Hired a car in Adelaide from a large hire car company. I booked the car through the US website as it was $220 cheaper than the AU website.
My question is this. Are there any other examples of where its cheaper to buy a service provided in Australia through US (and other countries) websites?.
Some different terms & conditions may explain the difference. All I really did was reserve a car for collection at the airport through the US site of the rental car company. The actual rental agreement & payment was completed at the airport.
I can remember people doing it with Expedia Japan
A lot of USA websites falsely inflate the exchange rate when it’s set to Australian shipping.
I do think many services have different terms and conditions and protections if bought from a different country.
I booked a flight from Melbourne to LA via Expedia US. It was nearly $400 aud cheaper
In the past I have booked cruises leaving from Sydney through US travel agents for a considerable saving. In recent years though the gap between US prices and local Australian prices has closed considerably. Also cruise lines took steps to prevent this.
AMAZON LAUNCH HALF BAKED PRIME SERVICE IN OZ
US online retailer has launched what appears to be a half-baked Amazon Prime service, days out from cutting off Australians from tens of thousands of their global product range.
The new service that was announced to some select mainstream media last night and trade media 14 hours later, means that consumers who pay a monthly Prime fee up front of $6.99 will still have to wait up to two days and in some cases pay a $19 shipping fee to get goods shipped, other items will be shipped free.
Cutting access to its long-term Australian Customers shows that AMAZON has just come to Australia to PRICE GOUGE AUSTRALIAN SHOPPERS (who are dumb enough to use Amazon) and does not give a (profanity) about its long-term customers most using Amazon to avoid price gouging or purchase products that are not available in Australia and are not available from the AMAZON RIP OFF AUSTRALIA WEBSITE.
AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS INCLUDING KOGAN STICK IT TO AMAZON
Kogan and other Australian retailers are now Giving Free Shipping on ALL Purchases not just some like AMAZONS NEW BULLSHIT OFFER.
FORGET AMAZON PRIME, KOGAN OFFERS FREE SHIPPING
a lot of people knock KOOGAN but don’t forget they were the 1st to provide Australians with HIGH-QUALITY CHEAP Flats Screen TV ’s only thing wrong with Koogan is Russians big mouth.
LARGE AMERICAN FORWARDING COMPANY ALSO GETTING READY TO STICK IT TO AMAZON.
• Reduced Annual Member Ship Fee for Australian Members.
• Buying Group Membership (people can create a group for their local Area) and members can have benefits if Individual Members at reduced cost)
• Members have their own US Street Address
• Those with Australian Visa or MasterCard accounts through their Bank will be able to obtain a USA Credit Card.
• A new web Site advertising specials in the USA and items that have free shipping within the USA (cost nothing to deliver to your US address.
• There will be Weekly Bulk shipments from US then on arrival forwarded to Australian Address. There will be monthly Sea Container shipments if you want large savings on delivery and not in a Hurry.
• They are exploring setting up a Branch in China as well.
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US car rental sites generally don't include the same level of insurance cover as you would get through an Australian site, which could be the reason for the difference.