Ikes

Thanks so much for the great advice! It is much appreciated.

That's great, thanks so much for the very useful information! I'll definitely be looking into all of your suggestions.

Wow, thanks all for very prompt responses, and great suggestions for Australian and UK online shopping site! I wasn't aware that so many UK ones actually shipped to Australia. That's also a brilliant idea about parents and grandparents putting money in your UK bank accounts for gifts, as well as enabling you to keep your accounts open, snifter and vickyplum. Oh yes, Skani, I'd forgotten about Book Depository, thanks for reminding me.

My family live in the UK and send us Christmas gifts each year by post, which saddens me a lot as it has become very expensive. I mostly use Amazon in the UK to buy their gifts and therefore save a fortune on postage from here, as well as avoid the ridiculous Customs fees. I thought that Amazon were opening up in Australia and told my family to use them when buying gifts for us. I now see that they are only planning to operate from Australia in 2018. I was wondering if there are any other online sites in Australia that my family could use from the UK.

Mystery surrounds 'Paul Lachlan' - including his real name

I too have just been caught out and my daughter got a card from Royal Mail saying there is a Customs fee of 16pounds+! I didn't know about the limit on gifts and have often sent and received gifts above that amount without any fees. I told my daughter to forget it as she can buy the pyjamas and make up that I sent for about 16 quid in the UK. I will order her something online and my family and I have agreed to no more overseas postage in future, and will shop online instead. I spent over $100 on postage just for a few gifts, and when I went to post Christmas cards, AusPost have done away with the $1.60 'card only' option and are charging $2.60, so it'll be Moonpig cards from now on too.

I am pretty sure that if they wanted to move states, they would have to restart the process, as my OH originally applied for regional state sponsored in one state, then changed his mind, realising it was too remote an area in South Australia, and had to start from scratch in the state he preferred in Queensland. Best of luck to you all.