Shipping from US to Australia ?

[Chuck A]

Any of you Aussies out there might be able to help me with this. How safe is shipping from the US to Australia? Is it too much of a gamble to ship something expensive like a $500 camera to Australis or is it perfectly safe. I am a bit reluctant to ship anything expensive out of the US. The only place outside of the US that I have ever shipped anything was Canada and I am always worried when I do that.

 

[David Murphy]

I do it all the time -- no problems, just use USPS airmail

 

[triplefinger]

i have shipped many things using USPS global express, no problems.

I have (once) shipped global prioirty... no tracking... no arrival, it cost me. never again.

 

[triplefinger]

also... insisting on paypal, albeit with a fee, is WORTH it.

 

[bob cole]

shipping from us to australia

shipping from us to australia

chuck, as already said, shipping to Australia is very safe...

My main caveat would be that you insure all shipments for more than, say, $100 usd...

The most important aspect of insurance, however, is that when you ship without insurance you use a small [part green] customs form and pay less for airmailing...

When you want to insure a shipment, you have to fill out a slightly longer customs form [white] and pay much more in airmail for shipping the same package...

if you ship a lot of stuff abroad -- not necessarily to just Australia -- just take a few of each customs form to your work space and fill them out before going to the post office...

 

[Chuck A]

Great tips folks. I am much obliged. I will be using Paypal and I will make sure that it is insured.

 

[akalai]

Use USPS!!!

You can check out how much it will cost using their postage calculator at:

http://ircalc.usps.gov

My preference is for USPS Global Express Mail (EMS) for valuable items, simply because it is very quick and has tracking ALL the way, unlike some other countries, you can actually use the US tracking number to locate the item in Australia... will even show when the package is out for delivery! (US Tracking numbers can also be typed into the Australia Post webpage for faster local tracking information: http://ice.auspost.com.au )

For not so large and or valuable items the next best shipping method is USPS Global Priority Mail -Flat Rate Envelope (LARGE) which costs $9.50US. Best thing about this is you can send upto 4lbs and it will only take 5 days or so.

Keep in mind that when you ship via USPS EMS it is determined by Australian Customs to be a "Courier Service" like UPS or Fedex and not regualr mail. This means that an Australian can only import a maximum of $250AUD (including the cost of shipping!) before taxes are payable. If you ship via regualr USPS Airmail etc the value goes up to $1000AUD... it's a "Catch-22" because if you were sending something that valuable you'd want to send it via EMS and not untraceable regular AIRMAIL! Anyway keep that in mind.

You might want to have a quick read of this page at the Australian Customs Service;

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549

Make sure you fill out the customs slip and state clearly that the item is "Second Hand". Also never declare the value of the item as being "$0" even if you mark it as a gift always give it some value. Nothing raises a red flag quicker!!!

Finally, DO NOT USE UPS OR FEDEX.... they are crap and provide less service and more hassles which they then chagre you for!!!