the_gripmaster

Does anyone know when there would be a local Amazon in Australia (www.amazon.com.au)?

If there could be a local Amazon in Japan (www.amazon.co.jp), why not in Australia?

Centurion

Basically never I reckon. The population density of Australia is vastly different to Japan, EU and the US which I suspect makes the business model very unattractive in comparison.

herrchook

In the meantime, have your books delivered from Book Depository online - free international p & p. Books are often a little more expensive than Amazon, but overall cheaper when you factor in the free p & p. Haven't ever waited more than 7 days for books to arrive from them either

foxall22

As I understand it there's a frustrating law that makes book sellers in Au buy from a domestic publisher unless that isn't a possibility, so basically sellers can't import cheap books.

A proposed change to the law is going through parliament at the moment, as something like 35% of all books sold in Australia are sold online through international sites like amazon.

So if it gets through then expect the price of books to come down - about time.

Syedney

Use http://www.eazygamer.com for games, etc...

BATS666

Did a quick check on Amazon uk against book depository against AU book store (thenile.com.au)
10 books -
Amazon £62 + £38 p&p = £100
BD UK - £84 - free p&p
thenile - $218 - free p&p
So BD wins hands down and even the online au seller beats amazon UK if the exchange rate ever gets back above $2.18...tho that might just increase the price here anyway.
Didnt look at amazon usa. might be cheaper there?

temptininnit

e books are the next big thing in the rest of the world. Amazon are releasing an international "kindle" which has cheaper books than you would get in Australia.

Apple are rumoured to be working on an e-book reader. Its release is expected early next year.

If you still want a paper book e-books should eventually drive paper book prices cheaper- even here!!

Gems

I also buy regular from Bood depository.
The book shop in town is way over priced, and when you have 4 book reader kids it gets costly.

Im so over this 'buy in Australia' this only = pay more

Ive been on a few Aus forums for mums and they are even shipping over large prams as the choice is rubbish here and costly. Even with shipping from the UK or US they are getting better prams and cheaper.

Gems

Amazulu

I just bought a whole load of halogen light bulbs from the UK at a quarter of the local price.

sr71

Choose your reason :

Japan has something like 300 million people
Japan is a technologically advanced society
The Japanese have loads of disposable income
Australia is backwards when it comes to e-commerce
Australia has a broadband network that sucks
etc
etc

Petals

Second hand books on ebay are cheap too.

Also markets second hand book shops etc.

Technical and uni books there is a shop in Melbourne where you can get them.

I buy from Amazon UK mainly dvd's and cds though.

Cannot ever see Amazon coming here way too few people in the market place.

Have a look at http://brotherhoodbooks.org.au/static/about being a charity the money is for a good cause and you may just find a cheap book too.

Swerv-o

There area also licencing issues too - They would have to negotiate new licences to sell products within Australia, and they probably wouldn't recoup the licence fees and legal costs from the sales they would make. Australians seem to be very reluctant to buy online.

I understand that books can be bought cheaply elsewhere, but it's the other cheap things that Amazon stock that I miss - Software, electronics, camera equipment, computers, Lego. They refuse to deliver any of that stuff here, so you end up faffing about with forwarding agencies.

I think the global marketplace has an awful long way to go just yet...


S

ABCDiamond

Not quite right

bcworld

I remember at school in Geography we studied Japan and watched a series called 'The Crowded Islands'. They must be a whole lot more overcrowded now!

ABCDiamond

18 October 2004
Japan’s population is poised to peak at about 127.5 million people in the year 2005. From that point on, if the situation remains unchanged, it will begin a reverse track, contracting markedly to an estimated 105 million people by 2050.
http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/di...s/Chapple.html


Japan Population was 127.7 million in 2005
http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/k...f/2005ch01.pdf