The $5 Export Label: How Small Shops in Nairobi Are Shipping to 10 Countries Without a Courier Account
No DHL account. No $42 quotes. How shops in Eastleigh are delivering to the US and UK for $5. We all thought you need a proper DHL account to ship worldwide from Kenya. Turns out, you don't. Last month I spoke to over 30 small shop owners from Eastleigh to Westlands to Ngong Road. They are sending parcels to the US, UK, Dubai, and Germany every single week. None of them has a DHL or FedEx account. And none of them is paying $30-$40 per box. They are using what they call a $5 export label. And it works. 1. That courier account is actually losing you money. Remember your last DHL quote? You had a 1kg box of kitenge crafts for Germany. They said $42 just for shipping. You added that to your price and sent it to the buyer. He never replied. It wasn't your product. It was the shipping price. Here's the thing — DHL gives cheap rates only if you ship 500 parcels a month. You ship maybe 20. So they give you the highest rate. The $5 label works differently. You don't...
