@michellebartleywrote:
Buying off Amazon US not just Amazon au. Yes really really really and truly. I get different opinions from people I know who buy from Amazon, they think Amazon is wonderful.
@,
Australians have been able to purchase from Amazon sites for years. I don't think there's ever been an embargo on buying. I buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it, Amazon.de, Amazon.es, Amazon.ca, Amazon.nl, Amazon.jp, and if I'd known about the one in Brazil, I'd have already bought from there too, - oh, and at least four times have purchased from Amazon.cn and Amazon.jp. No Amazon in Russia, otherwise I'd have been buying things from them, but it just meant a little more work finding two or three different Russian online stores selling the sort of things I wanted, although O gospodi! The time it took for my last order to arrive! Увы и бездельничать! And the damage to some of the things inside ... water damage had caused some of it, but in all honesty it looked and smelled as though some rough sailors had got very very very drunk and urinated beery excreta over some of the books inside AND poured honey over them after that.
HOWEVER... have you ever sold anything on Amazon?
I am sure I researched this a few years ago on behalf of someone else. The gist of it at the time was that it wasn't possible for Australian sellers to sell on Amazon - or that it was so onerous to do so that it wasn't worth doing so in a business sense.
It's with the advent of Amazon.com.au having items other than downloadable books that things will (I think - can someone confirm?) have changed for sellers in Australia. They can now sell on Amazon, although I have heard that the terms are quite onerous.
Amazon is wonderful? Well, it certainly can be, and has been in some senses. Amazon's also done damage to a lot of smaller businesses, but there's no denying that the sheer range and ease of use and clarity of postage and international availability to buyers is incredibly attractive.
But for sellers ... in Australia... hmmm. I suspect... no.
(By the way, Amazon may cancel buyer accounts on Amazon at their discretion, and Marketplace sellers can decline to fulfill a customer's order at their discretion.)
One more thing: Amazon customer service leaves eBay's customer service for dead. There's a lesson to be learned from that; eBay could improve dramatically by providing a similar level of customer service help. But they don't, and I suspect they won't. The only reliable help in almost every eBay buyer or eBay seller spot of trouble is right here on these boards, assisted by the experienced, to the point, sometimes acerbic but always knowledgeable volunteer help of long-time eBay members who have been through almost every eBay crise d'achats that can be imagined.
