When I flew home to spend Christmas in Australia last year I ended up having to travel with two bags. Knowing that we would be moving to Australia permanently 6 months down the track, we had originally thought this Christmas visit would be the perfect opportunity to ferry as much of our stuff home as possible, to lighten the cost of shipping associated with our future move.
Though as with all best laid plans, we ended up not having the room. Upon announcing a Christmas visit to Australia from the States, the shopping orders started flying in. My phone went crazy with notifications from what seemed like everyone I knew. Become an international shopper and make money overseas.
Lingerie from Victoria’s Secret. Perfume that they won’t ship internationally. Pandora charms exclusive to the States. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been asked to pick something up while traveling, it probably could have paid for our entire move! Make money shopping for people overseas.
My second suitcase ended up being a dedicated “goods” bag for items we had picked up at other people’s request. We joked at the time that we should start charging a commission to shop for people overseas.
Unfortunately though, the majority of requests came in from family and friends, and while I’m sure some would have happily thrown a delivery fee our way, I didn’t have the heart to say no. Though I did put my foot down 6 months later when it came time to actually move! Review of Grabr.
Recently, however, I have discovered a platform which removes the heart from this particular scenario, and allows travelers to make some extra cash. A peer-to-peer delivery service called Grabr; a crowdshipping app where people can easily get access to all of their favorite international goods by paying travelers to bring it to you! Can travelers deliver my stuff from overseas?
What is Grabr
Grabr is international crowdsourced delivery service. Their vision is to deliver anything, from anywhere in the world, within 24 hours.
Their mission is to become the most reliable, fastest, and most human delivery service in the world. In the long run they are aiming to change the way all goods are delivered around the globe. How to get paid to shop for people.
You can hover over these (or any image) to quickly pin it!
Theoretically, you should be able to order anything from anywhere in the world and have it delivered regardless of where you’re located, at a fair price, and without having to wait a month for it to arrive. Though with international restrictions this is generally not the case.
For instance, Australia doesn’t produce much in the way of chocolate which is gluten free. A massive hit for Mike who is used to being able to eat Hershey Bars and M&M’s which are. Get around international shipping.
For some reason the recipe for M&M’s in Australia is different to that of the United States and frustratingly includes wheat…probably not something which would have gone in my favor if he knew he had to give up chocolate to live with me!!! Shipping options for companies who won’t ship overseas.
Just the shipping to order bulk chocolate from the US to Australia would cost upwards of $120 USD. Who can solve this problem? Grabr.
Grabr was born from recognizing this problem, and realizing that international travelers are the solution. Travel is now a 7 trillion dollar industry worldwide, and visiting other countries for many people is the norm. So when it comes to figuring out how to source hard to find items from abroad, why not allow travelers to deal with it on a peer-to-peer level?
Win-Win For Both Travelers and Buyers
How Grabr works is that the shopper creates a grab (that’s what they call orders), travelers make their delivery offers, the shopper then chooses the traveler he/she likes, and a delivery happens!
So travelers get an added sense of adventure, some extra cash, and a chance to meet new people. Shoppers get access to goods that they otherwise couldn’t have. How to make money while traveling the world.
The amount of money to fulfill the buyer’s grab (your delivery fee) is agreed upon before you head off to shop, and there is no cap on the number of Grabs you can take on at once, so theoretically your earning potential is unlimited.
At this stage travelers should have bank account in the US or Canada, though this is the only limitation, shoppers can make orders from around the world.
We are looking forward to watching the platform grow to the stage where travelers can register from all over the world. Because this is a brilliant concept and I guarantee it will absolutely boom.
Is Grabr Safe?
Grabr is totally safe. Once an offer has been accepted, they place the payment on hold by pre-authorizing the shoppers credit card until the grab has been delivered and confirmed by the shopper. Once the confirmation takes place, they release the payment to the traveler.
If you’re not sure you want someone delivering to your home you can choose any delivery location, it’s totally up to you. Grabr do their best to keep all transactions safe and legal by warning you about regulations that apply. If a transaction causes a safety problem, their policy is to terminate the Member who caused the problem. Make money while traveling.
Start Using Grabr
Your travels take you to distant places…why not make some extra money while you’re there? Start your free Grabr account for opportunities to get paid to pick up items for Shoppers. It literally only takes a few seconds to begin, and you don’t even need to sign in to browse the current grabs.
You can quickly sign in with your Facebook account or login with your email address. If anyone is traveling to Canberra from the USA, seriously please make an offer on delivery for us of some Almond Hershey Bars and M&M’s, and if you’re eager to make extra cash with Grabr by claiming other grabs, or need some hard-to-find goods delivered, place an order or make an offer for delivery now! How to get hard-to-find goods delivered from abroad.
I’m sure you have been asked by your friends or family to bring something from abroad. Now you can get paid!
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55 Comments
Hi Megan! Wow, you stay on top of the trends. This is an interesting service, good to know about it!
We try :D! Thanks Veronika – definitely check this out if you’re looking for some extra cash while you travel…or something hard to find from abroad!
What a great concept. You should connect with Michael Q Todd and I and discuss promoting Grabr when we do a full launch. Here in Panama we get frustrated because we have no real mail service. Instead we rely on forwarding services in Miami. The extra costs usually are not worth it to ship things.
Sounds like Grabr could be perfect for your situation then Randy – I can imagine it would be fairly frustrating to not have a proepr mail service. Hopefully this peer to peer network really takes off and solves that problem for you :)
Hi! This is great! I’ve been doing this for 30 years! It got so big that it became my business.. I specialized in buying for friends in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt.. I soon started shipping container loads! Hence my business name:
US Mideast Trade
I travel light (back pack) leaving my 2 suitcases just for deliveries – I pack auto parts books clothes food computers first aid brochures vitamins drugs – legal ones – What doesn’t fit I have a local freight forwarder that takes care of air and ocean freight. I’ve had request for jet fuel., Flowers from Zimbabwe, US cars.,
one thing you must be very careful of: National Security! An item given to you could have something illegal inside.. Or even a bomb. So, be very cautious. Even after you build up trust and confidence – be wary. Remember the Pan Am flt over Lockerbe – that girl was bringing a radio given to her by her so called boyfriend – they used her to blow up the aircraft. The radio was actually a bomb.
Thanks for sharing your experiences Dina – there really is something here, and travelers are the perfect people to take advantage of a business opportunity like this! Very cool that you managed to make a full time business from the concept!
Absolutely re being careful of national security – that is the decent thing about a service like this though which is shopping for people as opposed to being given goods to take back without knowing where they came from. You have much more control over what you are traveling with and you know that it came from a reputable source :)
hi dina are you coming Egypt soon
Wow, I never heard nor thought about doing something like this commercially, thanks for sharing! :D
For sure! May as well take advantage of a need if you’re traveling the world already!
I haven’t heard of this before but it’s perfect for my husband and I. We live in the US but we’re Canadians and we always think of things from home that we want. Asking family is always a hassle. I’m going to look it up now. Thanks for the tip.
And especially since there are so many who travel from Canada to the States and vice versa, that should be a fairly easy route for you to find travelers willing to pick things up along their way. Have fun!
Actually this is a very interesting concept and one which I am sure will work out. I won’t buy for anyone when we travel; it’s a hard and fast rule. However, I can see that where someone can make some money and yes have a bit of fun while doing this, that it will be a sure fire winner. Clever.
I really think it’s going to be a huge concept soon too! Surprised it didn’t come about sooner actually!
This is actually a brilliant idea and at first I thought it was something I could do. Until I saw that you had to have a US/Canadian bank account. Ah well, maybe it’ll expand in the future or maybe there are other similar versions out there. Anyway, definitely a good idea when you want to make money on the road.
I’m thinking that it’s honestly going to blow up into such a huge concept very soon that it won’t be long until they’re forced to expand. Hopefully they’ll be able to cover a larger portion of the world when they do :) Will keep you posted!
What an excellent idea – any ideas when it will be launched in the UK / Europe?
I’ll shoot them a note and get back to you on that – I hope it’s going to be soon. Such a fabulous idea so I can see the company pushing some huge growth very soon.
Very very interesting and tempting since Ben is starting the scd diet (beyond the GF diet- you and Mike should check it out)while in mexico and we need a yogurt maker or a heating pad… Getting it within 24hrs instead of two months via Amazon sounds appealing. We will have to check it out.
Amazon shipping times are ridiculous – hopefully services like this will really start making the competition fierce and push bigger companies like Amazon to start making their delivery time frames much more reasonable.
Thanks for the tip on the SCD diet – will look into that! Hope you manage to sort out a yogurt maker or a heating pad soon! X
This is genius! I’ve never heard of it but feel like I’m going to be totally addicted :D
Isn’t it Maria! I’m already totally addicted! It’s a win win whether you’re a shopper or a traveler, and I have a feeling I’ll be jumping back and forth between both :D
What a fantastic idea! I’ve had several things I wanted shipped to me from the States and thought it would be way too expensive. I’ll have to check out this service.
Absolutely Jen – you’ll love them! Such a clever concept for a business.
This makes so much sense! It’s so obvious, it’s brilliant! Getting around outrageous shipping costs is definitely a win!
Absolutely Betsy! The obvious solutions are often the most brilliant :D
We live abroad and have never heard of this! Thanks for sharing it!
Glad to introduce you to the concept! Hope you can make good use of it :)
That is very interesting, are there any importing fees or customs issues with that? I’d be happy to join since I definitively travel a lot and this is something that we do in my company already bringing stuff from other offices
Not if you’re not bringing back anything questionable – the company has a team who goes over the grabs and will alert you if there are any legal issues with bringing something into the country you’re headed to, and in the case that it’s against customs or quarantine generally the grab will be terminated. Vast majority of the time it’s people looking for legitimate stuff which don’t pose any customs or security threats :)
Wow – thanks for the suggestion! I’d never heard of this and will definitely put it on my list of “things to consider for 2016” … we’ll be on the road until the end of the year most of the time and the list is already huge but I’ll dedicate more time to things like these when home again (and after, to Tasmania)
You’re welcome! Definitely add it to the todo list for when you return home from your trip – though if you find the time to have a scan of the current grabs maybe you’ll see something there you can grab in Tassie for someone and deliver when you return home :)
What a fun idea!
Brilliant isn’t it!!
Gosh you’re always so “ahead of the times” with all of these new-coming apps and services for travel! Or maybe just “ahead of my times” lol. Thanks for the info :)
Thanks Alli! We try to stay on top of the trends :D
Hi Meg,
This is such a cool idea, and a fab way for travelers to make some scratch on the side. Neat way to get paid while living vicariously through shoppers for long term digital travelers like me and Kelli. We don’t buy jack squat because we need to carry what we buy. Perfect Storm; feel a shopping high, but get PAID for buying stuff. Not a bad deal. Thanks for the clever share.
Signing off from Nicaragua.
Ryan
Hope you’re enjoying your time in Nicaragua! Glad you like the concept too Ryan – definitely a fab way to get a little bit of a shipping fix as well as being paid to do it too :D
Cool app! Looks like a good way to offset a small part of various travel costs while also helping out some other people.
Absolutely Mary – may as well take advantage of every possible business opportunity if it means keeping you on the road for a little longer or providing some extra cash for a more memorable vacation while you’re there :)
Grabr really is genius! We’re headed home for the holidays this year and our “can you bring me this?” list is already out of control!
Isn’t it just!! Totally feel your pain on that one Alana – I wasn’t over exaggerating when I said that we literally had a whole second suitcase full of “can you bring me this” when I traveled home over Christmas earlier in the year!!
What a great idea! I pack light so this is a great way to make some extra money.
Absolutely – and some of the items people will be looking for are going to be small tokens too, so wouldn’t necessarily take up too much space in your bag for those who do pack light :)
It looks like you’re not using the service anymore. May I ask why?
Hi Lori :) We’ve recently based ourselves in Australia and have been prioritizing domestic travel and exploring our home base. So because we haven’t been overseas we haven’t had the opportunity to use the service in a little while.
Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions I can help with :) Thanks!
I thought that only pilots and air hostesses can earn money this way. And it appears to be wrong:) Is it cheaper than regular shipping with USPS or parcl? Or maybe it is used for delivery of rare food.
Not just pilots and air hostesses … every traveler can earn money this way now :) The price for delivery is set by the person placing the order … when you list an item you want someone to bring you, you set what you’re willing to pay them for the service. So re being cheaper than regular shipping, the price is up to you :)
Hi there,
I am interested in this kind of travel. let me know how i could join your company.
Kazi
You can register on Grabr directly to become a traveler and accept opportunities :) Happy travels!
Hi
How are you?
Can you deliver in india from los angles its urgent.
Hi Rahul, if you would like to place an order jump over to the Grabr website directly and you can organize everything from there.
Thanks!
What about the fact that there are limits to import in most countries? You can’t just bring hundreds of dollars worth of stuff into another country without paying customs duties. A small pack of M&Ms sure, but this sounds like people are stuffing whole suitcases with stuff for this purpose.
Hi CJ, a lot of the time it’s one or two items that people are bringing, to make an extra $100 or so. For a frequent traveler this can become quite profitable. But if you’re taking on multiple grabs for people at the same time and stuffing your suitcase for this purpose, yes, you should make sure you fully understand the import limits for the country you’re visiting.
I love this idea. But, I am a long time traveler, so do you have any solution or direction to point me in if I would like to SEND the goods to the buyer instead of carrying it back with me?
Thanks!
I’ll keep my eye out and let you know if I hear of something – I’m not aware of anything like that off the top of my head, but it would be a great addition to the Grabr platform if they were updating their business model at any point :)