The Singapore Forum

Australia, with it's population of 21 million or so, is seen as a minor market by many manufacturers. As a result, some companies don't bother to set up in this country, some import only a limited range of their products, and others set up through a single importer and are available but ridiculously priced.

I've done a fair bit of buying from overseas via the net, and ended up with some great stuff which either isn't available or is insanely expensive if bought here in Oz. I've had Artemide lamps posted from Germany and, even including the cost of postage, paid about half what I would have been charged here. But the major thing that frustrates me is when an overseas seller either refuses to ship outside their country or will ship, but insists on using Fedex/UPS or some other hideously priced shipping service, and adding exorbitant 'service fees', instead of simply using USPS or whatever their mail service is.

A case in point - I'd like to get a small Sony radio from the US, and have found it online on numerous websites for the retail price of $50 or less. But the only seller I've found so far who will accept a credit card or Paypal payment from outside the US, and ship to Oz, wants $69 for the radio, another $45 for shipping, and $12 for 'handling'. At that price, I'm not buying.

They say it's a global market, but I don't think we're quite there yet.

Know what you mean, sometimes look at prices in te States or UK and see prices here and am flabbergasted.

At least a couple of companies have done the right thing and set up a freight-forwarding services so you send it to a US address and they forwrd it onto you. vPost (Singapore Post) was the first, and not very good. comgateway then did something and did it well, using DHL and it's cheaper and better service. I've seen a couple more since.

Not sure if anything is available for Austrlia though, but probably worth looking for. Even shipped a small BBQ from Amazon from them.