Thread: Amazon now shipping tools etc to Australia

Good, now we can start to import all the parts needed to make them weapons of mass destruction they were worried we would make if amazon shipped to Oz.

Al

I got an email from them as well but it was about the Taunton Woodworking books which are on special.

These are around $90-$100 in Australia so they work out very cheap if you buy from Amazon.
(around $26US plus postage)

Beautiful books too,

Thank Christ for that I've been trying to get a Gross Stabil clamp from an Australian agent been two months and have heard diddly squat
I will now ask him if he likes sex and travel! i.e. get nicked and p..s off!

This has been available for a few months, there was some discussion about it a while ago, but I don't know anyone has actually bought any tools from them.

A few things to remember - it only applies to SOME items - a lot, if not most items are still 'US only' or 'Nth America only' - most of what I was interested in was not available for Australia.

Secondly - Amazon gets to pick the shipper, and if its UPS they WILL charge you additional fees - typically $60-70 - in addition to the amount you pay Amazon, and they will try to scam you for 'Customs Fees', 'Pest inspection/fumigation' and anything else they can think of to boost their take - specially if the services are not required and there is NO duty payable. I have had parcels sent UPS 'by accident' and have fought them over the fees, usually they will cave in as there is no real basis for the charge and they don't want bad publicity, but its a pain in the neck & you may get a supervisor who is having a bad day.

I've only ever bought one book from Amazon, a music tutor that wasn't available in the music shops.

By the time I paid postage, which was pretty exey considering that the book was about the size and thickness of a woodwork mag, it cost me about the same as it would have in Oz if it had been available.

It also took ages to ship. Airmail it definitely wasn't. I don't think I'll be bying any tools from them. Lee Valley et al are a much better option I reckon.

BTW Gumby - where are you buying your books? I haven't seen Taunton books at prices like those for years - mostly they are under $60 down to around $40 in Oz dollars - I regularly check out Dymocks, Borders & Kinokuniya in Sydney and they are all around the same price.

Taunton have a Xmas sale with up to 50% off at the moment, Amazon is usually up to 30% off, which makes Amazon ~just~ cheaper that Oz retail. I think the Oz distributors noticed they were loosing a lot of sales to Amazon, so they dropped their margins - I remember a discussion with a store manager who said they could not buy wholesale in the USA and import the books cheaper than they could buy them from the Oz distributor.

I just recently (18/12/06) ordered, hasn't arrived yet, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Box Making (Doug Stowe) from Taunton's website.
Cost me $US17.47 + $US10.45 postage, making a total of $US27.92 or about $A35.
Local Dymocks wanted $A65 and quoted 6 weeks delivery.
I have always found Amazon a tad expensive on postage.

Originally Posted by bsrlee

BTW Gumby - where are you buying your books? I haven't seen Taunton books at prices like those for years - mostly they are under $60 down to around $40 in Oz dollars - I regularly check out Dymocks, Borders & Kinokuniya in Sydney and they are all around the same price.

Sounds much better.

I haven't bought any or even looked for them since we purchased some from Amazon for the Triton Woodworkers club a couple of years ago. At that time, they were around the $100 mark here.

If they've come into line then all the better. They are still very good books.

Originally Posted by craigb

I've only ever bought one book from Amazon, a music tutor that wasn't available in the music shops.

By the time I paid postage, which was pretty exey considering that the book was about the size and thickness of a woodwork mag, it cost me about the same as it would have in Oz if it had been available. ......

I saw 3 books in a book shop in Brisbane when I was there in November, I wrote down the name & author, went home to Cairns, ordered them from Amazon, received them in Malanda, packed & posted one of them to Longreach for my Mum for Christmas & it was there a week before Christmas & it all cost the same price as one of the books in the shop in Brisbane.

I have bought several books through Amazon & had them shipped into the country cheaper than I can buy them here.