Prohibited and restricted items when forwarding from Australia

Most parcels forward without incident. The ones that cause problems almost always contain something the sender did not realise was restricted, and the failure mode is expensive: the item is seized or destroyed, the shipment is returned at your cost, or in the worst case the whole consignment is held while a dangerous goods issue is resolved.

This page groups the categories that matter into four buckets, because the rules come from four different places and behave differently.

Three separate rule sets apply to every shipment: what is legal to export, what the carrier will accept by air, and what the destination country allows in. An item has to clear all three.

1. Never accepted: absolutely prohibited

These cannot be posted or forwarded at all, domestically or internationally, by any carrier. There is no packaging or declaration that makes them acceptable.

2. Dangerous goods: restricted by air

This is the bucket that catches ordinary shoppers, because the items are legal, sold openly, and sitting in your bathroom cabinet. The problem is air transport. International forwarding goes by air, and air freight applies dangerous goods rules that surface transport does not.

Because thresholds, watt-hour limits and quantity allowances change and differ by carrier and service, treat the table as a guide to what needs checking rather than a specification. Confirm the current position in the carrier's own dangerous goods guidance: Australia Post dangerous and prohibited goods.

3. Destination-restricted: legal here, controlled there

Plenty of goods leave Australia without issue and are then stopped on arrival. This is entirely destination-specific, and it is the category most likely to result in a seizure you cannot appeal.

• Food. Shelf-stable packaged goods are usually fine. Meat, dairy, honey, fresh produce, seeds and plant material face strict biosecurity controls almost everywhere, and honey in particular is refused by many countries.
• Alcohol. Shippable to some destinations and outright banned to others. Where permitted it attracts excise or duty, needs a licensed service, and many carriers will not carry it regardless.
• Tobacco and vaping products. Heavily restricted in most destinations, and nicotine vaping products are tightly controlled in Australia itself.
• Supplements and medicines. Vitamins are usually acceptable; anything prescription-only, or containing ingredients controlled at the destination, is not. Some countries restrict quite ordinary supplements.
• Cosmetics and skincare. Generally fine, but watch for flammability (see bucket two) and for ingredient restrictions in specific markets.
• Media and printed material. A small number of destinations restrict material on political or religious grounds.
• Drones and radio equipment. Import approval is required in a number of countries.

Duty and tax treatment is a separate question from admissibility. For the value thresholds that determine whether tax applies on arrival, see our de minimis thresholds by country reference.

4. Accepted but worth thinking about

• High-value items. Perfectly shippable, but standard transit cover is limited. If the contents are worth more than the default cover, buy extra cover rather than assuming it.
• Fragile goods. Consolidation involves repacking, which usually helps, but glass and ceramics need to be declared as fragile so they are packed accordingly.
• Irreplaceable documents. Passports, certificates and legal originals can be sent, but consider scanning them first so a loss in transit is inconvenient rather than catastrophic.
• Anything battery-powered. Not prohibited as such, but it determines which services are available to you, so check before you buy rather than after it arrives at the warehouse.

How this affects a forwarded shipment

If a prohibited item arrives at the warehouse, it cannot be forwarded. Depending on what it is, the options are return to sender at your cost, disposal, or in the case of genuine dangerous goods, handling under the carrier's own procedures. None of those outcomes is cheap, and none of them gets the item to you.

The practical advice is therefore simple: check before you order, not after. Two habits prevent nearly every problem. First, if an item is pressurised, flammable, battery-powered or edible, confirm it is acceptable on the service you intend to use. Second, declare contents accurately. Understating or mislabelling a shipment to get it past a restriction is a customs offence, and it turns a refused parcel into a much more serious problem.

For choosing between services once you know your item is acceptable, see our AusPost versus DHL Express comparison, and for pricing, the international postage rate table.

Always verify before shipping

Prohibited and restricted item rules change, vary between carriers and services, and differ by destination. This page is a starting point for knowing what to check, not a substitute for the carrier's current guidance and the destination country's import rules. When in doubt, ask before you buy.