We get a lot of questions about shipping and postage, so we shall try to explain it here, especially as the rates have just increased yet again at Australia Post. We have kept the same shipping rates for a long time, and even absorbed the last post increase, but we will have to put things up as we are not even breaking even with some of our shipping materials costs. We don’t charge for handling and packing labour. We shall break it up into Domestic postage rates, and International shipping rates. We have tried to do the best deals for all our customers, and you shall see that we are really trying to keep these costs down and also offer good combined shipping discounts.
IMPORTANT
When combining items, please do not pay for them until you have finished shopping, so we can do a single final combined invoice ready for payment. This means we can do the correct shipping/postage discounts for you, and one item does not get sent off without the others, as we are very quick to post after payment...
DOMESTIC POSTAGE RATES Most of our smaller and thinner items, eg, hair forks/sticks, bookmarks etc, can go as large letter mail, and we charge $2.50 for one item, and for any additional items it costs an extra $1.00 each (excepting the thicker hair accessories, eg with shells or wide tops). This deal we have kept the same for you, even though the Post Offices charges have increased.
If you have bought a larger hair accessory eg with a shell or a barrette which needs to go in a box., then the parcel rate we have to charge for up to 250g packed weight is $5.50. This covers the cost of the actual postage and the box and packing materials, not the labour of packing them! If you get a mixture of larger sized hair accessories and smaller thinner ones, then we have to start with the box price, and any other additional purchases will then be $1.00 each thereafter.
For our larger and heavier batik wood carvings and horn items, we will charge according to the packed weight, and if you buy additional heavy items, we take the heaviest item’s postage as the base rate, and then any other purchases with be an additional $2.50 each (or $1.00 each if the item is a hair accessory or bookmark).
If you want insurance for your purchase, its best to register it, (which gives up to $100 in insurance), for the additional sum of $2.80. This is the actual Aust Post cost. For amounts over $100, there is an additional extra cover payment system ( $1.30 for each extra $100 or part thereof).
INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING RATES Most of our smaller and thinner items, eg, hair forks/sticks, bookmarks etc, can go as large letter mail, and we charge AUD$5.35 for one item, and we are happy to combine 2 of these type of items for the same rate of AUD$5.35 (excepting the thicker hair accessories, eg with shells or wide tops). This cheaper rate cannot be insured.
If you have bought a larger hair accessory eg with a shell or a barrette which needs to go in a box., then the parcel rate we have to charge for up to 250g packed weight is AUD$10.05 to the US and Canada, and AUD$11.70 to the UK & Europe. This covers the cost of the actual postage and the box and packing materials, not the labour of packing them! As we realize that international shipping is expensive, we offer the special discount deal of 8 hair accessories for this same rate! So if you buy a few items, the shipping can be much more economical.
For our larger and heavier batik wood carvings and horn items, we will charge according to the packed weight (which can usually be found on the bottom of the listing in the Seller’s payment instructions box), and if you buy additional heavy items we can give you a quote prior to buying for the shipping costs. Again, we do not try to make money or cover labour costs on the shipping, but charge according to the official packed weight rate at Australia Post plus the cost of packing materials.
If you want insurance, the Australia Post rate costs AUD$8.75 for the first $100 or part thereof, plus $2.30 for every additional $100 or part thereof. For purchases over the value of AUD$50.00, PayPal requires tracking and this is the cheapest way to get it as the cost of international courier service is too expensive usually. Under the value of AUD$50.00 insurance is optional. NB: some countries will not accept insurance for airmail packets under 2 kilogram weight, eg Canada and Germany!
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