Amazon Australia, Kindle Australia, Buy from Amazon, Ship to Australia
How to Shop at Amazon from Australia?
You are probably searching for "Amazon Australia", "Amazon.au", "Amazon.com.au" or "Amazon Australia Website." Unfortunately, you have not seen any Amazon Store that offers online shopping in Australia. Well, Amazon does not really have a local store in Australia. Probably, in the future, they'll have one. "Does Amazon ship or deliver to Australia?" There is a way that you can shop from Amazon USA even if you are in Australia. Here are your options:
1. You can buy from Amazon USA using a virtual USA Address that some company like SHIPITO provides. (more details about this below)
2. Amazon ships some of its products internationally. This service of Amazon is called Amazon Global. (more details below)
3. Or instead of shopping at Amazon, you can do your online shopping with some of the reputable online stores in Australia. We have a list here.
What are the items that Amazon.com ship to Australia?
Amazon Ships Kindle Directly to Australia. This is a concept that works and brings you the Amazon Kindle 3G/WiFi version to your home for the equivalent of $139 (USD). All you have to do is wait for the parcel express truck to drop off the Amazon package and you have your device. And beside, if you are really interested in purchasing Amazon’s ereader device or peripherals for it, the Kindle is only available directly from Amazon in the U.S. itself or through U.S. storefronts that can bring you the Kindle directly.
Amazon ships "some" of its items Internationally
Indeed, it’s all upside when you think about it. For example, Amazon has a service that will assist you called Amazon Global. The way it works is that when you have finished your shopping experience and are ready to check out, you fill in the shipping and billing addresses and then this service figures out not only the shipping fees but also any customs fees that may be involved and when you are finished you are set to go. It’s an added service that Amazon provides for its Amazon Australia customers. Remember, though, that Amazon Global, which ships directly to your address in Australia, is available for some items. Most items still have to be shipped to an address in the USA and forwarded.
What about the items that can only be delivered in the USA, how can I get them to Australia?
For the most part, though, you’ll find that you have to obtain a US address so that you can purchase your items and have them shipped. Here is how you obtain your address:
One of the requirements of working with Amazon is the fact that you will need a local USA address so the item can be shipped and ultimately appear at your home in Sydney or Perth when the package delivery or postal deliver van arrives. We have refined the process of how to do it so that you can take advantage of the strength of the Australian dollar. The Australian dollar gives you a definite advantage when you want to order from Amazon in Australia. Here is how you set up your US shipping address:
1. Get a USA Virtual Address. Since most of the products sold at Amazon are delivered only in the USA, you will need your own USA Address. Get your USA address from any ofthese companies by clicking here. This is where Amazon will deliver your order and theaddress providerwill then ship it to your address in Australia.
2. Wait for confirmation from youraddress provider.They will send you your address via Email. The price of the address and other services start at $8.50.Click here for more details.
3. Start shopping using your USA virtual address. You can immediately starts shopping once you receive the address. When placing an order at Amazon, use your USA address as your Shipping Address and your credit card’s Billing Address as your Billing Address. Note that your account may be subject to verification and may be suspended while verification is pending. Faxing a bank statement to Amazon will expedite the process.
4. Wait for your item and authorize its delivery to Australia. When Amazon delivers your order to your USA address, the address provider through email will notify you. Log into your account with that provider to determine the postage for shipping your order from your USA address to Australia and to send out the package.
How to shop from US online stores if you are in Australia?
This is a very legitimate way to handle things so that you can get whatever you want whether you are in Sydney or Perth at prices that save you money. And, truthfulness compels us to tell you that you will pay a little more than the USA price, even with the stronger Australian dollar, because you do have to pay for shipping and other fees.
Let’s run the disk back a bit and answer a couple of your questions, possible before you even ask them.
First, why did we decide to start shoppingaustralian.com? The answer is really simple we’re bringing you a service that is needed and brings real savings – and to be totally truthful we do have to make a bit to pay for servers and electricity and things. In all honesty, we’re not making a fortune on this. We just want to make enough to pay the bills, put some food on our table and reinvest whatever is left so we can bring you the best experience you can have in shopping on Amazon Australia.
Second, how can we do this legitimately? It’s simple as long as you have an American shipping address, you can live on the far side of the South Pole and still shop directly on Amazon.
Third, can you save a considerable amount shopping with us? The answer is obviously yes, or we wouldn’t be dong this. Remember, you are shopping on Amazon so the prices you pay are the real deal without any middleman’s markup. You can expect to spend a little money, though, as you do have to:
Pay a bit more because the Australian dollar, despite its strong showing lately, is not at parity with the US dollar. (see related article about USD and AUD)
Just remember on thing, despite the fees, you will still save on your Amazon purchases.
Please be advised that this website is not a local version of Amazon in Australia. This is an affiliate store that will redirect you to the main online Amazon store when you do place orders for products. Before proceeding, please read our Disclaimer and Privacy policy.
Although you need an online portal to truly appreciate the full range of Amazon products, stores and sales, there is one program that is open to the Australian buyer right now that, while limited, still gives the buyer an Amazon Australian option.
Through Amazon Global an Australian buyer has access to a limited range of products and services. Or, to quote the program directly:
“The following items can be shipped to almost all destinations outside the U.S.:
ñBooks ñDVDs ñMusic ñVHS videos
“Additionally, some products in the following categories:
ñAutomotive
ñBaby clothing
ñConsumer electronics
ñHealth and personal care
ñHome and garden
ñIndustrial and scientific
ñJewelry
ñPet supplies
ñShoes
ñSoftware
ñSporting goods
ñTools
ñToys
ñVideo games
ñWatches”
This information comes directly from Amazon and illustrates the necessity of portals such as www.shoppingaustralian.com and others if you want the full range of features that Amazon offers.
Amazon is not limited to the 20 categories of goods that they offer directly to Australian customers. In countries with Amazon partners or programs, customers have access to hundreds of online stores, selling goods that range from pet medicines to designer fashion handbags. Amazon offers its direct customers the ability to buy and sell goods through private sales and auctions, as well, similar to eBay.
While this may not seem fair to the Australian buyer it is the situation that exists and in some ways it is a situation that an buyer in Melbourne can use to some advantage. For example, if you are in the market for Amazon's proprietary Kindle device, then you can purchase on directly through Amazon, whether it is the basic Kindle WiFi model with its six-inch screen or the most up-to-date version of the Kindle 3G with its nine-inch screen. (One side note on Kindles is that they are the only eReaders available that offer any form of keyboard device that is separate from the touchscreen. Some feel this is a better way to do things as you are not losing part of the touchscreen and reading surface to a keyboard.)
To be fair, Amazon Global, on the limited range of goods it offers directly to Australian buyers, does offer the same excellent savings you will find if you use one of the portals, it is just that Amazon Global is very limited in its offerings.
Take books, for example. Amazon Global offers about 600,000 titles to Australian buyers while buyers in other countries have nearly 900,000 current titles available. And, while you do have access to the New York Times Best-Seller list, you only have access to about 105 of the 110 or so bestsellers. It may not seem like much, but it is still a limitation that is unfairly borne by those who do not have Amazon direct programs.
It represents a great opportunity for entrepreneurs, for sure, as there are many sellers in the US and Australia that offer portals to online shopping in American and those portals just happen to include access to Amazon and buyers should take advantage of them.
Still, the Amazon Global program is a start and, who knows, it may ultimately point the way to the future.
If there is one company that has remained “on message,” as they say in politics, it is Amazon. When Barnes and Noble, who produced the Nook about the same time as the first Amazon Kindle appeared, also offered a color version of their Nook, Amazon stayed with traditional black-and-white technology.
The obvious message that Amazon is sending is simple. Books have always been printed in black-and-white, so why should and eReader which was using the page of a book as the analog of its screen suddenly move from black-and-white to color? And while we weren't in on the ultimate decisions on why black-and-white was the chosen color scheme, we think we have it nailed pretty well, as you use your Kindle on the way home from the office in Brisbane tonight or even somewhere in the Outback and the reason is that Amazon wanted to remain true to the printed word. Those words are printed in black and white.
That doesn't mean, though, that they cannot improve things and that is exactly what they have done on their latest release of the Kindle and the 9-inch Kindle 3G. To be precise, the new Kindles use Pearl, “the latest generation of E-In for 50 percent better Contrast,” Amazon has explained.
Indeed, the etailer reminds Australian Kindle that if they are considering a new version of the Kindle eReader for their attache cases that they have to be sure they are getting the latest and greatest “E Ink Technology!”
They refer to the new Kindle “ink” technology as “Pearl.” The company notes that their new “Kindle uses pearl, resulting in the best reading experience possible with 50 percent better contrast and the sharpest text.”
Even a publication and website as venerable as Popular Science (www.popsci.com), in awarding the Pearl technology their “Best of What's New 2010”, called the achievement “...Kindle's most impressive achievement (among others, including a reduced size and a slashed price) is its E Ink Pearl screen, which is just an absolute pleasure to behold.”
The way the newest Kindle displays work is fairly simple in concept. It is a sandwich technology in which a bottom layer of electrical dots is covered with an electrically very black active gel. When an area of the screen is told to spell or display a screen a series of voltages is generated and the gel conforms to the electronic orders. Overlaying this gel is another layer of white or opaque gel that also interacts with the system. As the middle or black layer forms the letters or figures, the top layer reinforces the impression that it is simply a piece of paper that the user is reading. When the page changes, so does everything else.
Another key to the Kindle's display is the fact that it is backlit. When a display is backlit, reading is easier on the eyes and eyestrain is reduced.
The reality of the E-Ink system is that it is hand-built and during its building process they try to make it as close to real paper as they can. So, when a user is reading a Kindle page light is reflected as if the reader were looking at the page of a book. The fonts that are used are also proprietary to Amazon and Kindle and letters that are formed are, believe it or not, formed by an electrostatically active ink gel. So, the reader is really looking at a page created by ink.
Unlike an LCD where the eye will perceive changing glare and brightness, the Kindle page remains the same so there is no tiredness-inducing changes in the pages brightness as you read. Since you are actually looking right at the display, rather than a more traditional LCD view, where there are really about four different layers of gel and glass there is no tiring adjustment needed to cope with the angular changes brought on by parallax. Finally, the E-Ink system remains stable.
While we have been involved looking at Amazon from every angle imaginable to complete this assignment, the though struck us about the online buying engine that controls sales from here to Australia and back – you can't really put a finger on Amazon. It's more than an online buying community, but less than a full-fledged social community.
Here's what we mean. While looking at “today's specials,” on the home page, we scrolled down to the “forums” section where we found at least 25 discussions going on about various topics, including the top 14 discussions between various customers.
Meantime, we also found a section telling us how to set up our own Amazon-based cloud site, not something we totally believe in for reasons we've listed. Then, we found the listing of Amazon stores and the deals that were being offered. Again, not really a social media type page but still more than just “may I help you?”
Although it is its size and pervasiveness that really drives it, Amazon is becoming more, especially as it moves more toward the cloud and Web. Yes, it offers eReaders and books and has some great deals on some titles that we wish we could afford to put into our library, but with money as tight as it is right now adding titles to a Kindle library isn't our first priority.
Other areas area, though, including such products as car support items, including good wash and wax and body cleaners (we're even looking for a dent-puller right now and have tracked one down for less than $10...the acorns around our home are huge and leave just enough dent work to need a vacuum puller.
We've also found that the folks on Amazon are very open, friendly and helpful and are willing to do all they can to help you out. If you are a seller, the same is true.
In all of this we can say two things for certain:
1.Amazon is unlikely to be knocked off the top of the mountain anytime soon
2.Amazon seems to be moving more and more towards become a sales and social network which is, believe it or not, a good thing because finally people will really be able to talk about their experiences not only with other customers but also with store employees and that can only help all around.
If there ever was a time when a full Amazon shopping spree made sense it is right now as the economic stress in the United States has weakened the dollar significantly in comparison to the Australian dollar.
Yes, it still costs $105 Australian dollars to purchase $100 of American goods, but that rate is far more equal than it has been in some time. There was a time when a strong US dollar forced Australians to spent $110 or more for items they purchased online in America, but that situation has changed.
There are many reasons for the change,but chief among them, from the American standpoint, are:
ñContinuing fears of a double-dip inflation
ñRising unemployment
ñFalling living standards
ñ“Improving” business practices by offshoring jobs
ñGeneral economic uncertainty
To be truthful, these are not fun times to be members of the American workforce. For example, a major firm named Boston Scientific, maker of surgical and heart supplies, announced it was improving its bottom line by sending hundreds of jobs to China. Now, that is great news for the Chinese, who will gain the jobs, but it is painful news for the hundreds of loyal workers who have devoted their careers to Boston Scientific who suddenly find themselves out of work.
They are assured in their exit interviews that “with your skillset, you'll have no trouble at all finding work.” However, that is far from the truth, especially if a worker is older and settled into a career. He or she may have a couple of kids in college or private school and may have bought a home that they are in danger of losing because jobless benefits hardly cover basic living costs, let alone other costs.
So, what is a worker to do? He can try to put together two or three jobs at $10 per hour to make up for some of the lost wages but does that work? Not always as this true story will indicate. Some years ago, a 50-year-old worker, who had spent a 30-year career successfully building a supply chain program and managing it for a major firm was fired. He tried networking and sending out resumes but the problem was that he was not only up against hundreds of others of professionals in his field who were in similar straits but he was facing young people coming out of college looking for work. The middle-aged man also needed medical insurance because his daughter is not well. His only solution was taking a job at a major retail store for about $12 per hour and working 60 hours per week or more. His wife works only part-time.
There was only one winner in this scenario and that was the company that fired the first worker. When it fired another worker who has a very specialized engineering field, the result was that he and his wife lost their home.
It is this kind of almost daily economy turmoil that is facing the American workforce today and the result is a weakening US dollar that became even weaker when bond rating services downgraded US debt from AAA to AA. This may seem lie semantics but to capitals in major countries it is economic bombshell that causes leaders to worry and economies to weaken.
The fortunate fact for Australian shoppers is that the Australian dollar can buy more in American now so that by using an online shopping portal to access shopping sites like i Shop-USA.com or shoppingaustralian.com Australian buyers can obtain some great deals from sites like Amazon or other US sites.
The savings can be tremendous. As noted, the current exchange rate is A$105 to $100, where not too long ago it was closer to $A110 to $100. This means that an item priced at $150 (USD) will cost an Australian about $157.50. When the exchange range was at $A110 to $100, it would have cost an Australian buyer $165. Because of the weakened dollar, the Australian buyer can save money and still obtain an item.
It is a situation that no country likes to be in but it is also a situation that helps those whose currencies have been well inflated over the country with the weakened currency and in this case Australians are the beneficiaries.
One day after graduation from Oxford in 1988 Dex and Em meet each other and instantly, though they don't realize it, become soul-mates – bound for life, yet destined to tak3 20 years to get there.
This is the premise of Nicholls 2009 book – recently released as a film – who proves himself to be a skillful observer of people and events. He also knows how to turn a phrase.
Ultimately, each partner, who meet once a year, work their way through relationships, Dex becoming a TV person, who battles drugs, booze and sex, and Em, who has her own boring, but failed relationships, until she becomes a successful author. The ending really writes itself and isn't anything we haven't seen before. It's just that Nicholls has a unique view of life, a keen eye and wit.
Louis Zamperini was a real hero of World War II, although he never set out to be one. Lie all members of “The Greatest Generation, Louis was a child of the Depression and a jokester to boot. That he was one of the country's best athlete's only became clear after he put the Nazis to shame in the 1936 Olympics. He never made the 1940 games as a small disturbance called World War II intervened and while he wasn't involved at the time, 1940, he did enlist in the Air Corp, become a bombardier stationed in Oahu. That was the start of his fascinating and true tale detailed by Laura Hellenbrande, the careful author who also wrote the best-selling “Seabiscuit.”
As Hellenbrande explains her fascination is Zamperini and his ultimate exploits, as she did her research on “Seabiscuit” she kept on finding more and more about Louis and she was hooked. She had to meet the man who would ultimately become a hero, enduring some unimaginable events at the hands of his ultimate Japanese captors.
His story unfolds during an epic air battle in 1943 that left his plane shot down, loaded with bullet holes and a crew half-dead. He and a couple of other crew members took a life boat and drifted for an interminable time fighting off nature, only to be found and tortured for another two years by the Japanese. Yet, through it all Louis remained true to himself and somehow kept his humanity in the face of some of the worse torturers the world has ever known (it wasn't uncommon, for example, for the Japanese, after winning a battle, to use live targets for bayonet practice, just puncturing them enough to keep them alive for several passes; this was done to show the Japanese contempt for soldiers who surrendered, instead of fighting to the death which explains why after Saipan This is true and is document and is not meant to be racist; it is historical fact).
Hillenbrand has a way with the English language that turns what could have been a dry biography/history into a page-turner that is well worth the read.
If you remember the 90s and the book “Sex and City” that recounted the countless loves and lives of four friends in New York City, then you are ready to understand Girls in White Dresses, a book about the trials and tribulations of a group of 20-something friends who spent their 20s in New York.
A perceptive and witty author, Caser keeps you wanting to find out more about the people who populate the pages of her book as she takes you through first loves, first jobs, firms homes and even first marriages.
Through all their trials, tribulations, drunken orgies and forgotten nights, the women remain friends. Caser's work is a great read and a great study in character development.
If I wasn't a history major back in college, I might have doubted the masterwork that author Erik Larsen has put together here about William Dodd, Roosevelt's first ambassador to Hitler's Berlin in 1933; his misbehaving daughter Martha, who had a penchant for sleeping with anyone who moved, it seems, including the the famed World War I ace Hans Udet and later the head of the Gestapo, along with assorted spies and others, his wife and son, but I didn't because I know everything that Larsen has researched and written is true.
It begins with Dodd's unlikely appointment to the post in 1933. He was an unassuming man, not at all the type who you would think would take on a post like Berlin. His real passion, aside from his family and later trying to convince someone in Washington that Hitler was a bad person – they didn't listen because they didn't believe Dodd – was trying to finish an academic work.
That he ended up in one of the most turbulent times in the history of Western Europe where Hitler was driving Germany further and further right and using Jews as a scapegoat was the cross he had to bear. Indeed, Larsen's masterful way of bringing together the humanity of his characters and the awful events that led up the the deadly “Night of the Long Knives” in 1938 where not only were intellectuals murdered but Jews were also massacred and their stores and homes burned, many times with them inside. Hitler also used the “Night” to clean out his enemies and turn Nazi Germany into the Aryan state he wanted it to become by driving out Jews and other enemies. This is also documented by Larsen and if we didn't know the history of the era, we would hardly have believed it, but it was true.
Larsen has proven he is one of the best storytellers in print today with his ability to tie an awful history and real people into a compelling story that's hard to put down.
Looking for a great read to pass a few wonderful hours with a great author, then pickup or download “State of Wonder.”
The premise is simple: a famed researcher loses a friend in the Amazon and wants to find the remains and on the way she runs into another person – a researcher as well – with whom she has some history.
That pretty much sums up the book except for one thing, Ann Patchett puts it together in such a way that you don't really want to put it down.
In the book, drug researcher Dr. Marina Singh, who loses her friend in the Amazon, sets off to find the remains, but on the way she has to touch base with Dr. Anneck Svenson, a gynecological researcher who is trying to find out how a tribe of Amazonian Indians can conceive children well into middle age and beyond.
That they have a history to overcome is obvious as Dr. Singh tries to find her mentor and friend. This is a book with more layers than a good sandwich and like a great cook Patchett has made a recipe that is just right.
Paris in the 20s. It was an age of disillusionment and discontent. It was an age of Americans living out their alienation following the decimation they saw in World War I. Americans in Paris couldn't believe man's inhumanity to man and they were disillusioned with all aspects of life.
Into this world a young author whom you may have heard of named Ernest Hemingway makes his way and along the way realizes he has run into the woman of his dreams, Hadley Richardson, his first great love and wife.
Richardson was the only one who could see through the bravado that Hemingway put forth as a hard-drinking, hard-living, driven author. Richardson, through here voluminous writing to him, shows Hemingway to be far more tortured, far sweeter and a man filled with many regrets. He was also a man who could love.
His whirlwind romance with Richardson is also documented in their letters and MacLaine has done a masterful job of showing who the real Hemingway was without slighting Richardson's memory.
Hemingway met Richardson at 20 and they were married young. It didn't last but Richardson was able to draw out the real man behind the bravado as has MacLaine with her masterful way with words.
With the release of this work, Larson has completed his three-work Millennium series and has established himself as one of the top storytellers of the decade. His earlier novels, “The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo,” and “The Girl Who Played With Fire” culminate in this last novel.
In this novel, the heroine Lisabeth Sanders is pretty much alone, with the exception of a journalist who she doesn't really trust, Mikael Blomqvist, in fighting the demons of her past and winning. If she loses, well the story's over.
From what we've seen as we looked at this novel, Larson has really saved the best for last as each page is better than the one before with the story exploding right in front of your eyes.
This is the best of fhe trilogy and doesn't stop moving until the last page when you want it to keep going. If you want the ending, by the way, you will have to read it yourself.
Ever wondered what it was like growing up to become a comedy star with successful stops on the way through Chicago Improv and Saturday Night Live? If so, then you'll find this outrageously funny autobiography of Tina Frey, who is also the star of 30 Rock, a fantastic read.
This book is an eye-opener into not only Frey's frenetic world of comedy and family life, but it also shows just what it takes to get to the top of the game and stay there. “Bossypants” is a funny look at the world of comedy and production and Frey hasn't left anything out, right down to thanking her first child for not wanting to breast feed It is hilarious, but then again, so is Frey.
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