Amazon unblocks Oz shoppers from US store

Thursday, 22 November 2018 Books+Publishing

Australian consumers are now able to purchase and ship items from Amazon’s international website, according to a statement from Amazon.

The retailer suspended shipping to Australian addresses from its international website on 1 July 2018 in a move to comply with GST laws affecting online retailers. Amazon had established a ‘global store’ option on its Australian site offering a selection of four million products from the international store, which has increased to 20 million. After making the change to allow delivery to Australia directly from Amazon.com, customers have access to around 500 million products.

Amazon says it has listened to customer feedback after announcing the changes. ‘Since that time, our teams have continued to focus their efforts on building the complex infrastructure needed to enable exports of low-value goods to Australia and remain compliant with GST laws,’ said an Amazon spokesperson.

‘We will continue to work constructively with the government on the implementation and enforcement of its legislation to ensure it achieves its objective of a level playing field for all retailers and marketplaces,’ the spokesperson added.

Amazon has announced the change to shipping on the day prior to Amazon’s Black Friday sales promotion on 23 November.

The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) chief executive Joel Becker told Books+Publishing that it was impressed that after about six months, Amazon has come up with a solution to add GST to sales. The ABA has long lobbied for the change to Australia’s model for collecting GST on low-value overseas purchases.

‘We congratulate the Commonwealth government and the Australian Taxation Office for sticking to their principles. Needless to say, as long as Amazon operates within Australian government regulatory rules, respecting tax and copyright laws, we acknowledge their place in the retail landscape,’ said Becker.

Category: Local news