Q.1. How do I find more information and pictures on your website?

Our aim is to ultimately have every computer and associated IT product that is available in Australia listed on our site. At the moment we have almost 50,000 items listed - this is expected to exceed 100,000 items in the near future.

This is a huge amount of information, and we really need to keep it as simple as possible so that the website doesn't grind to a halt when you are searching for something - and this is the reason why there are no pictures and the information we supply is limited.

The website is designed for people who know what they want. It's intended for people who have done their own research and who are now looking for the best possible price.

Main reason for this is that the manufacturers are forever changing their own web pages around.

Any link to a product that we put up may be changed the next day by the manufacturer - we won't know about it and you'll get taken to an incorrect or dead link.

If we had to employ people who knew the answers to every question we get asked we would have to increase our pricing to cover the cost of those people.

Because we are trying to get your product to you at the best price possible, we try to eliminate or reduce every possible expense - so we only employ people to run the website and to process orders. It is these people who try to answer questions in their spare time.

And because they aren't product specialists who know the answer to every question about every one of the products that we sell, in most cases they need to email either the distributor or the manufacturer and then wait for a reply. This process can take days or even weeks.

For most brands you'll see that we have provided a link to the manufacturers website, and in nearly all cases the answers can be found there.

We import nothing ourselves, everything we sell is purchased directly through an established Australian IT distributor.

Everything that we sell is brand new, it will be shipped direct to you from the distributor.

All of our prices include gst.

Our distributors use a courier service whenever possible for the following reasons.

In the vast majority of cases (like 99%) $15.00 is the actual fee charged (in a lot of cases we subsidise the shipping costs).

But please be realistic, if you order a large or heavy item (such as a monitor or a server), or you are not in a major metropolitan area you should realise that there is a chance that this figure may have to be revised.

If this becomes necessary we will let you know and ask you if you would still like to proceed with your order at the revised shipping price.

Your order will not be processed, and you credit card will not be charged, until we have your acceptance of the revised price

We don't do the shipping ourselves so we don't know which courier service will be used, nor do we know which day it will be delivered.

Your delivery address should be one where there is always someone present to accept a delivery from a courier whenever they may call in - a lot of people overcome this issue by having their order shipped to them at their work address, or to a friend or relative.

Unfortunately we can't do this - and that's simply because we don't do the shipping.

Your order comes to you direct from a distributor, and we deal with over 70 different distributors, each with their own shipping system.

This really depends on what you have ordered and your delivery address.

If you've ordered a small item which can be sent by air express, you can normally expect to receive your order within 3 business days.

If you've ordered a larger item which has to be sent by road this normally takes anywhere between 3 and 5 business days.

But if you live in a remote area it may take longer.

These items are available to people who have a Student ID, or who provide us with an official order form from an academic organisation.

You are covered by the full manufacturers warranty on any product that you purchase from us - and this warranty will vary depending on what you have purchased

Most peripheral devices, such as projectors, cameras, monitors, printers and scanners will be supported directly by the manufacturer. That is, if you have a problem you call the manufacturer's customer service number and they sort it out directly with you.

Smaller items such as video cards, motherboards, keyboards and mice will be supported by us.

Software is very rarely faulty - if you have a problem, it is usually a conflict with something that you already have on your computer that will be causing the problem.

In nearly all cases part of the software installation process requires you to read and agree to the manufacturers terms and conditions before you're allowed to complete the installation of that software.

Yes, your order is fully covered for the time between leaving the distributor and it being delivered by the courier.

All of the items that we sell are shipped to you exactly as they come from the manufacturer (this is one of the reasons why we supply a link to the manufacturer).

If the manufacturer's website says that your product comes with cables, chargers, software etc, that is exactly what you should receive.

The items that you purchase from us should be identical to a similarly coded product that you could purchase from a retail store.

Unfortunately no, because it would mean that we then have to enter all of your information into the online order form for you, and this can lead to errors being made.

When you complete our online order form you enter all of the information - you then receive an automatic response from our server, and this let's you check the details that you have provided.

If something needs to be changed you can let us know.

No - and that's simply because they charge us too much. Quite often they would charge more that we make on a sale.

We do not use a payment gateway - so your card is not automatically charged when you place your order.

Your card is not charged until we have either confirmed availability with the distributor, or you have asked us to "back-order" an item for you.

Yes they are - after you've placed your order into our shopping cart and continued on to check out you'll be transferred to our secure server when you go to the payment section (and you'll then see the secure symbol appear in your task bar).

Yes, those details can certainly be phoned in or faxed to us. We still need the online order form to be completed for all of the other details, so when you get to the payment section simply select the payment option "I will phone you".

Yes you can, but in some cases this can take time, because we don't stock any items ourselves.

You see, our distributors advise us of the products that they stock and sell, and it is their information that we put up on our website. In the vast majority of cases they can fill most orders straight away.

If we need to check availability of an item we may have to email the distributor to ask them - then wait for their reply. Then we need to relay that information back to you.

We don't encourage this because of the time taken between you asking the question, and us getting the answer back to you, and then you placing your order.

The availability status of an item can change very quickly.

It's much quicker and more accurate to simply place the order - because then our computers do all of the work for us straight away.

If you should order something that is not readily available we will send you an email advising the eta and asking if you'd like to either cancel the order or have us "back-order" that item for you. (remember, your credit card is not charged when you place an order)

"eta" means estimated time of arrival - and it is the distributors who provide us with this information.

"back-order" is when we place a firm paid order with a distributor for an item for you. In some cases the distributor may order this item in especially for you - this is why they require payment at the time we place the order with them.

There are many reasons for product not arriving as scheduled - but because virtually all IT items are imported from overseas there is no way that anyone here can do anything to hurry it up.

In some cases a container may be held up on the docks for weeks, in other cases when the distributor opens the container they may find that not all of the items they were expecting are there.

No, orders cannot be picked up, and there are no "walk-in" sales.

We are not a regular retail shop - we have no showroom, no retail staff and we carry no stock. Our office in Mooloolaba is exactly that, it's an office.

Our whole system (and pricing) has been structured for orders to be placed on-line and for orders to be shipped direct from the distributor to the customer.

Email us the details ( brand, product code and description ) - and if it's available in Australia we'll do our best to get it for you.

We're not setup to send orders to customers outside of Australia - overseas customers are asked to organise their own shipping through a contact that they have in Australia.

We accept credit card payments from Australian residents only - using a credit card that has been issued by an Australian bank. Overseas customers are asked to pay using Electronic Funds Transfer.

The reason we ask for this information is because you're wanting to pay for your order using a credit card and we haven't been able to identify either you or your delivery address.

Your credit card may have been lost or stolen and someone else may be trying to use it. If you are unaware of this and haven't reported it to your bank you may be liable for charges that have been fraudulently applied to the card.

We also need to protect ourselves from an unauthorised order, because with our internet transaction we see neither the card nor the signature (unlike when you use your card in a shop, where the merchant actually sees the card and then verifies the signature).

If a customer chooses to pay by any means other than credit card we make no attempt to verify the information that the customer provides to us.

Our banking details are as follows

Account Name: The Sunshine Corporation of Australia Pty Ltd

Bank: Commonwealth - Maroochydore Branch

BSB: 064420

Account Number: 1038 4464

Would you please use either your name or our order ID for the banks transfer reference and then send us an email letting us know what you have done.

If you need a quote, just add the items that you are considering into the shopping cart - then simply save it or print it - instant quote!

Simply enter the product code into the search box on our home page and hit the "Go" button - that should take you straight to it.

If this doesn't yield a result, send us an email with the details and we'll try to track it down for you.

On our home page select the brand you want from the listing in the drop-down box then over in the category box leave that on "All categories" and then hit the "Go" button.

This will take you to a listing of all the categories that have products of that brand