Shipping to Oz

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Matthew Gregory

Matthew Gregory

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I have a customer I need to ship a knife to in Australia, and all of the standard carriers have pricing that is... prohibitively expensive. Anyone have suggestions on alternatives, or what have you done to make this more reasonable for both you and the customer?

Anything else I should know about? Customs? Packaging? Etc?

Thanks,

Matt
 
Not sure about Oz, but I have shipped to Italy just using the post office. Mind you it wasnt an expensive knife but it was still values at over 100 for insurance and tracking. i believe it cost me around 25 and showed up within a couple of weeks. I used a paper towel roll cut and taped around the blade, packed it in a box just big enough for it and the sheath and filled the void space with newspaper and leftover bubble wrap. As for the label, most times I put either camp tool or camp/utility knife. unless its obviously a kitchen knife. I dont try to hide it but I dont put down flag words either, like fighter, chopper, bowie, things like that.
 
Hey mate

I've bought over 20 knives in more than 10 individual transactions from the knife makers here and never had any significant hassles. Shipping prices via USPS (I think) start at around $25USD. The next category up is around $40USD.

If you like, flick me a PM with the details of the knife; materials, dimensions, description and preferably a photo and I'll tell you what I know.

Cheers

Christian
 
I've shipped knives to Australia. USPS, with your own packaging, has been from $40 to $60.

No double edges, no wood like ebony.

I tape the package 100% to make it waterproof. Otherwise, package the same as if you were shipping across the country. Customs paperwork is straight forward from the USPS website and gets taped to the box.
 
My interwebz research has obviously led me astray, as the cheapest I could come up with was $100. Have to head to the post office this AM anyway, so I guess I'll go get my learn on!

Thanks, gang.
 
We use USPS a lot. Hundreds of packages a year. They tend to break my stuff less than UPS.

I don't usually buy additional insurance above what comes standard. I think it's a waste of money because they frequently won't honor a claim anyway. The money I've "saved" being "self insured" is greater than the ~ 1% that would warrant a claim anyways. I just know going into it I'm assuming some risk. It all washes out.

That said, I don't ship many knives much over $300.

It's cheaper to ship through their website than to go to the post office.

I use Regional Rate A boxes on knives a lot. It's big. You can fit a 14" total length knife with sheath diagonally for not much more than a small flat rate box. The local post office doesn't carry the box, but you can order them from their website for free. We order them in packs of about 20 at a time.

We order shipping bubbles and foam from Uline.
 
I shipped a couple small knives to Tasmania with a USPS flat rate box for about $25. I understand that Australian customs aren't very kind on double edges, and some folders. Heard about guys over tightening pivot screws so the blades couldn't easily be flipped. Gotta be pretty honest with the description on the customs form. I said "Small fixed knife" on mine, and it went through just fine. They probably x-ray and open it anyway, so be fairly honest. I never liked putting "camping/gardening tool" on a customs form anyway.
 
I ship all international packages USPS insured Express mail. It's pricey but better than losing the knife. I've probably sent out 100 international packages this year alone and no problems... including many to Australia. Be careful shipping folders to different countries though because of the laws.
 
In terms of fixed blades, yeah double edge is certainly the highest risk area. Not to say that getting permits for them is impossible though.
Unlike many one hand openers and flippers which will always be inspected and usually confiscated. Tightening pivots doesnt work, funnily enough this government agency can afford torx drivers.

Im curious about Nathans comment 'No wood like ebony'
Have you had problems with that before Nathan?
Never heard of anyone having trouble with processed woods from a first world country
 
I just sent a razor to The Hague, Netherlands by USPS. Cost me only $17.00 and got there in a week. No damage.

Pretty good I would say.
 
I sent a couple of SAK's and three Indian Head Nickels plus a few Rough Riders and some other Knife I forget what it was and it only cost $28.00 to Australia but it took almost 16 days or so to get there (at least that is what he said in his email.!!** ) and I thought for sure it got confiscated when it got there but I got lucky and he is a happy camper.^^ TGAGHGT lol
 
I sent one back in the spring. Apparently "custom hand made chef's knife" was not specific enough for customs. Got stuck and I had to get a hold of them with exact materials. My guess was they were worried about exotic wood restrictions of some kind.
 
This is a year old thread ( almost). I bet Mat got his knife shipped by now.

I use USPS flat rate boxes and shipping.
 
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