How to Buy on Amazon US and Get It Delivered to Latin America

Table of Contents

• Three routes, not one
• Step by step

  • 1. Go to Amazon.com, not the .mx by accident
  • 2. Check if they ship to your country
  • 3. If it won't arrive, use a forwarding service
  • 4. Calculate the cost delivered to your door
  • 5. Respect your country's threshold
• What I won't do in this post
• Frequently asked questions

  • Why not buy on Amazon Mexico or the local site?
  • Does Amazon ship directly to all of LATAM?
  • What is a casillero?
  • Are duties the same across LATAM?
• In short

Three routes, not one

Before filling the cart, pick the channel. Mixing them is like paying for freight twice.

Route	When to use it	What you pay extra
Local Amazon (.com.mx, .com.br, etc.)	The product is there, it arrives, and the price works out	That store's local tax, not a US import
Amazon.com ships to your country	The checkout accepts your address and the total works for you	Amazon's international shipping + whatever your customs charges
US package forwarding	Amazon.com doesn't ship to your country, or direct shipping is robbery	US domestic leg (sometimes Prime) + re-shipping + customs

If the product exists on your local Amazon at a reasonable price, don't import. Importing for sport is the most expensive hobby in this region.

Step by step

1. Go to Amazon.com, not the .mx by accident

The site you want is amazon.com. The local domain redirects you only if you let it. One Amazon account works across several marketplaces, but the catalog and the seller change.

Create or use your account. For this flow you don't need Amazon Prime… unless the forwarding address is in the US and Prime gets the domestic leg to zero. Prime doesn't magic away the international leg.

2. Check if they ship to your country

Add the product, go to checkout and enter your real address. That's where it's decided:

• If an international shipping option appears with a total, write it down. That's the price before customs.
• If it says they don't ship to your destination, stop. There's no hidden button. Move on to forwarding.

A listing that says "international shipping" on the product page sometimes lies right up to checkout. The checkout rules.

3. If it won't arrive, use a forwarding service

A casillero gives you an address in the United States —almost always Miami— in your name or with a box code. Amazon sees a domestic delivery. The courier receives it, sometimes consolidates several packages, and re-ships to your country.

I'm not going to marry you off to a brand. Aeropost, DHL/FedEx freight services, local forwarders with a warehouse in Florida: the pattern is the same. Pick one that:

• Operates legally into your country.
• Shows you the rate by weight (and whether it charges volumetric).
• Pre-alerts or declares the content as it should. Understating the value to "sneak under de minimis" is the fastest way to lose both the package and the money.

On Amazon, the shipping address is the forwarder's, not yours. Your phone and your email, the real ones.

4. Calculate the cost delivered to your door

The listing price is the smallest of the numbers. The real one is:

product + US shipping + re-shipment to your country + insurance (if any) + duty/VAT/courier fee

If that total doesn't beat buying locally or not buying it at all, there's no deal. An $80 gadget that lands at $160 wasn't cheap: it was a customs tutorial.

Weight and volume matter more than the deal of the day. A light keyboard and a monitor don't travel the same.

5. Respect your country's threshold

Every customs office has a de minimis (below a certain value the courier shipment enters through a simpler process) and rules on quantity, weight and personal use. The numbers are not the same in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina or Chile, and they move with decrees.

Examples so you see the type of rule, not so you use them as an eternal table:

• In Colombia, the simplified courier regime usually revolves around a USD threshold per shipment; above that, duty + VAT kick in. Confirm with DIAN, not here.
• In other countries the threshold is $50, $200 or $400, sometimes with a cap on shipments per year.

If your order goes over the threshold "by a little", the jump isn't linear: it can be VAT + duty + courier handling. Split the order or don't do it. Two shipments to dodge the annual cap is, in several regimes, exactly what they're hunting for.

Electronics, batteries and brands with import restrictions carry extra fine print. If the forwarder tells you "this can't come in", don't fight it on a forum.

What I won't do in this post

• Tell you "Amazon Global always reaches Latin America". It's not true.
• Give you a single customs rate for 20 countries. It would be wrong by next month.
• Recommend one specific forwarder without being their affiliate or having run your route. Pick one regulated in your country and read the contract.

Frequently asked questions

Why not buy on Amazon Mexico or the local site?

If it's there and the price works out, buy it there. This post is for when the useful catalog is on .com.

Does Amazon ship directly to all of LATAM?

No. The checkout with your address is the test.

What is a casillero?

A US address that receives for you and re-ships. Amazon thinks it's delivering to Florida; the expensive leg is the second one.

Are duties the same across LATAM?

No. Check your customs office's courier regime on the day you buy.

In short

• Amazon.com, not the local site by accident, and only if the SKU really is there.
• Try direct shipping first; if the checkout says no, forward it.
• The real price is the one delivered to your door, not the listing's.
• Your country's customs threshold rules. Exceeding it "a little" doesn't exist.
• The affiliate link doesn't make your purchase more expensive.

👉 Shop on Amazon.com

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If the local product exists at a decent price, import less. Importing makes sense when the US catalog has what your country doesn't, and the total delivered to your door still wins.

— Leandro Valencia