Things I've bought on Amazon from Nigeria

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post on how I normally buy things on Amazon and have it shipped to my Nigerian address using 2 international courier services which are DHL and Fedex. I've received a lot of questions on that regard on several blog posts which I've written.

Well, It's been about 3 years since then and in order to share with you guys my experiences so far as an Amazon and eBay shopper from Nigeria, I've decided to compile a list of some of the things I've been able to buy on Amazon and how it all went down.

Here is a list of some things I've bought on Amazon and got it shipped to my address in Lagos within as little as 5 working days:

Some of the things I've bought from Amazon
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1. Nikon COOLPIX S01 10.1 MP Digital Camera (Silver): This is really a good camera that can take pictures and capture video. Audio and video quality are both good.

2. Amazon Gift Cards: This is good for settling your bills at Amazon as well as sending or receiving gifts from someone.

3. Kindle Fire HD 7: It's the best tablet I have right now and you can browse, play music, watch videos as well as play games on it.

4. iMicro SP-IM942 Headset with Microphone

5. DATASTREAM High Speed 6 ft Braided Micro HDMI to HDMI Cable : I used this to connect my Kindle Fire to my LG HDTV

6. SanDisk Cruzer 8 GB USB Flash Drive : Flash drives are cool for storing files as well as making computers faster using Readyboost. This one was retractable and came at a good price too.

7. Standard 15-Pin VGA Male to VGA Male Cable

8. TOSHIBA SATELLITE M45-S265 laptop:
Buying laptops from Amazon are the best way to save money when shopping for a laptop.

9. HP 21 Ink Cartridge in Retail Packaging, Twin Pack-Black: Amazon is a cool place to get a lot of computer accessories.

10. Nike Lebron X Mens Basketball Shoes: A friend required that I buy this for him since he loves playing basketball. It wasn't available in the country yet and so had to import it from Amazon.

11. AC Adapter/Battery Charger for Sony Vaio Laptop: My Sony Vaio laptop charger blew up thanks to a power surge and so I had to get a replacement.

12. Panasonic EW3006S Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor: With the increasing rate at which young people are dying as a result of hear diseases, one doesn't have to wait till he is old before checking his blood pressure. I just thought it would be wise to check my blood pressure from time to time and without visiting the doctor.

13. Keds Men's Champion CVO Sneaker: Sneakers are good and I needed them for casual going out and walking exercises. They look a bit formal and yet rugged.

14. Case Star Octopus Style Portable and adjustable Tripod Stand Holder: If you want to create still looking videos on a camera, you'd need a tripod stand. This works well with my Nikon camera and you can place it on a variety of surfaces.

15. Amazon Kindle PowerFast for Accelerated Charging: My Kindle wasn't charging fast enough with the USB cable. This did the job and I should have probably bought it along with the Kindle Fire in the first place.

16. Toshiba Satellite A135-S7403 15.4" Notebook: I just love Toshiba laptops.

17. Hynix 1GB DDR2 RAM PC2-5300 200-Pin Laptop SODIMM : I needed this for one of my laptops just to increase the speed. If your laptop comes with the new Windows OS, you'd need more RAM.

18. Norton 360 2014 - 1 User / 3 Licenses [Download]: Instead of getting a Norton CD, I opted for a digital download version and this saves me time, money and helped keep the world green.

19. Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094: This is the best laptop I've got from Amazon till date and it works pretty fast and came with an Original Windows 7 OS.

20. Micro USB Retractable Cable: I bought them because I was tired of USB cables that were getting in the way. These cables are retractable!

21. ReVIVE ReStore RA4 Universal 14-watt Folding Solar Charger w/ Dual USB Ports: I bought this in order to be able to recharge my mobile phone and Kindle using solar energy

How I normally reduce my shopping costs
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- I normally prefer buying items that come with free US shipping
- I buy items in bulk to reduce overall unit shipping cost. This means that if an item is light in weight and small in size e.g. like a flash drive, I normally would buy plenty in order for it to make up to at least 1kg since I would be charged about the same price for international shipping.
- I now make use of a Naira Visa card: Due to the various charges and trouble associated with getting a USD funded card
- I take advantage of shopping discounts during seasons such as Christmas, Easter and other times

How I make payments at Amazon
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I started out with making payments using USD funded Visa and Mastercard issued by Nigerian banks but lately due to the unpredictable value of the Naira at black markets and hidden charges, I now make use or Naira Visa cards. Once I've added my card to my Amazon account, future payments will then be billed on my default card even it is with a Nigerian billing address.

How I get my items shipped from Amazon
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Amazon accepts payments from Nigerian issued cards such as Visa and Mastercard and you can even choose to pay in Naira. I then make use of a US shipping address which my mail forwarding service provides and that gets my item shipped to that US address after which I can forward it for international shipping to Nigeria using DHL or Fedex.

How I get my items shipped to Nigeria
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I make use of a US mail forwarding service and would pay the final international shipping charges to Nigeria using DHL or Fedex. I prefer DHL for now and have done a lot of shipments through them. When problems arise and I'm invited for clarifications, I normally go with my Amazon invoice to the DHL office at the Murtala Mohammed Airport(Cargo section). It rarely happens though that your shipment may be delayed at the airport and so for most occasions, there has not been any problems.

It takes about 5 working day to have my item shipped to Nigeria once it has been shipped by my US agents. If they ship out by Monday, I get to receive it on Thursday or Friday of the same week. US shipping from Amazon doesn't take that long and it can be as fast as a 24 hr period.