Zhenghe Silver Needle

Postage calculation:

We ship from our warehouse in Sydney Australia, using Australia Post and advise a quote with each purchase. This is calculated directly from Australia Post's calculator during the final stage of the purchase-checkout and based on the total weight of the ordered package.

• A typical order of 1 or 3 items (not including tea sets) would cost between $9.30 to $19 dollars within Australia.
• Free standard shipping for orders of $100 AUD and over within Australia.*
• Express shipping is available at the buyer's expense
• To calculate the actual postage of your order, please place your order items in the cart and enter your postcode. The postage will then be calculated and displayed. 

We offer better value to a greater number of customers by charging true shipping costs, rather than subsidize postage with higher overall product prices.

* Please note: if a wrong address is supplied and the parcel is retuned to us as the result, the postage of reposting the order is covered by the recipient.

Delivery time: 

All orders are processed within 24 - 48 hours except weekends and public holidays, pending on credit card authorization.  

• Normal shipping period for Sydney and metropolitan areas is 1-3 working days
• 3-5 working days for the rest of Australia.
• 3-5 working days to NZ by Air Mail.
• 5-10 working days elsewhere in the world.

Delivery tracking: 

Parcel tracking is a standard practice now with all our deliveries. We provide tracking numbers on request only for the following reasons:

1. Auspost requires all shipping addresses to be entered manually onto their site/app for the tracking numbers to be linked to each postal parcel automatically. This is not practical for us currently given the numbers of the parcels we process every day. 
2. We have also had feedbacks that certain customers do not wish to have their mail boxes filled with tracking numbers. 

Our current policy is therefore we provide tracking numbers only when they are requested. Please drop us an email if you wish to have the tracking number to track your delivery. 

Damage of the fragile items for Australia local customers:

If any fragile items are damaged during the delivery, please retain the original package with the purchase statement in the posting state with the damaged items and lodge a claim for compensation to Auspost at: https://auspost.com.au/receiving/delayed-lost-or-damaged-items/compensation 

We are here to support you on all related aspects of this regard. It is however Auspost's policy for all compensation claims to be lodged by the recipients and the damaged items are required as the evidence for the claims. 

For international shipping (countries that are NOT Australia or NZ): 

• Although we use Auspost postage calculator to calculate the postage on the website, we cap the international shipping cost at $30 AUD for parcels that include teas only (please contact us for a postage quote if you would like to order tea accessories from us). We will charge $30 AUD as the top postage if paid by credit card, or refund the exceeding amount if paid by Paypal.  
• the delivery time is estimated at 5-14 working days.
• We use economic air for international shipping. There is not tracking number for these posts. Please advise if you which to take up additional cover with additional cost, for example $5.5 for a tracking number and signature at the delivery. 

Time frame for claiming damage or missing deliveries:

• Orders within Australia: 21 days from the date the order is posted
• Orders from overseas: 50 days from the date the order is posted

*This offer applies to retail orders only. As stated in the VGT Wholesale Policy, shipping costs for wholesale orders are additional.