Personal Shopper
By Volkan
By Volkan
When to use Personal Shopper, fees, order statuses, cancellations and refunds.
Personal Shopper: when you need it and how to place a request
Short answer: If a store in the US or Turkey won't accept your card, your address or your phone number, our Personal Shopper team can buy the item for you and have it delivered to your ForwardMe warehouse. Send us the product link, and we'll place the order within 12–24 hours on business days. How a Personal Shopper order works in four steps, with the Personal Shopper fees When you need Personal Shopper You can buy from most online stores yourself and ship to your ForwardMe address. Personal Shopper helps when a store gets in the way, for example when: - your international card is declined, or the store needs the billing and shipping addresses to match - the checkout is blocked for international buyers, or the store refuses forwarding addresses - a marketplace only lets buyers in that country purchase (some US marketplaces, such as Mercari and Poshmark, work this way) - a Turkish site asks for a local phone number and a one-time code (OTP) to verify your account Personal Shopper is available for stores in the US and Turkey. We can't buy from stores in other countries. Turkish sites that need an OTP: contact our support team before you order. We'll help and can provide an alternative phone number for verification. How to place a request 1. Log in to your ForwardMe account and open the Personal Shopper section. 2. Click Create Request. 3. Paste the link to the exact product page. A store's homepage or a general social media link isn't enough for us to find the item. 4. Add the size, color, quantity and any other details the seller needs. 5. Add more items if you like. One request can include items from several stores. 6. Check the domestic shipping options (see below), then submit and pay. Tip on domestic shipping: the cost of shipping from the seller to our warehouse depends on the seller. Before you submit, add the items to the seller's own cart to see whether free or faster shipping is available, and note your choice at Personal Shopper checkout. What it costs | Fee | Amount | |---|---| | Service Fee | $8.50 per up to 10 items | | Processing Fee | 7% of the total order amount | | ForwardMe Commission | 4% of the total order amount | These fees are the same on every membership plan. International shipping from our warehouse to you is paid separately when you ship the package. You can compare plans on our membership page. What happens after you submit - We buy the item within 12–24 hours on business days. Our team doesn't work on weekends, so a request placed on Friday evening or over the weekend is handled on the next business day. - If the final amount is higher than what you paid, for example because of domestic shipping, we send you an invoice for the difference. We place the order as soon as it's paid. - If you paid more than was needed, we refund the unused amount. - The seller ships to our warehouse, and the package appears in your account after we log it. From there you ship it like any other package. What we can't buy Digital products and subscriptions can't be bought through Personal Shopper: software licences, gift cards delivered by email, streaming plans and similar. Everything we buy has to be a physical item that ships to our warehouse. Items that require bidding can't be bought either. eBay auctions and similar bidding listings are out of scope under our Terms (§10.6); we can only buy fixed-price "Buy It Now" listings. Fixed-price marketplace listings, including those on eBay, Mercari and Poshmark, are fine. Common questions Can I cancel my request? Once an order is submitted and paid, it can't simply be cancelled (Terms §10.7). Contact our support team as early as you can: cancellation isn't guaranteed, and a cancellation fee may apply. After purchase, it depends on the store's or seller's return policy. See "Cancelling a Personal Shopper order, seller cancellations and refunds". What if the seller never ships my item? Let us know. Once we confirm the issue, we issue your refund within 12–24 hours. Refunds reach your card or PayPal within 1–3 days. Why did I get an extra invoice? Usually because domestic shipping or another cost was higher than the amount paid at checkout. Your order continues once the invoice is paid. Can Personal Shopper buy from a store in Germany or the UK? No. Personal Shopper currently covers stores in the US and Turkey only. Does my membership plan lower the Personal Shopper fees? No. The fees are the same for every plan. Still need help? Our support team is available on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 ET at [email protected].
Personal Shopper order statuses: what each one means and how long it takes
Short answer: We buy your items within 12–24 hours on business days. After that, the timing depends mostly on the seller: how quickly they ship, and how long their courier takes to reach our warehouse. Once the package arrives, we log it into your account within 24 hours at the latest, usually the same day. Where your order is, and who we're waiting on What each stage means | Status | What's happening | Who we're waiting on | Typical time | |---|---|---|---| | Pending | We've received your request, and it's waiting to be processed. | Us | Together with Processing: 12–24 hours, business days only | | Processing | Our team is working on your purchase. | Us | | | Purchased | We've placed the order with the store or seller. | The seller, to ship it | Depends on the seller | | Shipped | The seller has sent the package to our warehouse, not to you yet. | The seller's courier | Depends on the seller's shipping option | | Delivered | The package has reached our warehouse and is logged into your account. We email you. | — | Logged within 24 hours, usually the same day | Delivered is the last Personal Shopper step. It means the item is in your ForwardMe account, not at your door. Shipping it to you is a separate step: you create a shipment from your account, choose a delivery address and a shipping option, and we send it to you. Pending or Processing: why it can take longer Our team buys items on business days only. We don't work on Saturday or Sunday, so a request placed on Friday evening or over the weekend is handled on the next business day. A request can also stay in Pending or Processing when something needs your attention: - An unpaid extra invoice. If the final cost is higher than what you paid, for example because of the seller's domestic shipping, we send you an invoice for the difference. We place the order as soon as it's paid, so check your email. - A link we can't use. We need the link to the exact product page. A store's homepage or a general social media link doesn't tell us which item to buy. - A Turkish site that asks for an OTP. Contact our support team. We'll help and can provide an alternative phone number for verification. Purchased and Shipped: the seller's part Once we've bought the item, the seller decides how quickly it ships and which courier carries it to our warehouse. This is the stage that varies most, especially on marketplaces where every seller works differently. If a seller doesn't ship your item for any reason, let us know. There's no fixed waiting period: once we've identified the problem, we issue your refund within 12–24 hours, and it reaches your card or PayPal within 1–3 days. Tip: before you submit a request, add the items to the seller's own cart to see whether free or faster shipping is available, and note your choice at Personal Shopper checkout. Delivered: when it arrives We log the package into your account within 24 hours at the latest, usually the same day, during warehouse working hours on weekdays. We email you when it's there. See "My package shows as delivered but isn't in my account yet" if the seller's tracking says delivered and you can't see it. Common questions It's been 24 hours and my order still says Pending or Processing. Is something wrong? Check the day first: we buy on business days only, so weekends don't count. Then check your email for an extra invoice. If neither applies, contact us with your request details. My order has said Purchased for over a week. What's happening? We're waiting for the seller to ship. If you think the seller isn't going to ship, let us know and we'll look into it. If they don't, we'll refund you. Does "Shipped" mean it's on its way to me? Not yet. It means the seller has shipped it to our warehouse. You ship it to yourself once it's in your account. My order says Delivered, but I don't have it. Why? Delivered means the item reached our warehouse and is in your ForwardMe account. To get it to your door, create a shipment from your account. Do I need to do anything while I wait? Usually not. Just pay any extra invoice we send, and create your shipment once the package appears in your account. Still need help? Our support team is available on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 ET at [email protected].
Personal Shopper fees and extra invoices
Short answer: Personal Shopper costs a $8.50 Service Fee per up to 10 items, plus a 7% Processing Fee and a 4% ForwardMe Commission on the total order amount. The fees are the same on every membership plan. If the order ends up costing more than you paid, we send an extra invoice, and if it costs less, we refund the difference. The fees | Fee | Amount | |---|---| | Service Fee | $8.50 per up to 10 items | | Processing Fee | 7% of the total order amount | | ForwardMe Commission | 4% of the total order amount | Example: for one item with a total order amount of $100, the fees are $8.50 + $7.00 + $4.00 = $19.50. These fees don't depend on your membership plan. Free, Premium and VIP members pay the same. You can compare what each plan does include on our membership page. What your payment covers, and what it doesn't When you pay for a Personal Shopper request, you pay for: - the items themselves - domestic shipping, from the seller to our warehouse - the Personal Shopper fees above International shipping, from our warehouse to you, isn't part of the request. You pay it later, when you create a shipment for the package in your account. Domestic shipping depends on the seller Each store or seller sets its own shipping cost and options. Some ship for free, some charge a flat rate and some offer a faster courier for more. Tip: before you submit your request, add the items to the seller's own cart. You'll see whether free shipping or a faster courier is available. Note your choice at Personal Shopper checkout so we know which option to pick. Why you might get an extra invoice Sometimes the final cost is higher than the amount paid at checkout. For example, the seller's domestic shipping costs more than expected, or the store adds another charge when we place the order. When that happens: 1. We email you an invoice for the missing amount. 2. Your order waits until the invoice is paid. 3. We continue with the purchase as soon as it's paid. We buy on business days within 12–24 hours, so paying the invoice promptly keeps your order moving. Unused amounts are refunded If the order costs less than you paid, for example because shipping turned out to be free, we refund the unused amount. Refunds reach your card or PayPal within 1–3 days. Why the Personal Shopper fees aren't refunded later Personal Shopper and shipping are two separate services. The Personal Shopper fees pay us for buying the item on your behalf, and that job is done once the item has been purchased and logged into your account — from that point, the item is yours. Shipping it to your country is a separate service, with its own process and its own fees. Because of that, the Service Fee, Processing Fee and ForwardMe Commission are earned once the item has been purchased, and they aren't refunded afterwards — even if something later goes wrong with the shipment, including a shipment that's refused at customs, returned or abandoned. See our Terms (§10.14(a)). Common questions Does my Personal Shopper payment include shipping to my country? No. It covers domestic shipping from the seller to our warehouse. You pay for international shipping when you ship the package from your account. The marketplace subtotal already includes delivery. Why is there a separate domestic shipping line? Domestic shipping in your request is the cost of getting the item from the seller to our warehouse. If the amount you paid covers more than the actual cost, we refund the difference. Do Premium or VIP members pay lower Personal Shopper fees? No. The fees are the same on every plan. I didn't pay the extra invoice yet. Will my order still be placed? Not until it's paid. Your order continues as soon as we receive the payment. Still need help? Our support team is available on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 ET at [email protected].
Cancelling a Personal Shopper order, seller cancellations and refunds
Short answer: Once an order is submitted and paid, it can't simply be cancelled. Contact our support team as early as you can, and we'll tell you what's possible for your order — cancellation isn't guaranteed, and a fee may apply. After we've bought it, a cancellation becomes a return, which depends on the store's or seller's return policy. Refunds reach your card or PayPal within 1–3 days. Can I cancel, and when is my refund issued? If you change your mind Once your order is submitted and paid, we can't simply cancel it on request — that's how our Terms (§10.7) work, because we commit to the purchase on your behalf. If you've changed your mind: - Contact our support team as early as you can, and tell us which request or items you mean. - We check how far the order has got and what the seller allows. - Cancellation isn't guaranteed, and a cancellation fee may apply. We buy items within 12–24 hours on business days, so the sooner you write to us, the more we can usually do. Cancelling after we've bought it After purchase, the item can only come back as a return, and whether a return is possible depends on where we bought it. | Where we bought it | What happens | |---|---| | A regular online store | The store's own return policy applies. | | A marketplace (Mercari, Poshmark, eBay and similar) | It depends on the individual seller's return policy. | On marketplaces: - If the seller accepts the return, we send the item back and refund you once we've collected the amount from the seller. - If the seller refuses the return, we can't issue a refund. Check the seller's return policy before you order if you think you might change your mind. How a return works 1. Contact our support team and ask to return the item. 2. We request the return from the seller. 3. Once the seller approves it, we hand the package to the courier within 24–48 hours. 4. How long it takes to reach the seller depends on the shipping option and the domestic courier. 5. When we've collected the amount from the seller, we refund you. No refund is issued until the merchant has received the goods back, processed the refund, and paid us — this can take several weeks, so a return isn't a fast way to get your money back. Some items also can't be returned at all: final-sale items, personalised items, intimate apparel and swimwear. Check the seller's return policy before you order if you're not sure. See our Terms (§10.9.2–10.9.3). If the item is wrong or damaged If what arrives is damaged or not what you ordered, contact our support team within 7 days of the item being processed into your account. Reporting it quickly gives us the best chance of resolving it with the seller. If the seller cancels or doesn't ship Sometimes a seller cancels an order or never ships the item. There's no fixed waiting period before we act. Let us know if your order seems stuck, and once we've identified the problem, we issue your refund within 12–24 hours. If only one item in your request is out of stock, we cancel and refund just that item, and the rest of your order goes ahead. Refund timing | Situation | When we issue the refund | |---|---| | Cancellation agreed before purchase | After our support team confirms it, less any cancellation fee | | Seller cancels or doesn't ship | Within 12–24 hours of identifying the problem | | Return accepted by the seller | After we collect the amount from the seller | Once we've issued a refund, it reaches your card or PayPal within 1–3 days. Common questions Can I just cancel my order? Not on request. Once an order is submitted and paid, cancellation isn't guaranteed and a fee may apply. Contact our support team as early as you can and we'll tell you what's possible for your order. Can I cancel a marketplace order after you've bought it? Only if the seller accepts a return. If they refuse, we can't refund the purchase. My order has said Purchased for a long time. Will you cancel it? Contact us. If the seller isn't going to ship, we'll refund you within 12–24 hours of identifying the problem. You told me my refund was issued, but I don't see the money yet. Refunds take 1–3 days to reach your card or PayPal after we issue them. If it's been longer, contact us. Something I received isn't what I ordered. What can I do? Contact our support team with your request details and photos within 7 days of the item being processed into your account, and we'll check the options with the seller. Still need help? Our support team is available on weekdays from 09:00 to 17:00 ET at [email protected].