AusPost Shuts ShopMate As Online Shopping Catches Up
Australia Post has announced the closure of its popular ShopMate parcel forwarding service.
The service will close for good on February 25, with all parcels needing to arrive at the ShopMate centre in the US before January 10, or risk being returned to sender.
For those not in the know, ShopMate is an official solution to a common bugbear for Australians. It sets up an American postal address so Aussies can order items that don’t ship internationally. ShopMate then forwards these purchases onto your Australian address – for a fee, obviously.
“As a result of international delivery impacts and changing economic conditions, Australia Post will be ending its ShopMate service,” an Australia Post spokesperson told ChannelNews.
“Until then, our customers can continue to use ShopMate to forward any parcels purchased during the busy US Sales and Christmas shopping period.
“A number of alternate services are available, including VPost, operated by our ShopMate partner Singapore Post, which allows customers to ship to Australia from the USA, UK, Japan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia.”
So all is not lost for those trying to buy from stubborn companies that refuse to ship internationally.