How to purchase "USA shipping only" products from outside USA

[tsaint]

I'm wanting to purchase a hammock for camping here in Australia, but have been told by the USA online store that they will ONLY ship to USA RESIDENTIAL addresses.
Neither to Au addresses, nor to "USA warehouse addresses" as used by trans-shipping companies.
Anyone have any ideas of how to get around this?
 An Amok Draumr hammock for anyone curious.
Thanks
Tony

[IainB]

That's odd. I wonder why they discriminate against overseas warehousing addresses? Maybe its something to do with not wanting the hassle of being de facto obligatory tax-gatherers for overseas governments?   
I have access to an overseas warehousing address, but have not used it so far because the per item cost is too costly in my view - i.e., unless you buy a lot of items for shipping in one hit.

Maybe the online service you contacted doesn't deliver to non-US residential addresses, however other suppliers on Amazon seem to. For example, I did a search for "Amok Draumr hammock" and came up with hits that would deliver to my geographic location (Australasia) - e.g., Amok Draumr 3.0 Flat Lay Camping Hammock with Tarp, Bug net and Suspension kit. - but admittedly that one was "not in stock". Looks like a nice hammock, by the way! 
As an aside: What model of this brand of hammock are you looking for? There seem to be several.

When I have had difficulty getting stuff shipped to my location from Amazon US, I find it is usually available from Amazon UK - even for books (though prices may differ) - so you could try setting up an Amazon UK account. They seem to be not so insular and ship pretty much anywhere where there is a relatively stable postal delivery service available.

[tsaint]

Thanks Iain.
 Amazon (US) shows the item, but as you say, reports it as unavailable, no knowledge of when available. Amazon UK doesn't list the item.

BTW, if I search for   "Amok Draumr 3.0 Flat Lay Camping Hammock with Tarp, Bug net and Suspension kit", on Amazon (US) then I get:
"Showing results using fewer words
No results for Amok Draumr 3.0 Flat Lay Camping Hammock with Tarp, Bug net and Suspension kit.", along with non-relevant hammocks.

Amok have set up outlets for various Northern hemisphere countries. Most are out of stock, the Canadian site only allows Canadian addresses in the order page.

The item is a Draumr camping hammock, viewable at Amok's website
Rather radical design - sleeping position is at 90 degrees to the ridgeline. A rather odd arrangement from an engineering perspective, but it's getting excellent reviews.

Edit:
FWIW, a rep from Amok emailed me to explain:
"Unfortunately we will not allow shipping to freight forwarding companies. I am truly sorry but we need a residential address in the US.
​There are several reasons for this, but one is that we are not able to offer customer service worldwide. Secondly, there has been a lot of fraud attempts, from allowing orders trough freight forwarders. Thus we have chosen to run a strict line when it comes to such orders."
​

[4wd]

If you're not in a hurry then I have the following option available, purchase from the EU website, (or anywhere else you can find it in the EU/UK), and get it sent to me in the UK, I can bring it back to Oz in September when I return - then you can either pick it up from me, (3766), or I stick it in a AusPost 3kg satchel.

PS. Promise I won't use it, much easier to roll out a swag 

How to purchase "USA shipping only" products from outside USA

[tsaint]

Thanks for the offer 4WD...very kind of you. EU store sold out atm. I'll wait and see what gives, but my camping window of opportunity will be closing soon. Wanted to get this hammock before then.
I've always been a small (bivvie) tent  person, tried a swag but it seemed to take a lot of car space. Then I bought a Hennessy hammock. Like it a lot, but this one I'm now looking at seems it could be even better.
Apart from that, I'm trying to go as minimalist as possible.
You look very well set up indeed!
Edit: if I were in a position to take you up on your offer, I'd for sure invite you to try it out. You might just get converted.

[IainB]

@4wd: Hey, nice campsite shot there Bruce!   

I'm a minimalist - similar to @tsaint - except that I tend to keep the gear down to the bare essentials and probably would never bother even trying a swag unless I was in the Oz environment, let alone the Amok hammock (though it looks very interesting).

[4wd]

Edit: if I were in a position to take you up on your offer, I'd for sure invite you to try it out. You might just get converted.

-tsaint (May 09, 2019, 08:31 AM)

I don't think so

• Trees spaced appropriately apart are hard to come by in the desert,
• Rolling a swag out takes a couple of minutes which leaves more time for drinking enjoying the environment,
• Rolling a swag up takes a couple of minutes, good when you want to move fast ie. it's about to downpour, fire, whatever,
• We have space to spare in the Landcruiser: swags, table, chairs, fridge, food, fuel, etc, etc.

We're four wheel drivers, always looking for a new, more challenging track and trying to cover as much distance as possible ... we try not to spend more than a day in one place.

BTW, Amazon.com is not showing it in stock either AFAICT.

[tsaint]

Old debate.
From my POV:
1. Quicker than using my bivvie sized tent - 2 lashings and finished.
2. No bending
3. Hands stay clean - no grovelling in the dirt
4. Takes up much less space than swag
5. No rolling up hassle
6. MORE places to camp
 - avoid the "nice spot but ground's too rocky/uneven/sloped" problem
 - in NPs, camp in spots not popular because of slope - eg if forced to camp in "shared", designated camp grounds
7. No worries about floor staying dry
Minuses
1. Can't spread gear around it like in a tent
2. Too much adrenalin if there's much lightning

BTW, I don't need trees. Car can be one tree, I've a pole than can act as 2nd tree. And having said all that, I've 3 other tents I'll never chuck out!

[tsaint]

Thanks Swift_Man, I'll check that one out.

[Curt]

When the reason, for not being allowed to buy from outside of USA, is due to copyrights or similar, the physical address is often less important than the address of the paying credit card. I have at least twice been denied the right to buy ebooks, and been told that the plastic card's address was the reason.

It doesn't seem to me that MyUS can do anything about this. Can they?

Any other way? 

[tsaint]

Apart from the cc hurdle, in this case (myUS), as with most (maybe all) of these sort of companies, suppliers can discriminate between residential and commercial addresses.
myUS in fact has a list on their website of companies known not to allow trans-shipping.
In the hammock case, the reasons for only selling to limited markets were fraud and product support.
I'm not going to actively pursue this anymore - put it on my KIV list.