Amazon launches international shopping from the US

Is the must-have item you've been lusting over only available in the US? No worries, you can still get hold of it.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent

Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.

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Katie Collins

April 18, 2018 4:15 a.m. PT

Icon of Amazon.cn on package box, arranged for photograph. — Amazon's shopping experience is going international.
Zhang Peng/Getty

Shoppers around the world can now get their hands on the goods that Amazon only sells on its US website.

The online retailer introduced international shipping from the US on Tuesday, making over 45 million items from its catalog available overseas.

Amazon might be a global retail giant, but until now it's offered localized versions of its services within the countries it operates. While it may seem like Amazon is everywhere, it took until December 2017 for the company to launch in what you might consider to be a key market: Australia. With international shopping, it's breaking down borders for the first time.

The new shopping experience is available through your web browser and the Amazon Shopping app, the company said in a press release. You can browse the site in five languages: English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, German, and Brazilian Portuguese. The company says it will accept payments in 25 currencies.

All items listed for international shopping will be displayed with their shipping costs and import duty estimates so there won't be any nasty surprises on the bill. Amazon will handle every stage of the international delivery process, including the tricky business of courier services for customs clearance.