AMAZON is finally here, and it’s meh.

That appeared to be the general reaction from Aussie shoppers on Tuesday, who after months of fevered anticipation logged on to the e-commerce giant’s local site to access the much-hyped bargains — only to find prices were more or less the same as local retailers.

And in an embarrassing oversight for Amazon, its own Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is $20 cheaper at Officeworks, $159 compared with $179.

“So Amazon has launched,” tweeted Andy Hayes. “The Aussie retailers breathe a sigh of relief as they realise that the range is awful and the prices are exactly the same. No competition here.”

You can grab an iPhone 7 Plus 128GB for $1199 at JB Hi-Fi compared with $1375 on Amazon, while a GoPro Hero 5 camera is $499 at JB Hi-Fi and $560 on Amazon. A Lenoxx 9-inch Twin Screen Portable DVD player, which retails for $149 on Kogan.com, is $172.38 plus $9.45 delivery on Amazon.

A Samsung T3 500GB Portable SSD hard drive is $299 plus $10 delivery on Amazon, and just $288 from Officeworks. And if you’re a Pete Evans fan, his new cookbook One Pot Favourites will set you back $39.99 on Amazon as opposed to $27.99 plus $4.99 shipping from MightyApe.

#amazonaustralia ripping off Australian consumers with high prices for 9 hours... Harvey Norman, Myer, JB Hi-Fi breathe a sigh of relief. Another wasted opportunity. — Hero (@hierohero1) December 4, 2017

OMG OMG OMG OMG #amazonaustralia has launched



*Goes to https://t.co/SqcsRMsAFK*



Wow those prices are ridiculously high, I'm going to JB — Dez Maggs (@DerekMaggs81) December 4, 2017

Amazon Australia is so underwhelming. Big brand brush pens 2-3x more expensive, some books are just a tad over indie bookstore prices, photo printers more expensive than JB. I mean, it could just be the items I'm looking up, but from this it seems pretty crap — Nyssa Harkness (@VintageZombie) December 4, 2017

Good news - Amazon Australia has finally launched.



Bad news - Everything is roughly the same price as in store (they said it would be up to 30% lower than rrp)



How shitty — Kevin (@JustKevYTP) December 4, 2017

Hmm just had a quick squiz at the now launched Amazon Australia site. It seems to be filled with useless junk and nothing seems cheap. Better bargain at Coles, eBay and sales time at retail stores. Am I missing something? — Andrew Kelly (@andrewfwkelly) December 4, 2017

So it's #AmazonAustralia Day.



All the LEGO is RRP cause, shock, Amazon relies on local sellers to populate it.



They sell RRP. The big box stores are still cheaper. — Johnny Worthington (@jworthington) December 4, 2017

Well it looks like the launch of @amazon in Australia is a total bust. Not a thing on there I want to buy. They don't even have their own products (eg Echo) — Kate (@Redback) December 4, 2017

Disappointed by what ive seen of Amazon Australia so far. The items I want to buy are more expensive. — chris tibballs (@ChrisTibballs) December 4, 2017

On first looks, Amazon Australia's prices appear to be as escalated as those at the local rip-off stores like Harvey Norman, Myer etc. Dissappointed! Not worth the hype. #amazonaustralia — Mehreen r (@RizviMehreen) December 4, 2017

The site has also experienced a number of glitches.

Shoppers attempting to purchase the Fire TV streaming device, which was being offered to Australian customers for the first time, received an error page. Others complained about the lack of a wishlist function available on the US site.

Meanwhile, some items are actually cheaper to purchase on the Amazon US site and have shipped to Australia.

The Microplane ribbon grater costs $29.95 plus $9.90 delivery on Amazon Australia, compared with $US18.16 ($24) plus free shipping to Australia from Amazon US, where you can similarly pick up a vinyl of Alice Cooper’s Paranormal for $US23.72 ($31.21) compared with $54.99.

There are some bargains to be had, however.

Amazon is selling Nintendo Switch consoles for $399, significantly cheaper than $469 at JB Hi-Fi, while a Garmin Vivofit Jr. kids fitness tracker is $50 on Amazon compared with $89 at JB Hi-Fi, and the popular Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation is $93.09 on Amazon compared with $99 at Sephora.

You can also get a Bose Soundlink Revolve Bluetooth Speaker for $268 on Amazon, compared with $299 at JB Hi-Fi, and Bourjois Rouge Velvet Lipstick is $18.76 compared with $24 at Priceline.

Gamers can grab a copy of Star Wars Battlefront II for the PlayStation 4 or Xbox one for $39 compared with $59 at JB Hi-Fi, and a popular skin mist from beauty brand Caudalie is about $10 cheaper on Amazon than Sephora, $66.50 compared with $76.

Graham Cooke, insights manager with comparison website Finder.com.au, said it seemed Amazon was still “trying to find its feet”.

“There has been so much backwards and forwards about this and all the talk has been about pricing, how they’re going to undercut local retailers and offer prices cheaper than anyone else,” he said.

“Now the site has launched, it’s not what we’re seeing, at least not initially. Amazon is very much finding its feet in terms of pricing, which could be why we’re not seeing some high-end items such as TVs, because they haven’t worked out how to make them cheaper than the other heavy discounters.”

He added that some deals look good but “when you get down to the nitty gritty, they’re not really”. The popular Bose Quiet Comfort 35 Noise Cancelling headphones, for example, are on Amazon for $445 versus $499 at JB Hi-Fi, but “we’ve seen these discounted as cheaply as $380 recently in the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales”.

Wearables such as FitBits “tend to be the same price or cheaper elsewhere”, and UK site Book Depository appears to have better prices at the moment, Mr Cooke said.

“The biggest price differential I’ve seen is a high-volume office scanner from Kodak, which is $87,162 on Amazon but available for $79,899 elsewhere. But you need to be in a very specific market for that anyway.”

Mr Cooke pointed to nappies as one example of Amazon failing to properly localise its range. “In Australia nappies tend to be bought by and sold by the developmental stage, such as infant, newborn, crawler, toddler, junior,” he said.

“In the US they’re sold by size, one, two, three, four, five, six. They’re listing nappies on Amazon by size and in a lot of cases not mentioning the developmental stage of the child those nappies are for.”

In a note on Tuesday, Citi analyst Brian Raymond said “based on the current offer”, Amazon would not be disruptive to Australian retailers this Christmas. “The range is patchy across and within categories,” he wrote.

“For example, over 40,000 toys and games are available from a large rage of brands, while televisions are not yet available. Third-party sellers are providing the bulk of the range, as is the case in other markets.

“Due to lack of distribution infrastructure, these third-party sellers are currently undertaking fulfilment which lengthens the delivery speed.

“Amazon has launched its private label range AmazonBasics with 234 SKUs [stock keeping units] across electronics, clothing, footwear, sports and outdoors. No food and beverage products are offered at launch, as expected.”

Mr Raymond said an initial reading of first-party pricing on headphones and toys showed Amazon was cheaper on average — its Sennheiser headphones are 10 per cent cheaper than competitors — while third-party pricing was “typically in-line and in some cases above retailer prices at this stage”.

“Marketplace pricing is dynamic however, and will respond to Amazon’s algorithms, which will evolve over time,” he said. “We maintain our view that the expansion of the [distribution centre] network and launch of Prime (potentially in 2018) is the catalyst for disruption.”

frank.chung@news.com.au