Folks who live in Hawai'i can find Internet shopping more costly and frustrating than our Mainland counterparts when it comes to shipping.

Some companies charge as much as the cost of the item — or more — to ship. Other companies won't ship to Hawai'i and Alaska at all.

And that can be especially vexing to consumers shopping on Web sites that promise free shipping.

The problem has spawned the creation of several services that offer cheaper shipping rates to Hawai'i. Two of them — www.shiptohawaii.com and www.shiptoalaska.com — are membership based.

A third that's less than a month old will forward merchandise to Hawai'i for a flat-rate handling fee of $5.50 for each shipment up to 70 pounds.

Shelly Bansberg is the owner and founder of the company, Ship & Save (www.ssshiak.com) based in Willow Springs, Mo.

Her parents — Gary and Sharon Garretson — sparked the idea for the business based on what they learned from the Rev. Ted Lesnett, a Methodist minister on the Big Island who had run up against ludicrous shipping charges in the past.

Bansberg's mom is a retired minister as well. And her parents met Lesnett through Camp Mekokiko, where volunteers help build a growing camping retreat on the Hamakua Coast.

Lesnett has lived in the Islands for 35-plus years. And he often ordered a variety of things — a computer part, a book, a certain product, a special light bulb, etc. — that he only could find on the Internet.

"I quickly ran into the issue that companies were locked up in noncompetition contracts with their shippers (UPS, FedEx, DHL and so on), thus prohibiting them from using the U.S. Postal Service. "So, I'd have a 6-ounce box with a replacement part or light bulb in it that cost me $22 to get here because it had to be sent two-day air."

He started thinking about having someone with a Mainland address to run a business that served as the shipping address for orders to Hawai'i and Alaska. The Garretsons stayed at his camp for a volunteering vacation and passed on the idea to Bansberg, a mother of two in Missouri looking for a way to work from home to be with her children.

Bansberg says her service takes advantage of lower Postal Service rates and can offer substantial savings, although it does take a little longer. For instance, a 1-pound package that could cost $26 via second-day air would drop to $10.30 by using Bansberg's company — $4.80 postal charge plus her flat-rate handling fee of $5.50.

Bansberg is pleased that people are starting to use her business. She had three orders come in yesterday and feels cautiously optimistic.

She understands that people are taking a leap of faith by mailing the order to her, but she is using PayPal and spells out the process onat her Web site.

"They're going to have to trust me that I'm not going to keep their packages," Bansberg said. She's relying on word of mouth, much of it from Lesnett's e-mails to other folks. And she's sent out a few press releases.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.