BOYCOTT AMAZON They're Price Extorting Australian Consumers!

BOYCOTT AMAZON They're Price Extorting Australian Consumers!

Recently, I’ve been deliberately obstructed from buying on Amazon US and shipping to Australia on a whole range of products from books, footwear, electronic goods, power tools and so on and so forth, whsilt being forced and directed by Amazon US to shop on their Australian site, being blocked at the point of payment, in bold red type.

The problem is, Amazon’s Australian site charges 2 to 5 times what I would normally pay on Amazon US including shipping, for the same items!

What a racket!

I’m extremely pissed; previously had no problems purchasing direct from the Amazon US site.

I am so irate in being prevented and directed, essentially forced, by Amazon US to buy at extorted and rip-off prices, at their Australian site.

Has anyone else had this problem?

If so, what can we as Australian consumers do about it?

Why won’t the ACCC step in on this price fixing and price gouging of Australian consumers?

Is the ACCC just a bunch of toothless, pen pushing, lazy pricks?

“Free Trade?” What a load of BS the politicians are serving the Australian public!

What are Australian politicians doing about this sort of fraud and racket against Australian consumers?

Has anyone a solution, or ideas how to change Amazon's rip-off activities?

Thanks.

Related Stores

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Comments

  • +78

    Can you link to some specific examples of items where this has happened to you?

    • +12

      How do you neg forum posts?

    • For some specialized items
      eg, radios for Radio Hams,
      Local Prices are competitive:

      Eg: ICOM IC-7100

      • Strictly Ham (in Vic): ~Au$ 1,600

      • Amazon.com.au offer: >Au$ 4,700 <== Over 3x as much as local price!!

  • +63

    grabs popcorn

    • +20

      but not from Amazon.com.au. I heard they price gouge

    • Amazon are terrible, just look what they have done to the rainforest

      • yup, its gone now

  • +7

    I am gonna keep refreshing this page… the comments are gonna be fun

  • +34

    You can blame the Liberals for that. It was all good until they wanted overseas retailers to collect GST for them on all purchases.

    • +9

      No, Amazon US has always been like that - "obstructed from buying on Amazon US".
      I've purchased the odd time from Amazon US since 2005. Items like books went through OK, but with numerous other items (e.g. electronic goods), I went through the entire order process, which was quite tedious and time-consuming, only to be told at the very end "this item does not ship to your country".
      I got so upset with this that I would only consider Amazon US as an absolute last resort, and have never purchased anything from them since 2011.
      Now that they've come to Australia, I'm still so annoyed that I have never used them, and would only think about buying something from them if I was absolutely desperate. Amazon has totally lost me as a customer, I hate them.
      Having said that, I do occasionally trawl their US website. The customer reviews of items are very good indeed, a lot of them are clearly from genuine users who give detailed feedback and tips for the items in question. It's a really valuable resource for checking out goods (before I buy them elsewhere, from a company that I don't detest).

      • +12

        I've never had that problem when I used to buy from Amazon US a number years ago. I only ever bought stuff from Amazon direct and not 3rd party sellers though. For certain branded electronic goods they don't ship out because the Aussie distributor will have a whinge about it.

      • +4

        If you're logged in, it will tell you in your shopping cart if the item doesn't ship to your address. If you're not logged in, it's pretty hard for Amazon to know whether it can ship to your address until you tell it what it is. It's a US site, it's pretty reasonable for them to assume you're in the US until you tell it otherwise.

        • +18

          nope that's no longer the case. put in oz address says it will ship then go to checkout and no

          • +2

            @petry: Yes, I just checked and you're right. It's a little annoying but you don't have to "through the entire order process" like they were claiming. It's literally two clicks: "Add to cart" and then "Proceed to checkout".

            • +1

              @dazweeja: It's literally two clicks: "Add to cart" and then "Proceed to checkout".

              and then it won't ship so what's your point?

              • +10

                @petry: The commenter said that on numerous occasions they had to go through the "entire order process" which was "tedious and time-consuming" only to be told at the end that it didn't ship. In fact, this was so upsetting that they haven't purchased from them for 8 years.

                I merely pointed out this is not the case now. And it wasn't then either for that matter. You can literally find out if something ships in two clicks. Back then if you were logged in, you could even filter to see only the items that shipped to your address. I'm not claiming that Amazon will ship them whatever they want, just that the process of finding out is quick and in no way upsetting. Besides, Amazon US have thousands of products available to Australians including electronic goods. I bought a Chromebook from them last month.

                I would have thought my point was obvious but there you go.

                Edit: Most but not all of these items ship to Australia. Those that do say, "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com", in the right column:
                https://www.amazon.com/International-Shipping-Direct/b?ie=UT…

                • +3

                  @dazweeja: so because its quicker the fact that amazon.com displays on the product page that it will ship to au but when you get to checkout with your order it won't - that makes the time you've wasted ok?

                  ok then….

                • +3

                  @dazweeja:

                  And it wasn't then either for that matter.

                  This is false. I used to buy a lot of stuff from Amazon US. Items would have 'this item ships to your address' on the description page, you'd add them to the cart, and it wasn't until checkout you'd suddenly get a: 'there was a problem with your order' message… and out of an order of 20 items, 5 suddenly had 'this item does not ship to your address' in red.

                  It drove me nuts too… You'd spend hours shuffling items around from different sellers to save on shipping, only to have the final step say 'doesn't ship to your address' when the description page said it did! So you'd have to get one $4 item somewhere else, but it now added $30 extra shipping.

                  ALSO… Sometimes that item that "will not ship to your address" when you got to your cart - was often from the SAME seller (or Amazon itself) who was offering other items nearly the same that DID ship. I remember one time an item that WOULD ship was a large heavy cast iron frypan - and the item that would NOT ship was a smaller cast iron 'BBQ shrimp pot'. I contacted Amazon chat - they said it was because it was heavy - and I directed them to the much heavier frypan. It was ridiculously inconsistent.

      • +1

        No it hasn't, before the GST thing I bought a pram on there for $350 including shipping that was $600+ in Australia. Since then I can't buy anything from the US site at all. It used to be that some sellers didn't ship to Australia but you could just filter them out, but now you don't know til checkout and most of the time it wont let you anyway.

        Kind of annoying, but what can you do? The AU site will suffer a natural boycott from people taking their money elsewhere.

        • +1

          Even that filtering out didn't work a lot of the time. I'd select it and still see items with 'USA shipping only'.

          What we can do is what I already do… Greedy Gerry Harvey thought he was missing out. But what his whining achieved wouldn't have made any difference to his profits. So now I refuse to purchase from Harvey Norman. I'd rather pay more somewhere else and smile knowing for every 10% extra I now pay online, that he loses profit on every item I don't buy from his stores.

          • @GregMonarch: I'll always remember him as the ar*e that cost us an extra 10% buying from OS.

            And likewise, I refuse to shop at HN and I make sure that everyone else knows (the OS GST) it's because of him.

            Though, I can't say I'm smiling when paying that extra 10%, it hurts 😔

      • Got a Terrific price on

        • "Thinkers of the Jungle" (on Orangutans) once @ Amazon

        (List: US$ 49.xx vs [clearance?] ~$ 5 (fr memory) + ship'g
        bought More than 1 to get Shipping down to Earth ;-)

    • Best economic managers for mates

    • +31

      Those are 3rd party sellers. Are you gonna sue them too for not giving you what you want?

      • -4

        That's what trump would do

        • +4

          I heard trump eats babies and that he's working to establish a Fourth Reich. I heard that if you take the first letter is every word from his presidential addresses it's just Satan worship the whole time.

    • +11

      So from link its $28USD including shipping for a used copy ($40.20AUD)
      or
      $59 AUD including shipping for the New one from Amazon Aus?

      Now IF amazon US was to ship that item to you they would have to add the GST at checkout so that would be an additional $2.80 USD (4.02)
      So that brings the total to $44.22 AUD for a second hand copy… or $59AUD for a new one.

    • So the cheapest book you've listed above is A$44 with GST but without any delivery costs. On the Amazon AU site the chepest is A$59 delivered. However the US site sells a USED book while the Aussie site is selling new. Can hardly compare.

    • +1

      you can get it from here
      https://wordery.com/the-bad-jesus-hector-avalos-978190969779…

      Cashrewards have 5.2% cash back if you have never shopped with them before too.
      and shipping is free :)

    • +1

      Change from used to new on the left hand side. Pick the second option, which is amazon not a third party seller, proceed to checkout. Works fine but once you start comparing apples to apples its cheaper from the Australian store.
      Even if amazon let you buy the cheapest new version it only works out to be ~$2 cheaper once they charge the GST.

    • +1

      I just bought Gloomhaven on Amazon AU (from Amazon US) for at least AUD$50 cheaper than anywhere else in Australia with free shipping (Prime). The thing weighs 10kg which would have cost more in shipping than the price of the product if I had to pay shipping from US. Got it within a week.

      If you are buying from Amazon US directly, you can only buy items that are selling themselves (not 3rd party).

      So, not everyone has your issue.

      Perhaps, though, you could have a word with Gerry Harvey…

  • +42

    Typical consumers these day: “disgusting practice, ACCC, Consumers’ rights, BOYCOTT etc.”
    It’s getting to the point that we want to enforce Australian Laws on Amazon US for choosing what to ship here.
    Damn we’re influential.

    TL;DR: Meh

    • Very true.

      Referring to OP, the entitlement is strong in this one.

      The US sellers won't ship here as the shipping will be just too much, tax implications/gst obligations, headache of dealing with australian consumers.
      You can't force a retailer to sell to you.
      What you are referring to is the listing made by the local sellers - they put the listng on there for the sake of the listing, rather than trying to sell it. Amazon has been rather lackluster in supporting the local retailers list and help them with price due to the terminology of australian consumer law which prevents market places from forcing retailers to sell at a specific price apart from below cost.

    • What do you mean "nothing to do with GST"?

      • No blocks previously. Recently (blocks) started happening. Same items. GST issue was resolved end of last year. They're paying.

    • I fink it's something to do with GST, or at least 10% of it is..

  • It's good for mens clothes from the US. Search by brand and prime to narrow it down.

    • +1

      The US one is sold by Amazon, the AU of this item is "Ships from and sold by Toolshack".

      Apples and Oranges…

  • -5

    The BLOCK message:-

    "We are currently unable to ship items sold by third parties to Australian shipping addresses.

    Please check to see whether Amazon sells the item you would like to purchase or choose a shipping address that is not in Australia to proceed. Some restrictions may still apply depending on the item.

    You can also visit Amazon.com.au to access millions of products for delivery to Australia."

    • +25

      That is correct

      Amazon Withdrew access to ENTIRE us site when .com.au launched
      Backed down a short time later
      re-opened access to US site but ONLY for products sold by Amazon.

      They have to collect the GST and were unwilling to do so initially, they backed down and do it now but only on items sold by them directly as they can ensure their tax obligations are being met that way.

    • +39

      This is Gerry Harvey's fault, mate. And the Liberal government for doing his bidding. Everybody else here has know about it for about a year.

      If you're mad at this you should boycott Harvey Norman.

    • Further to what everyone else have said, some brands are restricted by manufacturer from shipping to Australia as they have their local distributors here.

  • +9

    I SUMMON DIJI1 FOR HIS COMMENT!!!!!!

    • +2

      God do not encourage him!

    • -1

      Yippy already blamed the liberals…

    • +6

      I got this one bby.

      Blame the hipocritical capitalist and ironically anticonsumer two party lack of a democracy we call government, who is content to subsidise petroleum producers and sell our natural gas cheaper overseas than to their own citizens, inevitably to commit more money to the five eyes war machine and support the advancement of the American imperialist agenda in secret, while jailing whistleblowers and eliminating the chance of a free press. Meanwhile the ignorant masses lap this up like the brainless kittens they are trained to be, and they request more of the worthless slop they are given like some sincere version of Oliver twist. Pathetic.

      How am I doing?

      For what it's worth I actually basically agree with the above. But I'm also apathetic enough to not care enough to speak or act to change anything.

  • +4

    How else will Jeff Bezos pay for his divorce.

    • +4

      World most expensive dick pic

  • +3

    Do you realistically expect people to boycott deals that are the cheapest option?

    Amazon does have the excuse to do what they like after the Aus goverment forced GST collection onto foreign companies. Yes it's annoying, but it's partially due to the semi-privatisation of Aus Post. GST should be collected on incoming items but the government chose to lump it on foreign sellers.

    • The GST collection is completely automated, Amazon don't have Gladys in the mail room filling out a GST form and posting a GST cheque every time someone buys an item. Almost all the US states have gotten stuck into Amazon using the same sales taxes, forcing Amazon and others to charge their states sales tax on items Amazon sells to customers in that state, Amazon has no difficulties doing that. Australia is just forcing Amazon to apply the same technique to Australian goods.

      In our case the bigger issues wasn't even Australia making their job harder, it was Australia setting a precedent that other countries could follow. Amazon wasn't mad that we asked them to make difficult changes (a few lines of code - meh), they were just doing their usual tantrum at having to charge tax because it cuts their profit/sales.

  • +5

    The majority of your examples are being sold by third parties on the Amazon AU site. Some of your comparisons are a bit funny but some are legit.

    There are sellers who just list at ridiculous prices. Yes this is damaging Amazon's reputation in Australia, they actually have seller rules (apparantly) against setting stupid prices but these go unenforced due to the impotence of their current Australian Country Manager. The pricing is a legitimate criticism and something they could still fix even if not Amazon AU or US as the seller.

    Not to mention the current "review rackets" in AU, go check the top 50 reviewers currently, any of them reviewing goods (not books) are all fake reviews on Alibaba junk again going unactioned. Rocco Braeuniger (Country Manager) and his lack of involvement or leadership is the single reason Amazon AU has fizzled so much starting off. From what I have seen they have some great category managers who are kicking goals, just no top level leadership to get action on these simple to fix issues that are hurting them a lot.

  • Both the examples you’ve listed are 3rd party sellers, who can set their own prices. You’ll probably find they are last year’s shoe and Amazon AU is simply listing them for retail.

    I can’t be bothered but maybe try looking for the shoes/books at other stores?

    Most of the products actually sold by amazon are basically the same price. Anker power packs for example.

  • +3

    Also have you seen Booko? Definitely worth a check when buying books it compares all sites for book titles, I've used for years for used books:

    https://booko.com.au/9781909697799/The-Bad-Jesus-The-Ethics-…

    • -7

      Thanks for the link!

      After doing my own boycott of Amazon Australia, managed to locate the title for USD $6 and a few bucks shipping!

      Cheapest on Amazon Australian, $58.78

      Rip-offs!

  • +11

    "Extortion"

    Yes, there's regional pricing. This happens to pretty much everything sold by anyone. You'd need to boycott practically everything.

    …essentially forced, by Amazon US to buy at extorted and rip-off prices, at their Australian site.

    "Forced"?

    Is the ACCC just a bunch of toothless, pen pushing, lazy pricks?

    On what grounds should they show their teeth?

    “Free Trade?” What a load of BS the politicians are serving the Australian public!

    Please look up what's encompassed in the Free Trade agreement. This is not it.

    What are Australian politicians doing about this sort of fraud and racket against Australian consumers?

    Nah.

  • +14
    1. Cool jets
    2. Use VPN
    3. Use freight forwarder
    4. Profit?
  • +3

    Shop at Amazon's competition that doesn't geo price discriminate.

    If you're passionate about the boycott, let us know who to buy from then?

  • -1

    I was actually looking for an HDMI splitter the other day on Amazon and whilst browsing both sites, some of the prices were insanely different for the exact same product.

    US site: https://amzn.to/31dSZ3m

    AU site: https://amzn.to/2Il0fC8

    • And I've seen examples of the reverse. Why don't you arbitrage the price difference to close the gap? Buy from the cheap market and sell in the dear market?

    • +4

      Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. (US$249)

      Ships from and sold by PleasantLife. (AU$1453)

      Facebook doesn’t control listed prices on Marketplace.
      Ebay (AU, US, UK, IT, anywhere really) doesn’t control listed prices on their platform.
      Gumtree/Craigslist don’t tell sellers how much they can list stuff for.
      I don’t tell people how much they should price their stuff at garage sales/Sunday markets.

      Also, in the case where 3rd party is significantly cheaper, items sold by Amazon can be guaranteed to be genuine, whereas third party stuff can be anything from refurbished, used to outright fake/replica/homage (think shoes, watches, perfumes, make ups and even audiophile stuff etc.)

    • +1

      Go to the .AU site, search for Orei 8 x HDMI splitter, make sure Global store is selected, and voila, you can buy it for the USD price converted to AUD plus GST and freight.

  • +1

    Oooh I love a good rant! Especially when it's not me making it!

    FIRE UP SON.

  • +26

    I boycott everything thats too expensive but I call it "shopping around".

    • +1

      Best comment here.

    • +1

      Pretty much this. Our wallet's are where the power is at these days.

  • +2

    How is this news? This has been the case since amazon first stated in Australia. I just buy elsewhere.

  • -5

    The original block was over GST, they are now paying GST. I had no blocks buying same products previously.

    Recent block.

    The issue now is US Amazon is forbidding US sellers (appears to be possibly third party sellers) to sell and ship to Australia.

    Australian Amazon 2 to 5 times, (others claim even more) more expensive that US Amazon.

    Thanks to those that have made productive comments and suggestions.

    The useless trolls that want to continue to be pounded and ripped-off by Amazon, good luck with that.

  • +2

    eBay worker?

    • +1

      Nah I think it's Gerry himself

  • +6

    Chillax dude, if they're a ripoff then shop elsewhere.

  • +13

    oh shut up

  • apart from the rare borderline pricing errors amazon US generally isn't worth it, especially with the AUD in the toilet

  • I agree with you OP.

    The prices are insnane. The only things I buy from there are houshold items like nappies and quilton. All electronics is usually double at least, even after currency conversion.

    It's probably more to do with supply/demand than anything else. And our higher wages in the warehouses.

  • The items in question appear to still be US sourced and shipped from outside Australia.

    So, local conditions don't seem to be the factor.

    My complaint is not that the US is more expensive, given the state of the Aussie dollar - you'd suppose most things would/should be, but that the identical items remain CHEAPER on Amazon US, but Amazon is forbidding purchase and shipping to Australia where prices are 2 to 5 times more expensive for the same items previously purchased on Amazon US!

  • +5

    2 many here deliberately missing point.

    you used to be able to buy from amazon.com far more than you can now because of amazon.au.

    amazon au sells some of this at higher prices but most of it you just can't buy anymore.

    • -2

      Amazon US has only ever shipped items internationally that they sell directly. All the examples of items provided by OP have been from third party sellers.

      • +4

        wrong - pure and simple

        • Petry is correct. Have receipts to prove it.

      • Not true, I bought so much baby gear off third party sellers before everything changed.

    • +1

      So what target and all the others are the same, just
      Use a drop shipping service.

      Yes We are charged more, a large component (not all) is to meet ACC obligations. If you sell here then the seller is always responsible for replacement / repairs (regardless of manufacture warranty). Selling electronics in this country is risky as liability period is poorly defined.

      Many customers will try and return products many years after manufacturers warranty has expired and ACC may back them.

      • you are talking about something completely different. amazon.com is the subject - they used to ship far more here than they do now. it didn't require s drop shipper - it was much cheaper.

  • +2

    support local stores

    • -1

      Not very likely to get a bargain then

      • -2

        Unless they produce their own or source natively produced, "locals" get their products the same place chunts like Gerry Harvey and Amazon do. Notably, Asia/China.

    • I support Aliexpress - that counts right? ;)

  • Perhaps if you're not happy with it then you should vote with your wallet. Feels good man. I did and closed my account late last year.

  • I just want to thank you for the most amusing post for the day.

  • OP is correct.
    The same thing doesnt happen on ebay.
    Yes its restrictive trade by Amazon to support thier Australian operations but hey would argue its about paying the GST.

  • Totally agree with OP . Plenty of categories that you could never buy from US because of it .

    But plenty of buys at best prices in Australia so I wouldn’t boycott the Oz operation :)

  • Have bought my goods from Aliexpress or Ebay never from amazon

  • +1

    Can't you just use a proxy shipping service? They were already blocking shipping to Australia for a lot of items, it has just become more aggressive.

  • +1

    Oh lord, members of this site are already attempting to boycott eBay, now you want to do the same with Amazon? There'll be nowhere to purchase goods soon enough!

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