[Stormbringer]

Any advice on shipping small item to Australia needed...whats the safest way to get paid for an item without having a PayPal account, (don't want one!), I'd like to help someone out on an arrow rest in Australia, but, never done anything like this before!

 

[Nito]

use western union MO. or have the buyer do a banktransfer to you account, cheaper!
send it with USPS, works great.

 

[98Redline]

Having just sent a bow to Romania I can give you the ins and outs of what I did that seemed to work very well.


As far as funds transfer, have the money wired with Western Union. No account required, just the transfer number, photo ID, and who the money was coming from. Once transferred, the funds are available for immediate pick up. Many grocery stores are Western Union offices so you may be able to pick up the cash at the local food store.

For shipping, USPS was the way to go. All of the other shipping companies wanted an arm and a leg for shipping costs (>$250) as opposed to (~$45) for USPS. Shipping time to Romania was set at 7-10 days (+ customs). You will have to fill out a customs declaration form at the post office (no big deal).

If you are sending a bow, you may be better off taking the limbs off it and sending it in a much smaller box. If you go over the size limit (I believe it is 41") then you have to use priority shipping which pushes the cost up several hundred dollars. I also think that a bow with the limbs off, packed in a smaller box has a better chance of survival than one that is strung.

 

[beetle]

Western Union is the best way without Paypal. The buyer can transfer online from the Western Union website (fastest). Western Union money transfers are available at some Australian Post Offices, but not everywhere (not where I live). The slowest way would be a MO. A Western Union MO costs around $8.00 AU from Australia Post plus postage a $1.50 or somesuch. Plus delivery time.

Shipping via USPS Air parcel Post for large items or USPS Global Priority for smaller items. Anywhere form 1 to 5 weeks for Air Parcel Post, 3 to 10 days for Global Priority. Biggest hold up is Australian Customs.

 

[Corsair]

I used Western Union's on line facility to send money from Australia to an archery firm in the Ukraine and it proved to be a simple and painless process. Totally reliable. Highly recommended.