A shop counter, a warehouse abroad and a lot of messages
Six people, two thousand seven hundred customers, and one rule about what we will not order.
Why this business exists
Kobaa Box started in 2019 because two of us kept ordering things for friends. Somebody would find what they wanted on an overseas site, get to the checkout, and discover that the shop does not deliver here, or that their card was refused, or that the shipping quoted for one item was three times what the item cost.
All three of those are solvable and none of them is solvable by the customer. So we hold an account and an address abroad, we pay the shop, we let the parcels gather at our warehouse, and we ship them together.
What we sell, really, is one total in rufiyaa. Before you pay anything you see the price of the goods, our fee, the freight and the duty, added up. Every unhappy customer this trade produces is a customer who was quoted the goods and then billed the rest, and we decided at the start that we were not going to be that.
We are also honest about the limits. We are not the shop. If a seller sends the wrong size or a fake, we will help and we cannot promise to fix it, and we say which sellers we have had trouble with rather than taking the order quietly.
The people behind the messages
Ahmed Miuvaan
Started by ordering things for friends in 2019 and never stopped. Keeps the list of sellers we will not buy from, and adds to it.
Fathimath Ilma
Answers most of the messages and places most of the orders. If you were told your item is too bulky to fly, she worked it out.
Ali Shammoon
Declares the shipments, pays the duty and loads the island parcels. Also the one who photographs every box before it is sealed.
What you pay, and when
When do I pay, and what am I paying for?
You get one total in rufiyaa before anything is ordered: the goods at the rate we actually pay, our fee, the freight estimate and the duty estimate.
You pay the goods, the fee and the freight up front by transfer. Duty is settled when the shipment clears, against the receipt, and the difference from the estimate is refunded or invoiced. In practice it lands within about five per cent.
What is your fee?
Eight per cent of the value of the goods, with a minimum of forty five rufiyaa per order. For a large order we quote a lower percentage.
Using your own card with our address costs no percentage at all, only twenty five rufiyaa per parcel received.
What happens if the seller sends the wrong thing?
We photograph every parcel as it arrives and every box before it is sealed, and we raise the case with the seller in writing with those photographs.
We cannot promise a seller will accept a return, and we will do the sum with you honestly, because shipping something back often costs more than it is worth. Where the mistake is ours we refund in full including the freight.
Come and collect, or we will send it
Alikilegefaanu Magu, Male. Open until ten every night except Friday afternoon.