Why won't AMAZON ship to Australia?

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

This article is in reference to eBooks - but many publishing restrictions in place are just the same for the hardcopy. It's all in reference to author/publisher's contractually-derived international boundaries - it's not Amazon's fault.

Why can’t Australians buy the ebooks they want?

Written by: Tim Coronel
Posted: 14 April 2010 at 2:35 pm

The short, but far from simple, answer is that it’s due to territorial copyright, contractual arrangements between authors and publishers and the long-established ways of book publishing—and it’s nothing to do with Parallel Importation regulations (PIRs) in Australia’s Copyright Act (the restrictions that were such a hot topic of debate last year).

Read on...

[Kal (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by acropolite

I received similar treatment when trying to buy an eBook version of Failure is not an option. It's available as an ebook for around $13 everywhere in the world except OZ. I could buy a paperback copy for $40 in Australia, but I won't, so in the end the publisher loses because I don't buy at all.

With trade practices like this it's no wonder why some people turn to piracy.

[lacad01 (Adam)]

Originally Posted by bloodhound31

Yes, you are right. However, I have been burnt before with ebay traders so I am a little shy in a case of once bitten.

I do have a little more faith in humanity lately, but it's still hard not to play it safe and avoid putting myself in risky trade on the Internet with strangers on the other side of the world who I have no idea who that are or what their history and intentions are.

I have now ordered my items from three separate traders so lets see how it all goes.

Baz.

Hi Baz, not that it's 100% reliable but look at the trader's feedback rating. I tend to steer clear of anyone that's below 98% but then look through the various feedback comments to get things in context. Thankfully I've never been ripped off doing business on the Bay.
cheers

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by Kal

I'm actually quite the opposite - I feel more comfortable using paypal with ebay because they offer buyer protection.

I'm always wary about supplying credit card details to web shops.

Hi,

Ditto that, and you can even operate a Paypal account with just the credit card attached (for reversibility) and not let them into your bank account.

Cheers

[acropolite (Phil)]

Just a follow up on the eBook, in the end I managed to find a paperback from the book depository at a fraction more than the price of the eBook.

[Jules76 (Julian)]

Wow this is a nice thread bump from the past.

To update on what I said earlier, I've since gone big into sourcing my collectables from Amazon since I started using a freight forwarder. Costs you a bit extra in freight but I've been able to score some absolute bargains and get hold of items I could either never find on Ebay, or were ridiculously over priced. It makes it well worth it IMO.

I've also been in contact with quite a few sellers on Amazon and found out why a lot sellers don't offer shipping overseas. The main reason is because Amazon doesn't give sellers enough to cover the cost of shipping overseas and they take out a lot in fees. So for some sellers it just makes no ecomocial sense to sell overseas, and if they do, they could potentially price themselves out of a sale by having a higher price to cover the extra expense.

Makes sense as I've noticed a lot of the sellers who do sell overseas are quite often a lot more expensive then the one's that don't.

[Comfort (Glenn)]

Found this on one of those question and answer sites which seems to deal with the problems you have been having with buying from Amazon. It does not make items ship here that Amazon wont ship, but it will help you identify items that will ship here.

*********************************** ******
Amazon will ship to Australia but the experience can be a little confusing and the biggest problem is finding the items that Amazon will ship there. This often frustrates many and somepeople assume that Amazon wont ship at all or they wont ship a particular category.

Essentially you can ship dvd's, books, clothing, health, tools. watches, jewelry, shoes, electronics, handbags, toys and more to most countries outside the USA including Australia.

There is a way to make this process as easy as possible if you follow a few easy steps

*** Step 1
Visit the official Amazon Global page at http://amzn.to/Amazon-Global-Shipping - This is not the main Amazon homepage so make sure you record the address so you can come back to this page whenever you want.

This is still not perfect as not everything listed here will be able to be shipped to Australia but everything listed can be shipped out of the USA to somewhere so we still have to do steps 2 to 5. Buy following this stem We have however removed millions of items that Amazon will never be able to ship outside the USA.

*** Step 2
Login to an Amazon Account before you start shopping. If you dont yet have an account create one.

*** Step 3
Go into your account settings, click on Manage Addresses and setup your address in Singapore and then set it as the 1-Click default address. Your address has to be setup before you start shopping as it queries this address to see if the item can be shipped to you. Without this you will not find out if an item cannot be shipped to you until you checkout.

*** Step 4
Go Shopping - as you look at every item it will check to see if it can be shipped to your address. If it can't it will indicate so in red writing.

*** Step 5
International shipping rates by many merchants can be excessive so it is best to only buy from Amazon who have low shipping rates. In the left hand column click Amazon in the seller box to make sure you are only seeing items sold and shipped by Amazon

[sheree46 (Sheree)]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

If it helps any of the members I'm prepared to take delivery of items in Europe and trans-ship to Oz at cost.
Let me know if I can help.

Hi,
I need some shoes size 17 shipped to Australia from Amazon because I can't find them cheap enough here , so can you help me with this?.
Cheers,
Sheree

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

Gee,
I'd love to have been able to help, but I've since returned to Oz.....sorry.

[issdaol (Phil)]

I and a number (approximately 15) other people used Ebay to purchase some items from a "reputable" supplier all covered under the supposed protection that Ebay supplies.

We were all scammed by an individual based in Victoria who had done just enough low value trades to earn positive comments and 100% rating.

We found the resolution process to be a complete waste of time when the guilty party has no intention of helping. Due to the value of the goods involved the Australian Police CIB opened up a case to pursue and prosecute the perpetrator.

EBAY and Paypal both refused to cooperate, citing that Australian Police Authorities had no power/jurisdiction to request the required records. EBAY specifically claimed that they did not maintain any backups or archives for transactions.

The CIB were finally able to track down the perpetrator using other methods and information over a 8 month period. In court the perpetrator claimed financial hardship and was given a work order.

No One got their money back.

I refuse to support EBAY an now use Amazon who I have found extremely reliable

[Astro_Bot]

Originally Posted by issdaol

EBAY and Paypal both refused to cooperate,

Similarly, I've found eBay and PayPal problem resolution to be frustrating and worthless. Nevetheless, I've bought many items problem-free through eBay at around half the price compared to Aus retail stores. Just be prepared for the odd one or two to go bad and roll with the punches.

[slowflow (Barry)]

Have you considered myus address or one of the other forwarding companies.

[hammer75 (Matt)]

Hey guys just got items that Amazon wouldn't ship to me in Aus on www.postrope.com

They use PayPal for all transactions and it's based on people over there shipping it to you so 1 item at a time is perfect!

hope this can help with pesky non shipp items

[glend (Glen)]

I have bought things from Amazon UK retailers and they shipped to me here in Aus without any issues. However, some suppliers have country agency agreements which give protected territory rights in country. For example, Skywatcher is notorious for this lockout.

[OICURMT]

for future reference and archival purposes... as this thread is relatively old.

https://shopmate.auspost.com.au/