
Australians will no longer be able to order from Amazon’s American site - calliethrone
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/30/australians-will-no-longer-be-able-to-order-from-amazons-american-site/
======
retrogradeorbit
"Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its
luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are
adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the
events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise." \-- Donald
Horne

~~~
yesenadam
(1964)

~~~
rosege
still as true today as it was back then. Although perhaps the leaders are
worse today (e.g. the NBN fiasco)

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rini17
At least they clearly know. Compare to frustrations with shipping from US to
Europe where you'll never know till checkout whether delivery is possible or
not.

~~~
rjbwork
I got a first generation ROG Swift 1440p 144hz G-Sync monitor about 4 years
ago. It had been constantly sold out in the US from every retailer. So I found
one on UK Amazon. Sure, it took a little longer to get here, but I think it
got here in 3-4 vs 1-2. Since it came with the British power plug, I had to
get a different cable, but other than that, it was fine.

I don't understand the issue as long as you're paying for the shipping.

~~~
mdrzn
Not every website ships internationally, and most only tells you that you
can't ship to EU once you reach the shipment page (after giving your billing
details).

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beauzero
It saddens me a bit that this may become the new norm for the internet.

~~~
oblio
This may become? Hasn't it always been like this for most commercial companies
and sites?

"Video not available in your country". "Google Nexus is not available for your
country, check back soon". google.com -> google.ro (or whatever).

I guess most Americans haven't noticed it because they haven't needed stuff
from abroad...

~~~
wlesieutre
I've occasionally run across European online retailers while looking to buy
something online and sometimes the prices are even attractive before you see
what the shipping costs. They've never flat out told me "You can't order from
here because you're in the US."

Cell phones and videos have service and licensing problems that physical goods
don't run into, so geographic limits on those is less surprising.

~~~
ACow_Adonis
Its not that you "can't order from amazon".

Its that there's a geo-blocked/redirected domain which australians will be
shown which adjusts prices and collect sales tax.

As an Australian, being geoblocked and having prices dynamically
changed/adjusted based upon my IP address is extremely old-hat since half the
internet already does it...GST or not...

Edit: although, as an australian, there ARE a whole host of services/content
we're not supposed to be able to see because we're australian due to blocking
in our country. Its why so many of us use VPN's and dropship services and the
like...

~~~
andai
Moving to Australia soon, what's the blocking like?

~~~
rosege
Not too bad now but after 1 July then will probably be a lot worse

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awakeasleep
If any of you Australians want someone to drop ship you, email me

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girvo
Our postal service offers it. I’m not joking either!

~~~
jazoom
Australia Post also invented email... a couple of years ago.

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calliethrone
The move is a response to a new GST policy that will apply 10% tax to all
overseas purchases under $1,000 announced by the Turnbull government last year
in a bid to “level the playing field” between Australian and overseas
retailers.

~~~
mikeash
Why not collect the tax rather than banning Australians?

~~~
jccooper
Presumably complying with the import tax is a PITA. Import/export usually is.
Certainly it's more work than adding a redirect.

There may also be some organizational lines being crossed; I can imagine the
American site team doesn't really want to deal with Australian tax issues.

~~~
exhilaration
There are companies out there that will take care of collecting duties/taxes
from your foreign customers, like
[https://www.i-parcel.com/](https://www.i-parcel.com/)

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kavalec
TIL: Australians need more American friends

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zarania
hack/zaraina/Hopson

