Before you get too used to the strong Aussie dollar making your online purchases so, so cheap, you might want to listen to what some of the experts are saying about what could happen next.
The currency strategist in New Zealand for National Australia Bank, Mike Jones, says the outlook is for the Australian dollar to gradually trend lower during the next six to 12 months, to about US97¢ by the end of the year.
SHORT-TERM PLEASURE
Here is the good news: ''It's hard to see the Aussie dollar falling off a cliff any time soon,'' Jones says.
The managing director of FX Strategy at BK Asset Management, Kathy Lien, says she doesn't foresee the Aussie dollar dropping below parity with the US in the next year.
''The AUD is an extremely attractive currency for foreign investors, central banks and sovereign wealth funds looking for safety and yield,'' she says.
But that is also partly the problem. The Aussie dollar is being used as a safe-haven currency and offshore banks and investors are buying our currency - and pushing its value up - as a precautionary measure.
''More recently, it appears that our government-bond yield premium has been the primary source of the currency's recent strength - a 10 per cent rise over the past 10 months - as commodity prices have declined in the wake of a sizeable slowdown in global growth,'' the head of investment market research at Perpetual, Matthew Sherwood, says.
LONG-TERM PAIN
So while Lien and others are forecasting some further appreciation in the next few weeks, it may not last forever.
''I think certainly over the very long run it [the Aussie] should be heading back below parity and maybe to the 80¢ level,'' Jones says.
''Purchasing power parity would suggest that [80¢ is a more sustainable level],'' he says.
But that will be in the next three to five years, not next week.
BUY NOW, DON'T PAY LATER
The upshot of all this is that it will probably still be cheaper to buy goods online from overseas websites for at least a few more months.
Take the Kindle Touch 3G, for example. It is retailing for $189 on Amazon in the US and with $11.98 in shipping costs could be yours in eight to 16 days for $200.98. For an extra $9 you can have it in five days. In contrast, you can buy the same product at Big W for $219, although if you look around you could probably find something cheaper on eBay.
If designer sneakers are your weakness, you could buy a pair of size 6.5D Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars in black for $43.16 plus $8.05 in postage. The same shoe retails for $89.95 at Hype DC in Australia.
If you like to exercise, you are probably familiar with the Skins brand of ''recovery'' tights. You can buy a pair of medium Skins RY400 men's compression recovery tights for $169.99 at Rebel Sport, or $85.61 plus $8.11 in postage from Amazon in the US.
HOW TO ADDRESS KEY ISSUES
There are also companies that deliver goods bought via US online stores that require a US postal address for purchase.
Companies such as MyUS.com will give you a US postal address, which you can enter when you purchase the goods, and they will deliver them to your international address. It's not overly cheap. A quick internet search reveals MyUS.com charges about $60 for a one-kilogram package.
Eshopex.com will charge $35.09 for a one-kilogram item (that costs less than $50) and Bongo International (bongous.com) will charge $72.58 to deliver a similarly priced and sized item.