Aussies blocked from Amazon.com from July 1st!

[wildwanderer]

Seems the federal government levying GST on overseas imports has had its first major casualty.

Amazon.com has decided its too hard enact the GST compliance and instead will no longer ship to Australian addresses from July 1st!

We can still use the Amazon.com.au site but in reality the selection there is very poor and expensive (at least for outdoor gear/clothing).

This is annoying to say the least! Though I guess good news for local distributors, now they can keep their fat margins on overseas gear knowing shoppers have no choice.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/compani ... 4zikr.html

[Moondog55]

There is still Ship-it-too and all the other forwarding companies for those people with no family or friends in the USA or the UK.

[wildwanderer]

There is still Ship-it-too and all the other forwarding companies for those people with no family or friends in the USA or the UK.

True but your adding atleast $50 onto the cost. Plus it can mean big hassles. I had huge problems using a forwarder last year. ended up costing me $100 more as the retailer shipped me the wrong size and would only pay for return postage to the forwarder address in the US. Then I had to pay the forwarder again!

[Mark F]

Investigate the UK retailers. Often the prices are similar to the US and postage is far cheaper which will offset some or all of any higher price. I've been happy with https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/delivery-returns-details-i1270

Also be aware that AusPosts Shop Mate service is also going to collect GST https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/our-rates/customs-duties-and-taxes

Lets all give a big middle fingered salute to Gerry Harvey who was a major instigator for this fiasco.

[GPSGuided]

It's pathetic. We want the pie of a globalised economy but aren't willing to fork out the other end. The whole idea and utter impractical implementation is an absolute farce!

Now, what will Tarptent do?

[wildwanderer]

Double post

[wildwanderer]

Investigate the UK retailers. Often the prices are similar to the US and postage is far cheaper which will offset some or all of any higher price. I've been happy with https://www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk/delivery-returns-details-i1270.

I wonder how long before other overseas retailers follow suit though... Probably not worth it to them to reconfigure their sites and account system to add in GST and forward to aussie govt.

I might order an extra pair of the trail runners i use. (from uk store) just in case I cant buy them anymore soon.

[Son of a Beach]

There is still Ship-it-too and all the other forwarding companies for those people with no family or friends in the USA or the UK.

According to the news reports, the international (ie, non-Australian) Amazon websites will all block traffic from Australia and instead redirect browsers to the Australian Amazon website.

So if this goes ahead, freight forwarding won't help with using the Amazon online stores, as you will not even be able to browse the site, let-alone place an order. Although in theory, you could use some network hackery to make it look like you're browsing from somewhere other than Australia (eg, VPN, tunelling).

[Gadgetgeek]

The email I got seemed to say that we will actually be able to access most of the US products, but it will just use the .AU site as the portal. This just means they have to maintain one back-end system for the GST instead of having it work for both sites.

Reality is that they are catching a lot of heat from distributors who are loosing out on sales that they have localized agreements on. This could mean that we could see some products more available here if the local distributors like Zen, Spelean, and the rest, can use the amazon.AU back-end with the retailers. Sure prices are still likely to not be great, but its sort of the same thing that EU countries faced with VAT. But in all likelyhood, they are just going to be restricting items that they don't have a distro agreement for australia, or making sure that they are under the right agreement. A lot of the trouble will be books, media, music, that sort of thing, international sales of copyright works is somewhat fraught. And they will restrict items that are under an exclusive import agreement I'd guess, though they may work with those importers to make a deal, who knows?

Amazon is trying to be all things to all people, and as we know, it rarely works that way. The fact that they are even bothering to try, instead of just blocking it in means they are willing to work with retailers. The fact is that we (bushwalkers) suffer from small market, fragmented distribution, and often bulky shipping sizes. At some stage the piper has to be paid, and there was no way that amazon was going to be able to maintain that level of pricing over the long term, and we are starting to see that they are no longer running as a fly-by-night rebel operation, and acting like the behemoth that it is now. What else were they going to do? They have a lot of problems to sort out, and so this is the easiest way for them to deal with one of them.

[Son of a Beach]

Yep, I just got the same email. This is actually a reasonable move for Amazon to make. It means that (hopefully) the vast majority of the products in all of their international stores will still be available to buy in Australia through their store here, but the products will ship from other countries, and collect GST as required by the new law.

The downside is that those products that they already do not ship to Australia due to vendor contracts (eg, *&^%$#@! Thermarest) will be even more difficult to get hold of, because you can no longer use Amazon international sites to send to a freight-forwarder.

...oh, and of course everything will cost 10% more than is used to.

[Mark F]

I can see a new business model starting up. Have the goods sent to NZ and then duck over, pick them up and have a nice holiday using your new gear. The savings offset the airfare.

I'm off the the UK and Europe in a few days and will pick up a few thing to bring home. I will ship them to a mate in Guernsey who I will be visiting and so avoid paying VAT (20%) on my UK purchases as well as GST on coming home.

[Moondog55]

Let me find my shopping list Mark

[GPSGuided]

According to the news reports, the international (ie, non-Australian) Amazon websites will all block traffic from Australia and instead redirect browsers to the Australian Amazon website.

So if this goes ahead, freight forwarding won't help with using the Amazon online stores, as you will not even be able to browse the site, let-alone place an order. Although in theory, you could use some network hackery to make it look like you're browsing from somewhere other than Australia (eg, VPN, tunelling).

Yes, VPN will be our friend to jump the wall...

Indeed, it'll be back to the old 80-90s routine of ordering to the US and then pick up on the next trip there. Difference now is, it gives me the goosebumps on entering Trump-land amidst all the extra securities.

[CasualNerd]

What a waste of time and effort to collect on a bunch of small purchases when some large companies pay no tax at all.

[GPSGuided]

What a waste of time and effort to collect on a bunch of small purchases when some large companies pay no tax at all.

There's a difference b/n the govt not getting the revenue vs local retailers having to alter their competitiveness. Loss of govt revenue can be lost in the bureaucracy while business 'hardship' is a political problem.

[Hallu]

I remember the good old days when I could order on Amazon UK and there was free shipping to Australia for an order above something like 60£, and of course no VAT. Then they removed that. Amazon.com had no VAT for orders up to 1000 $ so even with shipping it was worth it, I bought a lot of cooking utensils, camping gear, books, that kind of thing. Too bad the big brands were off limits, like Patagonia, The North Face, Arc'teryx etc... Now it looks like you can't take advantage of exchange rates at all... I know you can find most of the bushwalking gear in Australia, only more expensive, but for books, it's not the case. Stuff like travelling books, war memoirs, comic books... much more choice on Amazon.com.

[wayno]

good, people shouldn't buy physical products from amazon, they treat their staff apallingly, boycottt them till they treat people decently .

[Moondog55]

No worse than people in retail or hospitality are treated here Wayno, although that is no excuse.

[wayno]

No worse than people in retail or hospitality are treated here Wayno, although that is no excuse.

do they have to pee in a bottle to meet their workload demands and keep their jobs?

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/1724 ... oom-breaks

[wayno]

No worse than people in retail or hospitality are treated here Wayno, although that is no excuse.

do they have to pee in a bottle to meet their workload demands?

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/1724 ... oom-breaks

https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/04/1 ... -warehouse

[Moondog55]

As a cook? Yes One or twice during a rush. Never in retail tho
Slave labour is common in the USA, just ask anybody over there in hospitality, even the Chinese seem to have better working conditions [ not Bangladesh tho]

[wayno]

As a cook? Yes One or twice during a rush. Never in retail tho
Slave labour is common in the USA, just ask anybody over there in hospitality, even the Chinese seem to have better working conditions [ not Bangladesh tho]

i wouldnt expect it for all employers, and i wouldnt expect most to be as bad as amazon, i cant find anything bad about the companies i normally buy from, amazon comes up time and again though.

[Singe]

Glorified slavery is alive and well in au too - we call it "the gig economy".

Got my TT in to beat the deadline; the real danger is cottage industry businesses won't want the hassle of dealing with the ATO or whoever and just won't ship to Au.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[wayno]

Glorified slavery is alive and well in au too - we call it "the gig economy".

Got my TT in to beat the deadline; the real danger is cottage industry businesses won't want the hassle of dealing with the ATO or whoever and just won't ship to Au.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

use a mail forwarding company account in the states

[Moondog55]

Are gifts under the magic $1000- going to be duty free? Family in the US are always sending us small stuff and clothing, especially kids clothing for the tadpoles

[Singe]

Glorified slavery is alive and well in au too - we call it "the gig economy".

Got my TT in to beat the deadline; the real danger is cottage industry businesses won't want the hassle of dealing with the ATO or whoever and just won't ship to Au.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

use a mail forwarding company account in the states

Yep, just like the bad old days...

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[Aushiker]

We can still use the Amazon.com.au site but in reality the selection there is very poor and expensive (at least for outdoor gear/clothing).

My understanding is that Amazon is "simply" pushing the purchasing of items on to the Australian site but will ship from overseas, at least for an additional 4 million odd items. What this means for prices is still to be seen of course.

[wildwanderer]

We can still use the Amazon.com.au site but in reality the selection there is very poor and expensive (at least for outdoor gear/clothing).

My understanding is that Amazon is "simply" pushing the purchasing of items on to the Australian site but will ship from overseas, at least for an additional 4 million odd items. What this means for prices is still to be seen of course.

There is 20 million items currently for sale in the Australian amazon site at vastly inflated prices (compared to global site) They are saying they will offer an additional 4 million items on AmazonAU to make up for lost access to Global site.

This sounds good until you learn there is 500 million items available on the global site. The chances of outdoor gear on the global site being transferred as part of that 4 million is slim to none.

[Gadgetgeek]

Because we really need to order million types of toilet paper and other household products from the US. Someone will fill the nice small market. Tentworld seems to be trying.

[wayno]

Because we really need to order million types of toilet paper and other household products from the US. Someone will fill the nice small market. Tentworld seems to be trying.

couldnt have said it better, storm in a teacup.
its actually a good opportunity for another company to fill the void.
once apon a time there was no amazon and we all did fine, there are lots of other online shops selling plenty of products and cottage industry companies you can order direct from..