SkippyPost utilises a range of freight partners, both domestic and international, to offer great rates and reliability.

The benefit of SkippyPost is that it offers the reliability of delivery via the international postal system but with much lower costs and generally only slightly slower delivery times than regular air mail.

SkippyPost might take a few more hops to get the parcels to the destination but it is reliable, gives you online tracking capability, and saves you lots of money. So we thought it an appropriately cheeky Aussie name for branding the new service.

Our system covers all of Australia and there are no minimum freight value pick-up charges.

SkippyPost makes the most of the deregulated market for international parcels to find great rates but we realise that getting your parcel safely to the destination is important. Your SkippyPost parcels are generally delivered by the major postal authority in the destination country. For example, USPS in the United States, Royal Mail in the United Kingdom, NZ Post in New Zealand etc.

The hubs and delivery backbone are generally provided by one or more major European postal authorities and/or their international subsidiary courier companies, or an Asian counterpart, that we have contracted with for our service.

SkippyPost can deliver to 237 countries listed in the country selection menu when you create a shipment. Bear in mind that mail reliability within countries - especially in developing nations - can vary considerably.

• New Zealand: 6-14 business days
• Asia/Pacific: 6-18 business days
• USA/Canada/Middle East: 10-20 business days
• UK/Europe/Rest of World:12-24 business days

Please inform your parcel recipients that this is an economy airmail option and delivery times will vary.

Delivery times quoted are to metropolitan areas of major cities and exclude time in customs. Delivery to destinations outside of these areas may take the full estimated delivery time.

Parcels are collected daily from the SkippyPost Shipping Centre.

All estimated delivery times are taken from the date the parcels are collected from SkippyPost.

SkippyPost delivers via the international postal authority in the country of destination. Reliability of mail delivery and the integrity of postal services varies dramatically across the world; in certain countries, or regions of countries, delivery times may be outside those quoted above by up to 10 working days.

SkippyTracker is our fully trackable service and we advise you to use this if you want full online trackability.

SkippyPost cannot provide tracking details for regular parcels that have not been received. SkippyPost is not able to track a regular parcel after it has been despatched from the Shipping Centre.

The SkippyPost monitoring system allows the following online monitoring by both the SkippyPost member and the parcel recipient (if an email is registered for the recipient):

• When the shipment is received at the SkippyPost Shipping Centre
• When the parcel is processed and sorted at the SkippyPost Shipping Centre
• When the parcel is despatched from SkippyPost Shipping Centre
• When the parcel is received by the recipient (optional)

Parcels are not able to be tracked to the recipient's delivery country, only within Australia.

Parcels MUST be packaged in plain packaging only. Please DO NOT send your packages in branded boxes, regardless of the contents. This helps to ensure safe delivery

SkippyPost shipments would normally be placed in a secure cardboard box of sufficient size to hold the number of parcels being sent. Please DO NOT include any packaging 'peanuts' or any other styrofoam padding in your shipment box or container. We are not equipped to dispose of such materials. If you require extra padding in your shipment box please use newspaper or any other recyclable materials.

Please DO NOT affix any Air mail stickers or Customs Declaration forms to the outside of your parcels.

A Customs Declaration is incorporated into the SkippyPost parcel labels which you simply sign and date before you send us your shipment. Extra documentation is required for parcels over 2kg and SkippyTracker parcels.

If Coverage has been purchased, Coverage payable will be 80% of the covered value (up to AU$500 maximum) plus the cost of the freight paid for that Parcel.

Simply enter in the parcel value and the delivery country to receive a quote.

PLEASE NOTE: Loss Claims for Parcels must be initiated within 45 days of despatch from the Skippy-Post shipping centre. Claims lodged after 45 days cannot be processed.

Instructions

*Click the 'Shipments' tab and then click 'track shipments'

* Locate the Shipment containing the Parcel you wish to make a claim on and click the 'List Parcels' icon for that Shipment

* Click the 'Claim' icon for the appropriate Parcel Id.

* To lodge the claim, click the 'Send' button.

SkippyPost will investigate your claim and when Non-Delivery has been confirmed you will be advised via email which will contain a claim form to complete.

Claims will be paid within 7 days of receipt of a correctly completed claim form.

SkippyTracker is a premium ECI-style service akin to international courier delivery. You can check SkippyTracker rates using the Rate Estimator page.

You select the SkippyTracker service as an option by checking the box when entering your parcel into the shipment. SkippyTracker is a separate product and the rate for that parcel weight and destination will display on screen when you select the option.

You and your recipient will receive an email containing a tracking number and a link to the website which will allow both of you to track the progress of the parcel to delivery.

If the delivery address is a PO Box the tracking details will stop when the item has been delivered to that PO Box

Due to Customs Regulations, SkippyTracker items require that extra documentation be included with the parcel. This documentation format is provided online by SkippyPost and is printed on plain paper by you after finalising your parcel via the Print Labels page of the SkippyPost website. You will need to sign each page of the documentation and place it inside an envelope affixed to the outside of the parcel.

Information about this extra documentation can be found on the print label page.

These 5 pages will automatically print out. Just click Print when the Customs Invoices page loads.

For each over 2kg parcel there should be 5 pages of Customs Invoices. ie, if you have 3 over 2kg parcels in a shipment, 15 pages of Customs Invoices will print - 5 pages per Parcel.

1. Print the Customs Invoices on A4 paper.
2. Print your name and sign at the bottom of each page
3. For each parcel place all of the 5 Customs Invoices into an adhesive pouch or envelope.
4. Affix the pouch or envelope to the parcel away from the parcel label. (perhaps the reverse side)

All copies of consignment notes and Customs Invoices MUST be affixed to each SkippyTracker parcel. Failure to do so will mean your parcel cannot be processed.

Print the consigment notes and invoices on A4 paper.

Cut the sheets in half along the cut line.

Sign each copy of the consignment notes next to Signature of Sender:.

Sign each copy of the Customs Invoices.

Place all of the 6 consignment notes and 2 invoices into an adhesive pouch or envelope.

Affix the pouch or envelope to the parcel away from the parcel label. (perhaps the reverse side)

NB. IF YOUR SKIPPYTRACKER PARCEL IS OVER 2KG YOU ARE STILL REQUIRED TO PRINT AND AFFIX THE OVER 2KG CUSTOMS FORMS AS WELL AS THE SKIPPYTRACKER PAPERWORK

The following are the classes of dangerous goods that cannot be sent via international post:

*Explosives

*Gases

*Flammable Liquids

*Flammable Solids

*Toxic and Infectious Substances

*Radioactive Material

*Corrosives

*Miscellaneous Dangerous Goods

For a comprehensive list supplied by Australia Post please go to

http://www1.auspost.com.au/pac/pdfs/dangerousGoodsPoster.pdf

Contact SkippyPost if you have any questions about what may or may not be included in your parcels.

Acknowledgment by the sender declaring the parcel to be free of any prohibited or dangerous goods is included with the SkippyPost parcel address and Customs label.

Most SkippyPost parcels will not be charged based on Volumetric Weight but parcels will be monitored by the SkippyPost staff. Volumetric Weight is calculated for overseas parcels as follows:

Volumetric Weight = Length x Width x Height / 6000

Dimensions are in centimetres and weights are in Kilograms.

To calculate the Volumetric Weight of any parcel please use the Large Parcel Rate Estimator on the Rate Estimator page prior to entering your parcel so you are aware of the charges.

If the Volumetric Weight exceeds the actual weight, then the Volumetric Weight is used to calculate the shipping price.

Parcels are limited to 20kg actual weight but the volumetric weight can be up to 30kg except to NZ where the actual and volumetric weight limit is 20kg.

SkippyPost reserves the right to switch a customer to Volumetric Pricing if that customer is regularly despatching large parcels that require pricing by volume.

A Parcel will only be repackaged if the original packaging is inadequate for international delivery and will more than likely be damaged in transit or the packaging will not protect the contents inside from damage.

If you have any questions regarding this matter please emial service@skippypost.com.au

In particular, Australian booksellers who list on the BibliOZ and Alibris websites will be able to include books that are ordered via those systems in their SkippyPost shipment and count them as parcel items toward their Bulk Ship Discount.

We will look at the goods you have nominated in your online application and tell you if SkippyPost can assist you or not. This decision is made on a case-by-case basis.

Payments for Retail customers are to be made via Credit Card via our secure payment site. Your credit card will not be charged until your shipment is received, processed and finalised at the SkippyPost Shipping Centre.

The advantage of using SkippyPost is that you can then also offer your customers a postal choice, such as express air mail through Australia Post and a less expensive option through SkippyPost, much as you would have offered the previous Economy Air service.

Another advantage is that you can continue to use any existing domestic parcel contract you have with Australia Post, or other organisations, such as the Australian Booksellers Association. Simply lodge all your post - domestic and international - with Australia Post as that is also where you lodge your SkippyPost shipments.

Unlike most other international courier or freight forwarding businesses, SkippyPost partners with Australia Post's services to deliver its solution. We also encourage our customers to use Australia Post's range of services, including their new international parcel options, where it makes sense to do so.

There is no requirement that a shipment contain parcels being sent to the same delivery country.

SkippyPost believes there is, in fact, a small but important need for an air mail parcel service that delivers reliably at a more economical cost, even if a little slower, than Australia Post's regular air mail. As a fledgling operation, your support for SkippyPost can ensure it survives as an ongoing alternative to service that need.

For many booksellers and online traders operating in a country as distant from major world markets as Australia, it is essential to have access to inexpensive international parcel postage to be able to compete globally.

• A computer with internet access
• A web browser (minimum MS Internet Explorer 5 or FireFox/Safari)
• A pdf reader equivalent to Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or higher, preferably the most recent version if possible
• A set of scales for recording the approximate weight of your parcels
• A printer (laser or inkjet) with a resolution of 300 dpi or more
• Avery DL04 labels sheets (or paper to print labels on)
• Packaging materials for your parcels and shipment boxes

Simply package up your wrapped parcels (making sure the parcels labels are affixed to the outside and the customs declarations are signed and dated) and affix the Shipment Label to the outside. Then send to SkippyPost via Australia Post. There will be no postage payable as the address is Reply Paid.

A Shipment is a box (or package) containing all the parcels for that shipment.

Parcels are packaged just as you would for sending through regular international mail. Please use secure padded waterproof wrapping.

Once you have created a Shipment on the SkippyPost website and finalised your Shipment, parcels are then labelled using the SkippyPost labels printed from the website, which also contain the customs declaration.

If you are only sending 1 or 2 parcels in a shipment you may package the parcels in sturdy brown paper or similar, as long as it will withstand being processed by the normal domestic parcel network.

Each box of multiple parcels you send is counted as a separate shipment. So please do not break up a single shipment into more than one box - all parcels in a shipment need to be sent in the same box.

Once your shipment is finalised, a barcoded Shipment Label for your shipment box will print at the same time as your parcel labels.

There can be a maximum of 32 parcels in a single shipment box, or 16kg, whichever is greatest. If you have more than 32 parcels or 16kg in weight, then you need to divide them into more than one shipment.

Two or more shipments - in two or more boxes - can be sent at the same time but each is processed and priced on our system separately.

The essential data for the parcel entry is Weight, Delivery Country, Customs Description, Customs Value, and Parcel Type. We suggest you also add your own Parcel reference eg relevant online order number.

You then click on the Add Parcel button and the system will attach that parcel to that shipment, and it appear at the foot of the screen.

It is possible to leave the shipment open over a period of time and add more parcels to it as you receive orders. Print off the detailed PDF instructions for more information.

Once you have decided to send the shipment to the SkippyPost Shipping Centre, then you go to the List Shipments page, select the shipment and finalise it. When a shipment is finalised you are then able to print the labels for it but it can no longer be edited or deleted.

Don't forget before finalising the shipment to save the correct number and est combined weight of any BibliOZ or Alibris books you are including in the box. They count towards calculating your Bulk ship Discount.

If you are a used bookseller not already listing with BibliOZ or Alibris then there is now an added incentive to do so because any books you sell on those sites will also reduce your SkippyPost shipment costs even further.

It is also necessary to enter a customer email address if they are to fully take advantage of the parcel tracking features and notification.

There are advantages to making full use of the SkippyPost parcel address label:

• You have a permanent online record of where the parcel was sent and its related details
• The customer data is added to your Member account's address book so you can use it again
• You will be able to send broadcast emails to your SkippyPost address book
• SkippyPost can email your customer automatically to give tracking updates on parcels
• Your customer will be able to acknowledge receipt of your parcel
• You can only access the cover for loss/damage option if full details are entered
• It saves you the cost of an extra label

If you are also shipping books for BibliOZ and/or Alibris orders then these may be of any weight (up to 16kg).

SkippyPost shipments are limited to 16kg or 32 parcels.

Likewise, the shipment box or container in which you place your parcels to send to the SkippyPost Shipping Centre is selected by you. It can be any sturdy cardboard box of a size big enough to contain your parcels.

Please ensure that you use non-branded boxes for your parcels to ensure safe delivery.

Payment for Account Customers will be via 7 -day invoice (preferably through direct deposit)

SkippyPost is therefore making a GST-free supply under item 5 in the table in section 38-355 of the GST Act when it supplies an integrated transportation service to export goods where the service includes freight container packing, domestic transport and international transport. Based on ATO Interpretative Decisions 2002/521 and 2004/520.

Currently, the maximum Bulk Ship Discount of $32 is achieved with 25 parcels or shipment items – including any BibliOZ or Alibris books – providing the shipment still weighs less than 16 kg. The Bulk Discount may vary from the above if you have trade account rates and SkippyPost reserves the right to vary its calculation from time to time.

There are no additional postage costs when sending your shipment to the SkippyPost Shipping Centre in Bowral so please do not affix stamps to your SkippyPost shipment box.

Any data provided to the SkippyPost system is only used for the purposes of shipping to the designated address.

No email address or customer data is shared with any third-party other than for the purpose of delivering freight.

Before sending you shipment please contact our office for instructions on what to do if you have made an error.

Please include the Shipment Id, and the Parcel Id that contains the error and what the error is.