According to my profile I’ve been using Amazon since 1999. I discovered it not long after learning to use eBay. Back then there were no Australian versions of either company so we dealt with the US websites directly. Many of my early fashion dolls came from eBay sellers in the USA and later, as postage costs began to rise, Amazon was a place where you could find a brand new fashion doll with reasonable postage costs or a hard to find doll book or the Kaiser stands that are cheaper by the dozen.
Sadly in a few more weeks we will no longer be able to purchase things from Amazon USA. The reason for this is that our government has decided that we must pay Goods and Services Tax on items under $1,000 which were previously exempt and that overseas companies must collect this tax from us for them. Amazon therefore has decided to lock us out of the site instead. Australians will no longer be permitted to buy from them. There is an Amazon Australia now but it is still fairly new, up until last year they only sold books and have just started to expand their range becoming a portal for local businesses. So far none of them sell any of the things that Naomi and I like to buy from the US site, just a few Fashionistas and playline Barbies are all I’ve seen so far and they have not been cheap either.
Well we’re resigned to it. There is nothing we can do about it. So far we still have access to a good range of things on eBay, Etsy and The Tiny Frock Shop although I can see prices going up. In the meantime I decided that I would go through my Amazon wish list and buy some of the dolls I’d been wanting for a while now instead of waiting for them to be on special like I usually do. I also bought another box of a dozen stands because I just don’t see them on sale here in the shops and will probably have to get cheap Chinese ones in future. I really like the Kaiser stands as they come in so many sizes and are quite sturdy. The plastic ones break too easily. Hopefully I will find another place that I can buy them in bulk from as I still have a lot of dolls in need of stands especially amongst the larger sized dolls.
Anyway here’s what I bought.
- TommyXGigi Barbie
- Barbie The Look blonde doll with bangs
- Barbie The Look brunette “Sweet Tea”
Gigi and blonde Barbie arrived yesterday and Sweet Tea just minutes ago as I was writing this. Last night I deboxed Gigi ready for pictures today. What a drama that was! I think this is such a pretty doll despite the fact that she has flat feet but I hate her outfit because that sweatshirt is just way too big for her. By the way I had no idea who Gigi Hadid is. I had to look her up. Anyway, the first thing I discovered, after the flat feet was that Gigi was wearing a kind of plastic body suit under her clothes which I guess was to protect her body from stains from the dark top. It was shedding a bit of fluff. Her hands were black but luckily it blew off. So I decided that I would get the crinkly plastic off her before I took pictures of her deboxed. That is when I discovered that the darn sweatshirt had no opening. It is a very nice sweatshirt, I just don’t like it on Gigi. Luckily as she is articulated I was able to get the thing off her although getting her head through the neck was no easy task. I nearly didn’t put it back on her again. I was thinking of just having her stand and hold it but in the end I gritted my teeth and maneuvered it back on again. Next time it comes off it will be for good! The shoes were not coming off without a fight either. I’ll have to stand her in a saucer of hot water or warm her feet with the hair dryer to shift them I think.
Dolls, Dolls, Dolls 
What a shame about Amazon! I buy from the US site all the time because there are far more choices than on the UK site. Although Amazon will ship to the UK, I have all the packages sent to a consolidation service (Stackry) in the US who then repackages everything into one big box. That way the weight of multiple shipments is reduced and I only pay the customs handling fee once. But it sounds as if that isn’t even an option in this case.
I had a terrible time getting Gigi’s sweatshirt off as well and promptly gave it to another doll who has very short hair. But as it is summer time here now, all the dolls are wearing summer clothes, and no sweatshirts are required!
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I was thinking that it is probably big enough for a Ken to wear.
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Wow ,thanks for the updates! Your model miss reminds me of the Barbie look/2016/black label girl in the gray sweater.. I have her redressed as a twilight character in a graduation gown as local high school just let out. If I can find Gigi I might put her in Skippers sweatshirt.
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I remember the one you mean.
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Awww, that’s so sad! Even though I didn’t buy anything, it was always fun to look at all of the dolls on sale there. 😦
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Do you guys have thrift stores over there? What about doll shows? Do you ever attend doll shows?
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Hi Shallynn. yes we do have thrift stores, we call them Op (Opportunity) Shops. I think that they are probably a lot smaller than the ones in the USA with not such an interesting variety of goods. I volunteer at our local one and we don’t get a lot of dolls in, usually playline Barbie and Bratz in used condition. Rarely do we get vintage or collectibles. I’ve never been in one that has anything like that but then possibly in larger Australian cities you might. Doll shows, yes there are a few but again because Hobart is small there are really only a couple a year, one in the north of the state and one in the south. I used to go to doll shows when I lived in South Australia but I think the best ones are in Sydney and Melbourne. I’d like to go to one in one of those cities one day.
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I’m glad you were able to acquire some dolls on your wish list. I got Gigi, became ambivalent and wound up selling her so I’ll look forward to seeing her featured in your posts. It’ll be a shame if costs become too exorbitant for you. I’ve sold dolls outside the US via eBay’s Global Shipping Program. I hope you can find a reasonable source.
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Well we still have eBay and Global Shipping does keep the postage down a bit. Someone I was talking to thinks that eBay and or Paypal will collect the GST on the sellers behalf. I imagine that there will be rises to cover it though. This would have been a lot worse years ago when there were a lot of dolls I wanted, now there are relatively few. Of course there is always something you want but probably more vintage dolls and clothing that I can get from eBay than collectible Barbies. Most will end up on the secondary market at some stage it’s just a shame after being a customer for so long.
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