Australia is not too bad. I've never paid any tax from SS and also HK usually offer free shipping. Our local stores stock mostly everything including hard to get figures because I guess nobody thinks of looking in Australia! I think the most I've paid postage is about $45 which is ok to me.
I'm actually Scottish and I did a comparison on some toy stores back home in Britain and they seem to get butt raped bad though. Glad I moved
These things as good as they are are simply not worth $400-$500.
$45, huh? What was it? One figure, a few figures, statue? I usually don't get more than one figure at a time. I don't think I ever paid more than $20 for shipping. And that's the high end.