We've created this page in order to answer the most commonly asked questions that visitors and customers throw our way :-)

Anyway, please feel free to ask away if you have questions or queries concerning our travel accessories or maps, ordering etcetera. For more information: email: info@masonsmaps.com

Please click on the questions below to go straight there! (and your mouse will appreciate the rest as well)  

What do you mean by "We do the currency conversion for you?"
How secure is my credit card when placing orders?
How long does it take to receive the travel accessories or map/s I've ordered?
How do we pack and send your travel accessories or maps?
How do I extract the map from its mailing tube?
How do you calculate postage?
Do you offer insurance?

What do you mean by "we do the currency conversion for you?"

Good question! Mason's Maps is based Down Under in the land of roos, Vegemite, meat pies etcetera; in other words, we are an Australian based company. This means that the banks we deal with require us to charge credit cards in the local currency (Australian dollar - AUD). In other words, we are required to manually do the US-Australian dollar conversion for you back into US dollars. 

Rather than dealing with Australian currency on our site and forcing you to work out how much your order costs in US dollars, we chose to express the prices of our maps in US dollars because it is the unofficial de-facto international currency of the Internet and one that everybody easily understands. Almost everybody not resident of the United States also knows what their own currency is worth against it!

Therefore, when you receive your credit card statement, you'll see the amount charged in Australian dollars. Your credit card company converts that figure back in to US dollars, which will be very, very close to the US amount quoted on your invoice. In fact it's usually a few cents less because we purposefully make a small allowance for any unexpected move in the exchange rate while we're processing at our end. Phew! It sounds complicated, but we've found that this system works really rather well. :-)

How secure is my credit card when placing orders?

Mason's Maps utilizes the latest industry standard technology which uses SSL (Secure Sockets
Layer) processing technology to assure your transactions are fully protected during the journey through cyberspace.

However, if you're still not sure about the security of your order, check the URL when you actually reach the checkout page after selecting a map you wish to order. A https:// and not just http:// should appear at the very beginning of the address. The "s" stands for secure page. This means the ordering system is completely secure and whatever information you type into the secure web page cannot be transferred to anyone else. Period.

If you would like to learn more, please refer to our Privacy Policy where we explain more about the security of your credit card. 

Lastly, we never give out personal credit card information when mailing receipts with your order. We simply state that payment method was made by credit card, bank cheque etcetera. This ensures the security of your credit card. 

How long does it take to receive the travel accessories or map/s I've ordered?

Usually, United States and European customers will receive their orders in the mail approximately 4 to 6 working days after ordering. 

Because we check our Orders Page around 3 to 4 times a day, it means we can ship your order within a hour of receiving your order, depending upon the time of day you placed it with us. Generally if you order during mid-late evening, we'll ship everything with a hour or so of receiving your order. 

Otherwise, we guarantee that all orders will be shipped within 24 hours of receipt. (occasionally though, we do run out of stock of a particular product! - in which case, we'll notify you ASAP and hold your order until it arrives)

As a matter of policy, we do NOT debit credit cards unless the goods you have requested are in stock and ready to ship (or until everything arrives)        

How do we pack and send your maps?

We use specially reinforced mailing tubes to send our maps over every point of the globe. So far we've never had any problems because the tubes we use are as s-t-r-o-n-g as the Incredible Hulk... 

Our maps are stored flat and whenever we receive an order, we carefully roll it up into a cylinder before placing it into your re-usable tube, which we seal with a pair of caps before taping everything shut so nothing will go walkabouts during transit.   

We use 2.6 inch diameter (60mml) tubes for mailing smaller maps while larger 3-inch (70mml) tubes are used to mail our super-large laminated World Maps.  

How do I extract the map from its mailing tube?

Very carefully. :-)

Place your fingers on the inside surface of the map and gently rotate it in order to slightly reduce the diameter of the rolled map before carefully taking it out in order to avoid damage. Additionally, you might also find it helps having a friend or partner to assist with the operation; one to hold the tube still while the other extracts the map. (We now add cardboard dividers with maps rolled up inside for easy extraction with larger size maps) 

Afterwards, it should be placed on a wide, flat surface and weighted down with heavy books or other weights so it will assume its normal perfect flatness before hanging or mounting.

We attempt to keep these as low as possible in order to provide value for money. Our postal rates are listed in terms of prices as these accurately reflect the weight of our products and the tube/parcels required for safe shipping. 

Although you may find cheaper rates elsewhere, unlike some of our competitors, we do not use cheap mailing tubes that break or bend during transit. In order to ensure that your maps arrive in perfect condition, we only use high quality, re-usable cardboard mailing tubes capable of withstanding even the roughest handling. For travel accessories, we use tough, padded envelopes for shipping.   

Additionally, our rates also reflect the time involved with packing your travel accessories or maps, taking them to the post office as well as the actual cost of postage. Lastly, our largest tubes are almost 3 inches in diameter which we use for shipping multiple orders (generally 4 or above of smaller size maps) or our largest USA or world maps. This ensures they arrive in perfect condition.

Postage stamps

In order to provide extra value for money, we also take the time to place actual Australian postage stamps on every tube we ship because as a keen amateur stamp collector myself, I understand how nice it is receiving valuable stamps in the mail for collecting or giving away to friends! 

Do you offer Insurance?

Yes, we do! Postal rates for international orders in excess of $250.00 also receive FREE insurance and it is included in the price of your postage. 

Otherwise, you may opt to include insurance as an optional extra for which we charge $5.00 for orders below $50.00, $7.50 for orders below $100.00, $10.00 for orders below $150.00 and $12.50 for orders below $250.00. Please remember to ask for insurance with your order and we'll do the rest. (insurance charges will be added to your order)