https://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...e8d8f3bea71c97
Looks like Amazon is going back to normal...
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https://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...e8d8f3bea71c97
Looks like Amazon is going back to normal...
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That is fantastic news!Originally Posted by Krayt
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I find it a shame since they COULD have set a precedent, what if all international business skipped australia, government might backflip over their ruling if enough of them pull up business, clearly that isn't happening but as a stupid consumer I'm happy to send more money overseas rather than back here with little to no range and excessive (but sometimes necessary) markups.
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Fingers crossed this also includes Amazon UK.
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I wonder if they've decided that the AU store isn't quite working and that it's easier to just go back to the way it was with the AU store not being worth visiting. I'm pretty sure the minimum wages they have to pay Australians in the local warehouses are a lot higher than the minimum wages they pay Americans in the states who are driven like slaves.
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I have a theory that they've been trying to make Amazon US stuff available through the AU site, people are getting free shipping and they're losing money as a result, because if we buy through the US site, we have to pay shipping.
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A retailer magazine has noted that Amazon Australia was one of the fastest growing retailers in the last few months... thanks to the GST embargo by Amazon America forcing Australians to shop at the Australian site (before July, Amazon Australia was struggling, because the range was crap, and we would just buy the cheaper items from Amazon America).
With the reversal of that decision starting in a couple of hours, it will severely impact on the sales of Australian items on Amazon Australia, because people with Prime membership will still buy the cheaper American items (free shipping), and people without Prime membership will just shop at the Amazon America site (as many items available to non-Americans were not listed on Amazon Australia).
Amazon Australia will still be making a lot of money from the Prime memberships... but people like me will probably terminate the subscription if we aren't buying as much through Amazon Australia to make back as much "free shipping". (I subscribed because I expected to be buying enough American items to add up to a fair bit of free shipping that was more than the cost of my Prime membership... but now it probably won't be the case.)
By the way... also in that retailer magazine, it was noted that following the success of forcing the government into collecting the GST on imports under $1000, the retailer organisations are now focussing on getting import duties collected on imports under $1000 too.... which I think is 5% for toys at the moment.
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Something I noticed tonight while browsing Amazon America - while I am logged in with an Australian address, if I am looking at something that is available to Australia, it has on right side (under the "add to cart" tab), a link to it's equivalent Australian web address, saving me shipping if I am a Prime member (over $49). The converted amount in AU$ is about 10% off from the actual rate (obviously to cover shipping), but the "free" shipping would still end up saving me about 20% on some of the items I was looking at.
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Pricks!
Just after I went through the auspost shopmate schemozzle getting an order here
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FFS
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