How to Pay for Purchases in a Foreign Online Store Using Cryptocurrency

Making purchases in the USA through an intermediary company

Unfortunately, without a VPN, a bank card issued outside the RF and a real address for shopping in the USA — it is often impossible to order goods in America. This is carefully monitored, including by the online stores themselves. But purchasing the goods is easily done by an intermediary company — registered in the States. It will issue you your personal official address in the USA to which purchases from online stores will be sent. And whenever you like, it will consolidate them into one package and forward it to your address in Russia or Belarus. Due to the large price difference, these intermediaries (mail forwarders) are very popular, with hundreds of thousands of clients and millions of packages forwarded through them each year.

There are also foreign online stores that directly allow paying for purchases with cryptocurrency. These include, among others:

Microsoft.com
Overstock
Shopify
Gyft
Newegg.

Many of them support payments not only in USDT but also in Polygon (MATIC) and Tron (TRX) cryptocurrencies, and NeweGG even works with ApeCoin, BCH and LTC. Unfortunately, the most popular stores eBay, Amazon and iHerb do not yet accept direct cryptocurrency payments, but purchases there can be paid for using third-party financial services that work with cryptocurrency (PayPal, BitPay, virtual Visa from Crypto.com, Cash App, Purse).

But the delivery address for the purchased goods must in any case be obtained from a mail forwarder (fortunately, this is free). Purchases are not shipped directly from store websites to a Russian address. Therefore, it is better to simply top up your balance with cryptocurrency at the mail forwarder and then order goods through them. This is much more profitable than topping up accounts with the same mail forwarder in rubles through Tinkoff or Qiwi, which charge high commissions and have a significant exchange rate difference.

In other words, paying with cryptocurrency at Amazon or iHerb is possible — if you top up your balance with crypto at Pochtoy.com. This is the most convenient and profitable cryptocurrency payment service for Russian-speaking users.

You can order what you want to buy directly in the mail forwarder's website interface by sending him links to the desired product.

Which cryptocurrency to buy

There is a huge number of cryptocurrencies, and new ones appear every day. You can view their (incomplete) list on CoinMarketCap. If you need pure profit — one of the little-known altcoins that regularly make price jumps is best suited. But services and stores most often accept more well-known (and stable currencies).

Bitcoin — the most well-known, but often unprofitable when paying for ordinary goods due to too high fees on the network.

Ethereum cryptocurrency (Ethereum) — the second by scale and quite profitable, especially after the latest updates to its blockchain.

Matic (Polygon) cryptocurrency — not as popular (stores do not accept it as often), but even more profitable due to minimal fees when paying.

The disadvantages of all these cryptocurrencies — constantly changing price. For the same Polygon cryptocurrency, the rate can change by 20-30% in a day. That is why services most often prefer to simply receive USDT. This is a cryptocurrency tied in price to the US dollar. That is, one USDT is always equal to $1. This makes it very easy to keep track of prices. And since it is a cryptocurrency, it has an advantage over regular money: it is not controlled by anyone, it is easier to send, and it is more convenient to exchange for any other currencies without any fees.

USDT is the most popular cryptocurrency for financial transactions. And therefore, if you are thinking which cryptocurrency is best to buy, first buy USDT. All exchanges work with it and its versions are available on all popular blockchains. For example, Pochtoy.com supports USDT transfers from such blockchains as:

Ethereum
Tron
Polygon
BSC (Binance Smart Chain).

All of these are essentially different databases that publicly store information about users' financial transactions. Each of them allows transactions to be made in USDT. But these are different USDT. On Tron it is USDT of the TRC-20 standard, on BSC — USDT of the BEP-20 standard, on Ethereum the cryptocurrency has the ERC-20 property. Transfers of currencies are not carried out between blockchains. You can only exchange one token for another through a cryptocurrency exchange or a decentralized service. Therefore, pay attention to what type of tokens (through which blockchain) you are sending. Usually this information will be described in detail on the service from which you are making the transfer, so it will not be missed.

How to buy cryptocurrency. Looking at cryptocurrency exchanges

Where to buy cryptocurrency? Of course, you can get it from an acquaintance, or try to mine it yourself (it's still possible for Shiba Inu and other less popular altcoins). But the vast majority of users prefer to simply buy the necessary tokens on one of the major exchanges. These are centralized cryptocurrency buying and selling services that are larger than many central banks. Besides, buying cryptocurrency from them is profitable, especially if done via P2P, where there are no commissions at all.

Purchasing cryptocurrency on an exchange — is fast, completely safe, and quite simple. You don't need to delve into the specifics of blockchain operation and create personal wallets here; just having an account on the exchange is enough. It is created in the same way as on any other online service, only you need to additionally pass verification: provide a photo of your passport or phone number. If you have ever registered on other financial services, like YooMoney or QIWI, the process should be familiar to you.

The largest and most well-known exchanges for buying and selling cryptocurrency — are:

Binance
Coinbase
Kraken
KuCoin
Huobi
OKX.

Binance is the most popular platform for buying and selling cryptocurrency. It accounts for about half of all crypto trading in the world. At the same time, because of this, Binance attracts closer attention from regulators. In 2022, under pressure from the US and EU, the exchange was forced to impose sanctions against Russian users so that billionaires would not withdraw money abroad through it. Therefore, there is now a restriction in effect on it: the maximum balance on the account — is the equivalent of 10,000 euros. Although buying cryptocurrency on Binance is not restricted, you will not be allowed to exceed this limit.

Coinbase has a stricter restriction: they sometimes block Russian accounts (allowing withdrawal of all funds, but prohibiting all other operations). And the OKX crypto exchange is blocked by Russia itself — by decision of the Prosecutor General's Office. Access to it is possible only through a VPN.

It is worth noting that the financial restriction on Binance works only if you keep the cryptocurrency inside the exchange. To your personal wallet, created outside the exchange, you can transfer any amounts. And from it you can also pay for services with cryptocurrency, transferring funds to intermediary company websites or paying for purchases yourself.

Therefore, those who keep really large amounts in crypto (hundreds of thousands of dollars and more) buy cryptocurrency on exchanges, but then withdraw it from the exchanges to their personal wallet created on the chosen blockchain (Ethereum, Polygon, Tron…). For this, the MetaMask service is quite popular, capable of storing cryptocurrency and tokens from any networks.

However, if your amounts are not that large, you can safely keep them inside the exchange, or transfer them to your balance on Pochtoy.com so that they are stored in your personal account.

The process of buying cryptocurrency — using Huobi as an example

Huobi — a cryptocurrency exchange founded in China. One of the most loyal to Russian users (and in good standing with the RF Prosecutor's Office).

1. Register on the Huobi website. This can be done using an email address or phone number.

2. Complete verification. Confirm your phone number, upload photo ID (if the service requires it). If you plan to handle large amounts, you may also need to confirm your place of residence and fill out a questionnaire about the source of funds for added security.

3. Buy cryptocurrency. You can top up your Huobi account in three main ways:

• Quickly buy currency from the exchange by paying with a bank card
• Transfer money from another financial service (Advcash, Geo Pay, etc.)
• Buy cryptocurrency from other exchange users via P2P.
   

The last option (P2P) is the most preferable. First, you pay no commission. Second, absolutely any payment method is available: bank transfers, cards, services like ADVcash or Transferwise, QIWI wallet, Tinkoff, Alfa-Bank. You'll definitely find the method that's convenient for you. This way you can even buy cryptocurrency with rubles.

At the same time, this purchase is completely safe. The seller's funds are frozen for the duration of the transaction. Even if they suddenly decide not to send them to you (which is unlikely, since they would be quickly blocked on the exchange), you can contact support for this transaction and show them screenshots of your transfer. The decision will always be in your favor.

It's best to buy USDT to your Huobi wallet — the most universal cryptocurrency. However, whichever currency you buy, it can easily be swapped inside the exchange via spot trading.

4. Transfer the cryptocurrency to the mail forwarder (or store) website. After you've bought the cryptocurrency and it appears in your personal account, all that's left is to make a direct transfer of this currency to an external crypto wallet. To do this, go to the "Assets" section (top right corner) → "My Assets" and click the "Withdraw" button. Both P2P and withdrawals on Kucoin, Huobi, and Binance work the same way.

You can view the wallet address in your personal account on the mail forwarder website (or it will appear in the store when paying with cryptocurrency). Make sure the USDT standard matches. The easiest option is to choose the most popular Ethereum network (ERC-20) and send to its wallet. Simply copy the wallet address from the mail forwarder site and paste it into the appropriate field on Huobi.

For example, if on the mail forwarder site we chose a transfer on the Ethereum blockchain, then we indicate ERC20 on the Huobi site accordingly.

The Tron blockchain (TRC20 tokens) is less popular, so the transfer fee will be significantly lower and the transaction speed — higher. When withdrawing from the exchange you can choose any blockchain whose wallet is available with your mail forwarder. For such a simple operation there is no difference between blockchains except for the fee.

5. Congratulations! You can now freely shop at foreign online stores without worrying about third-party matters.

On other exchanges the process works exactly the same. Buying cryptocurrency on Binance or KuCoin is also most profitable via P2P. There are also dozens of payment methods and the ability to swap any currency for any other via spot trading.

You can buy cryptocurrency with rubles on Binance and then earn interest on it through the Binance Earn program, temporarily invest in launching a new project via the launchpad, or immediately pay for goods in foreign stores with cryptocurrency. You gain a huge freedom of choice that wasn't available before.

Most importantly — remember that the minimum commission is always on P2P deals, and USDT must be sent using exactly the standard for which you received the wallet address so the blockchain accepts it.

Step-by-step process of paying with cryptocurrency for purchases in US online stores

So, once again. The step-by-step process is as follows:

go to Huobi/KuCoin/Binance
buy cryptocurrency (from the exchange or from users on P2P)
transfer it to your account with the intermediary company (or go directly to the store website if it accepts cryptocurrency payments)
buy goods in stores by sending cryptocurrency from your exchange account to the specified crypto wallet
receive parcels at your US address and choose how to forward them to Russia. You can combine several parcels into one so that the cost of forwarding them is lower
save thousands of rubles on each purchase and buy goods long before they appear in Russia.

Why purchases with cryptocurrency — is beneficial

1. The smallest fees. Setting up a wallet on any service or blockchain — is free. And then you can receive or send electronic money no more complicated than with Yoomoney. But, as a rule, with a lower transaction fee.
2. Your funds are only yours. No matter what sanctions there are, no matter which banks and services go bankrupt. Tokens on the blockchain will stay there. Unless, of course, you set up such a blockchain wallet.
3. Wide choice of options. Many exchanges, many different blockchains and cryptocurrencies. Everyone can find something with an interface and technology they like.
    

Well, of course, paying for goods with cryptocurrency — is an opportunity to save well or even earn. You don’t spend large amounts on the exchange rate difference between rubles in Tinkoff and dollars on an American service. And while you’re not buying — cryptocurrency can work for you (if you do staking, participate in launchpads or add it to a liquidity pool). There are many ways to earn passive income if you have it. This is a huge advantage of cryptocurrency over regular money. And when you buy goods abroad — you save many times on each item compared to what it costs in Russia. Save tens of thousands of rubles on iPhones and tech, or many thousands of rubles on clothes and shoes.

It’s time to start working with a very useful new-generation tool! Pay with cryptocurrency — and don’t be afraid of any restrictions.