shipping to Australia

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Ruby pen turning

Ruby pen turning

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For those of you who ship to Australia, how do you ship? Have you had packages that have not arrived or arrived with something missing? Do you insure the packages and Is it safe?
 
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Nearly every package we ship with USPS. If the amount of the sale is large, we do insure. We are FREQUENTLY asked by the customer to check on the package--they will often take over 14 days. So far, none have been lost, but they have taken over a month, in a couple cases. For small flat rate, USPS cannot track once it leaves the USA.

One notable difference between us and others who may comment: Our packages are USUALLY OVER 10 pounds. Maybe little stuff travels faster--I don't know.
 
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I ship both international first class and priority as well as express, only express offers tracking and its not cheap. I have not had a problem with loosing packages or having part of them go missing. Its as safe as shipping anywhere.
 
I've shipped both interntional first class and flat rate priority with no problems, both seem to get there with-in a week. When it leaves the US there is no way to track, if you need tracking you need to ship express and mortage your house...
 
Phil, I ship to 3 shops down under that sell my tools, and I ship 2 or 3 times a month. Small Flat Rate USPS is the easiest, and cheapest other than first class, but no tracking available you have to go to a Medium Flat Rate and they are a pain in the rear to do the postage for, and pretty expensive as well, I sent a Large box a few weeks ago and cost nearly 61.00, however I've never had any thing go a stray, just takes 12 to 14 days.
 
firewhatfire said:
I did USPS and had the pen not arrive. I sent a 2nd pen and never heard if it arrived it not. You cannot insure overseas with USPS
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Phil,

This is not true. You cannot insure a small FRB but if you send it Registered Mail, there is a cost reimbersment if it is lost and you can buy more insurance.

Brian,

As for packages not arriving, I have shipped several dozen packages to Australia and have only had one not arrive. That is when I discovered the comment above. However, the address the guy had in PayPal was wrong and the package wasn't really lost, it returned to me some 5 weeks later (return to sender)

Medium and Large FRB's are trackable and insurable which is different from the Small FRBs which are neither without Registered Mail.

Registered Mail will add at least 4 days but it is signed for at each location and is trackable. If you are sending something valuable, I recommend using this option if you are using a small box.
 
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I ship to Australia, among many other countries regularly. I use USPS Priority Mail exclusively for my international and have never had a problem. Contrary to most here, almost all of my packages are large and 20+ lbs and will not fit in even a Large Flat Rate box so it all goes Priority Mail by weight.

Like was said above, anything larger than the SFRB is trackable and insurable. That said, I NEVER buy insurance on International. I found it to be impossible to collect. I shipped 5 gallons of Cactus Juice at nearly 50# by Priority Mail to Canada a while back, insured. . It never showed up so I tracked it and found it disappeared after clearing customs. I tried submitting a claim and got the biggest run around. They said it was most likely a valid claim and they had to mail me the claim form. Nothing ever showed up so I called again. They claimed to have sent the claim form and said they would send it again. Still never got the form. Did this a couple of more times until I gave up. I asked if I could get the form online and they said it was only available by mail! Never did get my form and had to ship another 5 gallons on my dime. I guess I should have escalated things but just did not have the time to deal with it. Oh well, lesson learned. No more insurance for me!
 
You guys may get tired of me chiming in on the international shipping questions.. I've shipped to almost every country on earth, by almost every conceivable method. With only a few exceptions to some of the lesser developed countries, I've had no problems with arrival, loss or delays. Australia is one of the more developed countries in transportation and they have a pretty sophisticated customs, mail and delivery system. If you have real concerns, use one of the courier services, Fedex, UPS, DHL, Msas, TNT ( which I think is an Australian company)...
 
From this END! USPS is good. Ive only ever had one package go missing from USA it was a long time ago, Also just recently a package was 6 weeks getting here not sure what happened, fell into a crack some where :frown:Most packages take about 10/14 days and some have arrived in 7 days.
 
As has been said tracking is not available once a package leaves US shores BUT I sent a package to the UK recently & added registered. Then it can be tracked & you also get a delivery signature, didn't add a whole lot to the cost & well worth it imo.
Hope that helps
David
 
Holy cow that was fast! Glad you like them.
I ordered some scissors from Harbor Freight on the first here in the US and still have not received them. Unless they are being shipped from China that is ridiculous.
 
I use priority also. Most of my shipments fit in a SFRB. What I will do is pack it in a SFRB and then stuff that in a padded envelope (same price as SFRB). This gives a little more protection. If it wont fit in the SFRB I try to fit it in a padded envelope and tape it up and stuff it into another padded envelope. Then I tape the corners up real good to help keep them from splitting open.
 
I don't know what kind of deal timberbits has with TNT, but 3 days from order to arrival. You might want to check to see if they do the opposite direction too.
 
I ship USPS SFRB when I can. You can't track but you can Trace you have to go to USPS and find out about tracing international shipping. It is a pain.

I've never had any problems shipping to Australia. You can often get third party insurance that is cheaper and easier to deal with than USPS when making claims. I use that when I insure.

There is a reimbursement procedure on international shipments but it is a relatively small amount and a pain in the toosh to collect.

re. Timberbits - they expained to me one time how they get the fast shipping and low shipping cost from Australia - the gist of it is Australia imports much more by air than they export so the carriers are trying to fill planes for the return flights and something is more than nothing so they can get low rates. I think they also told me that there are some special arrangements available from the Australian government for people who import then export the same items. Unfortunately we do not have anything quite the same.
 
LagniappeRob said:
I don't know what kind of deal timberbits has with TNT, but 3 days from order to arrival. You might want to check to see if they do the opposite direction too.
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TNT has now been purchased by UPS.

You can get parcels delivered by UPS and Fedex from the US to Australia in 2 or 3 days, it just costs a lot more money. USPS can do it in 4 or 5 days but you will need to pay for the International Courier service.

What I have found is that with TNT ( now UPS), DHL and Fedex, unless your an account holder which sends a lot of freight domestically and overseas (ie not a once off customers), they will charge you an arm and a leg.

One 4 pound parcel I got quoted by TNT without account was $90AUD but it was more than half price when I quoted my account number (US to Australia).

Smitty, there are non-bonded warehouses in the US as well. I have looked at several so the service is definitely available in the US as well.

Regards

Timberbits
 
Thanks for all the responses everyone. I really only got burned 1 time shipping to Latvia.
I shipped a SFRB to Dubai around a month ago and the guy just received the pens a few days ago. I don't like wondering for a month if something is going to make it or not.
 
Ruby pen turning said:
Thanks for all the responses everyone. I really only got burned 1 time shipping to Latvia.
I shipped a SFRB to Dubai around a month ago and the guy just received the pens a few days ago. I don't like wondering for a month if something is going to make it or not.
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All countries are not the same---there are some where the chance of getting through are 50/50 at best. I've only shipped a half a dozen or so packages to South Africa and 2 have been lost...I ship there only with the understanding that when I put it in the mail, it is their loos if it isn't delivered.
 
Curtis Seebeck...that is the reason they give you that run around...they know that eventually most people say the heck with it and drop it. Me...I stay on their butts like an Alabama tick. They are the ones that lost it...and by golly they are going to pay for it. I know time is of the essence...but don 't let them get away with anything.
 
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