Customs can add up to another 30 business days to the delivery process due to their slow processes.

We do realise that customers from the USA and Canada (in particular) are used to the excellent service that popular couriers provide domestically in your countries but would also hasten to point out that this level of service at this low cost is not made available outside your countries by these same companies

We usually ship by Registered Australia Post due to it’s reliability and low cost, but the downside to this is that there is no internet trackable number to follow progress of your shipment and it is slower than using the couriers, although the item is still fully insured. We are issued with a ‘Registered Mail’ consignment number which can be used to make enquiry at the Post Office here in Australia and also to claim insurance (should this ever be required) but it can’t be used for online web based tracking – that service isn’t available using Registered Post

We do realise that it would be nice to be able to track on the internet but it’s a cost matter: If we used insured couriers for example our shipping costs would have to be approximately four times higher than they are now

We can provide an express courier shipping facility (which includes an internet trackable number) for an additional $100 shipping cost which is effectively cost price for this service – we would not derive any profit from this service should you choose to use it as this does represent the typically cost charged for this service in this part of the world

Our own experience has also shown that the implementation of the Homeland Security Laws requiring package searches on entry to various countries has added a whole new dimension to shipping times. Pure shipping by Registered mail typically takes 3-15 Business days while Customs can add another 5-10 business days to shipping times in countries where customs is 'fast', for example Singapore. In countries where we have found Customs to 'not be fast' (Canada and Netherlands in particular spring to mind), Customs can add up to another 30 business days to the delivery process due to their slow processes.

Please rest assured we do not 'hold onto' your money; we ship 98% of all items within two business days of us receiving payment