I stumbled upon this website a couple of years ago and have been a regular buyer ever since. On average, I will buy from iHerb once in every 2-3 months and I usually get chocolates and snacks for our kiddos and my hubby. I do get questions on and off either from friends or via PMs I received on my FB page on iHerb, so I think it is time to write down a proper blog post with tips and FAQs pertaining to this so that it is easier for me to direct you guys to this post as well hehehe...
Some of the things I can share based on my iHerb shopping experiences for more than 2 years :
* Trial Products - iHerb use to have a Freebies page but it has been discontinued sometime ago. But still, you can go check out the Product Trials page and try out some product(s) there at a cheaper price.
Do note that the discount is only for 1 item per order. Example below shown - I selected a baby shampoo & bath product for USD0.95 instead of the usual price of USD2.95
* Delivery timeframe - Delivery takes about 2-5 weeks for my case.
* Shipping fees - I always make sure the products I ordered have a total weight below 1.8kg as that will qualify for the lowest shipping charges available. It used to be a flat USD4 shipping fees lowest but based on my last purchase on 28 Dec 2014, it seems that the shipping fees varied based on your order amount and/or weight too. The recent purchases I made shows there is discounted 50% off for orders over USD20 but if your order is below USD20, then the shipping fees varies based on your total products weight.
* Shipping methods - Since I always aimed for the cheapest shipping fees, my package does not have tracking number provided. That is the risky part but so far, I never have any packages missing. Delayed yes, but no missing items. Based on some fans who shared their experience with me, they opted for the pricier shipping methods with tracking and ended up having to pay extra as their packages got held up in custom and you will need to pay extra for the courier company to pick up your parcel from custom and deliver to you. Some fans also shared that when they choose the pricier shipping methods, their package have invoice description as 'health supplements' when in fact they ordered baby food/snacks. From what I understand, if your package is indicated as health or medicinal products, custom have the right to hold your package and investigate further.
* Credit Card Payment - If your credit card is issued by Maybank, do note that you will get the following message when you submit your order.
What happens is Maybank blocks all online transactions using credit card especially if you are transacting in foreign currencies. Due to the high number of online fraud cases, the bank resorted to this action. Don't fret, you can still proceed with your order but you need to trouble yourself a wee bit. What you need to do is call up the Maybank Customer Service Center (1300 886 688 follow their instructions so that you can talk to the operator - I normally press 0 and choose whatever options that will lead me to operator)
The operator will ask some questions to verify you are the cardholder and is trying to use your credit card for legitimate online purchases. Once all the verification is done, don't forget to inform them to extend your credit card to the max 2 weeks limit (meaning open up your credit card for online purchases within 2 weeks period). If you don't mention this, you will need to call the Customer Service again and repeat the whole process.
Once the bank have uplift your credit card to allow online transaction, you just need to go back to your iHerb order screen, click the submit button again and you will see the following screen.
Some of my personal tips to share for you to take note if you are ordering first time:
* Make sure your total items are below 1.8kg so that you can choose the cheapest shipping methods available.
- Choose the most worth it to buy items if it is your first purchase since you can only use the referal code ONCE for your first purchase
- Try not to get the organic puffs for your first purchase as I personally think it is not worth it to get in your first purchase. iHerb measures the ordered items' weight based on the size of the products, not the actual weight and these organic puffs I got are quite large and long, it takes up space in the packaging box, if possible, you should only get these puffs in your subsequent orders :)
Now if you plan to purchase from the website, do copy my coupon code below to use for your first purchase, I repeat, ONLY FOR FIRST PURCHASE!
My coupon code is: FOZ116
Please note that I get a small bit of commission from your 1st purchase and subsequent ones and there are further commission range when the people you referred to with your own unique code started buying from iHerb too, so you save, I save, everybody save, yay! Do feel free to ask me if you have any questions with regards to purchasing from iHerb! Will try to share my feedback if I can! I'll be adding my product review feedback on my iHerb.com page at: http://www.iherb.com/mypage/imafulltimemummy
** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost everyday) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.
