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Australian shoppers will still be able to access 60 million products available on Amazon.com.au, including many from international third-party sellers. The company has launched a "global store", opening up access to another 4 million items previously available only on its American website.

However, the number of products available to Australians will be only a fraction of the estimated 500 million available on Amazon.com.

eBay's GST solution

Fellow online trader eBay had threatened to block foreign sellers from its marketplace if the tax changes went ahead, but on Thursday said it was working on a way to collect GST on overseas sales without restricting any sellers.

"This requires major changes to eBay’s global systems and we are working to have these ready by 1st July," an eBay spokeswoman said. "eBay’s GST solution will allow us to collect GST in any currency, from any seller, from any eBay site."

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Amazon's decision to not even ship products to Australia regardless of where they are purchased will scupper any plans tech-savvy shoppers might have to use geo-blocking software to get around the ban.

Vendor model

In a submission to a Productivity Commission inquiry into GST changes last year, Amazon said delivery companies such as Australia Post, DHL and FedEx should be responsible for collecting the tax instead of vendors such as itself and eBay.

A model in which vendors collected GST was "fundamentally flawed" because it required voluntary compliance from thousands of offshore online retailers, Amazon argued, and consumers would simply seek out vendors that did not comply.

But the commission ultimately backed the vendor model, which the government considered was low-cost and would cause the least disruption to consumers.

“The government doesn’t apologise for ensuring multinationals pay a fair amount of tax here in Australia," a spokeswoman for treasurer Scott Morrison said on Thursday.

“A level playing field will help Australian businesses grow and create more jobs and opportunities.”

Labor has supported the vendor collection model but on Thursday took aim at the way the system had been implemented, saying it had resulted in Australian consumers not being able to seek out cheaper items listed overseas.

"This is a direct response to how the government has sought to implement this reform," shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said in a statement.

Scott Kilmartin, a retail and e-commerce adviser, said the move would restrict consumers’ options in the medium term while Amazon built up the number of products available from its local site.

“If you want an obscure, handmade guitar made in Maine, it’s going to be harder to get a hold of that,” he said. “It’s probably a good time to buy shares in those third-party logistics companies that consolidate orders and ship them to Australia."

Australian Retailers Association president Russell Zimmerman said Amazon should be congratulated for starting to collect GST on imports, and said the change would “level the playing field” for local retailers.

“It’s important that local retailers can be able to compete - we’re supporting jobs in Australia,” Mr Zimmerman said.