Is there anywhere near Circular Quay to store luggage?

[capriccio]

My brother and sister-in-law will be disembarking the Coral Princess on Sunday, April 30th. Their flight to the US is at 3:30 pm. They’d like to spend the morning walking Sydney. Any suggestions on where to store their luggage?

[buchhalm]

Google "bounce luggage storage circular quay ".

There is a branch at City Extra restaurant at Circular Quay. 

I believe you are supposed to pre book, but i have seen plenty of people just rock up and deposit luggage there. 

Open 24 hours. Opposite wharf 4. And 5 minutes walk along the waterfront from the cruise terminal 

[Aussieflyer]

Have seen people dropping of luggage there - seems to be very well organised from what I hav seen.

[arxcards]

Pre-book if you can. I have seen people turned away when they are full.

 

It is a great spot at City Extra, as it is also good for coffee, cold drinks, meals or snacks. It is also located below Circular Quay railway station for easy access to the airport train.

[backbiter]

They charge $8 per bag, I believe.

[cruiser3775]

Yes it's $A8 per bag for any length of time, even just an hour.  They also charge it as an international transaction, even though it is in Aussie dollars and you use an Aussie credit card, so you get slugged by your bank for an international transaction.  If I'd known that in advance, I would have used the credit card that has no forex charges.

[NSWP]

On 4/23/2023 at 12:10 AM, arxcards said:

Pre-book if you can. I have seen people turned away when they are full.

 

It is a great spot at City Extra, as it is also good for coffee, cold drinks, meals or snacks. It is also located below Circular Quay railway station for easy access to the airport train.

City Extra is very good, try their Victorian Mixed Grill.

[arxcards]

9 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Yes it's $A8 per bag for any length of time, even just an hour.  They also charge it as an international transaction, even though it is in Aussie dollars and you use an Aussie credit card, so you get slugged by your bank for an international transaction.  If I'd known that in advance, I would have used the credit card that has no forex charges.

Hmm, a bit of a trap - processed overseas in $AU. Thanks for the heads-up, as some card providers would incur a flat fee that could be more than the cost of the storage. Still, for anyone heading back overseas it would be a good opportunity to use up any remaining Aussie dollars.

[arxcards]

8 hours ago, NSWP said:

City Extra is very good, try their Victorian Mixed Grill.

I would have to be in a special mood these days Les. Being able to have eggs benny for lunch is a nice bonus, and I quite like their "Canadian" breakfast.

[MMDown Under]

22 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

Yes it's $A8 per bag for any length of time, even just an hour.  They also charge it as an international transaction, even though it is in Aussie dollars and you use an Aussie credit card, so you get slugged by your bank for an international transaction.  If I'd known that in advance, I would have used the credit card that has no forex charges.

How can they do that?  Is it because it is a foreign company in Sydney?  If I didn't want to walk around all day, I'd rather take my bags with me and enjoy a coffee.  So many great views to enjoy at Circular Quay.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

How can they do that?  Is it because it is a foreign company in Sydney?  If I didn't want to walk around all day, I'd rather take my bags with me and enjoy a coffee.  So many great views to enjoy at Circular Quay.

Most likely. I have had similar charges on Princess and P&O in years gone by, where the onboard account was in $AU, but being processed in London or Santa Clarita. Many years back, banks only levied fees when there was currency being converted, but they added a foreign transaction fee, so that anything being banked overseas copped a fee, even if was in $AU. In those situations, Carnival Australia refunded those bank fees on request.

[2022cruisey]

Is it legal for them to charge an international transaction in Australia?  
I was thinking about using them in June but now will look at other options.

 

eta it could constitute misleading and deceptive conduct, according to the ACCC.  Websites with .com.au have got into trouble for it, so it would follow that a physical shop in Sydney would get in trouble for charging international transactions.

Edited May 4, 2023 by 2022cruisey
Additional info

[arxcards]

5 minutes ago, 2022cruisey said:

Is it legal for them to charge an international transaction in Australia?  
I was thinking about using them in June but now will look at other options.

No, it isn't. They aren't charging it, your bank is charging the fee because it is being processed overseas, regardless of currency. Lots of online sellers do the same, and not all banks charge the fee.

 

If you have cash, use that - you can avoid any potential fees that way.

[2022cruisey]

The online sellers are supposed to advise you that they will be processing your transaction overseas.  Unless the shop tells you that, they would not be doing the right thing.

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/1651FAC_FX busines guide Disclosure D02.pdf

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, 2022cruisey said:

The online sellers are supposed to advise you that they will be processing your transaction overseas.  Unless the shop tells you that, they would not be doing the right thing.

https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/1651FAC_FX busines guide Disclosure D02.pdf

Yes, they should advise you, but there is nothing binding ATM. For now, they are just best practice guidelines.

[cruiser3775]

Bounce has a dot com website, not a dot com dot au, so that might be a hint. 

The other way to avoid the charge is to use a credit card with no foreign exchange transactions charges, such as a Latitude 28 Degrees Mastercard. It's a good idea to have one of those when travelling, in any case. Just search on "credit cards with no foreign exchange fees"  to find them in your country.

In my case, the extra charge was only 80 cents, so I'm not crying too hard. But if I had purchased something expensive from them, it could have been much more.

[arxcards]

2 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Bounce has a dot com website, not a dot com dot au, so that might be a hint. 

The other way to avoid the charge is to use a credit card with no foreign exchange transactions charges, such as a Latitude 28 Degrees Mastercard. It's a good idea to have one of those when travelling, in any case. Just search on "credit cards with no foreign exchange fees"  to find them in your country.

In my case, the extra charge was only 80 cents, so I'm not crying too hard. But if I had purchased something expensive from them, it could have been much more.

I have been using them for a dozen or so years, back when they were a Mark Bouris company and not an international finance mob. I am about to change my drivers license and my wife's passport because 28 degrees allowed our identification details to be stolen. I am also looking for another option for a travel card.

[aussielozzie18]

2 hours ago, arxcards said:

I have been using them for a dozen or so years, back when they were a Mark Bouris company and not an international finance mob. I am about to change my drivers license and my wife's passport because 28 degrees allowed our identification details to be stolen. I am also looking for another option for a travel card.

Yep.  Unfortunately I need to do the same…

[lyndarra]

4 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Yep.  Unfortunately I need to do the same…

And redo any E-visas you may have.

[MMDown Under]

14 hours ago, arxcards said:

I have been using them for a dozen or so years, back when they were a Mark Bouris company and not an international finance mob. I am about to change my drivers license and my wife's passport because 28 degrees allowed our identification details to be stolen. I am also looking for another option for a travel card.

I am with them also.  Can someone explain why I would need to change my Drivers License and Passport (which both have my photo on them)? The Govt must be making a fortune in charges.

[buchhalm]

Back to answering the original question....🙄

[arxcards]

On 5/6/2023 at 12:34 AM, MMDown Under said:

I am with them also.  Can someone explain why I would need to change my Drivers License and Passport (which both have my photo on them)? The Govt must be making a fortune in charges.

You would only be advised to change your license if they have informed you that hackers have that info.  The photo isn't always required as a form of ID, so for those that are into spoofing identities, it is just another piece of the puzzle for them. It turns out my wife's passport is a false alarm, as it was used for identification with them back when she had a different number and expiry date.

 

Government making a fortune? No, I don't think so. I figure there is a bit of a margin in issuing passports, but the cost of a drivers licence isn't much more than the cost of the system and staff needed to issue them.

 

Anyone is welcome to contribute an answer to the OP's question, should there be any more info forthcoming. 

[MMDown Under]

21 minutes ago, arxcards said:

You would only be advised to change your license if they have informed you that hackers have that info.  The photo isn't always required as a form of ID, so for those that are into spoofing identities, it is just another piece of the puzzle for them. It turns out my wife's passport is a false alarm, as it was used for identification with them back when she had a different number and expiry date.

 

Government making a fortune? No, I don't think so. I figure there is a bit of a margin in issuing passports, but the cost of a drivers licence isn't much more than the cost of the system and staff needed to issue them.

 

Anyone is welcome to contribute an answer to the OP's question, should there be any more info forthcoming. 

Thank you.  I just wondered if it was really necessary.  I received no individual information.  

[cruiser3775]

You can contact them and ask what particular information the hackers have for you.  I found that, as I had got my credit card from Latitude so many years ago, when it was called Wizard, that the information the hackers had for me was now outdated as I had a newer licence/passport.  I'm not giving up this credit card because of the hackers. They have even more incentive now to better their security. I just keep a very careful check on my finances. I have also found that Latitude have been very good about following up on any suspicious activity with the card.

[arxcards]

6 hours ago, cruiser3775 said:

You can contact them and ask what particular information the hackers have for you.  I found that, as I had got my credit card from Latitude so many years ago, when it was called Wizard, that the information the hackers had for me was now outdated as I had a newer licence/passport.  I'm not giving up this credit card because of the hackers. They have even more incentive now to better their security. I just keep a very careful check on my finances. I have also found that Latitude have been very good about following up on any suspicious activity with the card.

I have had the same DL number for the past 40 odd years, and they only need to add in lots of 5 years to have a probable guess of the current expiry date.