Buying Christmas presents is hopefully going to be a thousand times easier as Amazon finally opened its virtual doors in Australia. After plenty of speculation as to when the online marketplace would come to our shores, it's finally bloody here.
It's only taken a few years, but now we have an epic Australian online market to buy pretty much anything.
Sure, there's eBay, and a few other places which offer a similar service, but it's not the same as the juggernaut that is Amazon.
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Sure again, we could buy things from the company's many websites based almost anywhere else in the world, but that would mean we'd have to fork out mega bucks for shipping costs and delivery.
But before you pull out your credit or debit card quicker than Usain Bolt out of the blocks, its introduction is going to be a gradual process. Amazon is planning to start off with a testing phase, according to Life Hacker, and will only be open to a small number of customers.
The website has published an email Amazon sent to a seller, which says: "Dear Seller, to prepare for the launch of the Amazon Marketplace in Australia we will start an internal testing phase with a small number of customers on Thursday 23 November 2017, 2pm AEST."
An Amazon warehouse in England. Credit: PA
"Once you have passed Seller Identity Verification you will be part of this testing phase and you should be prepared to receive orders from this point onward.
"We are very excited to have you on board during this testing phase. Let's Make History!"
It's reported that 500 Australian suppliers will be available -whatever is on offer, it's perfectly timed for Black Friday sales.
Credit: PA
But while there is plenty to celebrate, there are some retailers who want to add a bit of competition.
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Electronics provider JB Hi-Fi has introduced same-day delivery as well as rushed delivery in a bid to keep up with Amazon Prime's ability to send purchases within a few hours.
To get your goods on the same day, you'll have to fork out $9.99, while three-hour delivery costs $14.99. According to the Daily Mail, customers in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide will get to enjoy this little perk.
It'll be interesting to see how long this Amazon 'testing' phase will last until it's opened up to everyone. Fingers crossed it'll be well before Christmas so we don't have to rush with everyone else in shopping centres.
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Sources: Life Hacker, Daily Mail, news.com.au
Topics: online, World News, Awesome, Australian News, Technology, Amazon, Australia