Moving your digital life – update your online accounts
Bank Accounts
Even if you want to break the connections to your home country, it is still advisable to keep a bank account. At least temporarily and preferably the previous main account. In the first few months after moving, there are still payments to be done, that you did not think of or that you only realize afterwards. To receive these payments on an Australian bank account or transferring money from Australia to your previous home country is causing very high banking fees. If you want to transfer money from your previous home country to Australia or vice versa, I recommend using WISE (formerly TransferWise) as a fast and very cheap way.
Furthermore, it is useful in terms of your digital life (Google, Apple, Ebay, etc.) to keep a bank account together with an associated credit card. More on this see below.
If you keep an account in your previous home country, you should inform the bank about the new address in Australia.
If you own a smartphone or tablet with the Android operating system or you use Gmail or other services from Google, you probably also have a Google Account. Here initially you don’t have to do anything except for the change of the address in GPay. Also in Australia, everything works as usual (all already downloaded apps, the e-mail address, etc.)
It gets complicated if you want to use special apps that are only available in Australia. Thus, it may be not available in the active Google Play Store of your previous home country. Google uses the billing address of the default payment instrument in GPay to set the home country to access the Play Store. The content of the Play Store may vary from country to country.
Google itself describes how to change the country version of Google Play. On the other hand, before changing, you should consider carefully whether you need the new country version at al. You can change the country version only once per year. Google is pretty restrictive here. Above all “When you change your country, you won’t be able to use Google Play balance you have in your old country in your new country.”
A real alternative is to create another Google Account and then switch between accounts as needed. In my view, this is the simplest way to leave all of your old settings and still allow the ability to download apps from the Australian Google Play Store.
I-Tunes/Apple
I-Tunes is similar to Google. However, it’s quite time-consuming to close your I-Tunes account and transfer it to Australia. A description of the procedure can be found with Apple Support.
“Some of your previous purchases (apps, music, movies, TV shows, books, etc.) might not be available in your new country or region. Certain types of purchases or content aren’t available at all in some countries or regions.”
Even if the already installed apps are still working in the new country (Australia), there is no guarantee that they will be updated. You might also not be able to reinstall them on a new Iphone or Ipad.
So here’s my recommendation, if possible, create another Apple ID in Australia. This works great for me.
EBay
If you were quite active on EBay, you certainly want to keep the number of feedbacks received.
Although you can change the addresses on Ebay under “Home> My eBay> Account settings> Addresses”, it still doesn’t mean that you have moved your account to Australia.
I spent a lot of time looking for a solution on the Ebay pages – no success. I then contacted the customer service of Ebay.
You can do that as follows on the sites of EBay:
1. Log in
2. Home
3. Help
4. Have us call you
The customer service will tell you what to do and can help you quickly. The ratings were transferred after I changed the other address information. So do not fuss about finding the solution on the internet, just contact the customer service straight away.
PayPal
This is easy – just open a new PayPal account in Australia (and then do not forget to link this new account with Ebay, for example).
PayPal states on their webpages:
„The laws applicable to PayPal accounts differ by country, so you can’t change your address to a country that is different from the country you used when you opened your account. If you’re moving abroad, you’ll need to close your existing account and open a new account. If you maintain residences in 2 countries, you can have 2 PayPal accounts as long as only one is a Business account.“
Amazon
With Amazon, you only have one worldwide valid account. Consequently, you just have to change or complete the address and bank details / credit card. Then you can log in to all the Amazon shops in the world and shop. Theoretically.
Since 2017 Amazon is also available in Australia. However, one year later they still only offer a fraction of what is available on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Previously that didn’t matter too much since you could easily order at e.g. Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk and delivery often was free if you ordered eligible items.
As of 1st July 2018, Amazon will no longer ship to Australia from its international websites (such as Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk). If you try it anyway, you will be notified at the checkout:
“We are unable to ship non-digital items from amazon.co.uk to Australian shipping addresses.”
The reason for this is stated in an article by the ABC: Amazon says it will comply with the new GST laws that came into effect on 1st July 2018. GST (Goods and Services Tax) is the Australian VAT. Previously, a GST of 10% was only applied to items bought abroad for more than AUD 1,000. However, as of 1 July 2018, online retailers will need to apply GST to all foreign purchases that are shipped to Australia regardless of price. And that is too complicated for AMAZON.
In Germany, we were good customers of Amazon due to the extensive offer, the fast delivery, the good prices and the excellent service. Since there is still only a limited range on Amazon Australia and you can no longer shop at Amazon.com or Amazon.de, we now buy elsewhere ….