Christmas Gifts:

[rivan]

So my brother in law and his family live in Cape Town, and I've got direct experience with how ...erm... reliable the post is in getting mail and packages to them. Usually, it's lucky to get there at all, and usually takes many weeks. UPS/FedEx are simply outrageous to get gifts there as well, though they're at least reliable.

Anyone have any recommendations for a company I might buy a toy from that would ship to Cape Town, preferrably a South African company. On a visit, we hit a mall in Cape Town that had a decent toy store in it - their equivalent of a KB or so, but I can't recall the name.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: rivan
So my brother in law and his family live in Cape Town, and I've got direct experience with how ...erm... reliable the post is in getting mail and packages to them. Usually, it's lucky to get there at all, and usually takes many weeks. UPS/FedEx are simply outrageous to get gifts there as well, though they're at least reliable.

Anyone have any recommendations for a company I might buy a toy from that would ship to Cape Town, preferrably a South African company. On a visit, we hit a mall in Cape Town that had a decent toy store in it - their equivalent of a KB or so, but I can't recall the name.

try ebay? this sounds like a classic scam.

seriously though, i don't know.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: rivan
So my brother in law and his family live in Cape Town, and I've got direct experience with how ...erm... reliable the post is in getting mail and packages to them. Usually, it's lucky to get there at all, and usually takes many weeks. UPS/FedEx are simply outrageous to get gifts there as well, though they're at least reliable.

Anyone have any recommendations for a company I might buy a toy from that would ship to Cape Town, preferrably a South African company. On a visit, we hit a mall in Cape Town that had a decent toy store in it - their equivalent of a KB or so, but I can't recall the name.

try ebay? this sounds like a classic scam.

seriously though, i don't know.

What sounds like a scam? Me asking for a reference to a toy store in SA? 😕

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Maybe it's easier if you just give them the money to get the gift.

 

[dullard]

Best solution: send money to your sister/brother-in-law and tell them what to buy. I suppose I could ask my South African friends what they use to ship, but I bet they'll all use the same answer - have your relatives buy it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: rivan
So my brother in law and his family live in Cape Town, and I've got direct experience with how ...erm... reliable the post is in getting mail and packages to them. Usually, it's lucky to get there at all, and usually takes many weeks. UPS/FedEx are simply outrageous to get gifts there as well, though they're at least reliable.

Anyone have any recommendations for a company I might buy a toy from that would ship to Cape Town, preferrably a South African company. On a visit, we hit a mall in Cape Town that had a decent toy store in it - their equivalent of a KB or so, but I can't recall the name.

try ebay? this sounds like a classic scam.

seriously though, i don't know.

What sounds like a scam? Me asking for a reference to a toy store in SA? 😕

no, i mean the situation. i'm assuming you're in the US or somewhere other than africa.
the scam usually goes "i'm buying this for my son's birthday. i am currently in the US for business. My son goes to college in Nigeria."

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: dullard
Best solution: send money to your sister/brother-in-law and tell them what to buy. I suppose I could ask my South African friends what they use to ship, but I bet they'll all use the same answer - have your relatives buy it.

That's what we did last year, but this year they've got a new baby, he's got a new bazillion-hour-a-week job, and I just generally wanted to save them the aggrivation.

Edit: Yeah, I'm in the states, and yeah, I see what you were getting at now. I am a businessman with an unusual liking for money orders/paypal/whatever they're using these days 😉