About us

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Some years ago I was searching the internet researching mountaineering equipment. Since what I was looking for was highly specialised, it went without saying that local gear shops in Australia kept a very limited supply. I soon discovered that if I wanted a really good choice I would need to look towards buying from some of the larger US based merchants.

After having spent considerable time carefully selecting my purchases I made my way through the online checkout system. I can tell you that words could not describe my frustration and disappointment as I learnt that about half of my selected items could not be shipped out of the USA. To add insult to injury, I further discovered that the remainder attracted such a high shipping fee that in the end it was not worth placing the order. I couldn't believe how ridiculous this particular shopping experience was. The merchant had just lost a big order and I wondered how many others like me had done the same.

Initially this lead the way to the formation of our other site TreksandClimbs.com and more recently Rabbitte.com.au in a bid to try to find a work around to these problems. The main purpose behind both sites is to provide a service that helps give non US residents access to a much larger inventory of stock than may be available within their own countries.

We've aimed to address the main problems and frustrations associated with shopping the US online while at the same time providing a facility that allows our visitors to take advantage of specials, sales, coupons and recent price drops.

As a part of the service we are able to refer our visitors to USA Mail1.com, a US based mail service centre. They are authorised to provide our visitors with a legitimate US mailing address for the purpose of purchasing goods from US based websites. The mailing address they provide is not a PO box but an actual mailing address. They will then forward your purchases from the USA to your home address in your country of residence at a time that you stipulate. Their forwarding fees are generally much cheaper than those charged by most merchants and as they are able to consolidate orders from multiple merchants, the savings are even greater. This is all controlled from your own web based control centre.