I've never used a freight-forwarder before but it seems Australia Post has joined in.
Main things are no subscription fees, tracking, receiving within 5-8 business days and ability to be delivered to an Australian Post locker.
Rates can be estimated from this link: https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/our-rates/shipping-rates
Who would you recommend? ShipItTo?
Hopshopgo. I haven't checked this ones pricing yet though.
Seems expensive
Baserate is a bit high.
cheaper than comgateway/hopshopgo for what it's worth.
FedEx courier prices with AusPost service…bit of a no brainer really.
I dont know about using them for freight forwarding. they have problem with LOCAL deliveries as it is
So true. International couriers never have issues, are quick and never stuff up.
But do you know how many times I have had my neighbours letters or they had mine?
And a few weeks ago a complete stranger came to my door to deliver my parcel from overseas, which was delivered to them in error. Same house number, totally different street.
i got this letter addressed to my po box number….in a suburb on the wrong side of the river! happened 3 times! highlighting and circling the correct suburb didn't work, finally writing out the suburb in CAPS/angry font finally got the message through. sheesh.
Fedex + UPS ftw
I wonder who they're reselling?
Well, you may know that Thinkgeek has this shipping option where they ship via Australia Post. I used it once, and had to wait for two months. So my guess is that they are reselling the same dude operating the same rowing boat.
His rowing boat is having a hard time penetrating our borders.
got turned back
Theres lots of stuff on amazon that doesnt ship to australia. Search on amazon for any weber products and see how many ship here.
Even with 20% off the shipping it's still expensive.
compared to who? I'm genuinely curious.
To those saying it's expensive, have you ever had anything couried from the US to AU? This (in AU$) is as cheap or cheaper than just about any other option other the maybe USPS 1st class international which can take 2 - 4 weeks or more.
ShopMate charges $60.65 to ship a pair of shoes 3kg parcel. But through Shipito i can get a 35x30x20cm parcel weighing 3kg and a value of $400 USD all the way from the Shipito Tualatin, Oregon USA warehouse to central Queensland, Australia through TNT Express with free insurance for $50.47 USD (about $58 AUD). Shopmate charges extra for shipping insurance so that $60.65 then becomes about $70 insured on a $400 parcel through ShopMate. Make what you will of it.
I wonder if there's money to be made in flying repeatedly to the US and back, importing 23+7kg of other people's stuffs each time with the baggage allowance? Though it may be more cost effective to just pay for extra luggage (say 100 checked bags when times are good). Though not sure what I'd fill with my bags with each time I fly out of Australia. Aussie pride?
But think of all those FF miles!
Let me know if anyone wants some duty free.
Haha, I said duty.
Not at $1000+ for the return trip.
You can only carry in $1000 worth of goods without paying duty, whereas each parcel is individually assessed through the mail.
Unfortunately they don't seem to offer parcel consolidation which the likes of Shipito does. No good if you want to ship multiple items and then consolidate them into the one box to save on space and shipping cost.
"Unfortunately, ShopMate is not currently able to offer parcel consolidation services."
https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/tips-and-faqs/frequently-ask…
Holy ship, those prices are quite excessive. I'll stick to Shipito.
Yes especially when the likes of TNT Express, DHL Express, Fedex through Shipito already has free full parcel insurance. ShopMate charges extra for shipping insurance ($2.50 per $100 parcel value).
Its still a good thing they are entering the competition, once they see their prices are too high they will either - 1. can it
2. lower their prices.
Their postage cost is quite high.. not surprising, its quite high here!