Sending Australian products overseas: what ships well, what gets stopped, and what it costs

Australian products travel well commercially and badly logistically. Overseas demand for Australian supplements, skincare, honey, wool and specialty food is genuine and long-standing, but a large share of Australian retailers either will not ship internationally or quote freight that costs more than the order. Parcel forwarding closes that gap — you buy as a domestic customer and have the goods sent on. What decides whether that works cleanly is almost never the Australian side. It is the destination country's import rules, and the accuracy of your customs declaration.

What people actually send

The categories with consistent overseas demand for Australian-origin goods:

• Vitamins and supplements. The largest category by volume. Australian manufacturing standards are the selling point.
• Skincare and cosmetics. Both mass-market and the natural and indigenous-botanical end of the market.
• Food and pantry goods. Honey, Vegemite, biscuits, sauces, native ingredients. Also the category most likely to be stopped.
• Wool, sheepskin and footwear. UGG-style boots and wool bedding.
• Infant formula. High value, high demand, and heavily regulated at both ends.
• Surf, outdoor and sports equipment. Australian brands with no overseas retail presence.
• Wine and spirits. Feasible but restricted, and excluded from most low-value concessions everywhere.

The rule that governs everything: destination, not origin

Australia places few export restrictions on ordinary consumer goods leaving the country in personal quantities. Some categories — certain foods, wildlife products, therapeutic goods in commercial volumes — are controlled, but for the great majority of what people send, Australian export rules are not the constraint.

The destination country's rules are. Every country sets a de minimis: the value below which it waives duty and tax. Those thresholds vary enormously, from effectively nothing to eight hundred US dollars, and they decide what your recipient pays on arrival. Our reference on customs de minimis thresholds by destination country has the current figures for the major markets, and it is the single most useful page to read before you send anything.

The practical shape of it:

What actually gets stopped

Refusals and seizures cluster in a predictable set of categories. Check these before buying, not after:

• Food, especially anything with meat, dairy or egg. Biosecurity rules at the destination are stricter than most senders expect. Shelf-stable packaged goods usually pass; anything fresh, homemade or unlabelled usually does not.
• Honey and bee products. Prized Australian export, and restricted or prohibited by a surprising number of countries on biosecurity grounds.
• Seeds, plants and wooden items. Routinely intercepted.
• Supplements and therapeutic goods. Legal in Australia does not mean legal there. Some destinations restrict specific ingredients or require registration for anything making a health claim.
• Cosmetics and perfume. Often restricted as dangerous goods because of alcohol content, independently of any customs question.
• Lithium batteries and anything containing them. Carrier rules apply regardless of legality.
• Aerosols, nail polish, sunscreen in pressurised cans. Dangerous goods.
• Alcohol and tobacco. Excluded from low-value concessions almost everywhere and restricted by most carriers.

Our prohibited and restricted items reference breaks this down by carrier. Seized goods are destroyed without compensation, so this is worth five minutes.

Declaring it properly

Most delays are caused by the paperwork, not the goods. A declaration needs a specific description ("2 x 500ml eucalyptus body lotion", not "cosmetics"), an accurate value, an HS tariff code, and the country of origin. Under-declaring value to duck duty is a customs offence in both countries, and a reputable forwarder will not do it.

Which form applies depends on value — the UPU sets the cut-over between the short CN22 and the full CN23 at 300 SDR, and Australia Post publishes the current AUD equivalent. Our CN22 and CN23 guide goes through both forms field by field, including the electronic advance data requirements that now matter more than the paper label.

Consolidation, and the threshold trap

Combining several orders into one shipment is normally the biggest single saving available: one freight charge, one clearance, one handling fee. Repacking out of bulky retail boxes also cuts dimensional weight, which is what you are usually charged on.

The catch is that consolidation combines declared value too. Several individually-under-threshold orders can become one over-threshold consignment, tipping it into formal clearance with duty, tax and a broker fee. Where a destination has a low de minimis — Canada at CAD 20, for instance — this matters less because you are over it regardless. Where the threshold is generous, splitting into two shipments under it can genuinely be cheaper than one above it. Ask for the numbers both ways before you decide.

Choosing how it ships

The choice is between the postal network and an express courier, and it is the same trade-off in every corridor: post is cheaper and slower with patchier tracking, express is faster and fully tracked and clears customs more predictably. For heavier consolidated boxes the gap narrows more than people expect. Our AusPost versus DHL Express comparison covers it properly, and the international postage rate table gives you the postal side of the cost.

Country guides

Destination-specific detail, including the rules and quirks particular to each market:

• New Zealand — closest, cheapest, most generous threshold.
• Singapore — GST from the first dollar, minimal duty.
• Hong Kong — free port, no duty or consumption tax.
• Canada — very low threshold, plan for charges.
• South Korea — recipient needs a personal customs clearance code.
• United Kingdom, United States, Japan, China.

If you are sending commercially rather than personally, the volumes and rules change considerably — our guide to daigou shipping of Australian products to China covers the largest such market.