Search the Community

Hi, Hopefully you guys have great weekend. Do you have any recommendation on Courier or Shipping company to post floor standing speakers to USA? If you don't mind, would you be able to share the approximate cost as well to give me some ideas. The pair of speakers that I'm going to send is pretty heavy too around 22kg each. Appreciate d your thought and Thank you ... Chen

Hi,as i wrote in another post,i received an LP in the mail from Sydney,that was basically destroyed when i received it from AustPost. As you may have read, i believe the way to change thing when buying vinyl is do make sure you do something about and not take it in the rear.Whether its bad grading,poor packaging,deceitful descriptions,shipping damage,you must speak up for the entire vinyl buying community(eg honest feedback) Anyway so,in the last month the only two LP's i have bought,one from the US and one from Sydney BOTH had damage,to the point that the covers and inner sleeves where affected. If you buy a rare mint LP,you know it is now destroyed when a corner is smashed in etc. The first one,from the US i put in a PayPal claim(item not as described).I know it was not the sellers fault "but" he did not use reinforcing sheets so it "may" have been prevented.I won the case, money refunded.I bet he doesn't do it again. The next LP seller,i did not go after the seller,because it was packaged well(reinforcing sheets,fragile & do not bend on the outside of a proper LP mailer),"BUT" be careful because sometimes this tactic is used when a dodgy seller deliberately damages the mailer in a hope that you will accept the damage that was already there.They use photo of another copy,send you the crap one and then damage the mailer and blame shipping.There is no end to the scams.Especially from Discogs,although i like Discogs -ALWAYS ASK FOR PHOTO"S FIRST! & (discogs)is rampant with "vinyl phishing"( a scam that involves sending out loads of shitty vinyl,whilst claiming to be mint and when buyer complains offer a refund,for good feedback-so the scam can continue.The scam works because only 1 in 4 will complain,and will give negative feedback if given a refund.Hence the scam can continue for a very long time. Feedback is about the experience you had,not whether you got a refund,after being screwed around for a month.I also understand that there are legitimate reasons for the above but they are few and far between.Once you find a good seller,you will see these reasons rarely happen. Anyhow so after seeing a few more posts of people get their vinyl ruined in transit,i called AUSTPOST and this is what i was told and(as i was told before by the manager) this is what you need to do in the future.If we all do this,something WILL be done about it.And you can have your shipping costs and LP costs refunded by AUSTPOST - BUT ONLY AFTER THE INVESTIGATION. Firstly, once you receive your vinyl,don't open it.Take lots of photo's and then take it to your local AUSTPOST and ask for a .............form,fill in the completed form and an investigation will begin.This is a REAL investigation and I've been involved in one before,so i have first hand knowledge.Because AUSTPOST use contractors they are bound by rules and AUSTPOST WILL act and cancel their contracts and refund you ALL costs involved.AUSTPOST do not want this happening as much as you don't.But every now and again they will get contractors who don't give a crap once they are out of the view of the sorting yards and offices. Once you've done this.you can open it in front of them or at home and again catalog the damage.But its better if you do it ,in the shop. In some time you will be called or written too,to let you now how the investigation went.If the shipping is with Australia,its easier(if you do it it the right way),if its international its harder.But ALWAYS at least put in the complaint form with evidence.If the Vinyl community does this enough,Austpost will bend over backwards to help,as they did once for me over a $500 LP. Again,please post, and describe your shipping disasters -as trends can be noticed in the data which helps everyone in the VC.Like me,i bet you work hard for your money,your probably honest and pay when you say you will to vinyl sellers.You don't deserve to be raped for it. I will continue this post,when i have more time-cheers.

Hi everyone, In this day and age where anyone can purchase just about anything online, there are occasions when things don't go to plan. Online stuff is great, it enables us to get the many items that are simply not found in the local shops/even national shops. I've recently gotten into "Pure Audio" disks (If you're not familiar, think Blu-rays but without any video, so the sound quality is much higher). Once you start listening to these, you really start to find out how much detail your sound system can resolve. I just have to say "Wow!". Now I don't go into the LP purist thing. I just want good quality sound using the gear that I already have. Unlike the old SACD, Any blu-ray player can use a pure audio disk... (how high a quality it can translate down the line to your sound system... will probably depend on the player's componentry and interconnects). Having been to numerous JB Hi-Fi stores of late, I've done a comparison, and there are a handful of Pure Audio albums in some JB Hi-Fi stores, but handful is the best case scenario. So I went around the web sites of various labels who produce these kinds of disks to find a bigger range. I've ordered quite a few... err... batches of disks from labels in the US and Europe (I haven't found one in Australia yet). But I'd like to share my experiences with the 2L online shop. None of the labels would have what I'd call express delivery, but some are much better than others.. but let me warn you about my worst experience: 2L have one of the biggest online-range in pure-audio disks I've seen. So I ordered eight disks, ranging from Nordic chants, a jazz ensemble, a harpist (is that even the right word? I feel that harpy is too mean :-).. but maybe I'm wrong), a pianist, a flautist, and a few others that attempt to broaden my musical appreciation... all recorded in 24Bit, 192KHz stereo and multiple channel recordings. Which is perhaps the biggest benefit over CDs, for those who have their home theatre setups/dedicated multichannel music rooms. Ok, 2L is in Norway, and I live halfway around the world in the frozen tundra of the Canberra winter, surprisingly unfazed by the perpetual hot-air produced in parliament house. But with a shipping price of well-over $60 for 8 lightweight disks, their site said "Allow 2 weeks for delivery", I believed that would be a reasonably accurate estimation for that price. I wanted one disk especially for a friend's birthday present. The birthday was roughly 3 weeks after I placed my order. Two weeks came and went, so I contacted them and asked, "Is it slow, lost or otherwise?". They didn't know. They'd sent it regular mail, no tracking, no insurance. The disks were worth well over $200, and they'd effectively given me the $5 postal bag, and slapped some stamps on it. (I've sent more to Scotland in size/weight for that). Needless to say, I wasn't impressed and told them to get their shipping arrangements sorted out. This was the only choice they offered, so I suggested having better options and a new arrangement with a courier company. 3 weeks pass (sorry birthday buddy) and the post office hadn't seen hide nor hair of it. Another weekend goes past. On Monday afternoon, it arrives... Yay. Then I see it. The padded bag was ripped open in transit! (see attached). I have complained to them about this. Now, I understand that unplanned things happen all the time, but if you do order disks from overseas labels (and I hope you do) make sure you don't just accept this kind of overpriced, half-baked delivery service. Any real audio company would have $200 of componentry in a well padded box, with foam, bubble wrap, and a water-proof layer somewhere in there for protection. If they can't do that, for $60+, I can't help but feel somewhat short-changed. I sincerely hope that if I can help someone to avoid the issues I've faced, my work here will be done. Is there anyone else out there that has had problems with an online purchase? All the best! Hamish.

Hi everyone! I'm really excited to announce that we're now shipping worldwide! Every international order will ship with TNT Express, an extremely quick and affordable service. You can get a quote directly on a product page using our postage calculator, there's no need to make an account or go through the checkout process to get a quote either! Regards, Daniel