Amazon’s international stores are shipping to Australia again

Although the Australian version of Amazon launched last year, it hasn’t yet quite had the same breadth of products as its U.S. counterpart.

From Thursday, Aussies will be able to buy from Amazon’s international stores, after the company backflipped on a decision to block shipping to Australian customers.

In July, Amazon controversially stopped Australian shoppers from purchasing products from its international stores, after the company deemed it was too difficult to collect the country’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) from these orders.   

New laws introduced on Jul. 1 meant that companies would need to charge GST on all purchases made overseas which were shipped to Australia. Previously, the tax only applied to purchases above $1,000.

“Following the announcement of these changes, we listened to the customer feedback and assessed how we could respond,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

“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.”

The decision is great timing for Australians who want to take advantage of Black Friday sales, especially on the U.S. store where they are particularly attractive.