Israelis Save Money by Shopping Zara Online in Greece

Zara has begun charging a 14.90 shekel shipping fee for online orders in Israel, a change from the previous free shipping on orders over 199 shekels. This has led many Israelis to seek cheaper alternatives, with Greece emerging as a popular option.

The shipping company ShipTanbul facilitates orders from Zara Greece to Israel. While there's a shipping cost from Greece starting at 62 shekels, plus a small fee for delivery within Greece, the overall price often remains significantly lower than purchasing in Israel. This is partly due to Greece being one of the less expensive European countries for Zara items. Additionally, discount codes are sometimes available, and Israelis can benefit from a 24% Greek VAT refund.

To shop from Greece, users can set Greece as their default country in the Zara app, use a Greek address provided by ShipTanbul, and enter their Israeli phone number. This method can result in prices that are more than half of those in Israel, even after factoring in shipping costs.

Calculations show substantial savings. For example, a combination of women's shirt, perfume, and a toddler's outfit that would cost 408.80 shekels in Israel, including the new shipping fee, can be purchased for approximately 244.3 shekels from Greece via ShipTanbul, a saving of about 40%. Even for a more expensive item like a men's cashmere cardigan, which costs 859 shekels in Israel, the Greek price with shipping and VAT adjustments comes to around 465.7 shekels, a saving of nearly 400 shekels.

Yoni Hai Yishai, CEO of ShipTanbul, stated that price differences in Israel are "absurd," noting that even with free shipping in the past, there was a 40%-50% price gap, which could increase to 70%-80% during sales. He advises that waiting for Black Friday sales in countries like Greece can be very beneficial for shopping at Zara, Mango, and H&M.