# 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:** 3
**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, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/41 "2009-08-10T09:21:38Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > 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. Lots of us would gladly move to The Greatest Country In The World™, except the Government thereof seems to have gone out of their way to make it nearly impossible for people to do that. As a semi-consolation prize I think most of us would be happy to be able to order cheap stuff from the US online and not get shafted on shipping charges or told the seller doesn’t know how to spell “Australia” and therefore won’t ship to us. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/42 "2009-08-10T09:35:24Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > 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? Amazon was started in the late 1950s here in the UK, selling WWII memorabilia by mail order. They have always taken an interest in new technology: for example, they experimented with Prestel in the late '80s, at the same time expanding their range to include fashionable toys like Action Man and the Rubik’s Cube. Yes, you’re right: Jeff Bezos acquired the original Amazon shortly after he moved to the States from his birthplace in Chorley, Lancashire. The rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/43 "2009-08-10T09:39:47Z")
I’m not American and I endorse this rant. And while we’re on the subject - just how hard would it be to indicate CLEARLY what currency you are quoting in? I have lost count of the number of times I have gone shopping for anything on line, and the currency is not clearly indicated. We are not mind readers people. Just make it clear. Please. 🙂 ---
**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, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/44 "2009-08-10T10:50:50Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Lots of us would gladly move to The Greatest Country In The World™ [Public Enemy] **Don’t Don’t Don’t believe the hype** [/Public Enemy] ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/45 "2009-08-10T12:04:52Z")
> [@Uzi](#): > > Oh, you only have the gorilla? I’m sure we have a rhinoceros do ours. I ordered some perfume for my wife. It took 3 months to get to our house in Calgary. The company we ordered from didn’t offer tracking on deliveries to Canada even though Fedex does allow that. They just don’t use Fedex to ship to Canada. You have to use regular post. Canada post is run by retarded monkeys who smoke crack, heroin, and practice lobotomies on each other for fun. When you want to talk to them about their crappy service they fling poo at you and say, interrupted by much hooting and howling, “Yes, we know the delivery guy is probably stealing stuff, but he is a private contractor and we can’t do anything about that”. The end. I’m surprised it isn’t customers who walk into post offices to blow them away rather than disgruntled employees. And don’t get me started on the flatworms who work for customs. Having just moved to Canada from the UK, I heartily endorse this rant (and all the others). Add UPS too please. WTF is it with the import duty thing. My daughter sent me an 18X24 framed photograph via USPS/Canada Post (which arrived!) for the cost of shipping (exorbitant but at least only shipping) Another friend sent an unframed 8X10 print that cost me C$50. to retrieve from UPS. Didn’t have the heart to tell her not to send anymore “gifts” please. Also, ebay.ca sucks monkey balls. Every fucking item on there is from the USA and the shipping costs are pure usury. I desperately miss [Amazon.co.uk](http://Amazon.co.uk) (they were brilliant - orders placed in the evening were on the doorstep the next morning) [ebay.co.uk](http://ebay.co.uk) (where you could get anything, anytime) and the Royal Mail! Brits that bitch about the Royal Mail should be immediately sent to live in Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/46 "2009-08-10T13:12:19Z")
I sympathize with all of you furriners, but I would like to add my complaint as an _American_; we have all of these rules on shipping meat into the country which means I can’t get the delicious nash sausages we had in Montreal shipped to me because Schwartz’s deli can’t ship to the US. DO WANT! ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/47 "2009-08-10T14:02:14Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > Add UPS too please. UPS? Oh, I’ve managed to drive memories of UPS and customs from my mind. Now you’ve brought them back! \ > [@](#): > > Also, ebay.ca sucks monkey balls. Every fucking item on there is from the USA and the shipping costs are pure usury. Bingo. I tried using ebay.ca a few times. I find it easier, and cheaper when you factor in the time spent searching, waiting, etc, to buy things retail. ---
**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 10, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/48 "2009-08-10T15:02:39Z")
You know, you’re really pitting the wrong side. Your problem isn’t that it costs so much to ship stuff from America – or that it can’t be shipped at all – it’s that you can’t just buy the stuff, or an acceptible equivalent brand name, in your own country. What’s up with that? Okay, maybe it’s impractical for every country to manufacture everything, but couldn’t there could be a store that specializes in importing stuff? Let one big entity take care of the importing/shipping/taxes/whatever. I bet the end price, even marked up suitably to cover their expenses, would still be cheaper and much more convenient for the local customers. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/49 "2009-08-10T15:08:08Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > Having just moved to Canada from the UK, I heartily endorse this rant (and all the others). Add UPS too please. WTF is it with the import duty thing. My daughter sent me an 18X24 framed photograph via USPS/Canada Post (which arrived!) for the cost of shipping (exorbitant but at least only shipping) Another friend sent an unframed 8X10 print that cost me C$50. to retrieve from UPS. Didn’t have the heart to tell her not to send anymore “gifts” please. Heh. If you want a Canada Post story, my mother sent her classmate a postcard for an assignment at her community English classes. Her classmate lived maybe four blocks away. The postcard took **six weeks** to arrive. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/50 "2009-08-10T15:09:50Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > But not all is bad! They also send me $5 of credit for their mp3 store. I’ve never bought mp3s from Amazon but I know they’re good quality and drm-free. Great! I think, I guess this makes up for the previous lameness which wasn’t really their fault anyway. When I try to use the credit it tells me the mp3 store is only available to Americans. I don’t mean to laugh at your pain, except I’m going to laugh at your pain. This is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/51 "2009-08-10T19:02:32Z")
What’s up with all the people ranting about Japan? I used amazon.co.jp all the time when I lived near Tokyo (Kanagawa-ken, Kawasaki-shi, Tama-ku), and it was great: free shipping on anything over 2,000 yen, and most stuff got to me next-day. ---
**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, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/52 "2009-08-10T20:06:12Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > 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. Thanks for the suggestion! I don’t know if anything can ever replace Tahiti Treat and its sweet pink goodness, but I’ll give the Grace’s Soda a try the next time I see it. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/53 "2009-08-10T21:18:22Z")
So, is [this](http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--623573193_Headphones) unacceptable? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/54 "2009-08-10T22:58:23Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > As a fellow Australian, I hereby add my Big Shiny Stamp Of Approval to this rant from our airborne noodle-comprised colleague. Yep. Kiwi here… “A+++ rant, would read again”. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Last time I checked Australia and the USA had a Free Trade Agreement. So why can’t we buy half the cool stuff we see on Amazon? Funny, I thought the exact same thing when iTunes opened in Australia with regards to NZ and CER (which for our foreign listeners is an OZ-NZ trade agreement in place since 1983 that says in part: “A good that can be legally sold in one country can also be legally sold in the other.”). But noooo… apparently tunes that could be sold in Australia could not be sold to NZers. :mad: > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Okay, maybe it’s impractical for every country to manufacture everything, but couldn’t there could be a store that specializes in importing stuff? … I bet the end price, even marked up suitably to cover their expenses, would still be cheaper and much more convenient for the local customers. Here in NZ I was able to buy two pairs of Levis online from JC Penney and have them shipped to me, and after freight and conversion have the total price come out only a little above the price of one pair locally. And I was able to get styles and fits that aren’t available locally. (Have made an order like that twice now to Penneys – was very happy with their price and service). ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/55 "2009-08-10T23:16:07Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > When I told him about it, a comrade over the border offered to mail me a wind-up alarm clock just to keep them on their toes… For added fun include some wires and blocks of Playdoh. 😃 > [@](#): > > …but I’m not sure spending the next ten years in Gitmo would be worth the amusement. Yeah, that the problem with trolling the powers that be; no sense of humour. 🙂 My very respectable businessman looking Dad caused a kerfuffle at an airport many years ago (pre current madness) when the x-ray machine scanned his carry on to reveal an alarm clock and a couple of metal cylinders. (Shaving foam and deodorant as I recall). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/56 "2009-08-10T23:18:53Z")
As an inhabitant of the Dominican Republic, please let me add my hearty endorsement to this rant. I have a US-issued credit card, a US address, all legit, and I still have trouble because my IP does not match the address, even when I explain to vendors that my purchase is legit, and can prove it. T Morons! ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/57 "2009-08-11T04:49:18Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > What’s up with all the people ranting about Japan? I used amazon.co.jp all the time when I lived near Tokyo (Kanagawa-ken, Kawasaki-shi, Tama-ku), and it was great: free shipping on anything over 2,000 yen, and most stuff got to me next-day. Amazon.co.jp is great for buying goods that are already in Japan, and having them delivered within Japan. For buying from overseas it’s a piece of poo. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/58 "2009-08-11T09:34:03Z")
Yeah, I live in Norway too, and have never had trouble with [Amazon.co.uk](http://Amazon.co.uk) I never have trouble when buying, say, books from american Amazon, but I wont even bother about electronics anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/59 "2009-08-11T10:15:56Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Do you know anyone in America who’d be willing to order and then ship them to you? I’ve done that for a couple of my Australian friends and relatives since i moved to the US. Yes, my mom does this for me. Having shopped online in both the US and Australia, it does blow goats to shop online outside the US. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807/60 "2009-08-11T10:40:18Z")
> [@Septima](#): > > Yeah, I live in Norway too, and have never had trouble with [Amazon.co.uk](http://Amazon.co.uk) > > I never have trouble when buying, say, books from american Amazon, but I wont even bother about electronics anymore. That’s because books have a special exception for some strange reason. Anything that can be classified as books, including comics and such, go through without incident. Unfortunately that’s the only exception I’m aware of. And god help you if the documentation isn’t 100%. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-online-shopping-from-outside-the-us-long-sweary-possibly-incoherent/505807.md?page=4)