This status is the customs queue at the Australian border, and sitting in it for a few days is perfectly normal. Every package entering Australia gets screened by the Australian Border Force and, famously, by biosecurity — and the queue moves at its own pace, especially after big shopping events overseas. Most orders clear without you doing anything. If yours is held longer, it's usually one of three things: a biosecurity inspection, a question about the declared value, or duties owed on higher-value orders. Australia Post will contact you if payment or paperwork is needed, so make sure the seller has your correct email and phone number. We'll keep watching the status for you — the moment it clears, you'll see the next scan, usually from the Sydney or Melbourne gateway facility.

Quite possibly, yes — and that's usually a feature, not a fluke. Safe Drop is Australia Post's option to leave your package in a secure spot at your address if no signature is needed, so you're not stuck waiting at home all day. The driver photographs where it was left, and that photo appears in the Australia Post app. You're in control, though: through your AusPost account you can request Safe Drop for a package that would otherwise need a signature, or switch it off entirely if you'd rather collect from the Post Office. Sellers can also disable it for valuable orders. If your tracking says delivered with Safe Drop, check the photo first — it usually answers the "where exactly?" question in two seconds.

Don’t worry, your package just takes a short detour. Australia Post typically leaves a card or sends an app message and moves your package to the nearest Post Office, where it waits for you to collect it with ID. Aramex and CouriersPlease usually attempt redelivery or send it to a nearby depot or collection point, and their tracking tells you exactly which one. Your Parcel Monitor timeline shows the same story: the "attempted delivery" scan, then the location where your package is waiting. Just don't leave it too long — collection points hold packages for a limited window before sending them back, so grab yours within the timeframe on your notice.

For most online orders, GST is already sorted before your package even ships. Australia asks overseas stores and marketplaces with Australian sales over AUD 75,000/year to collect the 10% GST at checkout on orders worth AUD 1,000 or less — so when Amazon, eBay or Shein adds that line to your total, that's the tax being handled upfront. The upside is real: because GST was paid at the till, your package doesn't get stopped at the border for tax collection and clears customs faster. You won't get a surprise bill at the door for these low-value orders. It's only when a single order tops AUD 1,000 that the process changes and the border gets involved.

The whole home team. Australia Post and its parcel arm StarTrack carry most of the country's online orders, and we follow both. Add Aramex (the old Fastway), CouriersPlease, TNT, Toll and Direct Freight, plus the international names — DHL, FedEx, UPS — and the newer e-commerce players delivering for big retailers. In all, we track over 1,000 carriers worldwide, so the same page that follows your Kmart or Amazon AU order also follows the vinyl you ordered from London. Paste in your number and we'll figure out who's carrying it; if it changes hands between carriers on the way, we follow it through the handover too.

Grab the tracking number from your shipping confirmation email and drop it in — that's genuinely the whole job. We recognise Australian formats automatically, whether it's an Australia Post number, a StarTrack number or a CouriersPlease code, and lay out every scan in one timeline. No no juggling three courier apps. If you're expecting several orders, add them all and see everything at a glance. And here's the lazy-person upgrade: connect your Gmail, and we'll spot the confirmation emails from your Amazon AU, eBay or The Iconic orders and start tracking them for you — before you've even thought to look for the number.

A pause right after landing is one of the most common quiet stretches in tracking — and one of the least worrying. The "arrived at airport" scan comes from the airline side. What happens next — unloading, moving to the mail gateway, border and biosecurity screening — often generates no public scans at all. Your package is working through that pipeline even though the timeline looks frozen. The next update typically appears when Australia Post or the courier takes over for delivery, which can be several days after touchdown, longer in peak season. We keep checking on your behalf, so there's nothing to refresh. If a couple of weeks pass with no movement at all, ask the seller to raise an inquiry from their end — they can, and it carries more weight.

Often, yes — Australia Post is one of the more flexible posts on this. With a free MyPost account, eligible packages can be redirected while still on the move: to a free 24/7 Parcel Locker, a Post Office, or another street address. Open the Australia Post app or site, find your package, and look for the redirect option; if it's eligible, a few taps does it. Not every package qualifies — some senders lock the delivery address, and international items may only become redirectable once they're in the domestic network. A Parcel Locker is a great habit anyway if you're rarely home: your package waits behind a code instead of on your doorstep.

Before anything else, open the Australia Post app and look for the Safe Drop photo — it shows exactly where the driver left your package, and that solves most of these mysteries on the spot. No photo? Do a lap of the property: meter box, behind pots, side gate, the parcel spot your regular postie favours. Ask the household and the neighbours. Deliveries also sometimes get scanned minutes before they actually arrive, so give it until the end of the day. Still empty-handed? You should report it to the carrier — Australia Post has a "where's my item" enquiry and tell the seller, who can investigate, replace or refund.

Because your package switched teams at the border. The seller's carrier handles the flight, then hands your package to Australia Post (or another local courier) for the domestic leg — and the new team issues its own tracking number. The original number often stops updating at that point, which looks alarming and means nothing. On Parcel Monitor, either number works: we follow the journey across the handover, and if the seller or the AusPost app gives you the new local code, add it and we'll keep both linked. One practical tip: the local number is the one Australia Post's own tools recognise, so use that one for redirects or Safe Drop settings.

Yes — Australia runs the strictest biosecurity screening in the world, and it treats incoming mail very seriously. Anything organic gets extra attention: food, seeds, plants, wooden items, leather goods, pet supplies, even used outdoor gear with soil on it. Packages flagged for inspection wait longer at the border, and that's often the real reason behind a long "in customs" pause. If an item fails inspection it can be treated, exported back or destroyed — usually with a letter explaining why. None of this is arbitrary; it's how Australia keeps pests and diseases out. Before ordering, a quick look at the BICON database (the official import conditions tool) tells you if your item is risky. When in doubt, expect a few extra days and let the process run.

You may also want to explore tracking for these other destinations:

• Track parcels going to or from New Zealand

• Check on your China delivery

• Your United States orders, all in one place

• Waiting on something from Great Britain?

• Keep an eye on Germany deliveries

These carrier pages are worth a look too:

• UBI Logistics Australia updates in one place

• Waiting on Aramex Australia? Track it here

• Track your AliExpress Standard Shipping parcels

• Following a DHL Express delivery?

• FedEx tracking, step by step

• See where your Yun Express package is