Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

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smwalker
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Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by smwalker »

As mentioned in another post I recently tried using a freight forwarder to get some parts in Australia. Overall I am happy with the result but there are a few risks you take. I will try to detail how the process went and what I learned along the way. This is going to be long, grab a seat.

The Objective
Well with CP gone there really seems to be a void in terms of easy parts sources. So thought if this process was easy enough it might be a better way to get a better price on some parts. And with combined shipping of many parts from AU I though it maybe a cheaper alternative than having each seller send the parts individually. A side test was to see if I could use the service effectively to buy parts from sellers on Ebay that will not ship to the US at all.

The Company
The Company I choose to work with is an outfit called AUSFF. While there seemed to be many Australian freight forwarders many of them really seemed to be tailored to large shipments. AUSFF seemed to be the only one tailored to consumer level buying and shipping. Checking them out they seemed to have good reviews on different sites and any of my questions were answered quickly (factoring in the 17 hour time difference) .

The Setup Referral Link Here (Hook a brother up): AUSFF - Australian Freight Forwarders

So the first step is setting up an account with AUSFF. They have 4 levels of consumer accounts you can see Here . They mainly differ by how many packages you plan to receive and how long a time frame you need to gather them all up. You may see some instructions about verifying your account by sending in a copy of your licence and confirm your address with a utility bill. I did that but the data did not seem to get saved in my account, suspect their site maybe wonky in this area, there was no other mention of it during the process so not sure if it was needed or if my verification actually went through.

I started with the Silver plan for $7.00AU and that covered 2 package and 15 days hold time. I figured buy a couple things get them shipped to AUSFF in a few days and send off the package to me. Well as things go I got up to 6 items real quick and was looking at at least 25 days to get them all there. So doing the numbers on the extra charges that I would incur I figured I would be up to $19.00AU staying on the Silver plan so I asked if I could upgrade to the Gold plan to be safe and they said that would be fine I would just pay the difference. I figured it was worth it since I would get a shipping discount that comes with the Gold plan. But I did not read that part carefully enough. The shipping discounts only apply to DHL and TNT services and those only get used if the package is over the Australian Post limits (basically over 3 feet long). Since I was staying with small parts Australian Post was most likely going to be the international shipper as the other ones prices are vastly higher. So in the end no shipping discount for me on the Gold plan and I ended up using 25 days and 5 packages.

The Purchases
So I really could not go hog wild on buying since I had to keep in mind the Australian Post limits on long things and heavy things. So I concentrated on things that would fit in standard size boxes.

First Thing was side repeaters. Be Careful of the Aftermarket repeaters that are being sold on Ebay. Found some factory ones from the seller OldSkool Auto Parts that were selling for $249.00AU for a Pair plus $12.00AU local shipping. CP used to sell these for $333.00US shipped individually to your door. Did the conversion and seemed like a savings so ordered them but was not sure if i would save any money in the long run once they were shipped all together. Order shipped day after order and arrived at Freight Forwarder in 2 days. No tracking provided. And this seller does not ship to US.

Second was some VE steering wheel trim in black. The seller Australian Online Car Parts or by the Ebay username snparts14 had them for about $35.00AU and $7.50AU shipping. CP used to send these with a steering wheel purchase so I never really got a handle on what he would have charged for them individually. But there was a US seller selling a pair for $70.00US at the time so this looked like a deal. Parts shipped the day after the order and arrived at AUSFF in one day. Tracking provided along with receipt showing GST Tax (might have needed it at some point). I was most impressed with this sellers operation. They do ship to the US, This part would have cost about $46.00AU to ship individually to the USA.

Third was some fog light bezels in chrome. Found seller ad-87 was the only person on Ebay selling the Omega/Berlina series 2 bezels. Had a set of them for $146.00AU plus $14.00AU local shipping. Saw on the board Paul used to sell these individually for $185.00US shipped. This did not look like it would be a good deal but since he was the only offering I went with it. Processing time lagged on this one, 3 days to ship and 3 days till arrival at AUSFF. This seller did indicate he was willing to ship to the USA, but read till the end to see the issues with his packaging and reconsider.

I then remembered that we need the harness for those fog lights as well so I contacted ad-87 again and he was able to get me the harness although by this time the bezels had already shipped. So paid some extra for local shipping on this one as could have combined with he bezels if I had my act together. $28.00AU for the Harness and $8.00AU shipping.

Having got some factory parts I looked at some wrecking yards and private sellers to see what was available. Going to switch my headliner to black at some point so I needed a map light assembly in black. The G8 ones in some models can be hacked up to work or I could just buy one that way I want it from AU. Found one with the three lights that looked to be in really good condition. Cost was $85.00AU for the part and $15.00AU local shipping. This seller zoki212 would not ship to the USA. Bought it and waited. No updates, messaged, no response. Uh Oh. Opened a case with Ebay after the expected delivery date passed and was finally refunded my money. But here is some risk, that took maybe 15 days to realize it was not coming, file a case and get a decision. And with no communication I did not want to assume it was not coming and send all my other stuff from AU and possibly leave that part behind. I later looked at this sellers feedback and his one negative out of 86 said "Item listed pickup with cash only... 1 week no response... Bought one elsewhere!". SO I went and looked and my auction, it also said cash only pick up but it also had options for shipping, and I paid shipping so not sure if shipping was a mistake in the listing or what. But since he would not respond I will never know.

Also found some headlight switches that have the fog light feature. In the US cheapest I have seen them is about $23.00 shipped to your door. These came to about the same cost. But I was curious if the AU ones would have the white LED's already in them. I was disappointed they were red also. This transaction was also a bit slow, 8 days from order to ship but arrived in 2 days to AUSFF.

The Recieving
So all the while you are buying stuff you get to see when they arrive at AUSFF by logging into your account. Here is what my final screen looked like:

Image

But here is also where it can get a little confusing. If you keep up with it as they come in and the seller has provided tracking (only 1 out of 6 in this example) you can kind of match up what parcels have arrived. And if AUSFF labels them with something identifiable it makes it easier. The first 2 were labeled great, the senders name. Then it just started getting labeled as an "Auto Part". Well was that the dome light I was waiting for that I could not get an answer on from the seller or was that some other part that did not provide tracking so I do not know if it's there yet. Sending AUSFF an email got it cleared up in a few days (weekend), but not knowing for sure delays thing more than I realized.

The Consolidating
So once I was sure all the parts that were coming were there I logged on to consolidate my orders and ship the package. Followed the steps on the site and got a price of $150.00AU for shipping. Ouch. That did not seem right so I emailed AUSFF turns out thier website does not factor the consolidating correctly so just send them an email and manually ask for consolidation and then the lower final price of the shipment will be correct on the site.

The Shipping
My consolidated shipments prices looked like this:

Image

Not needing them anytime soon I opted for the cheapest option (also because I am cheap). $88.00AU Seemed reasonable for what I was expecting. Although for complete transparency I went over to the Australian Post postage calculator just to double check. A 2.9kg Package shipped international standard came out to $72.00AU. What the what? These guys are screwing me mate!! Well then found that signature confirmation is $5.00 more and required so that's $77.00. So I was basically being charged $11.00 more than I should. Then once I got my tracking from Australia Post I found out the shipment was shipped Express and that would have been about $83.00AU so that takes the overage to about $5.00AU and to me that is not bad. To be honest I do not care for the fact that I am paying for a "Service Plan" to handle my orders and I get a markup on the shipping as well. Emailing AUSFF about this they detailed that they do mark up shipping about 20% to cover expenses and I guess that's fair. Just wish it was more transparent on their site and in the billing process.


The Landing
Well one issue I found out about with international shipping is that the package tracking is not all that great. While it does update with each facility it stops in it does not specify where the facility is in the country so I really had no way of knowing on what day it would come, if it was close or if it was stuck somewhere. Mine looked like this:

Image

Consequently I was not home for the first delivery attempt and since a signature is required (AUSFF tells me on all packages over 2kg) I had to get it the next day at the post office. Knowing this now I would probably make my work address the delivery address to make sure someone would be there to sign for it.

The Cost
So I had $88.00AU in shipping charges and $20.00AU in "Service Plan" charges

I weighed each piece and assigned a percentage of the total weight to the cost and tried to figure out a total landed cost for the item. You will notice all through this post I have referred to the cost in terms of AU dollars. For the final cost I will convert to US dollars but the thing is that rate of exchange varied throughout the month. So your experience may vary. I will go into a bit more on the exchange rate below.

So here are the final numbers I came up with:

Image

Think I made out on a few and came out even on some others. I feel the way this service will be the most beneficial is on painted parts obtained through wrecking yards. If you can find nice painted parts that match your cars color and are in good shape but the shipper does not ship to the US this is the way to get that part and save on the cost of painting it. Even paying a bit more in shipping is worth it to avoid the body shop in the USA.

For factory parts if you can find one seller that will get all your items for you and ship them as one that maybe the the better if not equal way to go. I know I will be looking onto Australian Car Parts Online a bit more to see if they will stock our stuff as they seemed to have a nice operation.

Customs and Duties

Not an issue unless the Value of the items is over $800.00US dollars.

The Damage
Once I unpacked my items I had some items loose in the box wrapped in bubble wrap and some other items in the box that they came in from the seller. Repeaters were in their factory box and were fine. Fog light bezels were in a cheap thin box and I figured well there must have been an outer box they came in and AUSFF removed it to save space. Nope the postage and address was on that cheap box and there was no protection inside the box for the parts. And so as expected some of the plastic mounting tabs were broken on half the items. I plan on putting a damage claim in with Ebay but if the requirement to get a refund is to send them back well not going to do that! Just a warning that poor packaging is an issue to look out for and always make sure to read the feedback of the sellers. Checking ad-87's 99.3% feedback I saw lots of negatives about delays in shipping but nothing about poor packaging.

Image

The Exchange Rate
I used Paypal for all purchases and to pay for all shipping. By my calculations if I used a Credit card that did not charge any foreign transaction fees and it used the visa spot rate of exchange I would have saved approximately $20.00US on purchases of about $650.00US - About 3%. So if you have one of these cards already load it up in your paypal account and go into setting and choose the option to let the CC figure the exchange rate and do not let Paypal do it. You will always get a better rate as long as the credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees.

Some more info on this Here - Link

Conclusion
I miss Crazy Paul.
Steve Walker
Azusa, CA
'11 PPV 9C3 Huron White
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Re: Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by Holden_buff »

I've read this several times. Thanks for posting this topic with amazing detail!
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smwalker
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Re: Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by smwalker »

Thanks HB, glad it is useful.

To give an update on those damaged parts I put in an ebay claim and the seller was very good about it. He assumed the consolidator in AU would repackage the items so he did not bother preparing them for a very long journey to the US just the cross town one in AU. He offered a full refund for the broken parts and to pay return shipping back to his consolidator in the US.

Being as now I would have to pay full boat shipping for this single replacement item from AU I just decided they are still good enough for use with only a single tab missing here and there. But glad to see he stepped up.

I am putting together another shipment now and bought a steering wheel for my nieces Astra from a wrecking yard and got a note from AUSFF that it arrived just wrapped in bubble wrap, no box. So maybe a good idea would be to specify to these sellers what kind of packing is required when buying or inquire if they will ship to your specified standards. Something like:

"Item must be placed in an high grade box with enough packing material to make sure item survives an international shipment"

Some might refuse to do it or maybe charge a bit more but maybe could avoid some damage.
Steve Walker
Azusa, CA
'11 PPV 9C3 Huron White
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Re: Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by yargnits »

smwalker wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2016 4:48 pm Third was some fog light bezels in chrome. Found seller ad-87 was the only person on Ebay selling the Omega/Berlina series 2 bezels. Had a set of them for $146.00AU plus $14.00AU local shipping. Saw on the board Paul used to sell these individually for $185.00US shipped. This did not look like it would be a good deal but since he was the only offering I went with it. Processing time lagged on this one, 3 days to ship and 3 days till arrival at AUSFF. This seller did indicate he was willing to ship to the USA, but read till the end to see the issues with his packaging and reconsider.
I’m headed to Oz on Sunday and thought I’d try and find these lights. The seller upped his price and I’m on the fence on if it’s worth it just for the bezels. Your car does look good with them, but I don’t think my car, being black, will get as much from the upgrade.

Maybe I’ll find something else to spend my $ on... flip key fobs? Cytomegalovirus trim?
Dave B - Yargnits
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Re: Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by SSpeedracer »

I've had mixed results with Packsend.com.au depending on the franchise/location. Great service with a hitch tow bar and poor service with a front grill.
2016 Caprice
smwalker
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Re: Using an Australian Freight Forwarder

Post by smwalker »

SSpeedracer wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2019 2:24 pm I've had mixed results with Packsend.com.au depending on the franchise/location. Great service with a hitch tow bar and poor service with a front grill.
They seem to be like the UPS store of AU and on the few quotes I have got from Packsend.com.au they are not shy about charges. Thanks for the feedback though.
Steve Walker
Azusa, CA
'11 PPV 9C3 Huron White
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