Misdeclaration charges are additional costs or surcharges billed by your carrier. They are sometimes also called post-booking charges, and you are charged these if the carrier finds that the parcel they have picked up is different to what they were expecting. For example, if a parcel is heavier, lighter, or a different dimension to what was booked.

When parcels are collected by the carrier, they are taken to the depot where they are weighed and measured. If the weight or volume that you declared during booking are lower than what the carrier measures, the carrier bill you for the difference. This charge is passed on to you as a misdeclaration charge.

This can be very costly if the carrier also charges weight threshold-based surcharges. For example, if you declare a consignment as 28kg charged weight, but the carrier measures it as 31kg, the misdeclaration cost is the 3kg additional weight charge, plus a Heavy Residential Surcharge, which is charged for items greater than or equal to 30kg charged weight, and is currently and extra $59 plus GST. Often the freight price difference is vastly dwarfed by the surcharge for exceeding the carrier weight thresholds.

You can also incur additional post-booking charges due to other circumstances the carrier encounters as the item travels through their network, including manual handling, redelivery, wait times, deferred delivery storage fees, and a range of other things. This article outlines the various possible charges, and gives information about how the main carriers handle them.

This matrix shows the various misdeclaration charges that carriers might bill you for. More information about each of these charges is given later in this article. For more detail about how to avoid some of these charges, see the FIXME article.

Definitions:

✔ Included in the quote and billed post-booking if the carrier deems that you have provided the incorrect initial input. These charges are included in quote, but can appear as additional charges on a misdeclaration invoice if the items are remeasured or reweighed by the carrier and found to be in excess of the original dimensions or dead weight you declared, or if the order details are determined by the carrier to be incorrect.

💲Billed as part of misdeclarations. These charges always appear as additional charges on a misdeclaration invoice.

Ⓧ This charge is not applicable for this carrier.

For current surcharge prices, check the carrier surcharge matrix.

Incurred when the carrier is required to deliver to above ground locations either by stairs or lift.

Allied: additional 25% of corresponding Residential Delivery Surcharge

Incurred when a delivery is made after-hours or a specific delivery window is requested.

Incurred when the merchant or recipient requests a delivery to be deferred beyond the standard transit time. This includes instances where the recipient requires the carrier to keep and consolidate deliveries to be made at a single requested time, to prevent the carrier from showing up several times a day.

Incurred when an order that is cancelled on the Shippit app is still collected or delivered by the carrier. The amount charged is the same as the initial quoted price unless the item was under-declared, or additional surcharges are incurred. Note that because the Cancelled status on Shippit is terminating, any subsequent movement of the item is not updated within Shippit. This means that you can only check whether or not the item has been serviced by checking the carrier connote on the carrier's tracking website.

If an item was overdeclared at the time of booking and the corrected weight and dimensions are resubmitted to refund the difference in freight charges, the carrier charges a credit note processing fee.

Any item classified as dangerous goods. This includes items that have explosive, flammable, toxic, infectious, or corrosive properties.

Incurred when an item is disposed of, usually following an international delivery.

Incurred with certain international deliveries based on the commercial value of the item.

Incurred if you have manifested an item, by marking it "Ready to ship", but it was not turned over to the carrier or driver for collection.

Incurred when items are required to be hand-unloaded by the driver. Charged in 15-minute increments.

Incurred when the carrier or driver is unable to retrieve order information when an item is scanned, due to the order not being manifested. To avoid this charge, items intended for collection must be manifested (have their status changed to "Ready to Ship" in Shippit) 30 minutes prior to the driver arriving. Unlike Australia Post where the items are first scanned at the depot, Couriers Please drivers scan the item when it is collected. The misdeclaration invoice displays the time of first scan and time of actual manifest for clarity.

While Allied has a brief grace period following the collection of parcels, it is still recommended that you manifest 30 minutes prior to driver arrival. Allied also has additional charges if the destination details are electronically unavailable including unreadable or unscannable labels or QR codes, no manifest information at the point of delivery, and other reasons impeding the delivery of the parcel.

Incurred when carriers remeasure an item and find it to be longer than declared at booking.

Incurred when an item is not manifested and the carrier is required to create a manual connote to service the item. This fee also applies to bookings where the sender elects to use a manual connote instead.

Incurred when an item is smaller, longer, or heavier than declared and cannot be processed through the carrier's automated conveyor system. In addition to the weight, volume, and dimension reasons, items that are not conveyor-compliant due to item profile can also incur manual handling fees.

Allied threshold: >=1.1m Depot Manual Handling Fee

TNT thresholds:

For more information, see the Manual Handling section in the Understanding Misdeclaration Invoices article.

Incurred when the carrier selects to manually measure an item as it is too big to be measured by the CWC laser machine. This is applied on an audit basis of larger items, and can be incurred even if an item is measured to be consistent with the declared dimensions.

Incurred when the carrier measures or weighs an item and it is found to be greater than declared through Shippit at the time of booking. Accompanying this information is the declared dead weight and volumetric weight, along with the carrier's recorded charged weight. This also includes heavy items that are palletised by the carrier. When this happens, the remeasured weight and dimensions include the pallet itself.

Incurred when a booking is made over the phone. The carrier also charges this fee when they collect a previously manifested or futile item.

Incurred when carriers re-measure an item to exceed specific dead weight, volumetric weight, or length thresholds.

Incurred when carriers re-measure an item to exceed specific dead weight, volumetric weight, or length thresholds.

CP Thresholds:

For TNT Oversize / Length criteria, see the Length Surcharge section.

This occurs when the carrier palletises heavy items that are greater than 30kg dead weight in compliance with OH&S. The item is then re-measured and re-weighed to include the pallet. This is confirmed if an item is greater than 30kg and the subsequent CWC measurements from the carrier is reported to be 120 x 120cm.

Applicable Carriers: Allied and TNT don't charge a specific palletisation fee but they do charge the difference in charged weight for the item plus the pallet, along with heavy residential surcharges if specific weight-thresholds are exceeded with the inclusion of the pallet.

Incurred when shipping restricted items such as alcohol, tobacco, or vaping products.

Incurred when a redelivery service is required following an unsuccessful delivery attempt. This can appear in either the Delivery invoice or the Misdec invoice.

When the sender or recipient submits a new delivery address while the item is in transit

Incurred as part of Misdecs if a combination of suburb and postcode for pickup or delivery address used is incorrect, and verified by Google Maps. This can also be incurred at Misdecs if the item was deemed to be under-declared at the time of booking and the carrier charges the remote fee by per charged kilogram difference.

Included in booking cost, but can be charged at Misdecs if an exempt sender ships to a residential address.

Incurred as an additional cost if the merchant has under-declared an item, and the carrier re-measured charged weight breaches a threshold.

Incurred as an additional cost if the carrier deems the pick-up location to be residential.

Incurred as an additional cost if the carrier deems the pick-up location to be residential and the charged weight breaches a threshold.

Incurred when an item is sent back to the sender's address after an unsuccessful delivery. This can appear on either the Delivery invoice or the Misdec invoice.

Incurred when an item is under-declared and needs to be re-weighed and re-measured. This is charged on top of misdeclaration fees (currently only used in select cases by Couriers Please).

Incurred if a crew of two people is required to deliver the item.

Allied Thresholds:

Incurred by under-declaring dead weight or dimensions and tail lift is subsequently required by the carrier to deliver the item.

Incurred when the driver is required to wait upon collection or delivery. Charged in 5-minute increments.

When the initial booking fee is showing as $0 due to the freight being outside of the chosen carrier's compliance. In this case, the entire cost of the booking is billed as part of Misdecs.