Hey,
I’m moving to Australia in a few months, but I have a bit of a problem. Before I go to Oz, I’ll be travelling for about three months. I’ve heard that it takes about one month to ship to Oz by sea from Taipei, but since I’ll be travelling, I won’t be there to get it. I’ve heard that the prices at the Sydney port are crazy for storage. I’ve contacted a few movers that I’ve seen in the paper, but they only deal with large loads (about 500 pounds min.). I don’t have that much, just a lot of clothes,etc. Has anyone been threw this before? Are there any cheap storage places in Taipei or can the post office store things and then send out later? Any info would be great. Thanks.
If you only have a small amount of stuff to send (i.e. you could fit it in a few boxes, each weighing less than 20 kgs) just use the post office. I did this a few years ago and the price was quite reasonable and it took about five weeks for the boxes to arrive in Australia by sea mail. Also if you send it by post it will get delivered directly to any address at no extra charge.
Shipping companies are very expensive and only good value if you have a container load of stuff.
Agree with Wix.
Did much the same same some years back - NT$850 per box, under 20kgs from memory. In my case it took 6 weeks.
Watch out though, if you ever want to send it back to Taiwan, Australia Post told me some crap about them not shipping to Taiwan and that anything I wanted to send (loads of heavy books) would have to go airmail . . . “it’s an island”, said I, “like this place. Boats leave Taiwan full and return virtually empty, what do you mean there’s no sea mail?”
Urgh!
Hg
Maybe there’s some sort of truth in that rumour…
A while ago, I was told by the Taiwan Post people that there had been a change to the postage system when sending stuff to Oz. If I remember correctly, we have the option of airmail or surface mail, but not seamail…
As it any of this makes sense…
I’ll try to find out!
my wife and i, over the course of this year have sent approx 15 boxes through theTaiwan postal service to Australia.
Each and everty box arrived safe and sound and within 4-6 weeks depnding on Customs in Oz.
The price is right and the service great.
Apparently Aust Post and Taiwan have some sort of formal agreement now and you can track your package(s) through the shipping number.
I would do it through the main Post Office nr Taipei Main Station, they will securely box it there for you.
Just to add to that. I don’t really think it matters where you post it. I have also done this several times and everything arrived safe and sound each time. The tracking thing is cool news.
As an aside. I asked a mate of mine in Sydney to run a document I needed to the Taipei Trade office in Sydney and send it back by express mail. There was some urgency so I was quite surprised when it hadn’t arrived within two weeks. Figuring Aus post had sent it by usual mail. No. 4 weeks later I got the thing and there was a stamp on it saying it had been sent to Thailand!
HG
Last April, my parents sent me birthday gift from Oz… there was a problem with the address on the package (the alley number was missing). Anyway, for some reason we were unable to track it… until it arrived on my doorstep - back in Oz - coincidentally, the day I was due to return to Taipei, 10 months after it had initially been posted. Fortunately, everything was still in good order, even the Vegemite, so I got to take it all back with me~!
Talk about snail mail… 
"…there was a stamp on it saying it had been sent to Thailand! "
ha! i am sure we all have stories about friends and family confusing taiwan with thailand. i had a friends sister tell me she loved thai food when i said i was living in taiwan…