Shopping Online for American Clothes from U.S.

Retailers to
Australia
Big Selection of Fashion and Bargains ... if You Have a U.S. Address

Online shopping from the USA offers you the best selection of goods from famous brands and
stores.

Convenience
• No standing in queues!
• No need for expensive petrol to do your shopping.
• “Tight budgets and bad weather keep people at home where they can shop online for
bargains,” reported James Roper, chief executive at IMRG (www.imrg.org).
• Selection is unbeatable.
• Compare prices without leaving your home or office.
• 24/7 availability.
• Get a USA address to bypass potential international shipping hurdles.

Tips on Shopping from U.S. Retailers

Once You’ve Found the Perfect Skirt, Heels, or Jewelry (you get the idea!) ... What About
Size, Payment and Shipping?

Use these secrets and tips to take advantage of all that U.S. stores
have to offer, with none of the hassle some international shoppers
experience!
Shipping options and available payment choices are the two most important bits of information
you need. You can usually find this information under pages labeled FAQs (frequently asked
questions), Customer Service, or Shipping.

International Clothing Size Conversion

Denmark 32 34 36 38 40 42
France 34 36 38 40 42 44
Italy 38 40 42 44 46 48
Japan 5 7 9 11 13 15
United Kingdom 6 8 10 12 14 16
United States 0-2 4 6 8 10 12

International Shoe Size Conversion

France 37 37.5 38 38.5 39 39.5 40 40.5 41
Italy 36 36.5 37 37.5 38 38.5 39 39.5 40
United Kingdom 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7
United States 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10

Paying for Your Shopping Finds

Most U.S. online shops accept major credit cards such as American Express, Visa, MasterCard.
Some take Discover, Diners Club and JCB. Where you may run into trouble is entering a billing
address that is not in the U.S., you get an error message for no clear reason. or your order looks
like it goes through fine, but it's later cancelled.
U.S. online websites accepting credit cards commonly try to verify the address you've provided
with the address registered to your credit card. It's called Address Verification System, and it
doesn't work outside the U.S. The retailer is just trying to ensure their customer is making a valid
credit card transaction.

Secrets & Tips for Getting Around Payment Issues

1. Easiest - Get a U.S. address from a trusted package-forwarding company like

www.myus.com. You get a real address in the U.S. at their Florida headquarters and
warehouse facilities. Add this as a secondary address to your credit card. (See section on
Shipping for how this works.)
2. Fastest - If you want to save time and just get your stuff, go with a personal shopper
service like the one at www.myus.com. You tell them what you want to order, and they
buy the goods for you. They do take major credit cards with a foreign billing address
and/or issued by a non-U.S. bank or other financial institution. They also accept wire
transfers. They've been in business more than 10 years and have a good reputation and
customer serivce. There's a small fee for the service, and a slight markup on the
purchase to pay for processing your credit card payment.
3. For shopping addicts - If you'd like do a lot of shopping from U.S. online stores, you can
get a credit card issued from an American bank, using your U.S. address noted above.
This is even better because your credit card is issued by a financial institution based in
the United States - another requirement often used by retailers in an effort to avoid credit
card fraud. One bank recommended by a friend is Rabobank America. Their website is
www.rabobankamerica.com.

Shipping - Getting the Packages to Your Door

These choices are usually spelled out clearly - either they ship overseas or they don't. Some U.S.
online stores do ship overseas, but the time of delivery may be quite slow, or the price may be
quite high (or both).

Does this experience sound familiar?

You ordered 2 books from Amazon. You got them in two separate boxes, perhaps several days
apart. This is because the U.S. shop may have more than one warehouse used to fulfill your
order. Item 1 comes from Warehouse A, item 2 from Warehouse B, and so on.

When shipping overseas, this can have a big effect on the price of shipping, and it may also effect
the amount of customs and/or taxes that you pay in your country. If only you could ask them to
put everything in one box and ship it to you when it's all ready to go!

Consolidation is the smart shopper's secret weapon!

Having a U.S. address with a service like www.myus.com allows you full control over how often
your packages are sent to you, whether they are packed together, and full tracking 24/7 via your
secure website login.

Compare for yourself:

Clothing Separate Price of Item Weight FedEx International Priority to

Australia
Silk skirt from Neiman Marcus $240 USD 1 lb. $151.18 USD
Summer topcoat from Nordstrom $300 USD 2 lb. $164.55 USD
Shoes from Saks $200 USD 3 lb. $151.18 USD
Total shipping cost to receive these three packages separately via FedEx = $466.91

Consolidating and shipping these packages through

www.myus.com would cost $67.70 to send Express delivery.
That's a savings of nearly $400!

What exactly is consolidation?

Consolidation is the professional repackaging of two or more boxes into fewer boxes. A
professional service will be skilled in knowing how to pack items for the best shipping success.
Boxes each have packing materials to surround your purchase. It makes sense that wrapping
several purchases and placing those securely into boxes would take up less space and weight.

This type of service is only available if your package forwarder is able to store your parcels until
they've all arrived. You should be notified of the receipt of each box, review its packing slip online,
and notify the package forwarding company when you're ready for your international shipment to
be consolidated.

Good package forwarding companies will always take ressponsibility for reviewing your goods
before they leave their facility, as well as filing a claim on your behalf should the carrier lose or
damage your parcels in transit to your home.

Customs, duties, taxes, etc.

Personal clothing items purchased over the internet with a total value of less than A$1,000 are
not subject to Customs Duties or the Goods & Services Tax.

Resources
Package forwarding, specialized shopping and international shipping services
http://www.myus.com

Rabobank America
http://www.rabobankamerica.com

Popular U.S. luxury department stores

http://www.neimanmarcus.com
http://www.nordstrom.com
http://www.saks.com

Australian Customs information when buying over the Internet

http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=5549