This is happening more and more.
Whilst I do not agree with it, this is the future.
Foreign sellers are setting up large warehouses in Australia and other countries.
They know people will buy more if it is coming from the same country as they bought it in.
So it is made offshore, sent here and distributed as if the operation was from that country.
I would presume these drop-ship warehouses pay the same postage as anyone else in that particular country.
As for postage. The Chinese government subsidise the postage on items sent from China, this we can do very little about.
It is a form of protection in reverse.
In this e-commerce life, you try and find something you can sell and make a reasonable profit on.
If you can't, time for a career change.
My particular business (coins) is fiercly competitive, like most other retail industries.
Many people sell items particularly coin accessories (albums, pages, books, etc) at prices I just cannot compete with.
So guess what? I do not try, as there is no point doing all that work to make maybe 5-10%, after expenses.
I find areas in my business where I can make a quid and leave others to sell coin accessories on wafer thin margins..
Perhaps this is what you need to do, find a niche of your own, so you are different from the rest.
The landfill in particular and the world in general, is full of cheaply manufactured junk.
