Australia Post provides postal services in Australia and its overseas territories. Australian Postal Corporation is the Australian-Government-owned entity responsible for the services. Australia Post is a member of Universal Postal Union. As a member they should service and respect the registered parcels of other countries that are imported to Australia and timely provide information on the passage of items through the processing stages on the way of parcel till the delivery to recepient like this is done by official mail services of other countries (e.g. USA, UK, Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Japan).

At this time Australia Post has the following statement at their site given for almost any incoming tracking number: "Sorry, this item can't be tracked. Looks like your item was sent with an international service that doesn't include tracking." This is rather confusing statement, because you see it, when you input the tracking number of registered international parcel. Tracking number is used for tracking, that's easy! There are some specifics about the format of this number, but a standard number like RX123456789XX starting with "R" always means "registered", so it should be tracked all the way to the recepient.

Further they explain: "The tracking status 'product not trackable' – or the message, ‘sorry, this item can’t be tracked’ – might be shown for items sent using one of our international services that doesn’t come with tracking as a standard feature. These include: Registered Post International, International Economy (Air and Sea). No track events will be shown for these items. However, if the item was sent using Registered Post International, a signature will be obtained when the item is delivered." A signature is a nice thing, but you will not see that in tracking information, they provide the confirmation only via contacting through e-mail. This is very inconvenient way of doing things.

This behavior creates problems for international sellers, who work through PayPal or eBay, for example. If you don't have proof of delivery or a proof of parcel going through some points in real time then you are in weal position and you should refund the money to buyer, and only if he will be kind enough, he will pay again. This ignorant behavior for the incoming registered mail should be changed as soon as possible. All incoming registered mail should be tracked in an appropriate way.