Shipping & Delivery Q&A

Hi Phil, I would say the most frustrating part for me is as you put it the 'seamless' process.  I can not track a parcel all the way from China to my customers address.  I can see it leave the factory - see it hop on a plane - but can not see if it has landed in Australia onwards.  Very frustrating.

I think the answer is somewhat dependent on the type of products you are selling, who you are selling to and where they are located.

If you are selling digital products, ensure that after the customer pays they get an email link or are moved directly to the download page. Make it as automated as possible.

If you are selling physical items to local people (clothing, accessories, etc.) use either part time workers or freelance / contractors to hand deliver items via car, bike or walking depending on the location. It will be faster and probably less expensive than sending through traditional post. Also, it shows a touch of personality with hand delivery.

If you are selling physical items to people at a distance (across the country or in another country) you may not have many options for cutting out traditional delivery. However, you could look into Drop Shipping, which I admittedly know almost nothing about. But I know it can be a way to shorten delivery time for customers.

One last idea for reaching customers at a distance, would be partner with another business and try to send your shipments out together (if you can get a bulk rate or discount). I'm not sure that is available, but it is at least worth considering.

For local deliveries they are all much the same with slightly different pricing schedules.

In our experience FedEx seems to be the most professional premium service for international deliveries.

For sending local when the fastest delivery times isn't essential then sendle.com is worth a try.

Can you help with this @Steve Gray ? Would love to hear your thoughts

Unless you are sending with a courier with service guarantee and tracking mechanism, the responsibility remains with the sender. Australia Post don't take responsibily for lost regular postage.