Hmm Amazon Vs Ebay for Australians?
I spent thousands of dollars on Amazon last year, so I have had quite a bit of experience with it.
Ebay Well I find it great to sell on and I only sell within Australia. Buy? I tend to only go for bargains, which are usually second hand, but occasionally new. I find the prices in general are cheaper on ebay. It is great being able to buy and pay for things from anywhere world. If something goes astray in the post there are processes that ebay and Paypal have set in place that help, but I'd have to say, as both a buyer and seller, when things go wrong, I really do have my heart in my mouth. The information I gained from accessing the old Australian RT until it's demise, really helped with that by educating me in the correct timelines, processes and procedures for Ebay and Paypal.
AmazonWith the $ the way it is you may not want to buy from the US, but should you do, here's how to do it. I have also bought DVD's from Amazon UK and found this quite good and shipping quick and cheap.
Amazon is great for buying new items. They often have good specials and I use them for those things you just can't get in Aus such as kids toys, clothes etc. this was fantastic when the AUS $ was neck and neck with the US$. My spending has slowed down now, because of the weak Aussie $ and also because I bought most things I wanted last year.
The items that can be bought from Amazon and shipped to Australia are normally limited to items such as DVD's and books and a select few other things because they will not ship outside the US for most items.
If you really want to get around this, as I did last year when I bought clothes, shoes, jewellery, excerise equipment, electronics, health products and the like, you will have to buy or use an American address. There are a few different places that offer this. Two examples are:
For once only shipping from the US, try
https://www.vpostasia.com/australia/index.html. It costs nothing to join and they they take Paypal and charge you in Singaphore $, They don't combine parcels. The parcels are shipped to Australia via Singapore and are totally trackable the whole way. Be aware that going through Singapore may make the items eligible for Singapore GST and the eligibility cut-in point for this is approx $275 US. This has never been an issue for me as the items I have bought have been worth less than this and because they don't combine parcels, the cost doesn't mount up. I only use this option to avoid American taxes. For example, if I buy from Macys and ship it to my address in Florida, I am subject to sales tax. If I ship it to vpostasia, I ship to Oregan and avoid the tax.
I also have an address at Access USA which is in Florida and this is my main one. They have different types of memberships and my one allows me to receive letters, magazines and parcels and these parcels are combined to save on shipping costs. They also allow you to receive parcels for friends and family if you register their name. For parcels only, adding others to your account is free, if you receive mail as well, there is a small yearly charge. You can also buy a US phone number with an answering machine if you wish as well. This is not the only company that is set up to do this, but it is the one that has been around the longest and I have had no trouble with them. They will also buy things from the US for you with their credit card for a fee. For example, many companies such as Bobbi Brown will not take Australian credit cards. I have asked Access USA to buy a great deal offered to me (I get emails with specials). I sent them the email I received with the special deal and link in it and they buy the products on my behalf. I haven't done this recently with the AUS $ being low, but when it was neck and neck, it was great.
Not super cheap, but I certainly have found it useful when I have needed to use it.
http://www.myus.com/index.shtml will link to their front page.
Different membership options can be viewed at
http://myus2.myus.com/Memberships.aspx They notify you when your items arrive and you can see them held online at any time. You can select to send all or a portion of the items in your mailbox.
You send all the items your have purchased to this address and they then combine all your purchases into one box and ship the box to you when you request it. I buy basic toiletries that I can't get here, get them on special and ship them over together. The shipping is couriered to your door and I get mine sent to my workplace.
So how do you return items I hear you say. What if something goes wrong?I've had three 'awkward' experiences with buying things from Amazon. and hundreds of good ones.
1. I bought necklace set with a diamond from Amazon, but via a third party seller called Ice.com. When it arrived, it didn't sit properly and was much smaller than the picture shown on Amazon. I contacted Ice, and they asked me to return it to them and they would pay the postage back. Did this, Ice refunded my money (original postage within the US was free) via Amazon back onto my creditcard. They then me sent a check for $18.00 US to my Australian home address. I paid $18.00 Australian for postage with tracking, so I would have made a profit, except the bank charged me a lodgment fee.
2. I bought a DVD that came straight to my Australian address. Other DVD's I bought arrived no problem, but not this one. Contacted Amazon customer service, they sent another one priority post, no charge straight away. Two arrived at once. Contact online Amazon customer service (they also have a phone number if you want to ring it). They told me to keep both.
3. I bought a beautiful necklace for my niece for her 21st birthday. When it arrived, it was missing a small diamond. Contacted Amazon and they refunded all my money and told me to keep it and put the money towards getting another little stone put int it. It was $350.00 US and it cost me $100.00 AUS to get it fixed. My niece loves it.
With Amazon, anything I have sent across the US is totally trackable. To Australia with items coming direct such as DVD's and books, it isn't. You can see an easy history of all your purchases and print invoices whenever you want. They also have a fantastic way for you to contact the seller if you need to. This is done via a sales history and a link to the seller's email pops up automatically. You send your question and they get back to you. When your items is shipped, you are automatically notified. If within the US a tracking number is sent. The tracking number also appears on your buying history, so from one page, you can just click and see where any parcel is at any given time (If within the US).
Be aware you can only bring up to $1000 Australian worth of goods into the country at any one time and you are not supposd to bring things in for resale. This $ amount is calculated by Australian customs on the day the parcel leaves the US. For example, the AUS $ was up until the middle of last year. I had bought about $920 of US ($980 AUS at the time) valued items. I had no idea that AUS $ was going to drop, but decided it was time to ship my stuff as it was getting close to the cutoff. I requested that it be shipped. That day the AUS $ started to slip, making my shipment worth $995.00 Australian. It took a couple of days to reach me and by the time it reached me, the AUS $ had fallen to .85, so my shipment worth was well over $1000. I did not have to pay any tax, however because customs calculated the worth at the day it left. They did ask for copies of my invoices as it was so close and they do not normally do this. This was which was easy, as through Amazon you can reproduce the invoices at any time. Also be aware that if you split the parcels to keep the worth down, do not send them at the same time. Customs considers different parcels coming from the same seller/forwarding company to be of the same order and will still calculate the full cost if they pick up that there are two.
Amazon will quote you the price in Australian $ at checkout if you wish and you have an Australian credit card and they will then charge your card in Australian $, with a small inbuilt fee, so you don't have to pay your bank the exchange rate fees. This is optional and you can choose to be charged in US $.
You can buy 2 day shipping for a year from Amazon for all Amazon products for $75.00 US per year, so your items move very quickly across the US and there is less risk of damage. Without buying this shipping option, Amazon offers free shipping if you buy over a certain amount anyway. It just takes a week to get to the destination and it can be fun watching it travel across the US. This free shipping doesn't include items from external sellers such as Macys who sell through Amazon. However, they often have specials on shipping quite often and I rarely have had to pay for it, it I wait for the specials.
The feedback system at Amazon is fantastic. You get to supply feedback on all sellers external to Amazon, but can also provide and review feedback on the items you buy or even if you haven't bought the product from Amazon. This is most helpful. Some products get many feedbacks and these feedbacks can tell you how someone else found the product, good or bad, how often they use it, what they like most about it, and other valuable advice. Other Amazon users rate how valuable this feedback or advice is and so people often stive to provide well thought out feedback. This can be handy even if you choose to buy the product from Australia.
It's all horses for courses, but for those things that are so available to the American public that we can't get and aren't too heavy to ship, it can be a good option.
