Packstation

bartjan January 9 2010 3:50 PM EST

I tend to buy things of eBay once in a while. Often this involves international shipping, mostly from Germany. If it's nearby I don't mind a drive and collect the item myself (this Friday I drove to Düsseldorf, as I don't have to pay the 30 Eur fuel bill myself ;)

With a bit of Googling I found out about the DHL Packstation. These are a sort of mailboxes that are apparently free to use. The only problem I see is that you can only apply for one of them if you are a German resident. I'm not and I do not have any plans to become one either :) I do however live only 15 minutes away from such a Packstation
Can such a Packstation be used as a shipping address for things I'd buy on the 'net, or are there companies that refuse to ship to it? Is it really free?

Can someone from Germany assist me in applying for a Packstation? It would only involve having the Deutsche Post sending 1 registered letter to your address and you sending that same letter to me (of course I will pay for shipping costs, CB$ or real cash).

bartjan January 12 2010 1:40 PM EST

Does this mean that noone is from Germany here?

Miandrital January 12 2010 1:45 PM EST

I bet they are just scared of these mysterious "things" that you are buying off ebay ;)

sebidach [The Forgehood] January 12 2010 1:56 PM EST

Hi, I'm from Germany and as far as I know they work the same as "Postschliessfaecher", so you can send to them directly, but also have them serve as a second address when the postal service can't reach you. There is one limitation I think: only packets send with Deutsche Post will be delivered to them.

Angel of Death [Hell Blenders] January 12 2010 2:01 PM EST

poison is from germany, cm him over it dude

sebidach [The Forgehood] January 12 2010 2:02 PM EST

Oh and regarding your other questions: It is free (Deutsche Post saves money with it, so they are even happy if you use them!) and I never had a problem with someone refusing to send there. A problem might be that you have to find someone living near the station you prefer, I don't think that one can choose the station himself.

bartjan January 12 2010 2:35 PM EST

As I understand it, you can pick any station for any packet you like. Apparently technicians use it to get spare parts delivered near their next address. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packstation