It took me a while, on returning to Australia, to really believe that Amazon didn’t have an Australian version. I’d got quite used to buying books from Amazon.de and had really enjoyed their fast delivery (and free – no postage was charged if you bought books. Even just one cheap book!).

I don’t know the reason why Amazon doesn’t have an Australian branch – can anybody enlighten me? – but I’m now trying out Fishpond which claims to be Australia’s biggest online bookstore.

They’re obviously trying to build up their site because they offer you 20 cents in credit every time you review a book – yeah, I’ve reviewed a few and built up a bit of credit, so that my purchase today didn’t dent the bank balance too much. On top of that, they sent me a $10 voucher because I had books on my Wishlist – I’m obviously a marketing sucker because that sent me straight into a buying frenzy.

The pleasing thing about Fishpond is that often, postage and shipping is free too, and even better – you can pay by PayPal. I’ve just placed my order today so we’ll wait and see how their service works out. Watch this space!

PS: Before you ask, I ordered these two books (Getting Things Done because I’ve read so much about it online, and What Was Lost: A Novel after seeing Catherine O’Flynn at the Perth Writers Festival)