eBay

musicyouneed · ‎05-31-2017

Good Morning, last year I had over 5 packages over November and December (different dates, different PO's) sent to Australia that were taking about 2 months to get there. They all arrived but all late.

Australia was having some serious problem with their mail, so I blocked Australia.

Has anyone been sending light packet or small packet there and how have the delivery times been? Parcels with tracking won't help me, just want to know about light and small packet.

Thanks

rose-dee · ‎05-31-2017

Yes, for the first time in over 10 years of selling on eBay, I recently had a Light Packet to Australia go missing entirely. After a month, I sent my (very patient and understanding) customer another identical item -- free of charge, and I paid the shipping cost (around $10). That one got there in less than 10 business days.

Oddly, 3 other items I sent by Light Packet to Australia last month also got there in lightning-fast time, less than 2 weeks. I'd hate to have to block Australia, as they've been some of the nicest customers to deal with.

Do you know any details about what's going on with the Australian postal system?

musicyouneed · ‎05-31-2017

Last year, they had really big problems. Mail delays, lost parcels, I just wanted to see if they cleared it up.

musicyouneed · ‎05-31-2017

I just did an updated search for the last month and I see there are still plagued with problems.

cooltoycars · ‎05-31-2017

Australians can be good customers BUT I only ship small package airmail. Shipping via Airmail takes long enough but can be a couple of months via surface!

dutchman48 · ‎05-31-2017

I do not know all the details of this but have heard the Australia Post is going to put the onus on sellers to collect their tax for anything going to Australia.

If you don't do it, they may not allow it to go into Australia.

This has created a great deal of problems and issues in Australia as no one knows how it will be set up or enforced.

It may also be overturned or appealed bur no one rerally knows.

I will see what else I can find or I am sure that any one from Australia can tell you more.

dutchman48 · ‎05-31-2017

Here is one article re GST in Australia

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gst-set-to-apply-to-all-imports-into-australia...

dutchman48 · ‎05-31-2017

Here is a big one

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/business/companies/ebay-could-shut-down-or-reduce-sales-in-australi...

pjcdn2005 · ‎05-31-2017

I've sent 2 untracked items to Australia in the last couple of months and buyers did not mention any problems with delivery.

dutchman48 · ‎05-31-2017

And here is another

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-24/berg-forcing-gst-on-imports-doesnt-stack-up/6719706

pjcdn2005 · ‎05-31-2017

I doubt that was the problem with music's parcels as it hasn't been implemented yet and may never be.

hlmacdon · ‎05-31-2017

Australia has always been one of the longest to arrive countries in my list, whether sending USPS or Canada Post. It is probably purely coincidental but I've had more strange shipping screw-ups with Australia than anywhere else. A particularly memorable one got redirected to a USPS APO address which was actually a deployed naval ship.

Australian customs is also extremely strict and does a great deal of screening due the variety of items that tend to get smuggled into the country. I wouldn't block the country as most things turn out fine other than the extended wait, but you may want to set expectations for any Australian customers you get. In my experience you get a lot of really good customers from there as they tend to be repeat purchasers.

ricarmic · ‎05-31-2017

I think for almost all of us on this board, we wouldn't exceed the $75,000 threshold to have to collect the taxes even if it does go forward as planned.

I have a lot of Australian customers, as mentioned by others, I have a number of very good repeat customers.

I did lose 2 packages to Australia last year, one early in the year and one sent in November.

So far this year no losses to Australia (touching wood) and no complaints of long delivery times (touching wood).

vintagenorth · ‎05-31-2017

I've had some great customers from Australia but I did. Block about a month ago due to the Australian mail problems. Thinking of unblocking sometime soon.

momcqueen · ‎05-31-2017

@cooltoycars wrote:
Australians can be good customers BUT I only ship small package airmail. Shipping via Airmail takes long enough but can be a couple of months via surface!

You cannot ship via Surface to Australia. It takes way way waaaaay too long.

Don't ship anywhere by Surface. Just cross it form your list of options entirely.

momcqueen · ‎05-31-2017

@musicyouneed wrote:
Good Morning, last year I had over 5 packages over November and December (different dates, different PO's) sent to Australia that were taking about 2 months to get there. They all arrived but all late.

Australia was having some serious problem with their mail, so I blocked Australia.

Has anyone been sending light packet or small packet there and how have the delivery times been? Parcels with tracking won't help me, just want to know about light and small packet.

Thanks

I don't have any trouble with Australian mail.

I use Tracked Packet for outbound parcels, and Light Packet for items under 2 cm and it's fine.

rose-dee · ‎05-31-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:

I don't have any trouble with Australian mail.
I use Tracked Packet for outbound parcels, and Light Packet for items under 2 cm and it's fine.

Which is why I was so shocked when my recent Light Packet item went completely missing. As I said (Post #2 above), I've been shipping to Oz for nearly 10 years with Light Packet or the equivalent, with no trouble except a couple of (very rare) slow deliveries, one of which appeared to have done the circuit around the Pacific before finally getting to its destination.

My recent Australian buyer was being extremely patient in waiting nearly 40 days for her purchase to arrive, so I sent her an identical item for free. That one arrived in under 10 days. Go figure.

Who knows what happened to the first one, as it was never delivered and never returned to me. At least my buyer was kind enough to agree not to mark the original (non-tracked) delivery as late when leaving FB. Three or four of these Australian incidents, with less understanding customers, and I could understand why sellers might be tempted to block the country.

a51split · ‎06-01-2017

@mjwl2006 wrote:

You cannot ship via Surface to Australia. It takes way way waaaaay too long.

I routinely ship an item that weighs 9kg to Aus. Take a guess what air mail costs.

I ship always by surface. My buyers never complain because I tell them it goes surface, and they know how long that takes. None ever want to pair for air.

So far this year I have sent 4 items to Aus by air with no complaints, so I assume they all arrived when expected. Last year was 12 items.

I am still convinced your 2 month delivery times are the fault of Canada Post sending by surface instead of air. That's why I always apply FOUR of the blue air mail stickers to my packages. One item I sold to Germany in Feb took 63 days. If everything was taking that long, they would run out of warehouse space very quickly to store that backlog of mail.

dutchman48 · ‎06-01-2017

@ricarmic wrote:
I think for almost all of us on this board, we wouldn't exceed the $75,000 threshold to have to collect the taxes even if it does go forward as planned.

I have a lot of Australian customers, as mentioned by others, I have a number of very good repeat customers.

I did lose 2 packages to Australia last year, one early in the year and one sent in November.

So far this year no losses to Australia (touching wood) and no complaints of long delivery times (touching wood).

It is not per seller. They are trying to have Ebay, Amazon, etc collect the taxes and remit on behalf of all sales to Australia.

And they I am sure do well over $75,000 per year.

momcqueen · ‎06-01-2017

@a51split wrote:
@mjwl2006 wrote:
You cannot ship via Surface to Australia. It takes way way waaaaay too long.

I routinely ship an item that weighs 9kg to Aus. Take a guess what air mail costs.
I ship always by surface. My buyers never complain because I tell them it goes surface, and they know how long that takes. None ever want to pair for air.....

Then you have been lucky. Any of those buyers could have opened and won an Item Not Received case against you with ebay's MoneyBack Guarantee because you didn't deliver within 30 days.