Australian Orders - Before (and After) March 1st, 2024
(Please note, the following applies only to our Australian customers)
Hey there, Mo here.
As you might have heard, shit's fucked.
The short version is that the Australian Government and Australian Border Force have added all vaping products to the prohibited goods list, meaning that starting March 1st, 2024, any vaping products that the ABF catch being shipped into Australia will be confiscated and destroyed (unless you have a special permit, which they're not giving to anybody, at all, ever.)
When I say "all vaping products", I mean all vaping products. Liquids, devices, even empty goddamn bottle.
If that sounds immensely fucking stupid and counterproductive to you, that's because it is.
So what happens now?
If you're planning on making one final order before the hammer drops, you must place that order by midnight, Thursday the 22nd of February, to give us time to pick, pack, and ship it, and for our postal carriers to do their best to get your package on Australian soil before the 1st of March.
We can't absolutely promise that your order will make it, ABF are already confiscating parcels despite the regulations not even being in place yet, but we'll do our absolute best to get it there before the deadline. We have removed certain shipping options from our website which (to the best of our knowledge) will definitely not meet the deadline, so the remaining shipping options are the safest and most likely to make it
However, if you don't get your order in before the deadline, understand this: we have no intention of stopping just because one twat in Canberra refuses to accept established science. Even once the March 1 deadline passes, we will continue shipping orders world-wide, including to Australia. Keep reading to find out how that's going to work.
While it's been illegal for many years to import and sell nicotine disposables in Australia, this prohibition was spectacularly ineffective, with disposables being available at nearly every single tobacconist and petrol station across Australia.
After getting solid legal advice, it's clear that Australia's new rules don't apply to us here in New Zealand, and as such, we will continue to ship our products all over the globe after March 1st, Australia included.
If the ABF want to waste their time attempting to stop you from staying off the darts instead of trying to catch heroin, cocaine, ice, and the dozens of other hard drugs pouring through the Australian border, then they are going to have to manually and visuallysearch for our packages amongst the approximately 2.8 million packages entering the country each and every day. Good luck to them.
Of course, there will always be a risk that your package will be stopped and confiscated - you may even receive a grumpy letter.
With that in mind, the TGA has stated, "these reforms will not criminalise vapers in any way" - i.e. it's unlikely (however not impossible) that anyone "caught" importing or using vaping products will be fined - likely the worst thing that will happen is that your order is destroyed.
So lets's recap:
- We will continue to fulfill orders globally, including to our customers in Australia through various postal services. However, it's crucial for Australian customers to be aware of the heightened risk of customs interception, and all Australian-bound orders are placed at your own risk.
- Australian customers will notice new, old, and sometimes different shipping options at checkout.
- If we notice a significant number of our shipments are being held by customs, we will halt this shipping method and re-evaluate our approach. We have no intention of continually feeding our products directly into the ABF meat-grinder.
- Unfortunately, if your package is stopped, there's absolutely nothing we can do to intervene.
It truly pains me to have to write this, but it is what it is.
For those who hopefully use this situation as an excuse to kick both smoking and vaping to the curb, just know that we truly appreciate the opportunity to serve you over the years on your smoke-free journey, and we promise to continue to fight the good fight.
And to those like us who refuse to accept this bullshit - all I can say is that while it's been a wild fucking ride so far, it's not over.
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