Shipping Information & Free Late Gift Card Service

Shipping Information & Free Late Gift Card Service. Please go down to the paragraphs with red highlights for brief details of shipping alternatives if you require us to keep a deadline. Otherwise, freight from this website is free with your order.

The information below applies only to special delivery requests that you might have to address a super quick deadline. If you fit in with our system which can take a week or two to arrive, you don’t have to be concerned about freight costs.

The main goal for us is to care for YOUR interests first rather than our own.

This is primarily an information site dedicated to the love of opals and to people who wear them and collect them. It is designed to inform you fully about the stone, introduce you to the opal fields, instruct you about how to shop for them, to care for them, and if you want, to learn how to process them yourself for your own pleasure and profit.

Any sales that result from this site are secondary to this main goal. Please don’t hesitate to ask Peter, our opal expert, any questions in regard to this subject.

Even if you want an opinion about a stone you are considering purchasing from anywhere else, Peter is pleased to offer an honest unbiased opinion, whether you are purchasing from this site or not. Remember. Our main interest is YOUR interest. We are pleased to offer the best service possible.

Shipping Information & Free Late Gift Card Service Delivery times and insurance:

Questions about delivery times and tracking numbers are the most asked because most items purchased are gifts to be presented on special occasions. Keep in mind that most of our customers are from the USA, Canada, and Europe and we are located on the other side of the planet.

Not just that, but we are located 1000 km from the city in the middle of the opal mines. [Not that this is a major difficulty because our postal system is very efficient] However, here are some of the problems we face in our effort to deliver on time.

Our opal specialist, Peter, is often attending to opal matters at the mines which are 1000 km from the city. Of course, most matters can be cared for by Cindy, our office supervisor, but at times the only one who can address special matters regarding stone matching and design is Peter because opal is such a specialist field. At these times, there could be some delays.

Having said that, here are our goals:

1. We must keep the delivery costs to a minimum
2. We must keep the delivery time to a minimum
3.We must use the most secure delivery system possible.

more Shipping Information & Free Late Gift Card Service

We have found over the years that the most secure way of sending parcels worth up to a couple of hundred dollars is by ordinary airmail. The lease ‘fuss’ created the more secure it is. For higher priced parcels, basic insurances is taken out which requires a signature and has a tracking number which can be checked here . Time of delivery can be up to two weeks, so if you have left your order too late for a special event, please ask us about our special ‘Late Gift Card Service’(See bottom of this page).

If you want goods sent by special courier, which includes tracking numbers please let us know through our Contact Us emails. The costs are around $100.00. From Australia, we only use FedEx which comes with an automatic insurance component.
For orders in excess of $5000, please use the Contact Us emails to communicate with us.

Standard orders from our database-with deadline information should get to you between one to two weeks, but keep in mind that during busy times, there may be some delays so allow yourself as much time as possible for deadlines.

Special orders that involve design and manufacturing-with deadline limitations, please allow up to 2 months to deliver. Sometimes they can be fulfilled in a week or so, but keep in mind the following details:

We don’t want to rush a job. We want to make sure that the quality of the item is second to none. This sometimes involves re-cutting stones, making special wax carvings for models, casting certain components. Setting diamonds and sizing shanks.

Opalmine employs about ten different jewelers to manufacture. Each one of these jewelers are experts in different fields of the industry. At times, particularly toward the end of the year, they get so busy that they cannot fulfill orders in time for deadlines. So if you have a gift in mind to be delivered at a certain date, please plan a couple of months ahead if possible.

We know that this is not always possible and we will always do our very best to keep deadlines, but please understand our situation if the deadline cannot be reached. One idea is to write a little card for the occasion, explaining that a very special gift is on its way from the other side of the earth. Sometimes this anticipation is even better than having the gift. Here are some more details about this:

Late Gift Card Service:

If an item does turn up late, the best advice we can offer is for you to present the person with a nice card with wording along these lines:

Dear (name of person),

“I have a special gift coming to you from Australia, the land down under, which as you know, is on the other side of the earth. It is taking longer than we thought to arrive, but this little card is to say to you that I have not forgotten our special day and to encourage you to expect something really special from a long way away that I expect will arrive soon. So, please start getting excited about it”.

Suggested conclusions:

All my love
Thanks so much for being my friend
Happy anniversary

Thanks for your kindness and generosity
Sorry that I have upset you
I have not forgotten your friendship
Hope you have a wonderful day
Memories of you flood my mind
I really value your friendship/love/kindness

Thanks for caring for our (animal type and name)

Please note: We do special “late gift” and thank you cards, or cards expressing appreciation or love to someone, or Shipping Information & Free Late Gift Card Service
.[for anniversary cards, please note the years of your marriage] We don’t do Christmas and Birthday cards.

We have a catalogue of pictures you can choose from for these cards, or you can submit your own picture. Be sure to give us the names of the giver and receiver. This special service is free of charge and is available to all our customers.
There are times we can rush things through by paying double the costs to put other jobs aside, but this of course is not appealing.

Keep in mind that we will always need your finger size if you are getting a ring made.