Shipping to Austrailia??

I ship to Australia quite a bit to my friend and co moderator over on my homepage. In fact, soon as the PO opens today I'll be mailing out another package to Victoria.

I have not had any problems getting things there. In one case a package I mailed to Dirk in Victoria Australia took less time to get there than a package I mailed to Los Angeles the same day. Typically I use the 'Global Priority' envelopes for mailings to Dirk. It is a flat $5.00 to ship that way. I wrap what I'm mailing in bubble wrap and stuff it inside the GP envelope and tape her shut. You will also need to fill out the form 2976 Customs Declaration form.

Most everytime it takes about 6 days. One time it took five. To the best of my knowledge it is not possible to track the package once it leaves the US. You may be able to look into a high $ Express service for them to sign for it or registered. I've done that to Canada but not Australia. Many times packages I've mailed to Dirk have been opened at the port also. So make sure to be aware that if it is something they can deem a throwing knife such as some blades once mailed that were needing handles it can throw a wrench in the works for delivery times.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
I've sent stuff to Australia via the "slow boat" method, and while it takes a very long time nothing has ever been lost. Use the most innocuous terms you can think of on the customs form. "Kitchen Utensil" instead of knife, or something like that.
 
I haven't shipped anything to Australia, but I've gotten a couple knives FROM there without any hang ups. I'm not sure what the locals are like in customs there, but I know one of the things that chaps the hides of many of our brethren in Europe is the taxation issue. It's not uncommon to have a Brit say that they got a $90 knife sent to them and it was held until they pay $50 or more in taxes, etc. I don't know what the real values are, but the taxes are STEEP. Another guy, I think in Denmark, ordered a Busse or Swamp Rat and ended up paying nearly three times what the knife itself cost because of their wacky taxes, import fees, etc (that's where "free" health care and "free" university come from, by the way!).

I've shipped a fair amount of stuff to the UK and most people tend to choose to go uninsured with a declaration of the the value of the knife materials minus the value of the work that went into it, if you catch my drift. The understanding is that if the package goes missing, the buyer is up the proverbial creek sans paddle because there is no insurance and the declared value was lower than the market value, but it's a risk most are willing to take with, say, a sub-$200 knife. I've had no problems ever shipping or receiving anything from/to any foreign country, but be aware of the Killer Taxes for the recipient and see what they'd have you do. Sometimes it comes out cheaper to just fly to Australia and hand deliver the thing! :D
 
I labled to big SOB's as camping equipment. Dont lable it knives or the post office wont even take it....
 
blgoode said:
I labled to big SOB's as camping equipment. Dont lable it knives or the post office wont even take it....

I've sent three or four knives to Australia and it never even occured to me to call it anything other than a knife. The post office never said anything and the knives were delivered just fine.
Daniel
 
Daniel Krohn said:
I've sent three or four knives to Australia and it never even occured to me to call it anything other than a knife. The post office never said anything and the knives were delivered just fine.
Daniel
Lucky customers~ Why take chances?

Think back to the CRKT / Customs debacle in Portland a couple years ago. Oregon is perhaps the only state that allows personal carry of automatic knives, but the Customs office in Portland decided that some CRKT one-hand-opening knives - Not Automatics - were autos and held up delivery for several weeks, costing the company a huge amount of money.

My rule is never anticipate the functioning of a bureaucratic mind - ever. Lying is bad policy but there's no reason to be blatant either. Great Brittan is trying to outlaw pointed kitchen knives for crying out loud.
 
I've always labelled mine for what they were. Instead of knives I put 'folder' or 'folders' x 2 and misc parts or something to that effect. The only thing I've been told to do by the recipients is to put a value lower than $50 on it or they have to pay a "duty" or some such thing on it to get the package. I usually just put $20 for value on it no matter what it is. It would take an act of congress to find something in the event that it was lost anyway so what difference does it make?

As a general rule I always scan and email the copies of the reciept with the 'customs label #" from the bar code on the customs form and the "label #" from the bar code on the Global Priority envelope in the event that they do have to track something down or at least try to. So far it has not been necessary though.
 
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