pickled

Hi everybody,

my daughter, hubby and grandchildren moved to Melbourne in May and I would like to send some Christmas presents for them, but I have no idea how to go about it. Can anyone please let me know the cheapest way to send things to Australia. I have looked at a couple of options, but (unless I'm reading it wrong) it will cost in excess of £75 to send a parcel. If this is the case, I would rather give them the money. Talking of money, am I allowed to send cash? If I send a cheque, will they have to pay a fee to change it to dollars etc.?

I'm really sorry if this question has been raised elsewhere.

Thanks for any help.

Pickled Sue

Beachband

75 pounds couldn't be right!
I sent a parcel to WA for Christmas last year, there was a handbag and a couple of cds wrapped in the parcel.
Brought it to the post office, they weighed it, express sign on delivery with tracking number is the option I used - cost about 10euro if I remember, it wasn't much anyway.
It largely depends on the weight/size of the parcel etc
Sending a cheque to Oz is grand, it will however take about 4 - 6 weeks to clear though, and a small charge incurred, depending on the bank you use etc.

BonnieH

I send a fair few parcels to Oz and always go with the post office.....
there is parcel force, fedex and all those other sorts of companys that deliver but think they are roughly the same price.....

All depends on weight and how big the parcel is....once youve wrapped it up get a 'customs' sticker from the post office and write down what's inside otherwise they may open it before it gets to your family. Delivery usually takes 7 - 10 working days and for an extra few pounds you can add extra insurance on it.......

As for cheques they do incur a slight cost...nothing too major...when I send cheques I add an extra bit on to cover it...think it's only about a fiver....ask your daughter to check with her bank!

Hope this helps!!

steve_kelly_and_boys

hi

for sending parcels overseas i always get a quote and use www.interparcel.com www.parcel2go.com or www.wedelivertheworld.com
they use all the big name couriers but at a discount the website's are really easy to use
most of the time interparcel shade it for me on price though

Pollyana

I've used www.wedelivertheworld.com a couple of times - quick good service and much cheaper and more reliable than the Post Office

daunted

my son sends us 'goodie' parcels from time to time and just sends them Royal Mail (by air), takes about 10 days, they have always been inspected by quarantine but nothing removed and if they unwrap anything they did a good job at rewrapping
My son (the one here) got a cheque for his birthday last year (100 euros) and it cost $30 to pay it into his account (westpac) if you want to send money the best way i reckon is to just pay it direct into bank (though that does lose the personal touch)
Nothing beats getting a parcel of pressies though

Just a word of warning for those sending parcels other way back to UK. Import duty is payable on anything over 37 pounds (approx) so be careful what you put on declaration as value of goods. I only ever put $50 now as my son has had to pay to be able to collect his parcel

slipshot

If you really want to send money, the best is to get a cheque drawn in Aus dollars from the UK and send that - then there's no hassle either end...

MarkMC

Use paypal, they will convert it for you.

Sally Simpson

Never send cash through the post as there is a very good chance it will get 'lost'.

Thanks for the tip about value Daunted!

Red_V_Roger

Just as a point...if you are looking to send Christmas stuff...now is the time to do it. If you send it by surface mail at the Post Office, rather than by air mail, it will take about 3 months, but be miles cheaper. So buy those Chrimbo pressies now and send them by surface mail!

desperatehousewife

Oh no! just sent a present for my new niece and declared the value as $150, I thought it would be ok as I said it was a gift

I hope they don't have to pay duties, kind of defeats the purpose of sending a prezzie.............

moneypenny20

By far the best idea. My inlaws have no trouble getting a Aus Dollar cheque from their bank to send us. Either that or pay money into their UK account (if they kept one) and then they can draw on it when they like


Never put the true value, the person getting the gift is likely to be charged for the pleasure of receiving the gift and if it went missing you'd never get what you valued it as anyway. Strangely enough, every gift I send to the UK costs $30

Blossom

I always send my parcels through the Post Office, air mail, and to be signed for. Have not had one parcel gone missing yet. I have also included cash in parcels, last one was a couple of weeks ago. Sent riding coat, joddies etc to my grandaughter and put £250 cash in the pocket of the coat. Posted the parcel late Tuesday afternoon it was there on the Friday! All intact i might add. The parcel was just under 2kg (maximum weight) and cost me £24 + but that included £3.50 sign for service and addtional insurance.

You can send items up to $1000 in value without incurring the recipient any taxes.

desperatehousewife

lesson learned for next time, just had some parcels delivered to us from the UK for no charge and assumed it would be the same the other way, b****r!

GaryVFR8

I had a cheque from my dad in the UK it cost me $10 to place it into the account and took 30 days to clear, This is with the commonwealth, So next time someone sends a cheque its would be cheaper to open a commonwealth account and place the cheque in there,
Gary