Don, do you know a less expensive way to ship to Australia? I priced it thru USPS and it's $24-$25. UPS even higher. I paid $7 for the set and I can't see anyone paying that much in shipping to get these cards.
There's a popular service called
Shipito for people buying US retail goods from other nations. They function as a consolidation service and reshipper.
Ordering from many US retailers to ship internationally is often expensive, sometimes outrageously so. Shipito gives you a US address to use for ordering items and using the domestic shipping rate to get them to one of their centers. You can order from several retailers, let Shipito combine the orders into a single package and ship that one package at a more reasonable rate - in most cases. You'd need to examine the fee structure to see if it's economically viable for you. Whereas many retailers will only ship via trackable means such as USPS Priority Mail or Priority Mail Express (formerly called Express Mail) when shipping out of the country, I think you have more options with Shipito, meaning you can pick the cheaper, slower First Class rate - though you'll want to insure it regardless.
The simple fact remains, when all is said and done, that Australia is on the opposite side of the Earth from America and is an island nation, with no adjoining countries and thus no land routes to reach it. It's not going to be cheap no matter how you slice it, but it should be cheaper than paying every little retailer you buy from for international shipping.
BTW: the United States Postal Service (USPS) will ALWAYS be cheaper than the United Parcel Service (UPS), especially if you're comparing equivalent services from each company. Both are private companies, but USPS was once a government agency and still receives a lot of financial support (and regulation) from the Federal government to keep mail reaching everyone at rates that don't break the bank individually, though USPS itself has run at a loss for pretty much any year I can remember. UPS was for a long time the only parcel service in the US besides the mail, at least until Federal Express (FedEx) and DHL came around in the 1980s and shook things up. UPS was always expensive and to some extent still is, though it's a bit more competitive compared to other private parcel delivery companies.
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