pinkaboo
11-18-2004, 11:51 PM
Hey there.
My family is terribly international right now, my parents are in the UK, I'm now in the States, while my brother just emigrated to Australia with his wife. It's a complete mess!
With Christmas (and my bro and Dad's birthdays) coming up, present giving is getting a little complex. I've found the best way to send gifts to my Mum and Dad is to purchase online from UK sites and ship them directly from there.
However, Australia is proving more problematic. I was hoping to be able to do the same thing and order something for my bro that way, as I hate having to spend more on postage than the item is worth, but I get the impression that online shopping hasn't really taken off over there yet?
I spent ages using the Aussie google and drew a blank on reputable looking sites that deliver.
I had one idea of getting some decent beer delivered (sorry Aussies, he's been moaning about your bevvys) but could only find sites that listed their inventories. You then had to make the trip to the store yourself.
I gave up on that idea and decided to try to find a book bro might like, and was most surprised to discover there is no Amazon.com.au.
What's going on?! Am I just looking in the wrong places?
On a slight, but related, sidenote, my brother set up an online store for the garden sales business he worked for in the UK and was hoping to replicate his success in Australia, but last time I spoke to him about it he was disappointed and said something about some regulations in Oz restricting online sales?
So...
a) Is there some truth what my brother said about shopping online in Oz?
and
b) Does anyone out there have any cunning ideas for overseas giftgiving in Australia (MacKay, QLD to be precise) please?!!
(bro = bloke, 27, married, mechanic, loves: cars, playing with cars, racing cars, garden machinery, tractors, chainsaws, drinking, beer, brewing beer, more beer)
Cheers!
K
My family is terribly international right now, my parents are in the UK, I'm now in the States, while my brother just emigrated to Australia with his wife. It's a complete mess!
With Christmas (and my bro and Dad's birthdays) coming up, present giving is getting a little complex. I've found the best way to send gifts to my Mum and Dad is to purchase online from UK sites and ship them directly from there.
However, Australia is proving more problematic. I was hoping to be able to do the same thing and order something for my bro that way, as I hate having to spend more on postage than the item is worth, but I get the impression that online shopping hasn't really taken off over there yet?
I spent ages using the Aussie google and drew a blank on reputable looking sites that deliver.
I had one idea of getting some decent beer delivered (sorry Aussies, he's been moaning about your bevvys) but could only find sites that listed their inventories. You then had to make the trip to the store yourself.
I gave up on that idea and decided to try to find a book bro might like, and was most surprised to discover there is no Amazon.com.au.
What's going on?! Am I just looking in the wrong places?
On a slight, but related, sidenote, my brother set up an online store for the garden sales business he worked for in the UK and was hoping to replicate his success in Australia, but last time I spoke to him about it he was disappointed and said something about some regulations in Oz restricting online sales?
So...
a) Is there some truth what my brother said about shopping online in Oz?
and
b) Does anyone out there have any cunning ideas for overseas giftgiving in Australia (MacKay, QLD to be precise) please?!!
(bro = bloke, 27, married, mechanic, loves: cars, playing with cars, racing cars, garden machinery, tractors, chainsaws, drinking, beer, brewing beer, more beer)
Cheers!
K