Amazon has back-pedalled on its decision to block Australians from accessing the retail giant’s international site.
The initial move to block local customers rolled out in July, with Amazon citing GST issues as the catalyst for the decision.
According to GST regulations which came into effect in early July, offshore retailers had to begin applying a 10 per cent GST on any goods they sell.
As a result, local shoppers who tried to access Amazon’s international websites were redirected to the Australian site.
Now, in a statement from Amazon, a spokesperson said: “Earlier this year, Amazon assessed changes to the Australian GST law… and, in order to remain compliant with the legislation, made the difficult decision to suspend exports from our international stores to Australia.
“Following the announcement of these changes, we listened to the customer feedback and assessed how we could respond.
“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.”
In July, when Australians were originally shut out of the US site, Amazon said in a statement that it regretted any inconvenience caused to customers, and “had to assess the workability of the legislation as a global business with multiple international sites”.
