These ShopMate Terms and Conditions (“Terms of Use”) apply to Your access to and use of the ShopMate website and to any and all requests for, and provision of, ShopMate Services by Australia Post (We, Us and Our) to You.
 
Before registering on this website and requesting ShopMate Services ("Services") please read through these Terms of Use carefully.  By registering on this website, You agree to the Terms of Use as set out below.  The Terms of Use include the terms and conditions set out below, and also, where specified or required by context, incorporate the Australia Post Terms and Conditions (APTCs) (which include the Extra Cover service terms and conditions), the Australia Post Website Terms and Conditions (Website terms) and the Australia Post Privacy Policy. To the extent there is any inconsistency between these Terms of Use and the Website terms or APTCs, these Terms of Use shall prevail. You are bound by these Terms of Use and should review them whenever You are using this Service.

In these Terms of Use, the words 'You' and 'Your' refer to You personally (if You are an individual) or to the entity You represent (if You registered on behalf of a business entity), and the words 'We' and 'Our' refer to Australia Post or to its provider partners as provider of ShopMate (see definition of Subcontractors). Other definitions of specific words and phrases used in these Terms of Use appear at the end of the Terms of Use.

You are responsible for completing all steps necessary to procure the shipping of Your Parcels from the Merchant to Your assigned ShopMate US Address, including paying all associated costs (including any taxes or other levies imposed by or through the US Merchant) related to the shipping and delivery.

You are also responsible for ensuring that the US Merchant issues You with an invoice detailing the value of Your purchases and shipping to the USA ShopMate Warehouse. We will require supply of that invoice for Australian tax purposes and Your order may not be able to be processed if an invoice is not supplied to Us when requested.

Australia Post is not responsible or liable for any:

You must comply with all ShopMate instructions and procedures, and must supply full and accurate documentation and information whenever requested to do so in the course of You applying for, and using, the Service.

You must particularly note that:

If We request documentation and/or information from You so as to be able to fully provide the Services or comply with laws and regulations which apply to us either in the United States or in Australia (including, for example, any laws relating to the calculation and payment of taxes, including GST) and You fail to provide the requested documentation or information within the time limits which we have specified, and/or any part of the documentation or information which You supply to us is false, misleading, incorrect, or incomplete and You fail to comply with Our request(s) or the provisions of this section, then without further notice to You, Australia Post reserves the right at Our sole discretion and at Your cost, to:

Once You have placed an order with a Merchant:

Completion of documents
You agree, that Australia Post is authorised to do any of the following on Your behalf to enable Your Parcels to be Shipped from the Warehouse to Your Delivery Address:

We will notify You once Your Parcel has arrived in Australia.

You can manage payment and delivery of Your Parcel by logging in to Your Account on the ShopMate website using Your Registration Details.

 

We will endeavour to deliver Your Parcels to You within the timeframes indicated on the ShopMate website. All delivery timeframes, whether on the ShopMate website or otherwise notified to You, are a guide. Delivery of Your Parcel in Australia will be governed by the APTCs – please read these carefully before sending.

Prohibited Parcels and Goods
You must not, at any time, seek to use either the ShopMate Service, or any other Australia Post delivery service, for the consignment of any Prohibited Parcels or parcels containing Dangerous or Prohibited Goods. It is Your responsibility to assess whether Parcels for consignment are, or may be, classified as Dangerous or Prohibited Goods, and / or are Parcels which are prohibited or regulated goods for the purposes of the laws of the country of destination. Australia Post provides information concerning Dangerous and Prohibited goods, (see for example - Dangerous & Prohibited Parcels page and the Dangerous and prohibited goods packaging post guide (3.08 mb) (PDF) but as controlled exports and imports are assessed by other agencies, Australia Post does not represent that the information supplied is complete or up to date, and Australia Post has no liability for any consequence of You sending, or attempting to send, any Dangerous or Prohibited goods by mail. Your indemnity in favour of Australia Post applies in the event that any loss, harm or damage arises out of the consignment of Prohibited Parcels or Dangerous or Prohibited Goods.

Low Value Parcels
Parcels which are valued at AUD 1000 or less (inclusive of all US domestic sales taxes, shipping and delivery charges into the US warehouse) will be classified a ‘low value parcels’, and will be liable for GST when processed by Australia Post at the Warehouse on and after 00:01am on 1 July 2018 AEST. You should note that GST will be payable on the above value and on ShopMate Shipping and Service fees, including any charges for special services such as Extra Cover.

Australia Post is required to collect and remit GST as calculated above to the ATO from 1 July 2018.

When goods are being assessed for value, we may request evidence, or additional evidence, from You as to the nature and value of the goods and shipping from the US Merchant to the ShopMate USA warehouse; such as the US merchant invoice which reflects both the goods being shipped to Australia via ShopMate and their value.  We require You to respond to such requests promptly and accurately.

High Value or Large Parcels
We will notify You on receipt of a Parcel at the Warehouse if (as assessed and determined at our sole discretion) it:

High Value Parcels
If Australia Post determines that Your Parcel is or may be a High Value Parcel requiring customs clearance, we will notify You of this fact via Your ShopMate account. If You wish to proceed to secure customs clearance, we will pass Your details to our nominated broker (Vanguard Customs) to handle customs clearance. You will have to deal directly with the customs broker and pay them directly for their fees and any taxes and duties.

Alternatively, You can proceed to engage Your own customs broker to handle clearance, or contact Australian Customs and Border Protection Service to organise clearance yourself. Once we receive clearance information then we can release the parcel from Customs hold.

If You do not wish to proceed to secure customs clearance, You should contact us to discuss the return of Your parcel to the Merchant.

You must also note that if You omit or neglect to make an election concerning customs clearance within 28 days of the date upon which our notification is sent to You, we will have the right to dispose of Your parcel as provided for in these terms and conditions

Dimensions or Weight Issues
If Australia Post determines that Your Parcel exceeds the maximum applicable size and weight limits for use of the ShopMate Service, (is "Oversize") You may either choose to return the Parcel back to the US merchant, shipped to another address in the US or disposed of by Australia Post. If You choose to return the Parcel to the Merchant or delivered to an alternate address in the US or destroyed, then we will advise You of any shipping, handling or destruction costs which must be met by You.

Dealing with Parcels
You agree that without limiting any other provision of the Terms of Use, if at any time we are holding Your Parcel, and You omit within 28 days of a request from us to provide any documentation, instructions or payment(s) reasonably required and requested by Us or if You omit within 28 days to arrange payment of charges assessed and notified by Us or a Customs Broker for Customs purposes or for the return of the Parcel to the US Merchant or alternate return address, We are authorised by You to dispose of the Parcel in any manner which we determine appropriate in the circumstances, and we will have no liability to You as a consequence of or arising out of any such disposal.

Consolidation of Parcels
If You will be receiving multiple Parcels from the same Merchant, then instead of Shipping Your Parcels individually, You may request that We combine up to five Parcels from the same Merchant to create one consolidated parcel (“Consolidated Parcel”) which will then be shipped from the Warehouse to Your Delivery Address.  

We will send you an email notification when We receive Your Parcel at our US Warehouse. When We have notified you that all of Your Parcels (up to a maximum of five Parcels) have arrived from the same Merchant You may request that We create a Consolidated Parcel by:

You acknowledge and agree that the following terms will apply to our creation of a Consolidated Parcel for You.

We may, at our discretion, refuse your request to create a Consolidated Parcel where:

The following items may be transported but may be subject to approval at our discretion as the item may not be compatible with our operation or cannot be sorted on our automatic sortation systems:

We will notify You if we receive items of this sort and advise whether we can ship the item.

If You fail to comply with the provisions of this section, then without further notice or liability to You, Australia Post reserves the right at our sole discretion at Your cost and, including without limitation:

Compliance with all laws
You are solely responsible for ensuring that Your Parcels can legally be exported from the US; and imported into Australia,

Your responsibility includes ensuring compliance with:

We have no liability to You for any of Your Parcels that cannot be delivered to You because You have not complied with this compliance requirement. You should refer in particular to the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service website "Clearing goods through Australia" (which is available at Dangerous & Prohibited Parcels page) or the appropriate US governmental authority for further information. You acknowledge and agree that Regulatory Authorities may detain Your Parcels for any reason they deem appropriate and we are not liable for the consequences of any such detention, including any delay or failure to Deliver Your Parcel.  You should also refer to the Shipping Restrictions page at https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/shopping-guide/shipping-restrictions.

Inspection of Your Parcels
Australia Post reserves the right, but is not obliged, to open and inspect any of Your Parcels at any time and for any purpose, including but not limited to:

Repacking of Your Parcels
We may open and repack Your Parcels without notice to You to assess the contents of the Parcel. We are under no obligation to, but may choose to, use more efficient packaging to reduce Your overall shipping charge and will advise You in this circumstance.

If Your Parcel requires special or extraordinary packaging, there will be an additional charge. You will be advised of these costs and asked for permission prior to repacking.

You agree that any such repacking of Your Parcels may mean the return, refund or exchange policy of the Merchant for the Parcels becomes invalid, void or cancelled. Australia Post shall not be liable to You for any loss, damage or liability which may be suffered or incurred by You as a result of repacking a Parcel.

Return of Your Parcels
We may, but are not obliged to, arrange for Your Parcels to be returned to the relevant Merchant or sent to another address in the US after Your Parcel has been received at our Warehouse and before it has left the Warehouse for Shipping if You request that we do so and pay our applicable Charges.

Return for non-payment
Without limiting our other rights, we may, at our sole discretion and with or without notice to You but at Your cost, arrange for the return of Your Parcels to the relevant Merchant if You have not paid the Charges for, or provided us with all information we request to Deliver Your Parcel within 28 days of us notifying You of the information required, or the Charges payable.

No liability
We will have no liability to You whatsoever for damage to, delay in delivery or loss of, Your Parcels which we have arranged to return to a Merchant on Your behalf.

Return after leaving Warehouse
If You wish to return Parcels to a Merchant after they have left a Warehouse for delivery to the Delivery Address, You are solely responsible for arranging for the return of such Parcels.

 

Charges
The Charges for the Services are set out on the ShopMate website. Shipping Charges are based on the greater of the actual or volumetric weight of Your Parcel. The weight and measurements we use to determine the Charges for Your Parcel will be the weight and measurements determined by Australia Post at the Warehouse. We will notify You of all applicable Charges for Your Parcel. If there is any inconsistency between the Charges on the ShopMate website and the Charges in our notice to You, the Charges in our notice to You will prevail.

There will be no charge if You update the Delivery Address for Your Parcel before You have paid for the Shipping to the Delivery Address. You will have another opportunity to update Your delivery details once Your parcel arrives in Australia and shows up in Your Australia Post My Deliveries account. There will be no charge for this.

 

We may amend the Charges
Australia Post reserves the right to amend our Charges, including the method of calculating any Charges. If we do this, we will clearly describe the new charges on the ShopMate Website.

Charges and Payments
You will pay us all Charges relating to the Services provided in respect of Your Parcels. All Charges must be paid in Australian dollars using the ShopMate website. No other form or method of payment will be accepted. We will not Ship Your Parcel until all Charges in respect of that Parcel have been paid in full.

Credit card numbers will not be stored on the web site and will never be made publicly available. All information concerning Your order is encrypted and can only be viewed by members of the ShopMate team with authorised access to that information. Your credit/debit card data will be used to complete payment and will be stored securely by SecurePay. Your credit card details are not visible to the members of the ShopMate team.

You warrant that You are the owner of the credit or debit card used by You for making payments through the ShopMate website or are authorised by the owner of that credit or debit card to make such payments.

Taxes and duties
You are responsible for paying all taxes, duties and customs clearance and other charges:

Any of Your Parcels which arrive at the Warehouse with any taxes, duties or charges unpaid for will not be accepted at the Warehouse.

We are not responsible for any seizure, detention or other actions by any Regulatory Authorities or any delay in the delivery, or non-delivery, of Your Parcels to You because any such taxes, duties or charges have not been paid.

From 1 July 2018,

Accordingly You should note that

Promotional codes
Promotional codes entitle a ShopMate user to a discount on the Charges during specified periods.

Promotional codes will only be valid for a limited period of time. The duration and expiry dates of the relevant promotional code will be included with the promotional code.

The terms of the promotional code will specify whether the code can be used only for a limited number of Your Parcels, or for multiple Parcels.

Only one promotional code at a time can be used for Your Parcels.

Promotional codes cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotions or special offers, unless we explicitly state otherwise.

We reserve the right to refuse to accept a promotional code where it is not used in accordance with these terms or the terms of the promotional code itself.

Exclusions of Liability
Subject only to the Australia Post Terms and Conditions, (which include the terms and conditions of Extra Cover,) Australia Post shall not be liable to You or any other person (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) for any loss or damage suffered, or that may be suffered, as a result of any act or omission by or on behalf of Australia Post in relation to the promotion, provision, suspension or termination of the ShopMate service, or any other matter or thing relating to these Terms of Use. The disclaimer of liability stated in this paragraph will not apply to any loss or damage suffered as a direct result of any fraud or wilful misconduct by or on behalf of Australia Post.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Australia Post expressly disclaims all conditions and warranties, express or implied, in respect of the ShopMate service and the carriage of any Parcel pursuant to these Terms of Use. Where the law precludes such exclusion and implies certain conditions and warranties into this Terms of Use, then – to the extent that the law permits - the liability of Australia Post for breach of such condition or warranty shall be limited, at the option of Australia Post, to any one or more of the following:

 

You agree to be liable to, and shall wholly indemnify, Australia Post for or against any loss claim or damage whatsoever which Australia Post may suffer or incur as a result of any action, proceeding, claim, demand or prosecution in relation to, the provision of the ShopMate service to You, the carriage of any Parcel lodged by You through the ShopMate service, or any other matter or thing which arises out of Your conduct, negligence, breach of Terms of Use, mis-statement of fact (intentional or otherwise) or which in any manner or form arises out of either the nature condition or characteristics of premises of You which are visited by Australia Post personnel, or the nature, condition, packaging, legality, or consignment of Postal Articles consigned to Australia Post. The indemnity given in this paragraph will not apply to any loss or damage suffered as a direct result of any fraud or wilful misconduct by or on behalf of Australia Post. The liabilities imposed by this sub-clause continue and survive notwithstanding any termination of these Terms of Use.

All the rights, immunities and limitations of liability in these Terms of Use shall continue to have their full force and effect in all circumstances notwithstanding any breach of contract or of any conditions hereof by Australia Post.

Force Majeure Event
Upon the occurrence of a Force Majeure Event, these terms shall be suspended, neither party shall be in default under these terms of use, and neither party shall be liable for failure to observe or perform any obligation arising under any provision of these terms of use, for the period during which the Force Majeure Event subsists.

ShopMate is an offering of Singapore Post’s vPost product.  ShopMate will collect Your personal information in order to facilitate the parcel forwarding process of goods purchased from merchants located in the United States. The personal information being collected will not be used for any secondary purposes.

For support and service delivery purposes Your personal information will be disclosed to partner organisations located in Hong Kong and Singapore. Personal information, including Your parcel contents will also be disclosed to operational hubs in the United States for customs reporting purposes, to Australian Customs in connection with border clearance purposes, and to the Australian Taxation Office for taxation audit purposes.

Without Your personal information we would be unable to provide You with this service. Subject to some exceptions allowed by law, You may request access to Your personal information while we store it. We will assess Your request in accordance with the law and tell You why if access is denied. A request to access, update or correct any information should be directed to the Privacy Contact Officer, Australia Post, GPO Box 1777, Melbourne, Vic, 3001. For more information please see our Privacy Policy.

Australia Post respects the privacy of You and Your personal information. Any and all data and information collected by Australia Post through the provision of the Service will be managed strictly in accordance with the Australia Post Privacy Policy (at auspost.com.au/privacy-policy.html)

From time to time we may receive unsolicited promotional goods or materials from Merchants that is addressed to You. If this occurs we will take the following action:

Australia Post may at any time, on giving reasonable notice to You, terminate or suspend either Your use of the ShopMate service, or the ShopMate service in its entirety. Unless Australia Post has an entitlement to suspend or cancel commenced ShopMate transactions (such as under these terms and conditions, or under the Australian Postal Corporation Act, or the Australia Post Service Terms and Conditions made under that Act) all ShopMate transactions commenced before any account suspension or termination will be completed.

You may, at any time, without cause, suspend or terminate the Your participation in the ShopMate service, save that any incomplete Service or delivery instructions or payment liabilities which exist at the time of any such termination must be completed and effected in full irrespective of any such termination.

Your obligations in respect of the transactions survive the execution and delivery of the service agreement and the completion of the transactions contemplated by it.

We will not be liable to You for any termination or suspension. Termination or suspension of these terms and Your access to and use of the ShopMate website and any Services does not release You or us from any rights or obligations that accrued prior to termination, including but not limited to Your obligation to pay us Charges.

If, at the date of termination or suspension, any of Your Parcels received at our Warehouse have not been Delivered to You, these terms will continue to apply to such Parcels until they are Delivered to You, except that if You have not paid all applicable Charges within seven days of termination or suspension we may destroy or dispose of such Parcels as we see fit without any further requirement to give notice to You of our intended actions and we shall have no liability to You whatsoever in respect of such Parcels.

Any notice or communication from us to You will be deemed to have been received by You if it is sent to the email address You provide to us through the ShopMate website for the purposes of using the Services.

If You need to contact us You can use any of the methods described on our Contact and support page.

"Australia Post", and "ShopMate" are trademarks of Australian Postal Corporation. No license to use any of these trademarks is given or implied. The trademarks may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, used, modified or distributed in any way (except as an integral part of an authorised copy of material appearing in these web pages) without the prior written permission of Australia Post. The contents of the ShopMate, and Australia Post "auspost" websites are in their entirety copyright to Australia Post and no reproduction or use of any of the text or images displayed on that site is permitted except in the limited circumstances permitted by law.

The ShopMate Website is a white label service owned and controlled by Singapore Post Limited. Australia Post has appointed Singapore Post Limited to perform the international freight forwarding service as part of the Services provided to You. Australia Post reserves the right to authorise the performance of any Australia Post obligations (either in respect of the ShopMate service, or any delivery or other function required to be completed by Australia Post) through contractors or sub-contractors to, or of, Australia Post. Where contractors and / or sub-contractors are engaged by Australia Post the same are included within the definition of "Australia Post" and are entitled to all of the benefits and rights imposed upon and enjoyed by Australia Post by these terms and conditions, or by any relevant provisions of the Australian Postal Corporation Act, the Australia Post Service Terms and Conditions, or the service-specific terms and conditions for any service ordered or supplied through the ShopMate Website.

Australia Post may vary these Terms of Use at any time by giving appropriate prior notice of proposed changes through the ShopMate website. You should always ensure that You are aware of and are relying upon the most recent and up to date version of the ShopMate Terms of Use. Any use of the Service by You after any variation to the Terms of Use is published and becomes effective will be deemed to constitute acceptance of the variations thereto, and any service supplied will be supplied on the Terms of Use as varied. If You do not accept any variation which is made to the Terms of Use, You should terminate Your participation in the Service as contemplated in the clause titled Termination and Suspension below.

These Terms and Conditions are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. In the event of a dispute both You and We agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the Federal Court of Australia.

Definitions
“Change Delivery Details" means changing the name or address contained in the Delivery Address to another name or address within Australia after international postage has been paid.

“Charges" means the charges or fees for the Services as described on the ShopMate website and as notified to You in respect of Your Parcels, and includes:

"Dangerous goods" includes:

and any other goods classified as dangerous goods in the APTCs.

“Deliver" has the meaning set out in the APTCs.

“Delivery Address" means the name and address in Australia specified by You through the ShopMate website:

"Extra Cover" means the cover available from Australia Post for carriage of parcels up to a maximum $5000 in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Australia Post Terms and Conditions of Service.

"Force Majeure Event" means any event or circumstance which could not with reasonable diligence be controlled or prevented, including without limitation, war, insurrection, riot, civil commotion, strikes, lock-outs, labour or industrial disputes, acts of God, acts of Governments or flood, storm, tempest, power shortages or power failure, system outages or interruptions, inability to obtain sufficient labour, raw materials, fuel or utilities.

"GST" means Goods and Services Tax, and has the meaning contained in the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999;

"High Value Parcel" means a parcel (or a consolidated consignment of several parcels) which – because its declared or assessed value (including all US domestic sales taxes, shipping and delivery charges into the US warehouse, but excluding ShopMate delivery and service fees) for the purposes of Australian Customs law exceeds the dutiable threshold (currently greater than AUD 1000 ) must be declared to, and assessed for duty and customs charges by Australian Customs authorities;

“Low Value Parcel” means a parcel (or a consolidated consignment of several parcels) with a declared or assessed customs value (including all US domestic sales taxes, shipping and delivery charges into the US warehouse, but excluding ShopMate delivery and service fees) equal to or less than AUD 1000.

"Merchant" means a person, organisation or entity in the United States with whom You are able to transact for the purchase and shipment of Parcels to Your ShopMate Address.

"Prohibited Parcels" means:

"Regulatory Authority" means any department of state, central, local, federal, state or territorial governmental or semi-governmental authority or agency (including any military authority), or other statutory or regulatory authority or agency, judicial entity or industry regulator having jurisdiction or authority to perform or exercise functions or powers and includes:

"Services" means the services as described on and the content and functionality on or accessible from the ShopMate website, including but not limited to the receipt, repackaging, processing, storing, freighting, Update Delivery Details, Change Delivery Details and delivery of Your Parcels and all other activities and services undertaken by or on behalf of us in respect of Your Parcels and Your access and use of the ShopMate website.

"Ship" means the shipment of Your Parcels from our US Warehouse to Your Delivery Address in Australia.

"ShopMate Addresses" means the unique addresses at the US Warehouse allocated to You by ShopMate, as may be amended by us from time to time by giving You notice of any changes to that address, and "ShopMate Address" means one of those addresses.

"ShopMate website" means the website https://shopmate.auspost.com.au
 

"Update Delivery Details" means updating the Delivery Details before international postage has been paid or upon Your parcels entry into My Deliveries.

"Your Parcel" or "Parcel" or "Goods" means articles purchased by, and/or addressed to, You which You have arranged with a Merchant to be sent to Your ShopMate Address.

"Warehouse" means the facility in the US chosen by us as the location to which goods ordered by You from a Merchant will be received, processed and stored.