How to use this site

What this site is, and what it is not

Dad Gifts Australia is a gift guide. It holds 365 gift ideas for dads, sold by 43 Australian retailers, 40 of which publish a delivery and returns policy we could read and record, sorted into 23 kinds of dad so you can start from who he is rather than from a wall of products. We do not sell anything. When you find something you like, the link takes you to the retailer’s own website, and you buy it from them at their price. Using the site is free and there is nothing to sign up for or log in to.

Every price you see here was read off the retailer’s product page by an automated check that runs every morning, and the date it was read is printed on the card. Some retailers pay us a small commission when you buy through our link. That is disclosed at the top of every page, and it never changes your price or the order things appear in.

Three ways to find a gift

1. The quickest way: answer six questions. Press Start the gift finder on the home page, or choose Gift finder at the top of any page. Tap one answer to each question: who you are buying for, what he does with his time, when he was a teenager, your budget, when you need it, and whether he would rather unwrap something or go somewhere. From the second question on there is a Back button, your earlier answers are kept, and if none of the kinds of dad fits there is a Not sure option that only changes the order. At the end you get a shortlist, closest fit first, that you can email to yourself.
2. Or start from the kind of dad. Choose Dad types at the top of any page (on a phone, tap Menu first). There are twenty-three, grouped by what Dad actually does on a Saturday: the barbecue dad, the fishing dad, the cricket dad and so on. Pick the one he would mention first. Each page lists gifts that suit that dad, fastest to arrive first, then cheapest.
3. Or start from your budget, the occasion or Dad’s decade. Budget has four bands, from under $50 to over $200. Occasions covers Father’s Day, a first Father’s Day, Christmas, a birthday, a new dad, grandad and a father figure. Dad’s decade asks one question, when was he a teenager, and puts gifts that fit that decade first. Gifts to avoid is our list of twelve things we think you should not buy, with a better idea for each.

• Gift finder Six questions, under a minute, a shortlist at the end.
• All the kinds of dad Twenty-three, grouped so you can find Dad’s in one look.
• By budget Four bands, and what each one actually buys.
• By occasion Father’s Day, Christmas, birthdays, grandad and new dads.
• By Dad’s decade The fifties, the sixties, the seventies, the eighties, the nineties or the two-thousands.
• Gifts to avoid Twelve popular gifts that land badly, with a better option for each.

What the price and the date on each card mean

The price is what the retailer was showing on its product page on the date printed beside the tick, in Australian dollars, as the retailer shows it to an Australian shopper, which by law includes GST. We check every morning. The date on the card is the last morning we could read that retailer’s page, so it is usually recent, and occasionally not.

Prices move. If the date is more than a week old, treat the figure as a guide and check the retailer’s page. The retailer’s checkout is always the final word, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise.

The first word on the card is how the gift travels. Instant means sent by email within minutes. Express means a small parcel by Express Post, about three working days. Standard post means about six working days. Freight means a bulky item by courier, so allow two weeks.

A card can carry three small flags. "Was higher when checked" means the retailer had it on sale that morning. "Low stock when checked" means they were showing limited stock. "18+" means it is alcohol or has a cutting edge, and the retailer will verify age before selling it. A card that says "Earns us a commission" is one where the retailer pays us if you buy; the price is the same either way.

What happens when you press View

The retailer’s product page opens in a new browser tab, so this site stays open behind it. From that point you are on the retailer’s website: their price, their checkout, their delivery, their returns. If their price is different from ours, theirs is right; ours is what they showed on the date on the card. Nothing about the purchase comes back to us except, for some retailers, a commission.

To come back here, close that tab or switch back to this one. On a phone, the tabs button in your browser shows both; it is usually a square with a number in it.

The button names the retailer it goes to. A card that says "Earns us a commission" is one where we are paid if you buy; a card without it earns us nothing. The marking is generated from the same record as the link, so it cannot say one thing and do another.

Will it arrive in time?

The delivery clock counts working days (Monday to Friday, not public holidays) to Father’s Day and to Christmas, and compares that with how long each kind of gift takes. Green and Arrives in time means there is room to spare. Amber and Cutting it fine means order today and read the retailer’s own delivery page, because their cut-off beats ours. Red and Too late means that kind of gift cannot make it, so choose something sent by email instead.

For a birthday or any other date, use the Allow N working days line beside each kind of gift and count back from the day. It is an honest estimate, not a promise. Each retailer has a page on this site listing what they publish about dispatch, delivery and returns.

• Will it arrive in time? The delivery clock, with what can still make it today.
• Arrives today, by email Vouchers and gift cards delivered in minutes.
• Delivery and returns compared Every retailer’s published terms in one table.

Returns and refunds

If something arrives faulty, not as described, or does not do what it should, Australian Consumer Law gives you a remedy from the retailer, and no store policy can take that away. Change-of-mind returns are different: each retailer decides, and 5 of the 40 we link to refuse them entirely.

Buying early for a gift has a catch. 12 of the 40 retailers count their return window from the day you buy, not the day it arrives, so a gift bought in November for Christmas may be outside the window by Boxing Day. Every retailer’s page here says which way they count.

• Returns and refunds Your rights, in plain English, and how to use them.
• The retailers we link to Each one’s delivery and returns terms, read off their own site.

Reminders by email

If you would like a nudge before Father’s Day and Christmas, there is a short form on most pages. You give us an email address and tick a box. We send two or three emails a year, before each occasion, while there is still time to post something. Every email has a working unsubscribe link and we act on it immediately.

We do not sell, share or rent your address, and we do not use it for anything else. The privacy page says exactly what we hold.

• Privacy and email What we collect, what we do with it, how to be removed.

Getting around on a phone

• The Menu button is at the top right of every page. The section you are in is highlighted.
• Your browser’s Back button works the way it should, and takes you back to where you were on the previous page.
• You can pinch to zoom on every page, and you can make the text bigger with your browser’s own text size control (the aA button in Safari, or Settings in Chrome); the page reflows to fit.
• If you use a keyboard or a screen reader, there is a "Skip to content" link at the very top of each page, and every menu and form can be worked without a mouse.

Common questions