reliable alternatives to australia post in australia

[grannytakesatrip17]

I am fed up with the extravagent prices of Australia Post. I am a private seller who normally has a good clear out in Nov/Dec.

Can anyone recommend an alternative, less expensive but trustworthy courier service. I do not send overseas.

Thank you.

[tinyfpv]

Sorry to tell you this grannytakesatrip17 but there is a thing called the UPU - United postal Union which is an international body that governs postal charges between countries. And the way international postage works is it is the destination country that determines what the originating country's postal service must pay them to deliver the parcel in the destination country after "actual" costs of getting the parcel from the originating country to the destination country.

So you're not going to do any better than Australia post in sending a 6ft box back to China.

I'd just be disputing the transaction on your credit card if they're not willing to play ball with you in paying the postage charges for THEIR mistake.

I hardly see this as Australia post's mistake - they didn't send you a popcorn machine the Chinese merchant did.

[kopenhagen5]

The OP was asking for alternatives to AP as a seller.

Then as an aside, mentioned the latest debarcle by a Chinese seller.

But they do refer to it as an unfairness of AP.

(Mostly for others reading here)

[thesoulyearns]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

If you mean Sendle you need to be aware of the fact that they are a courier broker and use different couriers.

Many buyers do not like courier deliveries if they work all day.

And finally, I am not sure if they deliver to Western Australia yet....they initially only serviced the Eastern States but were planning to expand.

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If you're wondering where Sendle can pick-up from or deliver to, it's in a few Excel files on this page: https://support.sendle.com/hc/en-us/articles/205204758-Locations-and-coverage

They do pick-up from and deliver to WA, you'll just need to check that your post code is covered.

[lyndal1838]

Thanks for that information Soul.

I am not looking for it but was just mentioning to the OP what to check on if she was going to use Sendle.

I would only ever use StarTrack for my personal deliveries and I don't sell on ebay.

[thesoulyearns]

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lyndal1838 wrote: 

I would only ever use StarTrack for my personal deliveries and I don't sell on ebay.

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Why wouldn't you use CouriersPlease, for example? I've shipped with both them and Fastway (through Sendle) and both were fantastic.

[*tippy*toes*]

If a seller uses Couriers Please, it would be useless for me as they don't deliver to my area. I think if a seller wants to use a courier to send, it would be smart to offer both courier and Aust Post, for those of us who don't live in the city. We recently got Fastways here, but a lot of the others don't deliver here. I looked into offering Fastway since they arrived, but it worked out dearer than AP costs.

[lyndal1838]

My OH works for StarTrack.  My daughter lives in a country town on the route taken by an overnight interstate linehaul truck.  She meets the driver at the local truckstop....item delivered in 4 hours at no charge.

I have nothing particular against Couriers Please....they seem efficient as one would expect of a company owned by Singapore Post.

 As for Fastways....as you will see on other threads on these board, I have no time for them at all and it is an opinion held by many in the industry.   The reviews of the company read very like a horror story but they are unfortunately all too true.