FAQs
Need questions answered about vaping? We’re here to help!
PRODUCT & STOCK
HQD vapes are disposable vape pens that contain a range of flavours and other stuff.
HQDTechAust.com Vapes are intended to be vaporised or inhaled using a vaping device (e.g. an e-cigarette or other electronic delivery system).
HQDTechAust.com is an ethical wholesaler to assist smoking cessation where appropriate.
Nicotine vapes are currently illegal in Australia without a valid prescription. The assumption is that every purchase you make has a valid prescription with it. HQDTechAus.com is located in New Zealand to ensure that we are compliant with the new retailing laws.
Retail sales of Vapes can only be made now in two ways:
Personal Importation Scheme:
Personal importation occurs when:
You the individual arrange from within Australia for an ‘Unapproved Therapeutic’ good to be sent to you from an overseas supplier (us) or family/friend; AND
the goods are to be used by you or a member of your/his/her immediate family and are not sold or supplied to any other person.
It is important you note that as we receive updated and replacement inventory you will eventually receive only TGO110 compliant product labelling and packaging that meets the new stringent requirements set by the Australian Government. Our packaging now displays both the active ingredient, other ingredients and a range of other key safety and device information as set out in the Orders. We also have a ‘scratchie’ to ensure that you are getting a genuine product and not a clone or product for which you will have no idea of the contents or technical make-up of the product.
Our labelling exceeds the requirements of TGO110 and provides you with a lot of information not otherwise available.
Authorised Prescriber – Special Access or Clinical Trial Schemes.
This is where we supply approved and correctly labelled products to authorised entities.
Under the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme, the Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS B) or the Clinical Trial Approval (CTA) scheme a supplier within Australia can import and/or supply the unapproved product prior to the pharmacy receiving a prescription under the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme or Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS B). This means that pharmacies can keep unapproved nicotine vaping products supplied by HQDTechAus.com in their dispensaries for the purpose of dispensing, but prior to the receipt of, prescriptions under the AP scheme or SAS B.
The Australian supplier must have a reasonable expectation that the unapproved nicotine vaping product will ultimately be supplied to a consumer under the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme, the Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS B) or the Clinical Trial Approval (CTA) scheme.
Sales of products in Australia are now strictly controlled by the Federal Government under the Poisons Legislation Schedule 4 and to distribute a supplier has to meet a wide range of regulatory requirements including permits, additional warehousing requirements that include temperature and humidity monitoring as well as additional security measures. Most important is that the products now have to comply with TGO 110 and that Order sets out a wide range of things we have to do to ensure compliance, give consumers some peace of mind as to what is in the products and a range of safety requirements.
This pathway is a wholesale only pathway and is not available to other than prescribers as set out in the three schemes as set out in legislation being the Authorised Prescriber (AP) scheme, the Special Access Scheme Category B (SAS B) or the Clinical Trial Approval (CTA) scheme.
The main difference is that the Personal Importation Scheme is where HQDTechaus.com will ship to you directly from our New Zealand warehouse, complying with both New Zealand and Australian company laws.
Our wholesale company will shortly publish a list of retail outlets that have come on board and have the required credentials to sell products to you.
Our prices are so good I guess you consider them wholesale prices. We offer a comprehensive range of vapes for you to purchase from HQDTechAus.com. Please contact us via the contact us form at the top of the page.
We strive to ship orders out as quickly as possible:
Orders placed on weekdays (from Monday to Friday) will be processed within 48 hours
Orders placed on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) will be processed on Monday unless staff are working over the weekend.
Note: During the busy holiday season processing can take up to 48 business hours or more. Our dispatch and warehouse team works hard every day to ensure customers receive packages as soon as possible so we greatly appreciate your patience.
Importantly we rely on Couriers both in New Zealand and Australia to rapidly move items to their final destination. Some events that slow down deliveries are completely out of our control and in recent months deliveries in some states have been extended. Please follow the tracking links provided and if you are in Australia post your tracking number into the Australian Tracking system. Track your items – Australia Post (auspost.com.au)
If you are in New Zealand Tracking | New Zealand Post (nzpost.co.nz)
If you are in other countries use our tracking information to follow the delivery.
Your shipping info starts immediately after your shipping label is printed.
Once the item is in transit you will receive multiple updates AND you can click on the link within the tracking page and get much more detailed information as to the actual progress at every step of the way. Now here is some good news.
The new Courier Service partnership with New Zealand Post is showing that deliveries can be made internationally very quickly depending on the service you select. The new service provides for many more tracking steps.
If you do not have a tracking link you can request a copy of your tracking link by sending us an email. You can send us an email by navigating to the ‘contact us’ page. Please check your spam or junk mail regularly as emails with embedded links tend to go into junk and spam folders easily. You can set mail to a safe sender or as ‘not spam’ so it does not always go into the junk and spam folders.
New Zealand Post Courier services now allow for a copy and paste tracking link into Australia Post or New Zealand Post tracking systems. In countries other than New Zealand and Australia, you cannot use other tracking options where you logon on and can reroute deliveries.
Track your items – Australia Post (auspost.com.au)
Tracking | New Zealand Post (nzpost.co.nz)
Depending on which shipping option you chose, the estimated delivery times for our shipping options, once you have a tracking ticket that says dispatched are as follows:
Australian deliveries:
Standard: 7-14 days
Express: 5-9 days
International shipments can vary greatly but a rough guide is between 2-3 weeks for most countries.
United States deliveries
Courier Standard: USA 6-14 days
Courier: USA 5-10 working days
Europe
TBA depending if the country is an EU country or not
Please note the different restrictions in each country
Middle East
We are looking into the best rates and transit times
Asia
We are looking into the best rates and transit times
Please review your shipping address carefully when placing an order. Errors in the shipping address will cause delays in transit times or returned orders. HQDTechaus.com will not reship if you have made an error on your order.
If your item was lost in the mail (i.e. no updates for at least 10 days) HQDTechaus.com will lodge a case with New Zealand Post on your behalf then reship if they have lost it. To assist deliveries we have switched to a signature required. IF you are not at your address location, you will be left a card to collect from your local post office.
Unique to Australia only
If you are in AUSTRALIA and you wish to change your receiving address or deal with the consignment AFTER it has left our distribution centre you must use the Australia Post track and search page NOT OUR Track and Search page. You can create an Australia Post account online and make a wide range of changes to the delivery address.
HQDTechaus.com is not responsible for any packages that are seized or stopped at the border in any country we ship to. Any fees, duties and taxes that are required for clearing international duties and levies such as VAT and GST, Sales Tax and duty are your responsibility.
All buyers must be aware of the importation laws for their country as we cannot be responsible for any items or packages that are stopped and/or seized by any appropriate jurisdiction and/or authority.
We label larger consignments with the correct IATA and Air Carrier shipping labels. All labels have bar codes and QR code compliance to assist in rapidly moving consignments. We do take responsibility to ensure that our packaging is of the highest quality and our labelling is also clear and meets all courier and post requirements.
If you can’t find the answer to your question here, please contact our customer service team without any hesitation Contact Us
HQDTechaus.com is receiving many queries at the present time so please be patient while we attend to these. You should receive updates from our automated systems at different points of the order process but do not hesitate to contact us if you have not at least received confirmation of your order placement.
Technical
There is a reason to call them disposable devices. Any of the disposable devices purchased from this site cannot be recharged. Some products have disposable and replaceable cartridges
Please respect laws in relation to vape disposal. The ENVIRONMENT MATTERS! After the disposable device is used up, please collect them with your regular used battery cells & throw them into the battery bin. I know this may sound bothersome, but it’s our responsibility to protect the environment for our next generation.
These vapes cannot be disposed of in recycling bins or waste bins, they must be sent to a battery disposal place.
If your unit tastes like a burnt flavour, that means the E-liquid has probably run out and the device is no longer usable.
HQD Tech is an ethical company and promises that all vapes sold are genuine and operate correctly. Due to the long-distance shipping, the power cell or internal wiring could possibly be damaged. We ship to vapers in robust packaging, so if your disposable vape is heating up in an abnormal way, please stop vaping on it. Then contact our customer service for a replacement.
We are supported by the manufacturer who stands behind their products so please let us know if the unit is not functioning as it should.
We just love reviews. Some thoughts about reviews from our sales team and product managers.
We want to know what the flavour was like?
We would like to hear which product you prefer.
We like to hear if everything went well with the labelling, delivery and packaging.
We also want to know if you were not satisfied with your purchase. Please talk to us first before posting a poor review. You can easily send us an email or contact us via our support pages. HQDTechaus.com wants to assist you and have a returning customer again so we will do as much as we can to sort out any issues you might have. All our team read the reviews and shed a tear if things don’t go well.
Our team from the warehouse and dispatch staff, product development and chemist team, technical support, security, legal, and the big cheese group CEO are all very interested in your experiences.
Lastly, if you know of a product we should have in our inventory please send us a note. We are always looking for products that our customers have recommended.
COMPANY
We accept all debit/credit cards which are processed by a secure e-gateway
Large orders will be taken to an additional authentication screen in order to reduce the risk of fraud.
Our payment gateway provider checks all card transactions fully and approves the transactions. If there is any doubt the system will automatically authenticate the card at your bank by opening up an additional authentication screen to complete the purchase.
If you have been overcharged, please contact our CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM for further help. Please understand your order number is required when contacting us.
Thank you for purchasing HQDTechaus.com products. Please carefully follow our warranty process to minimize any delays:
Describe the problem with your item in detail: What happened? When? How?
Please provide the security code of the product by uncovering the ‘scratchie’ located on the carton.
Send a clear photo or video showing the defect(s); these should be taken under good lighting.
Please include your Order Number to assist HQDTechaus.com to resolve any issues you are experiencing.
NOTE: Photos/videos should ideally be clear and focused, taken under good lighting conditions, and from a close to medium distance. This allows us to identify and verify the issue(s). Thank you in advance for providing all the information stated above. Contact Us
1. Any used accessories cannot be refunded or returned due to hygiene reasons.
2. Normally, we ship your orders within 24 hours from receiving the payment of the orders, so at any time before your order is shipped and you want cancellation of your order, we will refund all the money, excluding the transaction fees incurred.
3. In case your order is shipped before you want a cancellation, please wait until the package is delivered to you. Once this is complete, contact us to arrange the return of the goods. Once the goods have been received, we will refund you your money deducting all the transaction fees, shipping costs or any other fees incurred during the process such as restocking fee.
4. Please note that items must be sent back to our New Zealand warehouse in their original packaging. Send us an email to tell us about your problems.
NICOTINE Restrictions in Australia
Nicotine is being restricted by the Australian government in response to the large adolescent population taking up smoking vaping products and the declining duty revenue from slowing tobacco sales. The government has decided to balance the need for people who are genuinely trying to withdraw from smoking and prevent adolescent vaping as well as shore up revenue from excise and tax on tobacco products.
The legislated changes will take effect from 1st October 2021 and effectively prevent businesses, shops, vape shops, smoke shops and car boot sales within Australia from selling vapes containing nicotine.
Our position is that while smoking for minors is not specifically prohibited by law, it is a serious problem that has occurred within our society. We actively take a stance against minors purchasing our products and would never knowingly sell to an underage person. We restrict sales to those over 18 years of age. Our site requires such a declaration
Various countries have various policies. New Zealand, where we are based, encourages vaping to regulate and wean off cigarette products. Other countries like Australia have regulated in 2021 and made nicotine products a scheduled category four poison requiring a prescription.
It is highly likely that countries facing a loss of tax revenue for tobacco such as the Australian government will work on different schemes to protect its very lucrative income stream from cigarette duties and taxes. It is notable that Australia has the highest tobacco excise taxes in the world. It prefers you to ingest smoke and ash, unlike New Zealand where their Government has regulated the sales by registration, compliance and education and has published a number of scientific papers and reports supporting some benefits from vaping as opposed to cigarette smoking.
Short answer with a lot of legislation behind it, yes.
We will continue to operate after the Australian changes from our New Zealand office. Stock that has not met the new Australian guidelines for labelling and product content has been shipped out of Australia. Moving forward long term, we will continue to ship from our facility in Auckland, New Zealand.
Our prices for products and courier postage will continue to remain competitive across the board.
From 1 October 2021, TGA passed legislation that made Nicotine (The nicotine liquid stuff inside the vape and not the vape) a Schedule 4 (Prescription only) substance. The TGA now says a prescription is required for all purchases of nicotine vaping products, such as nicotine e-cigarettes, nicotine pods and liquid nicotine. This includes products purchased both in Australia and imported from overseas suppliers. Previously most States have required a prescription. This legislation simply formalises something that has been in place for a considerable time in some states.
TGA Regulatory changes to importing nicotine vaping products state these changes balance the need to prevent adolescents and young adults from taking-up nicotine vaping products while allowing current smokers to access these products for smoking cessation with appropriate medical advice. The TGA is clear and supports the notion that you should use vaping products to quit smoking harmful cigarettes.
The legislation says a prescription is required. State and Federal laws also say you must drive at 50 or 60Kmh/hr or 100km/hr on some or 110km/hr on others. freeways. The local Council by-laws say you can’t do this, that, and the other thing. Australia is a country governed by Federal rules, State rules, Local Council by-laws and rules and mum and dad rules. You have to decide what rules you are following. The onus is on YOU to have a prescription. There is no legislative requirement for us to hold prescriptions and for privacy, security and peace of mind, we have decided NOT to keep prescriptions stored online. Therefore, we expect you to decide to order based on following the required import laws. Shipping is on the basis that customers recognise the risks involved in doing so.
We will not be held liable for seized shipments where no prescription was available to the Government Agency IF and when requested.
There are a number of prescription options we are still considering that may include a QR code on the shipping label holding prescription confirmation.
Ask your local GP for further information about making an application to have an electronic cigarette nicotine prescription made. We do not endorse any particular GP or doctor to effect this for you. Retail Customers (YOU) will be importing them under the Special Importation Scheme. You can read more about the scheme the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have set up here.
Individuals can legally import most therapeutic goods for personal use under the Personal Importation Scheme. Personal importation occurs when an individual arranges from within Australia for an unapproved therapeutic good to be sent to them from an overseas supplier or family/friend; and
the goods are to be used by that individual or a member of his/her immediate family and are not sold or supplied to any other person.