Frequently asked questions

Two ways to do it, your choice — and you can mix both in a single box.

Parcel forwarding — you buy it yourself. You create a free account and receive an address in France with a personal code. You order from any French site using that address. We receive your parcels, keep them free for 45 days, and when you're ready, we consolidate everything into one box, weigh it, and quote you the exact price — you pay, we ship.

We buy for you. The site refuses your foreign card, the seller only delivers within France, or it's a private seller on Vinted? Send us the links, we check the listings and send you a quote. You pay, we buy in your name, we receive, we inspect — then we ship as above. The detail just below ↓

How it works, step by step →

Nothing. No subscription, no entry fee, no minimum. Receiving your parcels and storing them for 45 days is free, and asking for a purchase quote costs nothing either — you only pay when you confirm, and the amount is stated to the cent beforehand.

It's your warehouse identifier — how we recognise your parcels among everything that arrives every day. Write it into the delivery address of every order, ideally on the “address line 2” field: Chez FrenchShopper — FS-4B29X7. Without it, an incoming parcel can't be matched to anyone. Your code is shown in your account, and it never changes.

It's recoverable, on one condition: declare the parcel in your account with its tracking number as soon as the seller ships it. The tracking number lets us identify the parcel on arrival even without a code on the label. If you neither added the code nor declared the tracking, write to us quickly at contact@frenchshopper.com with the recipient name and the carrier — we'll match it by hand.

All of them. Sézane, Sephora, Vinted, Fnac, Amazon.fr, small independent shops… If a site delivers within France, it can deliver to us. When you order yourself, you pay the merchant directly and we take nothing on your purchases: our only income is the shipping. If we buy for you, a service fee applies, stated on the quote before you pay. Need inspiration? Our directory of 80+ stores →

For the walls that remain. A French address is not enough when the site refuses your foreign bank card, when it blocks orders coming from another IP, or when the seller is a private individual — on Vinted or Leboncoin you need a French account, the language, and a conversation with them. In those cases, send us the link: we buy, with our account and our card. You have nothing to create on the seller's side.

1. You drop your links into your cart, with size or colour if needed — up to 20 items per request. You state no price, we look it up.
2. We check and price it. We look at each listing: still online? what is the real price? what does it cost to get it to our warehouse, seller delivery and marketplace fees included? We set aside whatever we cannot honour and send you an itemised quote.
3. You pay, we buy. Payment triggers the purchase, usually within 24 business hours. We confirm by email.
4. We receive and inspect. Every item is opened, checked and weighed — free of charge. It then joins your warehouse and follows the normal path: consolidation, box, shipping.

It is our only income on this service — everything else (the item price, its delivery to us) is passed on at cost, with no margin. The scale is progressive: each rate only applies to the part of your basket that falls within its bracket, like an income-tax scale.

• the part up to €100: 15%, with a €12 minimum per quote
• the part from €100 to €300: 12%
• the part from €300 to €600: 8%
• the part above €600: 5%

In practice: €40 of items → €12 (the minimum). €200 → €27 (15% of the first €100 + 12% of €100). €500 → €55. €1,000 → €83. Adding an item only ever raises your fee by the share that item accounts for, never by a jump — and the average rate falls as the basket grows: 15% at €100, 13% at €300, 8.3% at €1,000. The exact amount is on your quote, before any payment. Full pricing →

Two payments, never more, each announced beforehand.

At the quote: the price of the items + their delivery and any marketplace fees + our service fee. This payment is what triggers the purchase.
At shipping: the international transport, once your box is packed and weighed, with insurance, consolidation and any options.

In between, nothing is charged: storage stays free for 45 days. Each payment comes with an invoice you can download from your account.

It happens: on second-hand sites every listing is one of a kind, and we cannot reserve anything before you pay. If the item goes in the meantime, we do not buy it and we refund you its price, its delivery to us, and the part of our service fee that no longer applies — recalculated on what you actually receive, exactly as if you had ordered only that from the start. The refund goes back to your card, with a receipt attached to your invoice. If no item could be bought, everything is returned. This is also why it pays to settle quickly: between the quote and the payment, the listing lives its own life.

Always, and at no cost. We are the ones who paid the seller: we open it, compare it with the listing, weigh it. You are told the result. If you also want photos of the contents, that's €2.50 per item, added to your shipping invoice — nothing to pay when you ask. And if the inspection reveals a problem, photos of the defect are taken free of charge: they are there for your decision.

We tell you, with the photos, and you decide: keep it anyway, or have it returned to the seller. The return is free and entirely on us — it is our purchase, our seller account, our dispute. Once the seller has refunded us, you get back the item price, its delivery to us and the corresponding share of the service fee.

Only one thing matters: answer quickly. We set no deadline of our own, but the seller does — second-hand sites often close a return two days after delivery. If their window has already shut when you answer, we tell you: nothing is charged to you and the item stays yours, ready to ship.

Two routes. Before shipping, you can request a return to the seller from your account: it is on a quote — we look at what the seller accepts and send you the amount with its invoice, and nothing is charged without your agreement. Once the seller has refunded us, we return the item price to you; the delivery to our warehouse and our service fee remain due, the work having been done.

After delivery to you, you have the 14-day right of withdrawal under French law, since we are the ones who sold you the item. The cost of sending it back to France is then yours — from the other side of the world it can exceed the value of the item, so it is worth knowing. Article 8.2 of the Terms of Sale (in French).

We are. We buy the item in our own name from the seller, then resell it to you: you have no relationship with them, and we are the ones carrying the dispute if there is one. In exchange, you get the French statutory warranties — two-year conformity warranty and hidden-defects warranty — as with any professional seller.

One honest nuance: most of these items are second-hand and one of a kind. Conformity is assessed against the listing and the condition we described to you — signs of wear that were announced are not a defect. That is exactly why we open and inspect every item before shipping it. Article 10.2 of the Terms of Sale (in French).

Never upwards. The quoted price is firm: if the item went up in the meantime, that is on us. If it went down, we refund you the difference — we pass on what we actually paid, with no margin. The one thing we do not control is the listing disappearing, covered above.

Yes, and we tell you at the quote stage, before any payment. We set a listing aside when the item is already sold or withdrawn, when the seller is unreachable or refuses to deliver to us, when the goods cannot travel (the list), and when there is serious doubt about authenticity or provenance — a counterfeit would expose us as much as you. The items we keep are shown separately from those we set aside, with the reason.

Declare your orders in your account with their tracking number: we follow them automatically to the warehouse, and you're emailed the moment each one arrives, with its weighed weight. For an item we bought for you, there is nothing to declare — we tell you at the purchase, then on arrival. Your account shows at any time what's expected, what has arrived, and what's ready to go.

Not on arrival: your parcel stays sealed while it waits at the warehouse. It is opened in two cases. If you request it, with photos — €2.50 per parcel, photos online within 48 business hours; nothing to pay at request time, the amount is simply added to your shipping invoice. And when several parcels are consolidated into one shipment: taking them out of their boxes is precisely what shrinks the volume, and therefore your shipping price. We use that moment to check the contents comply with transport rules — we're the ones named as sender and certifying it to customs. No photos are taken on that occasion.

Yes. The person who orders from the shop, the name on the parcel and the account holder must be the same person. This is not red tape: a warehouse that receives goods then forwards them abroad is a known target for card fraud, and this rule protects everyone, you included. A parcel arriving under another name — a gift, an order placed by a relative — is not refused outright: tell us and show us what it is. We may ask for the shop's invoice in your name, or an ID document, before forwarding; without an answer, the parcel simply stays in stock. The detail is in article 7.6 of our Terms of Sale (in French).

45 days free per parcel, from the day it arrives — enough to finish your shopping before consolidating everything. Beyond that, €1 per day per parcel, added to the shipping fee on the day you ship; nothing is charged in between, and the meter stops the moment you click “Finalise my parcel”. We email you 5 days before the free period ends, then again when it expires. Your belongings wait for you 90 days in total from their arrival. Beyond that, with no news from you, they are considered abandoned — but never without warning: a final reminder goes out on day 75, and a single word from you stops everything, even if you cannot pay for the shipment right away (article 6.2 of the Terms of Sale, in French).

Yes, on a quote. From your account, request the return and attach the prepaid return label provided by your seller (only you can create it — it needs your account and order number) and any instructions. We review the request and send you the handling amount with its invoice: nothing is charged before you agree. Once paid, we print, stick and drop off. If the return cannot be carried out after all, the handling fee is refunded and your parcel stays in stock.

Your item's price never goes through us — you paid the seller, and its refund is between you and them, under their policy.

We set no deadline of our own, but the seller does: ask quickly, and if their window has closed when we check, we will tell you — at no cost, and your parcel stays with us. For an item we bought for you, it works differently: see the “We buy for you” section.

Yes — and it's not our call: air-transport regulations prohibit aerosols, perfume in quantity, batteries shipped on their own, alcohol depending on destination, among others. The list, explained simply →. In doubt about a specific item, write to us before ordering.

On the finished box, really weighed and measured — never on an estimate. The price includes shipping, insurance (passed on at its exact cost, no margin on our side), packaging, consolidation where relevant, and storage if you went past the 45 days. We notify you as soon as the box is weighed: you then choose your delivery among several carriers, each with its lead time and exact price — and nothing ships until you've paid. To get an idea beforehand: the calculator, with each carrier's real rates for your city.

It's where the service earns its keep. Five orders shipped separately means paying international shipping five times; consolidated into one box, it's a single shipment plus €2.50 per item from the second one. On clothing, consolidation often cuts the total cost by half or two-thirds.

You do. Depending on the destination: Colissimo, Chronopost, DHL, FedEx, UPS… At payment time you see every offer with its price and lead time, and you pick the trade-off that suits you — economy or express.

Paid on a business day before 3pm (Paris time), your parcel leaves the next business day. Paid after 3pm, it leaves the business day after that. The departure day is shown before you pay, and you then track the parcel to your door with the carrier's tracking number.

243 destinations — nearly the whole world, and French overseas territories aren't a special case: Guadeloupe, Réunion, New Caledonia and the rest are destinations like any other here. Enter your city in the calculator: if it shows a rate, we deliver.

That depends solely on your country's regulations — these charges are set by your local authorities, never by us, and they're the recipient's responsibility. Where it matters for your destination, we flag it in the calculator and before payment. Within the European Union, no customs at all: France is part of it.

Better not to. A parcel coming from the UK, the US or China clears customs on entering France, and the carrier then claims the VAT and duties from whoever receives it — that is, from us. We do not advance those amounts. If the courier demands payment before handing the parcel over, we refuse it: it goes back to your seller, nothing is charged to you, and we tell you straight away. If the carrier bills us afterwards, we pass the amount on to you at cost, with no margin and with the paperwork, and the parcel waits in stock until it is settled. The service is built for shopping in France: that is where it is simple and worthwhile. Detail in article 6.7 of the Terms of Sale (in French).

The United States suspended its “de minimis” exemption in 2025: every incoming parcel is now subject to duties, whatever its value. This isn't specific to our service — it applies to every international shipment to the USA, whoever the sender.

We do. For parcels you ordered yourself, from the descriptions and values you provide in your account; for items we bought for you, from the price actually paid, which we know. We produce the declaration and the proforma invoice, in French and English, and attach them to the parcel in a dedicated pouch. You have no form to print or sign.

Yes, by default, with no box to tick — every shipment leaves covered up to the value you declared. One rare exception: a handful of destinations no carrier insures (some remote islands, countries under restrictions). We tell you clearly before you pay, and shipments only go there with your explicit consent. Insurance is passed on to you exactly as the carrier bills us: we earn nothing on it, and its amount is visible line by line before payment. If something goes wrong, we build the claim with the carrier and the insurer, and pass the compensation on to you as soon as it's received — no paperwork on your side.

Write to us at contact@frenchshopper.com as soon as possible — ideally within 48 hours, and at most within 7 days of delivery (or as soon as tracking stalls abnormally). For a damaged parcel: photograph the box before emptying it, the inner packaging and the affected item, and keep everything — the insurer requires being able to examine them and rejects claims without the packaging. We open the case with the carrier and the insurer, and keep you posted at every step; we do the fighting, not you.

Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link, via Stripe — we never see or store your payment details. Prices can be displayed in your currency using the selector at the top of the page; the charge is made in euros, at the real exchange rate, with no surcharge from us.

Yes — your account has an address book, and you choose the destination when paying for each shipment. Handy for a gift, a second home or a stay abroad.

A shipping request: yes, free of charge, as long as you haven't paid. Your parcels simply go back into storage and the storage meter resumes. After payment, write to us quickly: as long as the box hasn't been handed to the carrier, we can still stop everything.

A purchase quote: as long as we haven't started checking, you edit or cancel your request in one click. While we are checking, it is locked until we reply — otherwise the quote would no longer match what you asked for. Once the quote is in, you are free: pay it, or don't. Nothing is bought and nothing is charged until you pay.

Write to us at contact@frenchshopper.com or via the contact page — we reply within 24 hours, in French or in English.