In addition to the flood of orders for which Target, a US chain, was unprepared, resulting in the chain's cancelation of thousands of orders, thousands of orders were not sent because of bureaucratic malfunctions caused by the company's unfamiliarity with Israeli customs regulations.

For example, the regulations stipulate additional customs duties and government approvals requiring payment for a delivery of more than five kilograms of frozen food (which requires special import approval from the Ministry of Health) and import tax on a large quantity of toiletries products (e.g. more than 10 tubes of toothpaste).

The international delivery service used by Target goes through several hands. The first is the Border Free company. The packages are then sent to a US delivery company, and some of them go through DHL before being sent to Israel.

Border Free is the company that sent an email to many of Target's consumers stating that due to the great demand, the item ordered could not be supplied, and therefore had to be canceled. The company apologized for the inconvenience, and said that the customer would not be billed for a delivery that did not arrive. If customer was nevertheless billed, the company said that it would refund the money.

Yaniv Koter, CEO of Dealtas.com, which makes deliveries from the US to Israel, told "Globes" that he had been contacted by dozens of customers asking for help in getting the package they had bought - including in return for payment for the delivery.

Koter said, "Target sent packages without checking what the law in Israel says, and this created an embarrassing bureaucratic problem. Many of the packages contained dry food products requiring import approval from the Ministry of Health, such as packages with protein-heavy health snacks, of which people ordered large quantities. Another case we encountered is an order for a router. At no stage was the buyer informed that he needed approval from the Ministry of Communications, which adds NIS 150-200 to the purchase price. Other packages needed approved from the Ministry of Health Pharmacology Department."

Koter added, "We know and deal with this regulation every day, and when a US company uses delivery without knowing the customs procedures, the result is damage to the consumers, especially when a package goes through several US suppliers. Actually, up until the package reaches DHL, it's in retrieval, and the buyer will have to pay the price – it's likely that DHL won't stop a package containing 50 energy bars, and the consumer will be required to pay the added cost under the law."

Dealtas.com, which has been operating for seven years, delivers tens of thousands of packages a month to Israel. Koter explains, "When we encounter a package for which added payment is required to make the import legal, we'll check with the buyer before the delivery whether he is aware of the additional payment. If he is not, since most delivery services in the US are free and we work with a local address, we'll return the package to the store without payment, and the transaction will be canceled. If the customer approves the additional payment, he pays it in advance."

The main website from which Israelis using Dealtas.com or other companies, such as UShops, for deliveries to Israel make purchases is Amazon. Many of the merchants on Amazon, including the large ones, do not offer delivery to Israel. Through the website, which offers the procedure through a local address, the Israeli buyers can buy Amazon products by paying an added fee of $20 per package. Other websites include Walmart, New Age for electronics products, children's clothes from Carter's, etc.

Late last week (including today and tomorrow), a number of US websites were offering Labor Day discounts of up to 50%. On the GAP, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Banana Republic websites, for example, 40% discounts are being offered, while Carter's is offering 50% discounts and American Eagle 20-60% discounts. As if that were not enough, November will feature discounts in honor of Chinese single person's day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.