Ok, so it looks like buying from Amazon in Ecuador just got a whole lot easier and cheaper! It’s something that many people are excited about, but I also want to manage expectations since it’s still early days, and, well, some of the devil might be lurking in the details.
We were just about to order a few items we couldn’t find here in Ecuador, and were planning to have them mulled in. But now, I’m going to give Amazon’s new $5 international flat fee shipping option a try instead.
I want to share what I learned about this new shipping feature, the potential limitations, and how you can use it to get some of your favorite goodies delivered straight to your door in Ecuador. Vamos!
Why This Matters: The $5 Amazon Shipping Game Changer
If you’ve lived in Ecuador for any period of time, you’ve probably found yourself missing some of those essential thingamibobs that you loved in your home country. You know, those random items that you could always find with ease, but now seem completely out of reach. Well, thanks to Amazon’s new $5 international shipping, getting these things might just be a whole lot easier.
But before I get too excited, a quick note: Please keep supporting local shops and suppliers here in Ecuador, especially the small market vendors and artisans. Just because you can buy a lot more on Amazon now doesn’t mean you should buy everything there. Supporting your adopted community by buying local truly makes a difference.
Michelle and I try to reserve importing stuff for those things we just can’t find here—OK, and sometimes a guilty pleasure or two. I know you’re all responsible adults and can decide on your own when the convenience of Amazon outweighs buying locally.
The Old Struggle: Getting Your Favorite Items to Ecuador
Let’s be real – getting Amazon deliveries to Ecuador was a hassle before this $5 option. You had a few choices, none of them great:
- Directly from Amazon: Shipping and taxes were sky-high, making it an option for only the most desperate among us.
- Muling: There are people who’d “mule” items in their luggage for you, often charging a fee based on weight—something like $8 per pound or $60 for a phone. But this was risky. There was no guarantee the mule wouldn’t disappear or get stopped by customs.
- Professional Services: Companies like Deblex or Laarbox were a step up, but still a bit unpredictable. They relied on Ecuador’s 4×4 program (allowing shipments under 4kg and $400 for personal use with fewer taxes). While more reliable than muling, customer service could be hit or miss.
- TiendaMia: This platform integrated Amazon products, but let’s just say their customer service could have used some work. I once tried ordering an Amazon Echo 8 from them, but they removed the ability to contact a real human! I took the gamble, ordered, and then got an email a week later saying it wasn’t available. I eventually got my refund, but not without wasting time.
All of these options involved multiple hands touching your package, which increased the chances of something going wrong. The more straightforward solution? Amazon’s new shipping feature that takes care of everything from purchase to delivery.
How Amazon’s $5 Shipping Works
So, what’s the deal with Amazon’s new $5 shipping to Ecuador? Well, it’s pretty simple – at least in theory. Amazon has rolled out a flat rate of $5 for certain items, and the magic phrase is “flat rate delivery.” If you see that on a product page, you’re in luck!
Now, I’ve played around with this a bit, and it seems like Amazon is using Ecuador’s 4×4 program rules without exactly calling it that. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far:
- If an item weighs less than 4kg and costs less than $400, there’s a good chance it will qualify for $5 shipping.
- Anything bulkier or over $400 tends to have hefty import fees tacked on.
- It’s not 100% foolproof, though—some items just don’t make sense. For instance, I found a bodyboard for my son that qualified, but another similar one didn’t.
Want an example of my current Amazon order? Here you go: portable sun shades, multivitamins, a large Pilates ball, some magic erasers, smoked paprika, wall hooks, and a maternity bra. All eligible for $5 shipping! But anything bigger, like inflatable paddle boards? Get ready for some eye-watering import fees.
Setting Up Your Order: What You Need
Ordering with the $5 shipping option is pretty straightforward, but there are a few things to note. First, you’ll need your Ecuadorian address and an ID (your cedula, Ecuadorian driver’s license, or RUC—a business tax number). Adding an Ecuadorian address can be tricky since many homes here don’t have formal street numbers. Be sure to include cross streets and a working phone number for those delivery drivers who may need extra details.
Once you’ve got all that sorted, it’s just like any other Amazon purchase. I added my address and ID, clicked “order,” and voila – my package is set to arrive in around 20 days. Sure, it’s no Prime next-day delivery, but compared to the other options, I’ll take it!
The Wait Begins: Managing Expectations
Now we wait. They say my order will be here in about 20 days, which isn’t too bad. I might not do a full unboxing video, but I’ll update the description once everything arrives. Honestly, I’ve been in Ecuador long enough to expect a few surprises, but I’m optimistic that this new option will work without too many hiccups.
If you’ve tried this $5 flat rate shipping and it worked for you, I’d love to hear about it! Please drop a comment.
Final Thoughts: Keep Shopping Local
This new Amazon shipping option is a huge win for those items you just can’t find locally. But I’ll end this with a reminder: supporting your local community matters. Let’s reserve Amazon for those tricky-to-find items and keep our dollars circulating here whenever possible.
If this new Amazon shipping option has made your life a little easier, share the love and let others know how it worked for you.
View full video transcript
AMAZON $5 SHIPPING TO ECUADOR (TRANSCRIPT)
Jason
00:01
Ok, so it looks like buying from Amazon in Ecuador just got a whole lot easier and cheaper, but it is still early days and some of the devil may be in the details.
00:19
We were due to order a few items that we just couldn’t find in Ecuador and we were going to have them mulled into the country. But I’m going to give the Amazon 5$ international flat fee option a try instead.
In this video I’ll show you how this new shipping option works, some thoughts as to what the limitations are likely to be, and I’ll order some products too. Vamos.
If you’ve lived in Ecuador for any period of time as an expat, I’m confident that you’ve thought to yourself, if only I could find some of my favorite thingamibobs that I used to just love in my passport country. Well, ordering many of these thingamibobs just got a whole lot more convenient thanks to Amazon’s new 5$ international flat rate shipping to Ecuador.
01:08
So why does this matter? Well first off, please keep supporting your local shops and suppliers, especially the small artisanal and market based sellers. Just because you can now buy a lot more stuff on Amazon doesn’t mean that you now need to buy everything there. Supporting your adopted community by buying local really does make a difference. A simple rule that we follow is that we reserve importing stuff only for those items we cannot find here now. oK, OK, and enough preaching. You’re a responsible adult and I’m sure that you can make your own judgment calls on the convenience versus the cultural impact of your Amazon addiction.
01:55
Prior to this 5$ Amazon shipping option, getting your Amazon deliveries to Ecuador was a real hassle. You could set your address to Ecuador and then order directly from Amazon, but the shipping and taxes were generally huge to the point it just really wasn’t an option for many people. To cater to these shoppers, entrepreneurial locals would offer to mule these items in their personal luggage for a fee. This fee was sometimes based on the weight, like $8 per pound, or some items like cell phones had a flat fee of around $60. But these mules are not professional businesses and they operate in a bit of a legal gray area.
02:40
There was no recourse should your mule get caught in customs, damage your items, or simply disappear with your entire shopping cart. Another option was to use a professional delivery service like Deblex or Laarbox to send your items from the US to Ecuador. In particular, these programmes tended to take advantage of Ecuador’s 4×4 programme. This programme removed many of the taxes provided the shipment was less than 4 kilograms and cost less than $400. Some other conditions also applied with the key distinction that these products were only to be used for personal use.
03:23
These professional services did give you more security over your package with tracking numbers and stuff like that, but in my experience, they were still a little bit hit and miss, especially with their customer service, but they were generally a step up in reliability compared to mulling.
The final evolution was the creation of online shopping platforms like TiendaMia that have a deeper integration with Amazon products. They essentially perform the same delivery service but allow you to order from their website, which has a product feed from Amazon with delivery prices available at the time of ordering.
04:04
This was perhaps the most convenient option, but the customer service still could have been better. For example, I recently tried to order something from Tiendamia but they removed the ability to talk to a human to ask any questions. My question was regarding product availability. I wanted to know if the Amazon Echo 8 I wanted to order was actually available in Ecuador. I suspected perhaps it wouldn’t be due to licensing and other issues.
04:33
They had the product as available on their site, but I wanted to confirm this with someone prior to ordering and I just couldn’t find this option anywhere and was limited to only AI chat replies. So I did take the gamble and ordered the product. About a week later I received an email saying that the product was not available and I could choose between a refund or just buying something else. Being completely honest, I completely forgot about this email and they eventually just refunded me the money, but I’d certainly wasted some time in the process and I’m still without the Echo 8.
Now all of these are essentially third party services designed to get your product from the US to Ecuador.
05:17
Now Amazon is providing this service at a very competitive price point. I’d expect many of these third party delivery services, including mules, to either scale back or just close completely. The more hands that touch the product, the greater the chances that something goes wrong. So from a quality perspective, I am happier dealing with just one company for the purchase and delivery, even if that company happens to be Amazon.
Now what does Amazon say about the $5 shipping to Ecuador? There aren’t too many details on this point. The page they use to promote the $5 shipping basically just says look for flat rate delivery on the product pages to determine which products are eligible.
06:03
Now I have played around with various products in various different categories to try and get a better understanding of what is included and what is not included in the $5 shipping. Now here’s what I think is happening, but please just note this is me reverse engineering with some thoughts. It is not an authoritative source on the topic. Hopefully we do get more details directly from Amazon shortly.
It appears to me that Amazon is mainly using the 4×4 program without mentioning it. The new $5 flat rate international shipping option is also available to Argentina, the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and Tobago.
06:42
And so I think that they deliberately didn’t go into these country specific details simply because it would complicate the messaging a little bit. But TiendaMia certainly modelled their product around the 4 by 4 program. For example, if you wanted to buy something that weighed more than 4 kilograms or cost more than $400 they simply wouldn’t let you. Or if you wanted to purchase four of a particular product, you would get an error message basically saying that this is not possible under the four by four program as this would be deemed a commercial quantity and not for personal use. Amazon appears to be using many of these same rules when deciding which products qualify for the $5 flat rate shipping without the added taxes.
07:27
Here is an example. If I order a laptop that is less than $400 it is eligible for the cheap shipping and no import fees. But go just over the $400 threshold and the shipping and import fees increase significantly. I’ve found products across many categories that are eligible.
Look at my current order. I’ve got some portable shades, multi vitamins, large pilates ball, magic erasers, smoked paprika, wall hooks, and a maternity bra. These were all eligible to be included in my order with a combined total of $5 shipping. Note that all of these items are relatively small.
08:12
I think that helps a lot with eligibility. When I start viewing products in categories that are generally bulkier, then it starts to become more of a lottery as to whether the $5 shipping will apply. For example, I was thinking about buying a bodyboard for our son. He loves the beach and this fatty broke his bodyboard so it’s time for an upgrade. But even though these products are less than $400 and weigh less than 4 kilograms, it’s still hit and miss.
08:43
This body board here is available for $5 shipping, but this one is not. However, this soft top surfboard, which is much larger in size, is still eligible for the $5 shipping option. Anything over 4 kilograms generally has significant import fees attached.
Here are some examples of inflatable stand up paddle boards which are more than 4 kilograms and look at these import fees – ouch. So the basic rule I’m using right now is if the product is less than 4 kilograms and costs less than $400 there is a good chance it will be eligible for 5$ shipping, but there are no guarantees.
09:33
The product category that I’m mostly confused about is cell phones. I do want a new Pixel 9, but these cost more than $400 so I’m not surprised that they have hefty import fees attached. Now, the 4 by 4 programme did make it clear that cell phones were not eligible. However, cell phones less than $400 do appear eligible for the cheap shipping option, so I am honestly not really sure on what is going on here with cell phones. Maybe it’s an oversight on Amazon’s behalf, or maybe the import rules have changed slightly.
10:11
If you’ve ordered a cell phone from Amazon under the $5 flat rate option and you’ve received it without additional taxes, then I would absolutely love to hear from you in the comments.
Now how to order with the $5 flat fee shipping? It’s pretty basic really. You are going to need your Ecuadorian address and ID. Adding an Ecuadorian address can be more challenging than you think. Many houses in Ecuador just don’t have proper street addresses with numbers, so it is important to include details like cross streets and other reference points in the address. And you’d absolutely want to make sure you include a working Ecuadorian phone number so the delivery driver can contact you if they need more details or just to arrange when to deliver.
11:00
In terms of IDs, they do give you 3 options, your cedula, Ecuadorian driver’s license or ruc. So yes, you’ll need to have a cedula which you receive once you have a temporary residency. A ruc is just like a business tax number. Now, once you add the ID, it will be associated with your Ecuadorian address and used to calculate the appropriate shipping and customs fees. I’ve already added my details, so I’m going to just go ahead and proceed with my order like I would with any other Amazon purchase. I just need to make sure that I select the correct delivery address and now I’m going to go ahead and finish the order. There you go, all seems to be fine.
11:48
They are saying the order will be with me at my Ecuadorian home in around 20 days. Now of course this isn’t exactly prime next day or same day delivery, but it is still a huge step forward to the previously available options. I’m not sure if I will get around to creating a detailed video when the package arrives, but if not, I’ll definitely provide an update in the description. I’ve been in Ecuador long enough to expect the unexpected, but the optimist inside me thinks it will arrive without too many issues. Let’s just give it about 20 days and see.
If you successfully received your $5 flat rate shipping package, I would love to hear from you in the comments below. Now, if this video helped, please do consider giving it a quick like or subscribing to the channel for more content that helps you settle in Ecuador.
Whatever you do, please don’t forget to support your community by shopping locally.
Looking for something else to watch? Perhaps try this video next. Ciao ciao.
