It's good time to shop in US

[joey]

I want to share some interesting information with forum users on how to buy various goods online in US shops and import them in Australia. Some of you already know this.

Many US traders will not ship internationally. However, there are businesses such as Access USA that will provide its clients with US mailing addresses for a monthly fee. It works like this:
You can buy what you want to buy in a US shop and ask the trader to send your items to your US mailing address. The items you purchased can be stored at that address for 45 days without you being charged any fees.
Access USA - where your items are stored - will re-pack your goods if needed and forward them to your home address. For example, if you have several smaller parcels, you can ask Access USA to re-pack them into one bigger parcel and thus save on the cost of shipping.

What’s interesting about the service Access USA provides is that you can ask them when and how you want to ship your items, add additional names of your friends and their addresses to your account and share the cost between several people.
Also, you can ask Access USA to declare the value on each item or on each parcel. Yes, they will list the value on your items you ask them.

Cost of membership in Access USA is $15USD/month. It’s a little less if you pay up front for 12 months. The cost of adding each additional name and address to this account is $20USD.

I have been using this service for about 7 months now. I never had any problems.
The only thing I don’t like is that Australian customers can only use DHL for international shipping. This courier is more expensive than FedEx, UPS and USPS.

http://www.myus.com/

Happy shopping!

[gstark]

An interesting concept, and having a US address can be wuite helpful. I have a couple that I can use, and if you have friends who live over there, consider asking them for help.

Just to get a fuller picture of the total costs involved in using this service, everyone needs to note that there's an initial signup cost of US$35 (once only), and each shipment to Oz imposes the cost of a commercial invoice - US$8.

Using their quoted rates, a 2Kg package shipped to Oz will incur a charge of US$44, plus the US$8 invoice cost. What's the weight of, say, a Markins ballhead, and what's the cost of its direct shipment to Oz?

This sounds like a great idea for those who do not have access to a US address, and in particular, it offers an additional option for those times where delivery to Oz, from the vendor, is not offered.

Y'all will make up your own minds as to the usefulness and value of this service.

[gstark]

One other point that I neglected to raise is that of US taxes. Purchasing within the US has some different implications in this regard ...

All prices that you see quoted are excluding tax. For off-shore purchases, that's fine, but for any in-state purchases (purchases made and delivered within the same state) then the local state sales tax - typically around 8-10% - will be added to the cost of your goods.

Purchases made ex-state - vendor in state A and purchaser in state B are a little bit different ... if the vendor also trades in the same state as that where the purchaser resides, then the local state taxes also apply, at the purchasing state's rates.

If the vendor does not have a trading presence, then it may be the case that the state sales tax can be avoided, but that will be up to the vendor - you may need to haggle ...

A couple of states impose no state sales tax ... Nevada is one.

And finally, some states are actually very aggressive when it comes to collecting what they believe is their due. Philadelphia, I think, is one such state, and I'm aware of some very interesting stories where residents have purchased goods out of state, and the state has gone after them in a big way for taxes "evaded". And no, we're not talking huge sums of money.

But my point is that, when making internal US purchases, you need to be aware of these smnall gotchas that may increase the effective landed-in-Oz prices beyond your initial expectations.

Remember too that your CC payments to Access USA will also be subject to the usual credit card <strike>rip-offs</strike>surcharges for currency conversions.

[joey]

I and my relative have been using this service for 7 months. I have not paid any sales taxes imposed between the states. You have to know which state will impose the taxes too. Often, this information is provided by the trader when you enter you credit card details on its website. $35 is a setup fee I forgot to mention. It’s still an attractive option when account is shared between 3 people. Annual fee is $132 + $35 + 2*$20 for two other people. The total cost is $207 for 3 people. That’s $69USD per person for a year.
Of course, heavy goods will be very expensive to ship. So, shipping a plasma TV may not be a good idea. Even with $8 for a commercial invoice and a small fee on CC for currency conversion. I can assure your savings will be very substantial when you purchase expensive goods in US that cost several thousands dollars. If doing only a small transaction for under $300, the service this company provides may not be economically viable. However, if you have several parcels then it’s cheaper to ship them to one place, re-pack them and ship the goods as one bigger parcel.

It appears you are not favouring the idea. Personally, I think having US mailing address is a great idea. I don’t have vested interest in this. There are a large number of similar businesses established, and people around the world are using their services.

One other thing. The cost of shipping within US has to be paid too. Usually, it's $5-$15, it depends the weight of the items. There are so many traders operating in US that many of them are offering free delivery within US. Occasionally, these traders have huge clearances and many products on special. Newsletters from your favourite traders can be emailed to you and you won't miss their sale outs.