Sherbetdip23 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Hi I was wondering, those of you that are currently in Oz, how many of you send gifts back to the UK at Christmas and if many people take the time to post out gifts to you in Oz? :huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 Due to the exorbitant cost of posting from Australia to the UK, I now tend to find UK sites that I can order from and deliver in the UK. Also bear in mind that customs in the UK will charge import duty on any parcel valued above £40 as a gift, (think its 40 for gift and 15 for other stuff. not 100% sure). Last time i posted a parcel to the UK the cost of postage was greater than the value of the gift. I have told family not to bother wasting money to post to me a card is great, and that all they need to do. you can send gifts to the value of $1000 to Australia before they attract import duties here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FatCats Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 This is our first one here and I posted gifts back. Don't think it will happen again as the postage costs were far too expensive for my budget. Next year if we are still here it will be vouchers or buying from websites and having delivered directly in UK. So far we have received one package here, and it was ordered by UK friends from an Oz website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 TNext year if we are still here it will be vouchers or buying from websites and having delivered directly in UK. So far we have received one package here, and it was ordered by UK friends from an Oz website.. Argos accept payment from Australia, I have arranged for gift vouchers for my Grandson for Argos, now they can choose what he wants/needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 It is difficut to know what to do for the best isn't it. I'm not worried about hubby and I getting pressies from the UK but it would be nice if family sent out a little something for our girls still if it's not too expensive. My friend tried to send her nephew a scooter out to Melbourne and was going to be charged £70 for shipping! She took it home and took all of the packaging off and repacked it in something lighter and it cost her £25 to ship! I thought there must be an easier way - i.e. she maybe coule have ordered from an aussie website and got them to deliver direct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 . Argos accept payment from Australia, I have arranged for gift vouchers for my Grandson for Argos, now they can choose what he wants/needs. That's good to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikes Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 For the past three years we've been in Australia, I sent parcels from here to family in the UK, and was shocked when I added the postage up. This year, I've mostly got my gifts from Amazon in the UK with free delivery. I feel sick though as my son sent my husband and I a parcel from the UK on 1st December and so far it hasn't arrived, and I know from my daughter there's about 80 pounds worth of gifts in it. My daughter sent two parcels on the 30 November, the day before, and they arrived separately early last week. I sent my son a PS3 game from Amazon and it also worked out cheaper than if I would have bought it in Australia and then would have had to pay postage on top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcorners Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 This year I have ordered Australian hampers from a UK website (http://www.hampers.com). They have various sizes and prices include delivery. I thought it was a nice idea as they contain Aussie treats like tim tams, wine, vegemite etc. We're also sending our nephews some Amazon vouchers then they can choose what they want. I did send my Dad a calender and magazine and it cost $30 to post! A couple of years ago I sent presents back to everyone but spent $250 in postage alone. So far we've received a couple of presents from family in the UK, but remember they only have to send one present here, we have to send half a dozen or more back. So instead of spending so much on postage, I can afford to spend a little more on the presents I do get them delivered in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikes Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I was also shocked at how much it cost to send a calendar. I thought printed matter was cheaper to send, but obviously not. Well, post has been and still no sign of my missing present. That's the first time it's happened to us. Everything we've sent or that has been sent to us has always got to its destination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 This year I have ordered Australian hampers from a UK website (www.hampers.com). They have various sizes and prices include delivery. I thought it was a nice idea as they contain Aussie treats like tim tams, wine, vegemite etc. We're also sending our nephews some Amazon vouchers then they can choose what they want. I did send my Dad a calender and magazine and it cost $30 to post! A couple of years ago I sent presents back to everyone but spent $250 in postage alone. So far we've received a couple of presents from family in the UK, but remember they only have to send one present here, we have to send half a dozen or more back. So instead of spending so much on postage, I can afford to spend a little more on the presents I do get them delivered in the UK. The hampers sound like a great idea - especially an aussie one! $250 in posting is horrendous! I sent a dvd out to australia at the beginning of Dec and they still haven't received it. I cost me about £5 to send. Hopefully they will get it in the next few days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikes Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Hopefully our gifts are on their way and will arrive before the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Our families have been doing what SRP said for a fair while now. For the family in Aus, we put up the kids wish lists on Amazon UK, send them the link and let them choose what they want to give from the list. This year we had gifts from between £4 and £30 and said if anyone wished to spend more and wanted to know what would be good, to let us know. Some family members also use M&S or John Lewis to order us hampers. And also we had some presents arrive ordered from Mothercare/ELC. All ordered online from Aus, delivered to us direct with a gift note so we knew who it was from and also what to write on the labels then We also do the same here in the UK for family in Aus. Order online and have it shipped to one family member who doesn't mind to wrap the stuff and then see the family on Christmas Day to give it all out. The other thing is you can usually track the order so can see when its been delivered and so on and know its arrived in one piece. And if it turns out to be the wrong thing or you don't like it, you can simply send it back (at least using Amazon you can), get a credit gift note and reorder what you do want, without the gift giver knowing you returned it So no upsetting anyone there. To buy in the country you are in and post to the other is way to expensive. We've not done that apart from to post via sea and then have to post that by September. My MIL did that a few times but this Christmas ordered stuff online. We post cards is about all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikes Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Thanks for that sound advice. I will also tell my family not to go to the trouble of posting gifts to us again. I feel quite stressed as I will have to tell my son that his gifts haven't arrived. He went shopping for them with my daughter after working a night shift. The post offices in Australia and UK must have made a fortune out of us PomsinOz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JemGerrard Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I have sent stuff out from the UK to Oz, well the store I bought it from has on my behalf. It was local soccer team stuff that probably couldnt have been gotten in Oz either at all, or at the same price . The last few years less and less has been delivered from Australia to here, iits all been bought online in British shops, for the cost, postage, and VAT reasons already mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 Our families have been doing what SRP said for a fair while now. For the family in Aus, we put up the kids wish lists on Amazon UK, send them the link and let them choose what they want to give from the list. This year we had gifts from between £4 and £30 and said if anyone wished to spend more and wanted to know what would be good, to let us know. Some family members also use M&S or John Lewis to order us hampers. And also we had some presents arrive ordered from Mothercare/ELC. All ordered online from Aus, delivered to us direct with a gift note so we knew who it was from and also what to write on the labels then We also do the same here in the UK for family in Aus. Order online and have it shipped to one family member who doesn't mind to wrap the stuff and then see the family on Christmas Day to give it all out. The other thing is you can usually track the order so can see when its been delivered and so on and know its arrived in one piece. And if it turns out to be the wrong thing or you don't like it, you can simply send it back (at least using Amazon you can), get a credit gift note and reorder what you do want, without the gift giver knowing you returned it So no upsetting anyone there. To buy in the country you are in and post to the other is way to expensive. We've not done that apart from to post via sea and then have to post that by September. My MIL did that a few times but this Christmas ordered stuff online. We post cards is about all. Love the idea of a wish list - Amazon sounds ideal for when we move out. Use them all the time over here already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest17301 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I never send anything in the post, I order online ususally from UK websites and have it delivered. I use snapfish and moonpig for cards. Last year I ordered xmas goodies from tesco.com and had them delivered to family. My in laws send us parcels, Its nice to receive but the postage costs are as mentioned often very high. My dad sends us money on a cash passport card, they load up the card their end on birthdays and xmas and we use our card this end to take out of the hole in the wall. Works well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PositivePixie Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 You can download a widget thing from amazon so that you can add anything, from any website, to your amazon wishlist as well. I use it for all sorts, mainly for remembering what I've seen I want to buy other people on various websites, and its really good, very easy to use. (I use Firefox, don't know if you can use it with IE as well or not, but would ahve thought so). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 You can download a widget thing from amazon so that you can add anything, from any website, to your amazon wishlist as well. I use it for all sorts, mainly for remembering what I've seen I want to buy other people on various websites, and its really good, very easy to use. (I use Firefox, don't know if you can use it with IE as well or not, but would ahve thought so). Ooooh that sounds good - I will have to give that a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikes Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Ooooh, what did I do? I convinced myself that my missing parcel from my son must have been badly addressed and delivered to someone else in our street. I came up with a 'brainwave' and put flyers in all our neighbours' mailboxes giving our details and asking them to pop the parcel in our mailbox if they receive it by mistake. (We don't know any of them!) More logically, I then emailed Australia Post and received an automated response saying they would look into the matter and respond within 24 hours. Late afternoon, I heard a man shout, 'parcel delivery', and saw a white van driving away. It was my son's parcel and he'd actually sent it on the 30th November, paid nearly eleven pounds postage, and it was clearly addressed. The only thing he hadn't done was to put his address on the back, so I don't know whether that had caused a delay. Anyway, I hope Sherbetdip23's gift, sent about the same time, has also reached its destination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherbetdip23 Posted December 20, 2011 Author Share Posted December 20, 2011 Ooooh, what did I do? I convinced myself that my missing parcel from my son must have been badly addressed and delivered to someone else in our street. I came up with a 'brainwave' and put flyers in all our neighbours' mailboxes giving our details and asking them to pop the parcel in our mailbox if they receive it by mistake. (We don't know any of them!) More logically, I then emailed Australia Post and received an automated response saying they would look into the matter and respond within 24 hours. Late afternoon, I heard a man shout, 'parcel delivery', and saw a white van driving away. It was my son's parcel and he'd actually sent it on the 30th November, paid nearly eleven pounds postage, and it was clearly addressed. The only thing he hadn't done was to put his address on the back, so I don't know whether that had caused a delay. Anyway, I hope Sherbetdip23's gift, sent about the same time, has also reached its destination. Thanks Ikes - glad to hear you got your parcel. :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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