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hi dakkites!

I'm in the process of negotiating a possible army trade with someone from Australia. Does anyone have experience shipping minis to and from Australia (or something equivalent)? What hoops would I need to jump through? Who should I ship with? Any customs tricks?

thanks for the help in advance!

Depends where you are. It's been a long time, but last time I shipped US to Australia it was incredibily expensive and still took like 8 weeks to get there.

As someone who has imported a lot of stuff from the US to here in Oz, the best (and cheapest) experiences have been via USPS. Usually takes no time at all, and isn't expensive.

Yeah, I regularly ship books, DVD and minis from the US to Australia, and USPS is the way to go. I have trialled a few other means (eg FedEx), but they were more expensive without any real benefits.

What customs forms need to be filled out to ship to and from Australia? Do I need to make some sort of invoice?

Ask your local USPS people.

I know that from here to there, it's a simple customs declaration that gets stuck to the package, with details like contents description, nature of package (samples/gift/etc) and approximate value. I've never sent anything expensive, though.

Be aware that goods in excess of (I think) $900 AUD (that's Aussie dollars) WILL attract customs duties from our end.