Quote from: Newportnobby on August 24, 2026, 12:02:46 PMJust checked with Australia Post and get the same week old info I get from the UK

It can take a week before the Australia Post tracking service picks up the trace after the parcel leaves UK. It's always worked for me. Average door-to-door time about 16 days. I have the advantage of an Australia Post on-line account. That automatically notifies me when they have a parcel destined for me.
 

107 degrees today!

It's been 100-107 for weeks and our fire truck's AC has been broken since June 26!! see

The RM tracking system normally states the package is leaving the UK, and there is a link to take you to the receiving country's system.
This works really well for packages from most of the UK retailers.

I thought it was just me, now I can see it is a forum issue.
Will have to push those donations.

There are a number of ways to do this.
1. bank to bank transfer the sender will need all the details of your account to receive the money, including the SWIFT code. In Australia, and if it is the first time for a transfer between the 2 accounts, it normally takes 24hrs after you load the details for it to be sent to the recipient, this gives the sender time to retract it if there is a problem. Exchange rate not the best and could be other charges.

2. PayPal, all the sender needs is the recipient PayPal account. Exchange rate not great, but no other charges. I have recently used this to pay Revolution for spares, @njee for Pendolino wheel sets and C-Rail for some new wagons, works really well.

3. Wise or Revolut cards, often the best exchange rate available, as Chris explained.

I thought bird tables were designed so cats can't get on/in them. Bertie has proved that theory wrong yet again. I've seen him in another bird table (we have 3) before but not this freestanding one:



He woke up when I approached but stayed there for at least a couple of hours:

Quote from: Tank on August 24, 2026, 06:45:48 PMOh no! 

There were some updates that were completed, but I guess one knocked out the alert package.  I'll have to wait until more donations meet the quota for the month before getting someone to look into it.

I'll donate some lolly immediately or sooner.

Toodle-pip

John

Oh no! 

There were some updates that were completed, but I guess one knocked out the alert package.  I'll have to wait until more donations meet the quota for the month before getting someone to look into it.

Hmmm - I have solved all the issues I had with international payments by using Wise (used to be called TransferWise ). You give the other party unique local bank account details in their country that Wise provides you with. They pay into that with a local transfer which is much easier for them. You then get an instant transfer to you (still in that currency). You then exchange at the time of your choosing and then transfer out to your own account using a local transfer. I move money between my UK and Japan bank accounts this way and also receive payments this way, all within minutes.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with them except as a happy user.

From my experience they give the market exchange rate at the moment you tell them to convert and the fees are the most reasonable I have found and everything is up front an nothing is hidden. If you wnat a sign up link (where we both get benefits as a result) I will PM you one, or you can just sign up directly at wise.com.

BTW I do also use Revolut which is an alternative provider of these sort or services, and it has its fans (especially for card use abroad), however personally I have found Wise best overall and use it both for personal and business transactions (and enjoy the fact that I am not paying uunecessary fees and rate spreads to the "traditional" banking industry whose service has frankly deteriroated in recent years - I refer to all those branch closures as well as excessive fees ),

Cheers,

Colin.

Quote from: njee20 on August 24, 2026, 03:49:43 PMThe issue is the receiving country, it's literally nothing to do with RM, not so much that they don't care, but that they have no sway or influence whatsoever. If they don't get info there's nothing they can provide you.

Then they shouldn't be peddling such a service with their reputation already in tatters