Avoiding the Global Shipping Program is relatively easy, 4channel. (Or at least, I can affirm that it's been easy for me; the one time I thought "Oh no, am I going to have to have these chairs sent over through the GSP???!", I continued looking - and found a seller locally who had exactly what I wanted in exactly the style and colour that I wanted, at an excellent price, with warranty, with interstate postage extraordinarily reasonable.)
The "drop-box" thing (aka US parcel-forwarding address) is another issue. I have had some difficulties getting items sent to my US parcel-forwarding address on occasion. The difficulties are:
- some stores in the US will not send to freight-forwarding addresses, and will simply cancel the order;
- almost every third-party seller on Amazon seems not to be allowed to send to freight-forwarding addresses, even if the item is "fulfillment by Amazon";
- some stores in the US will only send when the (US) billing address matches the address on file for the credit card being used;
- by the same token those stores will not allow payment via PayPal unless it is an American PayPal account (not an Australian one);
- it is always something of a risk to try to bypass these measures by obtaining a virtual prepaid card, so always do a lot of risk assessment if planning to get one of these; and
- the parcel-forwarder will be responsible for collecting the GST on the cost of both the purchased goods and the shipping cost from them to you in Australia (and all associated costs including insurance).
In summary:
- will the transaction go through?
- is your payment method safe?
- have you taken into account the GST on the total cost (including all shipping fees)?
The US is very keen in having credit/debit card address verifications; it's seen as an important safety measure. Hence the issues with using an Australian c/c while having items posted to a US address.
I think in many cases the first two questions can be satisfactorily met, but the third point is always going to be a factor for buyers. If using a parcel forwarder/shipping company to whom the merchant sent the goods, and that parcel forwarder/shipping company is then going to send the items to you from the US parcel forwarding address, then that parcel forwarder/shipping company must collect the GST amount from you (to be remitted to the ATO).
If you can find sellers selling from their own websites, happy to post directly to you from the US, and not being required to charge GST (because their gross turnover of Australian sales doesn't reach the annual A$75,000 threshold), then you will not be required to pay GST.
But... if a US address is used as a drop-box or parcel forwarding address, GST will be required to be paid, even if you've bought from a small seller with his/her own website, who is not required to charge you GST. You change the game and make GST payable if you use a parcel forwarder.
