Shipment to Australia -- 3 weeks not arrived

35mmdelux

35mmdelux

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Friends,

I shipped a lens to Australia from USA listed as used camera part/used lens, flying USPS First Class Air Mail. Three weeks on and the buyer has not received. Ive shipped Hasselblad/Leica to the Ukraine, HK, Spain, Portugal, Italy (!), CHINA (Bejing) and never one problem. Can you guys/gals in OZ shed some light on your experience USA-to-OZ please. [yes I know UPS, DHL, EMS is better].

What say ye. THKS -- Paul

Moderator: Sorry if in wrong section.
 
ALWAYS ship with tracking, especially if you are shipping international. I always use USPS, and the only time I've ever had a lost package was when I sent without tracking, which means you need to ship at least priority (to common destinations) or express (to less common destinations). At the very least, you would know where your packages are stuck (usually in customs), which decreases some of the anxiety with buyer and seller...
 
Priority from the US to Canada usually takes a week to a week and a half depending on how long customs holds on to things. First Class is slower than Priority iirc
 
classic. I think I had a 3 week deal once on a lens I shipped to Oz. Now I only ship EMS, it's about $30 but it gets anywhere in a week or less.
 
I sent a lens to a fellow rff'er mid July by Canada post and it hasn't arrived yet-- I'm hoping it's tied up in customs (Vancouver Canada to Australia)
 
Sellers from the USA always used USPS Priority Mail International with tracking or Express Mail International with tracking, and the items always arrived at my place around 5 to 10 days. Fortunately I never had any problems yet.

And I think that USPS First Class Air Mail should not take that 3 weeks long...
 
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suckerpunch said:
I sent an M6, and it was held in customs for over a month. Then they couldnt find it, then they almost sent it back to the US.
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I'm in the US and have bought frequently from overseas. If a package gets caught in customs it's like a black hole. It just disappears until one day you get an email from a private contractor that says no duties were assessed but you need to pay $30~50 to get it released from customs. No tracking mechanism, post office, UPS or Fedex can tell you what happened to the package. It just disappears from the face of the earth for 4~8 weeks.
 
That's not really true, UPS and Fedex have real time tracking so they can tell you if it is in customs. If they are the broker, they will tell you exactly what is necessary to release it, if there is an issue.

USPS is another matter. I shipped an M4P to New Zealand and it disappeared, the last trace was New York @ JFK airport. Ten days later it still said it was at JFK, when it really was in Kiwi customs. I called USPS, they said they would issue a trace and call me back. They never called back; it was delivered the next day. It seems to always work like that with USPS...nothing ever lost tho.
 
I have had a few lenses, cameras, plus assorted gear sent to Australia by B&H. Generally, if my order was in NY on Monday their time the item arrived here on the Friday of the same week.

Had the same experience with a camera from KEH.

Just checked. B&H sent via UPS World wide saver. Don't know the significance of that but it had tracking. I watched it cross the States, to Hawaii, then Sydney, customs and finally to my home town.

One thing: each shipment was of a declared (and actual!) value below AUD 1,000.00 - it seems that Aussie customs may snag anything over that amount and apply duty or GST (known in other places as VAT). That would slow things down.
 
USA to Sydney is generally 7 to 10 days. After three weeks I'd be starting to ask some questions. It might be held at Customs depending on the value you gave it.
 
First class airmail does not necessarily mean that it goes by air the entire way. Typically, it will go via USPS First Class to the outgoing airport, then on an airplane to the destination country, through customs, and then into the basic form of delivery in that country. I have had delays at all stages for various reasons. I would hold tight a while and ask the buyer to afford a bit of patience for the item to arrive. In the meantime though, they should talk to their local post office and use the customs form number (i.e. the green form that you attached to the box) as a reference. That number might be traceable through the USPS system. I think the reference number starts with LC.
 
MichaelW said:
USA to Sydney is generally 7 to 10 days.
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This has been my experience also (near Brisbane). I've never had anything sent via USPS go missing. Surface mail used to take 6 weeks or more, but I'm not sure if that option is available now? Surface mail from Canada does indeed take the cake on waiting time - months and months. Customs is not an issue in Australia unless the item is over $1000.
 
Only one experience sending to OZ from Canada via surface mail and that took the better part of 6 months. It was only a gift CD so no problem.

Bob
 
USA shippint to AUS

USA shippint to AUS

I've had lots of items shipped successfully from the USA to Australia - Melbourne. No problems. In my experience the tracked items take 5-7 days - but are very expensive - say $32 for a lens and $42 for a small camera. I prefer the seller to just use normal USPS Air Mail because its much cheaper. It usually takes only 7-10 days to arrive safely. Never paid or had any issues with customs. Never lost anything.
If the location you are shipping to is somewhere remote in Australia then add another 7 days.
 
I wouldnt call USPS First Class Air Mail surface mail. I live in Los Angeles, where I believe it would have flown out of to OZ. I do have the customs number and it was priced well under $1000 USD. Several days before I made two other shipments to OZ; both received in 10 days. Having said this Ive had shipments to/from Canada as well as to Sweden taking 1 month. The buyers get nervous and its understandable.
 
Stuck in customs?. At work we once sent a parcel within the EU and it disappeared for a month or so, turned out it was in customs for no apparent reason, after a while they just sent it to the addressee.
 
If the lens was worth more than about $50 you made a mistake shipping it 1st Class: this is not an insured service and there is no tracking. Nevertheless you still might be able to track it down using the customs number printed on the USPS receipt (that's the only shipping record of it you might have). Forward this to your buyer and ask him to take it to his post office for a trace.

For anything expensive (>$50 in my book) one should ship either USPS Priority (very good) or USPS Express International (the best). The latter service is tracked to the door of the recipient. Be sure to fully insure (and not over insure) the items with these services. The reason not to over insure is that if there is a loss, the sales records are the proof of value and USPS will not pay a claim larger than that.

These services may seem expensive, but international shopping is a luxury that buyers need to pay for it and sweating bullets over their lost expensive (uninsured) items is not worth it.

Finally Australia has a great postal system - it is fast and efficient and everything I've sent there just sailed on through whatever customs procedures they apply.

Take heart however, most wayward international parcels are eventually returned if they cannot be delivered. Sometimes it can take six months.

And BTW, UPS, FedEx, and DHL are not better than USPS EMS - unless you want to see how those corporate gangsters can abuse you and your credit card in amazing ways.
 
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By the way, ALL USPS international mail is now airmail. You can thank the USPS board of directors for that (many on it are actually anti-USPS). USPS sea mail once allowed one to ship heavy items abroad economically - no more.
 
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