I assume their is an Amazon equivalent in Oz?

Also, are there any sites that sell more specialist music (e.g. heavy rock).

Thanks

Don't know about music sites but we found this site really good
www.dvdorchard.com.au

[The main bookstores do online ordering, but as I found with Harry Potter, they don't give the service Amazon does ( ordered HP for publication day delivery, got it 3 weeks later!!!). books here are not given as much importance as the UK - everywhere sells cheap tat paperbacks, but the quality stuff is rarer.

To be honest the Amazon equivalent is Amazon itself, and they deliver to Aus.

and for music, rather than online, try JB HiFi- other half buys all his heavy rock there. JBs are everywhere.

A good music/DVD/games website that I use is:

www.cd-wow.com

They're based in Hong Kong (I think) and ship all over the world for free. Personally, I pay in sterling (through the bank account we kept open in the UK for such purposes) and they're happy to ship to a different address to the account (i.e. Aus). Most CDs (including brand new releases) are less than 9 pounds.

Not the fastest delivery time on earth (about a week, rather than Amazon's three days), but pretty good.

GG

The major Aussie booksellers have internet sites but they are not like Amazon. Most only list items they have in stock which makes them rather limited, and they offer very little in terms of discount and additional information (reviews, ranking etc). Books are significantly more expensive in Australia; they charge GST, but the difference is often more than 10%. Cover prices are sometimes directly comparable, but it is much harder to find a discount - the latest Harry Potter excepted. Kids books in particular seem very expensive, and I find it cheaper to order from 'thebookpeople' and have them shipped over. When looking for specific books you may find that they are simply not available here, and have to be shipped in anyway.
On a more positive note the libraries are substantially better. You can join any library, no need to be resident in that area, and can take out as many books as you like (limits apply to videos, DVDs, software etc - but there is no charge). You can search the catalogue, reserve and renew online, and I find the attitude of the librarians significantly less snotty. On the one occasion when we have requested a book they didn't have, it was purchased by the library.
In retrospect the only things I wish I had stocked up on before coming over were books and Marmite! I was worried about customs charges, but we declared other new items in our shipment (mostly kids clothes/toys and a few small electrical items), and were not charged anything.
Regards, Kirsty

http://www.booktopia.com.au/

BUT.....i normally buy from amazon.com

If the book is less than $50, you don't pay GST. Its much cheaper buying from the states if you are after a specific title. As Kirsty said.....generally books are quite expensive here.

There are some cracking secondhand book shops around if you aren't after a specific title.

Just use amazon.co.uk. The VAT will be deducted so will offset the p&p

Thanks for that........looks good

Had another thought - there's a great bookshop in Sydney, which delivers throughout Australia. It also sells DVDs and CDs. It's won the Australian Bookseller of the Year Award and, as it so happens, is my favouritest shop in the whole of Sydney. It's got a good range of both general interest and academic books; hold antiquarian, secondhand and rare book collections and has a seperate store for children's books. It carries a really wide number of titles by Australian authors.

Sales pitch over, here's the link:

http://www.gleebooks.com.au

GG

Just had a look at amazon.com & amazon.co.uk, but which is the best to use?

.com charges $6.99 (US) per shipment plus $4.99 (US) per book + price of book, which equates to $15.81 (AU) for shipment before price of book.

.co.uk charges 4.99 (GBP) per shipment then 2.99 per book, so $18.67 for shipment of one book, before price of book.

Seems a lot but someone mentioned deduction of VAT, presumably this is only from UK & is it only on certain items?

Help! Getting v confused!

Thanks
Loopy

Have to agree Glee Books are great they found a book for me which I looked all over Brisbane for.
Cd Wow are also really good after Georgie Georges recommendation I've ordered far too many cd's!! With the free delivery it works out far cheaper than buying cd's here.

Try www.sanity.com.au

Thanks - looks good

http://www.virginbooks.com/go/Default

havn't used them but remembered seeing it when i searched for something the other day