With the Aussie dollar at a 20-year high, I’m sure I’m not the only one considering splashing out buying stuff from Amazon or other offshore etailers. I’ve already got some DVDs on the way (The Goodies LWT and Spaced; neither of which are available in Australia) and am considering a few books and things as well.
Less immediate will be a drop in prices in “Bricks & Mortar” stores, but with a bit of luck the video camera I’ve been eyeing might drop a little as well.
Anybody else ordering stuff?
13 replies on “Go you Aussie dollar!”
High $A?
Bye bye Aussie manufacturing.
Sayonara Japanese tourists.
Oh, but Daniel saves $2 on a Goodies DVD.
Joy unleased!
Count me as happy too Daniel, but being the geek I am I’m ordering some ASP.Net reference books that are finally affordable.
I must confess to having purchased some yarn last night!
I wish we could afford these things, The Goodies were one of my favourites. Unfortunately, the public school system being a washout for my kids we have to pay private school fees. These sort of luxuries will have to wait a couple of years.
I have ordered books recently through UK Book Depository and I did my homework carefully before doing so. I would willingly have purchased my books here but when you find that a local book shop wants to charge you $79 for a book which you can have shipped from the UK at a cost of around $38 (airmailed postage free!) then why on earth would you do it. If it was just a matter of a couple of dollars then I would buy here. Same principles as I apply when looking to buy organic vs mass produced. If I am going to have to pay 2 or 3 times the normal price for organic then chances are I will go for the mass produced goods, no matter how good my intentions are.
Oh yeah, laptop bag, presents and still looking…
Cant talk…….. shopping online.
If everyone reads this and did what you’re planning, the current account deficit will rise, the RBA will get nervous and suddenly interest rates are up 0.25% ie $1000 pa on a $400k mortgage.
Sterling silver wire for my jewellery! WEEE!!! Cheapcheapcheapcheap… *prances*
uh-huh, me too… DVDs from Amazon that have been on my wish list for months.
Roger/Peter: This is a blog, not the Fin Review!
Yep – it’s not the Fin Review!
1. Aussie manufacturers liable to be hurt by the high $A are the ones who export most of their product. And the good ones of those (and that’s most of them) hedge their forex deals against just such eventualities. The manufacturers who sell domestically won’t be hurt at all.
2. Japanese tourists don’t come here because the $A is low. They come here because back there they have 127 million people in an area less than twice the size of Victoria and when they get here they can be astounded at the “wide open spaces” of the average Aussie back yard – never mind the stupefyingly large and empty Outback! The $A being high merely reduces the number of souvenirs they may take home.
3. If the current account deficit was the only thing driving the RBA to lift interest rates, the rates would have been constantly on the rise for decades!
As for the original question, yes – I’m buying: mostly concentrating on software purchases and upgrades as well as domain name renewals, etc.
HUbby has been book buying a lot from US ebay stores. and I’ve been buying geeky little things from dealextreme.com ( see to be down the last couple of times I’ve tried them) and kaidomain.com so cheap anyway but with free postage. it’s addictive.
I also tend to buy dvd’s from a couple of US stores and from bensonsworld in the Uk