# I pit online shopping from outside the US (long, sweary, possibly incoherent) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 9, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807 "2009-08-09T03:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/21 "2009-08-09T13:34:08Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I am in Afghanistan and also approve this rant. Amazon is the worst on this. Check out Best Buy, I believe they have more reasonable international shipping terms. Best Buy doesn’t ship out of the US at all. Bah! ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/22 "2009-08-09T13:40:51Z")
Sorry, they ship to APO addresses. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/23 "2009-08-09T13:51:11Z")
Yeah, 'nother Aussie chipping in to heartily approve of this rant. I buy a fair bit from Amazon and don’t really have a problem with them, even though their shipping costs are excessive. I wanted to buy a textbook from a US based nursing organisation. The cost of shipping was going to be twice the cost of the actual book. Grrrrr. Another time I found an acrylic (ie extremely light) hairdryer bracket for my bathroom. Acrylic holder = $8.95. Shipping = $58.95. No way, mate. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/24 "2009-08-09T15:52:53Z")
Have you Aussies considered applying for US statehood? 😉 Seriously, you’ve chosen (in some sense of the word) to live completely on the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD from the entity you want to buy from. Does it really surprise you that shipping items COMPLETELY to the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD costs money? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/25 "2009-08-09T15:56:41Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > I actually entered the “send it to Zoom” address because I knew it off by heart from watching it in Canada (what?). I got an error message so I assumed fake addresses didn’t work. If they do, though, that would be pretty sweet. The Zoom address is perfectly legitimate. Amazon’s system may recognize certain addresses as being more likely to be used fraudulently, however. For example, I worked for an office that flagged certain addresses, such as the White House, the Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion, and a few others. Try mine. If that doesn’t work, you’ve got a definite answer. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/26 "2009-08-09T16:15:58Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I honestly don’t know _why_ Amazon haven’t gotten a .com.au store but the day they set one up is the day half the retailers in the country go out of business. **Shalmanese** makes a similar argument in his (?) very interesting blog entry (see the link, above), but i’m not sure it’s quite as simple as that. Australia’s population is just over 20 million people, in a country the size of the continental United States. That might, at first glance, seem like a good candidate for online retailing, because it means people can get things without going long distances for them. But Australia is also about the most urbanized, concentrated population in the world, with the vast majority of those 20 million people living in a few large population centers. Those living in remote areas make up a very small percentage of the population. I suspect that economies of scale mean that it just might not be very profitable for Australian retailers to set up comprehensive internet retail businesses. If an Aussie store like David Jones (or whomever) wanted to set up an proper web store, the outlay would be about the same as an American store wanting to do the same thing, in terms of the website itself, distribution centers, etc. The sunk costs of the business would be very similar to the sunk costs for an American establishment, except that those costs would have to be absorbed by a market that is only about 7 percent the size of the United States market. Even the UK, while nowhere near as big as the US, has a market about 3 times the size of Australia’s. I guess it’s possible that if a store like Amazon started a .com.au site, other retailers would feel compelled to follow suit, but i’m not completely convinced this is the case. This might especially be true for brick-and-mortar stores like David Jones. Amazon has no brick-and-mortar presence, but a store like DJs would have to ADD the cost of a web business to the cost of maintaining its physical stores. I know that stores do that in the US but, as i said, i think the size of the market makes those extra costs easier to absorb. The first visit i made home to Australia after 3 years of living in the US, i was horrified at the backwards nature of e-commerce, but i think there are probably some good reasons for it. Hell, Aussies already pay much more than most of the rest of the world for internet access in the first place. I couldn’t believe, on my most recent visit, that my Australian friend in Sydney had a 3 megabit internet connection with a 6Gb per month bandwidth cap (2gb during peak times, 4gb at off-peak), and she was paying more than i pay in the US for a 10Mb connection with no cap. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/27 "2009-08-09T16:26:03Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Seriously, you’ve chosen (in some sense of the word) to live completely on the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD from the entity you want to buy from. Does it really surprise you that shipping items COMPLETELY to the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD costs money? Well, I’m not particularly surprised that it costs money. I am pretty pissed that I can’t actually buy anything. And I don’t see how $89 (or anything above $20, really) is a good shipping price, even for international orders because seriously, what are they using for transport? _Ponies?_ Also, consider the reason I want to buy from the other side of the world in the first place: because all the local options are, somehow, worse. Though I did get a good deal on printer cartridges from imagenation (take note, Australian Dopers!). Their prices have since gone up, though. PS **Shalmanese** , your blog entry is hilarious. I wasn’t even aware those stores HAD online shopping, though I suppose the appropriate conclusion to draw from that entry is that they don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/28 "2009-08-09T19:10:36Z")
Another Canadian approving this rant. Most of what I buy is non-time sensitive and non-fragile; just put my damned t-shirt in the mail for $5 already, don’t ship it to me for $30 worth of special courier! But, sorry, we only use one shipping method to Canada. I bought bacon salt originally simply because the company charged the same rate to ship to Canada as it charged to ship within the US. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/29 "2009-08-09T19:40:21Z")
Approving this rant from the Caribbean. No I don’t want to use a freight forwarder for USD$50.00 handling fee plus more postage - I’ve got an address thanks. I’ve recently found evidence that the tables may be turning - tried to order some pool supplies from a US company - they do do international shipping but my country wasn’t on the list - of course being an online store they don’t furnish you with an email address but a fun little form to fill in, so I put my order in the request form - imagine my surprise when I got a response the next day saying they’d added my country to their form! Let’s see if they’ll take our non-US credit card for payment. Australia has some great alternative energy products at competitive prices, but we can’t afford the shipping to get them out here. My best experiences are from India and the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/30 "2009-08-09T21:28:14Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Another Canadian approving this rant. Most of what I buy is non-time sensitive and non-fragile; just put my damned t-shirt in the mail for $5 already, don’t ship it to me for $30 worth of special courier! But, sorry, we only use one shipping method to Canada. ThinkGeek and Penzey’s, I’m looking at you!!! DHL or FedEx? Phhtthht. I want them to deliver using USPS/Canada Post- if I’m not home, they take the package up to the postal counter at the drugstore 3 blocks away, I pick it up after work, I get my crap the next day, no one gets hurt. Fedex and their ilk- get a stupid notice on the door, have to call them, they try to figure out which one of their contracted dorks with a panel van has it, they say they’ll try again during my work hours, that’s a big help, and eventually it ends up at some depot 49 miles away and I can go pick it up Tues-Thurs between 10am-12:30pm? And how about a big ole shout to Old Navy(who sells womens plus sizes only on line, not in store), who doesn’t ship to Canada at frigging all? Thanks to whoever in Dope-land filled me in about [this place in Point Roberts.](http://www.tsbshipping.com/services.htm) Driving 20 miles and being stuck in border line ups enroute, and still easier than dealing with shipping companies half the time. > [@Uzi](#): > > I swear that companies make their money on shipping, not on selling the actual product. Aaaand-I think we have a winning entry here, people. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/31 "2009-08-09T22:00:07Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I live in a small English town and use [http://www.amazon.co.uk/](http://www.amazon.co.uk/) > > There have been no problems at all **over 20 years.** Was [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) founded before 1989 and then later acquired by Jeff Bezos sometime after 1995 when [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) was launched? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/32 "2009-08-10T01:12:32Z")
I’ll forward things to people for the real cost of postage any time anyone needs something. I go to the post office every day anyway, so no big. And the postmaster always enjoys overseas things or anything that breaks up his monotony! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/33 "2009-08-10T01:35:31Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Have you Aussies considered applying for US statehood? 😉 > Seriously, you’ve chosen (in some sense of the word) to live completely on the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD from the entity you want to buy from. Does it really surprise you that shipping items COMPLETELY to the other side of the ENTIRE WORLD costs money? I don’t mind paying for even exhorbitant shipping costs. The fact that THEY WONT SHIP THE GODDAMN FUCKING ITEM TO JAPAN is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/34 "2009-08-10T02:00:14Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Australia’s population is just over 20 million people, in a country the size of the continental United States. That might, at first glance, seem like a good candidate for online retailing, because it means people can get things without going long distances for them. > > But Australia is also about the most urbanized, concentrated population in the world, with the vast majority of those 20 million people living in a few large population centers. Those living in remote areas make up a very small percentage of the population. I suspect that economies of scale mean that it just might not be very profitable for Australian retailers to set up comprehensive internet retail businesses. > > If an Aussie store like David Jones (or whomever) wanted to set up an proper web store, the outlay would be about the same as an American store wanting to do the same thing, in terms of the website itself, distribution centers, etc. The sunk costs of the business would be very similar to the sunk costs for an American establishment, except that those costs would have to be absorbed by a market that is only about 7 percent the size of the United States market. Even the UK, while nowhere near as big as the US, has a market about 3 times the size of Australia’s. > > I guess it’s possible that if a store like Amazon started a .com.au site, other retailers would feel compelled to follow suit, but i’m not completely convinced this is the case. This might especially be true for brick-and-mortar stores like David Jones. Amazon has no brick-and-mortar presence, but a store like DJs would have to ADD the cost of a web business to the cost of maintaining its physical stores. I know that stores do that in the US but, as i said, i think the size of the market makes those extra costs easier to absorb. As you mention, most of Australia’s population is fairly centralised and our postal service is pretty good. You don’t need lots of distribution centres- they could use their existing ones, or set up one in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane, and perhaps one in Perth. Add a reasonable shipping & handling charge (whatever Australia Post charges, basically), and then just ship the items from the warehouse direct to the customer via Australia Post (who would probably cut the business a deal on shipping) and suddenly, the prices fall and everyone wins. The Big Retailers don’t want to do online retailing because they’ve got too much tied up in their stores. But if someone with some capital from overseas- Like Amazon- showed up here and established an online-only presence based out of a distribution centre or two, they’d do very well indeed and be very popular, I think. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/35 "2009-08-10T02:34:41Z")
I recently immigrated to Australia. I noticed the mail order thing right away. I have gotten around it once by using ebay. Sorry I can’t share your frustration (that much). ---
**Author:** ![andiepandie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@andiepandie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andiepandie)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/36 "2009-08-10T03:16:08Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I don’t mind paying for even exhorbitant shipping costs. The fact that THEY WONT SHIP THE GODDAMN FUCKING ITEM TO JAPAN is a problem. I live in Toronto, Canada and it drives me crazy when American companies won’t deliver here, even if you are willing to pay the insane shipping fees. Just the other day I tried to order a case of [Tahitian Treat](http://www.amazon.com/TAHITIAN-TREAT-SODA-12-pks/dp/B0002IMRTC) from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) for my SO’s birthday (it was his favourite growing up, but it doesn’t seem to be available up here anymore so he hasn’t had it in forever). I was willing to pay the $30+ (US) for shipping - about 2.5 times the actual price of the product - but as I tried to place my order a message popped up saying they didn’t ship that product to Canada, and I was annoyed. I mean, it’s not like you have to cross an ocean or go halfway around the globe to get here, amazon - we’re barely an hour’s drive from the US border FFS! Unfortunately, they were the only place I was able to find that sells it, so he had to go without. Damn you, amazon! ---
**Author:** ![SmashTheState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@SmashTheState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmashTheState)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/37 "2009-08-10T03:56:18Z")
> [@andiepandie](#): > > I live in Toronto, Canada and it drives me crazy when American companies won’t deliver here, even if you are willing to pay the insane shipping fees. Just the other day I tried to order a case of [Tahitian Treat](http://www.amazon.com/TAHITIAN-TREAT-SODA-12-pks/dp/B0002IMRTC) from [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) for my SO’s birthday (it was his favourite growing up, but it doesn’t seem to be available up here anymore so he hasn’t had it in forever). I was willing to pay the $30+ (US) for shipping - about 2.5 times the actual price of the product - but as I tried to place my order a message popped up saying they didn’t ship that product to Canada, and I was annoyed. I mean, it’s not like you have to cross an ocean or go halfway around the globe to get here, amazon - we’re barely an hour’s drive from the US border FFS! Unfortunately, they were the only place I was able to find that sells it, so he had to go without. Damn you, amazon! I, too, loved Tahiti Treat when I was young, and I find Grace’s Champagne Soda to be a good alternative. Less fruity, but with the same cloying sweetness and faintly sour aftertaste. I can buy Grace’s Champagne Soda here in Ottawa, so it’s likely available in Toronto too. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/38 "2009-08-10T04:38:51Z")
Those prices are so stupid that many Canadians find it worth their while to arrange a post office box in a convenient border town. My mom frequently orders things and has them shipped to my grandmother in LA, to be sent on to us. It makes no sense at all that this is cheaper than having the company send the goods directly to us, but that is the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/39 "2009-08-10T08:56:31Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I live in Okinawa, and I approve this rant. I live in Spain and I give the rant an A+, adding my own rant about people who sell stuff on ebay but only to their own country. Specially those who sell, for example, only to Germany but instead of using [ebay.de](http://ebay.de) use [ebay.co.uk](http://ebay.co.uk) - if you want to sell to a specific country only and there is a specific ebay for that specific country: use it, you motherless shits! Oh, and in the name of Americans who live outside of the 48 contiguous states, people who sell in [ebay.com](http://ebay.com) and refuse to ship outside the 48. Those people suck goats through a narrow straw, too. PS: one of the reasons I’m happy I’m going to the UK next week is that I’ll be able to buy songs from [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) - they say they’ll be opening amazon.es before the next milenium but I think I better get a comfy chair to wait for that. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/40 "2009-08-10T09:09:13Z")
Well, that’s what you get for failing to live in the greatest country in the world. Yes, it is a personal failing on your part. And if you disagree with me, you must be a terrorist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807.md?page=3)