You find the edition you want. A signed hardback, or that sprayed-edge special edition, or maybe it’s the boxed set that keeps surfacing on your feed. It’s sitting on an American bookseller’s site at a price that makes the local RRP look unkind, and then you reach the checkout and Australia isn’t showing up on the shipping dropdown.
Barnes & Noble’s international delivery is patchy at best, and its most desirable releases (signed editions, exclusive covers, leatherbound classics) are usually flagged for US delivery only. Books-A-Million is blunter still: booksamillion.com doesn’t ship internationally at all. That’s a shame, given they have a manga catalogue running past 12,000 titles and a Millionaire’s Club membership at around US$25 a year that includes free US shipping with no minimum spend.
The workaround readers have used for years is a forwarding address. You sign up, get a US street address, use it at the checkout like any American customer, and your parcel is sent on from there. Stackry, one of the better-known operators, handles parcel forwarding from the US to Australia out of a warehouse in New Hampshire, a state with no sales tax, so a US$200 book haul doesn’t gain a few percent before it’s even packed.
How it works
- Sign up and collect your free US address.
- Shop BN.com or booksamillion.com, entering that address at the checkout.
- Let the parcels land in your locker. Storage is free for 45 days, which helps when you’re waiting on a pre-order.
- Consolidate, choose a carrier (DHL, FedEx, Aramex or USPS) and pay one international fee instead of three.
Step four is where the savings are. Books are heavy and paying separate international freight on three orders is the fastest way to turn a bargain into a regret. One box, one tracking number, one fee. A single paperback rarely justifies the exercise, but a stack of six from two retailers usually does. That’s why most people time their orders to land together.
What you’ll pay in tax
Australia’s rules are simpler than the forum threads suggest. For consignments with a customs value of A$1,000 or less, GST is collected by the registered forwarder rather than at the border, so nothing sits in limbo waiting on a payment. Above A$1,000, GST and any applicable duty are assessed at the border on arrival. Either way, budget for the 10%. Printed books themselves generally attract no customs duty coming into Australia, which helps.
But make sure you check a few things before you commit:
- whether the edition you’re chasing is region-restricted,
- how much a hardback boxed set actually weighs (more than you’d think),
- and the condition of anything collectible the moment it lands.
For retailer-specific detail, there are thorough guides on Barnes and Noble international shipping and on Books a Million international shipping covering what does and doesn’t travel well, and how the US-side discounts stack up before freight.
American readers often get first access to editions that never reach Australian shelves. Getting hold of them takes an extra step, not a small fortune.
