Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Ideel (former Ideeli) and international shipping: How to shop on Ideel.com from outside the USA

What is Ideel


Ideel is an american private shopping club (fashion sale site, private sale club, flash sale site, sample sale site). It offers designer clothing for men, women, kids at discounted prices. Private shopping clubs organize sales events for its members that typically last 1 to 6 days. Members can buy fashion clothing as well as other stuff at a 30-90% discount. Ideel (former Ideeli) is owned by Groupon.

Billing and international shipping restrictions on Ideel


Ideel.com states the following:
You must be a legal resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, who have reached the age of majority in their jurisdiction (which is generally 18 years old, but does vary state to state). You cannot have more than one membership.


You need a US debit card or credit card to make a purchase on Ideel. You may also pay for your order via Paypal. No other payment methods accepted:

Screenshot: Ideel.com: Payment method

And Ideel can ship to the USA addresses only.

Overcoming billing and international shipping restrictions on Ideel


You can shop on Ideel.com from outside the USA even, if you want your purchases to be shipped outside the USA. You need to get a virtual address in the USA using a service like Shipito.

Here is a package from Ideel.com delivered to my virtual USA address:


Package from Ideel.com on Shipito before package consolidation and international shipping
Screenshot: Package from Ideel.com in the Shipito warehouse before package consolidation and international shipping

I use a U.S. virtual address from Shipito to get my purchases. Then I use Shipito to consolidate my packages and send them overseas. So international shipping is no longer a problem.


How to shop on Ideeli.com from outside the USA



  • Get a virtual USA address from Shipito or any other parcel/package forwarding service.

  • Register on Ideel using an invitation link: www.ideel.com/invite/outlogic
    Use your virtual address when registering on Ideel.
  • When making a purchase on Ideel.com just use your USA virtual address for shipping.

  • Billing can be more complicated.

    • If you have a U.S. debit or credit card, then pay with this card and use the address associated with it for billing. This is the best option.

    • Alternatively you may use the address from your debit/credit card, but change the country to the USA and choose some state and ZIP code associated with this state. I know several people who managed to pay for their Ideel purchase this way, but of course there is no 100% guarantee.

    • Also some Ideel customers use the virtual US address for billing successfully while using a non US credit/debit card.

    • Update (05 November 2011:
      Use your virtual address as a billing address, and pay with your International credit/debit card. don't need to masquerade your IP address and pretend you're in the USA. I've done this multiple times with my russian debit card and my virtual Shipito address in Torrance, California and Tualatin, Oregon. Many international customers have the same successful experience with Ideel, but I can't guarantee it will work for you.

  • After getting a package from Ideel delivered to Shipito, fill the customs declaration form, consolidate your packages if needed, and ship them to any country you like.


Share your experience on international shipping from Ideel


Do you use a U.S. debit or credit card for making purchase on Ideel? Do you use a virtual USA address? What parcel/package forwarding service do you use?

See also


I love Ideel and will continue shopping on their site. But you may find it easier to use Private shopping sites / private shopping clubs / fashion sale sites offering International Shipping. Then you won't need to deal with parcel/package forwarding services (freight forwarding companies), and you won't have problems paying for your orders from outside the USA.


Update (October 2013): 

Ideel offers International shipping via i-Parcel


Ideel started testing international shipping a couple of months ago. The test is now over and Ideel allows to ship to the following countries: United States, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Republic of, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Monaco, Montserrat, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saint Martin, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia , Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, St. Barthelemy, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States Virgin Islands, Vatican City State.

Update (August 14, 2014): 

Ideeli is now Ideel

Groupon decided to do rebranding. So Ideeli has become Ideel.


Note that shipping via i-Parcel can be pretty expensive. Besides some products can not be shipped outside the USA. But you may still ship your Ideel orders to package forwarding companies like Shipito.
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 comment:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)