I live in Adelaide, Australia and recently purchased some fabric from an online store in the US. This is the second time I have purchased from this store. When I received the first package which consisted of fabric only the package was labelled as "art and craft set". This incorrect labelling meant that when it went through quarantine in Australia it was flagged and checked at a cost to me of $43.70. I was pretty peeved but thought...oh well with all the fabric I have purchased it is probably my turn to have a random check. Then yesterday after receiving another package from the same online store, what do you know it happened again...another bill for $43.70 for the quarantine office to check the package.
I phoned the Quarantine Department and spoke to the Officer who had checked the package to ask why this had happened twice and he said it was because it was labelled "art and craft set" and it may contain insects, bark or some item which would not be allowed into the country. When I asked if it had been Xrayed first he said yes, however they are required by law to site all the contents. He explained that if it had been labelled fabric and sewing thread (which is what was in the package) it would not need to be checked.
So, bottom line is I sent an email to the company, explained what had happened, and asked them to please label all future packages to reflect its contents and not use a default label.
Hope it works. I have ordered yards and yards of fabric and never had an issue. I will make a request in futuere for all packages to be labelled as fabric etc. so I don't continue to incurr this extra cost.

oh wow. I'm so sorry that you had to pay extra! I hope the company does follow your wishes.

A friend of mine that lives in Ontario, Canada, we exchange pkgs every month. When I send things to her I HAVE TO LABEL EVERYTHING, when she sends me things all she puts down is ARTS & CRAFTS. You would think with all that is going on in this world ALL countries would have to have the same labeling. Furthermore, I use the free boxes from the P.O. & she can use an plain manilla envelope, go figure :(

How ignorant of the store to not know this way of labeling for Australia if they ship there. All it takes is some research to find out the rules and to make sure the employees handling the orders know. If the extra money it cost you came out of their pay, they would remember. I bet if your payment had to be labeled a certain way they would be quick to make sure it was!

wow, expensive lesson. and thanks for spreading the word to all

I use to ship out packages internationally and never heard of this - THANKS for sharing with us- and I am sure the shop will work with you , the employees probably never heard of the extra fees either- as a reminder when you order again - put in a message requesting the label read fabric only. I know you sent them the message now , but it is hard to keep all the countries straight :lol:

Hmmm... I suppose what is used for "arts and crafts" could vary by country. We would not be thinking bark or insects for crafts here in the US. More like paint, pens, plastic stuff...

Wow. That's a lot of money for someone to ex-ray and/or open a package.

If the company accidentally "forgets" to label it correctly the next time you order could you not refuse the pkg? I'll bet the next time they will remember to do it right. Sorry for you. Good luck.

Omg!! That is terrible!!!