don't receive any packages, you should probably downgrade your account to a free one (the Individual Packages plan). Otherwise you will obviously be charged. However if your deposit is not sufficient, you will be switched to the Individual Packages plan automatically!

Originally Posted by DavidMa

I tried to contact them by email about this problems several times with no response. When pressed for the details, they kept sending me to their FAQ page .. Their flustered explanation was to say that the agreement would be in force as long as Shipito decided it was in force, an answer I found rather extraordinary.

I contacted their support by e-mail dozens of times. I was getting replies very fast.

I also raised many questions in the forums, and never had any problem there too. I may think they should do some things differently, but don't expect them to do everything I possibly want.

Originally Posted by DavidMa

I told them that I didn't think that the California or Federal courts would not be sympathetic to that interpretation, to which they outright scoffed and would continue to charge whatever they thought was a proper fee.

I wish I could see a court decision from this user.


Bottom line:
The review by DavidMa you posted doesn't look trustworthy.

I've been using Shipito since November 2010. They have processed 244 packages for me and sent 33 packages to me. And I have 6 more packages to consolidate in their Oregon (Tualatin) warehouse. Although I'm don't have a Gold or Silver status now, I'm still pretty satisfied with the company and plan to continue using it.

[alexthunder]

Never had any problems with Shipito too.

As for this "review", it is a well known false complaint. John from Shipito replied about it long ago:

Originally Posted by John

I honestly don't know, but it really bothers me. There are people who write false reviews and now false complaints against Shipito. The said part is they never even been our customers. They never tried our service. They have a basic information about service wrong. It is basically just lies with the goal to damage our company.

This really bothers me. I don’t mind handling issues from real customers. But what do I do with outright lies? It is great that Internet gives power to customers to voice concerns, but what about false complains on anonymous websites?

Why I know that review is false?

Shipito never ever saves any customer credit cards! We have no technical ability to charge customer cards. This is basically not possible with our system.

Customer must come to our website and submit new payment. Otherwise it is not possible to pay for virtual mailbox fee. In case customer doesn't have any deposit on his/her account and doesn’t submit a new payment only one thing happens. His/her Virtual mailbox plan is switched to Individual Packages plan. Individual packages have no monthly fee. So that is all what happens. There is no contract. Nothing like buying a car or other bullshit someone wrote in the article.

Why are we doing it like this?
The main reason is security reasons. We don't want to save credit cards due to the security reasons. We don't want customers credit card information to be compromised. And the best security is not to save it at all.

The rest of the facts in the article is also incorrect. But I just wanted to focus on the main fact that the person who wrote this knows nothing about our service! Couldn't even try it.

[stv9007]

im a customer. ive ordered 20 packages. all my dhl and usps packages got here. 9 packages i used their shipito airmail, of those ive only received 4. the oldest two were mailed november 9, 2011. never use their shipito airmail. they couldnt care less if they lose them. since they dont have tracking its like a license to steal. ive contacted the california attorney general. the ag replied and they will let me know how it goes. always use services with tracking. period.

[alexthunder]

Shipito is not ideal. For example, you may read the following complaints after 18 months of using Shipito. But still I haven't found anything better yet.

[stayingalive]

Originally Posted by alexthunder

Never had any problems with Shipito too.

As for this "review", it is a well known false complaint. John from Shipito replied about it long ago:

John from Shipito may be correct when he says that they don't store credit card numbers, but they get around that by making you place a deposit. Then they just deduct whatever they want from that deposit.

Basically David's review tallies with my experience with Shipito.

I have dozens of emails that I'm prepared to share which support my experience of Shipito.

Shipito have a nerve saying that a customer is lying. I've never come across a company that is as rude, deceitful and downright impossible as Shipito.

[Unimpressed Customer]

Shipito.com is not a scam - it is just an EXTREMELY PREDATORY company.

I initially registered using a family member's credit card (I don't own a credit card). The payment was accepted, and an ordered placed to their address. However, once the packages arrived to shipito, they refused to accept payment to send them to my address. Why? Apparently I had violated one of their many, many obscure terms of use.

They then placed a hold on my account and demanded an insane amount of paperwork including passports, photos IDs, and letters signed by a notary. Well, identity theft lights started going off and the person whose card I had just used backed out. No way were they going to risk identity theft to get my packages cleared.

I tried to reason with employees (my province doesn't even have notaries) to allow me to use an alternative payment method like paypal, but no luck. The replies were short, uninformative, often ignored the question I asked in the first place, and just plain RUDE. I had never dealt with a company that so blatantly disrespected their customers.

In the meantime they had my packages hostage.

Frustrated, I gave up for a period of time, only to return to the site and find my packages no longer in my account. WHAT THE HELL? I was told that I would need to pay an additional fee to have them placed back in my account, and threatened that if I didn't pay the fee quickly, and immediately ship the packages after payment, the contents of my package would be LIQUIDATED.

WHAT KIND OF COMPANY DOES THAT?

Eventually I made a wire transfer, incurring fees for the money transfer, then additional fees from the company for accepting the wire transfer, two different fees for having my packages placed back into my account, then excessive fees for the shipping itself.

Total cost for shipping packages collectively weighing 2lbs?
Over $100.

STAY AWAY.

You would have to be a complete fool to use a company like shipito.

If you would like any additional information, such as copies of emails from the company I would be more than happy to provide them. Predatory companies like this should be taken down, and I'm more than willing to help with what information I have.

Employees I dealt with: Lindsey Oshiro, Jessica, Michelle, Jon, Phi.

[alexthunder]

Originally Posted by Unimpressed Customer

Shipito.com is not a scam - it is just an EXTREMELY PREDATORY company.

I initially registered using a family member's credit card (I don't own a credit card). The payment was accepted, and an ordered placed to their address. However, once the packages arrived to shipito, they refused to accept payment to send them to my address. Why? Apparently I had violated one of their many, many obscure terms of use.

They then placed a hold on my account and demanded an insane amount of paperwork including passports, photos IDs, and letters signed by a notary. Well, identity theft lights started going off and the person whose card I had just used backed out. No way were they going to risk identity theft to get my packages cleared.

I tried to reason with employees (my province doesn't even have notaries) to allow me to use an alternative payment method like paypal, but no luck. The replies were short, uninformative, often ignored the question I asked in the first place, and just plain RUDE. I had never dealt with a company that so blatantly disrespected their customers.

In the meantime they had my packages hostage.

Frustrated, I gave up for a period of time, only to return to the site and find my packages no longer in my account. WHAT THE HELL? I was told that I would need to pay an additional fee to have them placed back in my account, and threatened that if I didn't pay the fee quickly, and immediately ship the packages after payment, the contents of my package would be LIQUIDATED.

WHAT KIND OF COMPANY DOES THAT?

Eventually I made a wire transfer, incurring fees for the money transfer, then additional fees from the company for accepting the wire transfer, two different fees for having my packages placed back into my account, then excessive fees for the shipping itself.

Total cost for shipping packages collectively weighing 2lbs?
Over $100.

STAY AWAY.

You would have to be a complete fool to use a company like shipito.

If you would like any additional information, such as copies of emails from the company I would be more than happy to provide them. Predatory companies like this should be taken down, and I'm more than willing to help with what information I have.

Employees I dealt with: Lindsey Oshiro, Jessica, Michelle, Jon, Phi.

Their terms are pretty simple. Just learn the terms BEFORE using any service.

They do require account validation. More than a hundred thousands clients have validated their accounts, so this shouldn't be a big problem. You may scan your 2 IDs and your utility bill, plus fill their form. You may just send all these documents to them via e-mail.

I did exactly that. E-mailed 2 IDs, a phone bill and their form 1583. I didn't have the 1583 form or any other documents notary signed. This allowed me to consolidate more than 100 packages and send 20 of them to Russia. Sometimes I was sending 2-3 packages of 8-16 kg per month. My monthly spending limit has always been high enough even for more packages. Customers who send more or use more expensive shipping methods can always have the documents signed by a notary to increase their spending limits. They can also use wire transfers.

You do need to fill your account with your own card or your paypal account. This is clearly mentioned in their terms. You used someone else's credit card, so you might have added this name to your Shipito account and validated it.

To fill in your account you may also use third party companies (that usually accept payments by more popular local methods). Wire transfers can also be sent, but they can be costly if you transfer small amounts.

It is easy to validate your account and fill it in. As soon as you do it, you can send your package. As I have mentioned before, Shipito.com is not ideal, but I don't really see much problems here. Believe it or not some other shipping forwarders are just a nightmare.

[stayingalive]

Originally Posted by alexthunder

To fill in your account you may also use third party companies (that usually accept payments by more popular local methods). Wire transfers can also be sent, but they can be costly if you transfer small amounts.

NEVER pay a company via wire transfer - especially using a third party company.

You have no fallback position if the company does not deliver the service you paid for. It's like sending someone cash in an envelope.

If a company won't let you pay via credit card or paypal, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. It means they are not legitimate.

In Shipito's case, they have obviously had many complaints about them through credit card companies and Paypal - that's why they try to get your money through wire transfers. That should set off alarm bells.