PSA: Don't buy a phone from Amazon Australia (yet)

Not with a bang, but with a whimper. After months of anticipation, speculation, and doomsaying, Amazon has finally launched in Australia, and well, it's kinda underwhelming.

While there's some decent deals to be found if you're after Lego or a Nintendo Switch, Amazon Australia isn't really any cheaper than the competition for the most part. In many cases, it’s actually pricier. I guess Amazon won't be killing Australian retail just yet.

One area where this is especially true is smartphones, with many handsets priced higher than their local recommended retail price. Here are a just a few examples we found this morning (note that the Amazon Australia Price excludes shipping).

While these prices aren't great, not everything is overpriced. The Moto G5S and Moto X4 are available for roughly their RPP. Some Samsung phones are available for less than their Australian price, but these appear to parallel imports.

Amaysim, for example, is now also selling phones through Amazon Australia. It will sell you a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 for $1,125 (the same as its own web store), but it's not local stock. While this is disclosed on the Amaysim website, it's not on Amazon.

Imported stock is often cheaper, but it can result in trade-offs. International models might not have a local warranty, there might be issues with local antenna bands (although this tends not to be a problem with flagship devices anymore), and you'll almost certainly end up on a different software update schedule than local devices when it comes to Android. These aren't deal breakers, but they're import to consider before buying an import model, hence the need for disclosure.

Of course, most of the items being sold through Amazon right now come from third party merchants, rather than Amazon itself, and as such, Amazon isn't setting the prices. This situation could change entirely when (and if) Amazon starts listing products itself, but for now, buying a new smartphone through Amazon Australia doesn't seem like a great idea.

Australian phone sellers are safe for now.

Alex Choros

Managing Editor + Group Telco Editor | X | Instagram | Threads | LinkedIn

Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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