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Amazon is super weird if you don't live in a country where they have an official site. Half to two-thirds of the products can't be shipped to where I live, for

Amazon is super weird if you don't live in a country where they have an official site. Half to two-thirds of the products can't be shipped to where I live, for Reasons, but I can't filter out those unshippable items. It's to the point where I have given up using it for anything but books.

NicoJuicy 9y ago
Cost savings/shipping costs and Prime?
Y_Y 9y ago
It's the same in Ireland (inexplicably, Amazon employs tons of people here). The solution is that several businesses have popped up to reship things from the UK. There's no legal reason you couldn't. One nice thing is that when I buy from Amazon I can compare all the EU Amazon sites for price and get the cheapest.
- hsivonen 9y ago
  Refusing to ship EU-wide is a common UK e-commerce anti-pattern that bizarrely applies even to Amazon. Even before Brexit was a thing. It's really annoying. Well, more money to German merchants (and amazon.de). Many German merchants even provide English UI for Nordic customers these days. (Amazon.de provides hit-and-miss machine translation to English.)
gambiting 9y ago
Yep, Amazon has a massive warehouse in Poland, but doesn't have a Polish website at all. The best you can do is purchase stuff off Amazon.de, but not everything ships to Poland, despite being dispatched from a warehouse in Wroclaw.
smhg 9y ago
In (at least) European Amazons, you can avoid looking at unshippable products by: - searching for something - selecting the most applicable category on the left, next to the results - selecting Amazon.(de|fr|it|es|co.uk) on the bottom left (under Seller) What is sold by Amazon generally gets shipped anywhere (within Europe?). As a company, before Amazon Business, this also made sure you'd be able to shop without VAT.
- chrisper 9y ago
  A lot of the products from German Amazon cannot be shipped to Switzerland. Not sure why.
  - bitcoinboi9 9y ago
    Because it is not in EU.
    - akvadrako 9y ago
      It's also true for The Netherlands.
      - bitcoinboi9 9y ago
        It's true for many countries. The biggest reason is because they are not in the EU. The logistics of getting stuck at some border control is something most sellers don't want to deal with.
        johannes1234321 9y ago
        Last time I checked the Netherlands we're in the EU and there was no Nexit. Switzerland is different, though. They are indeed outside the customs union. (Which is always interesting to watch, when travelling across the border in trains and passengers are confused by the radom customs control, since they are part of Schengen, where people, not goods, can travel freely)
        bitcoinboi9 9y ago
        Well, I don't understand what's there to check, I never said Netherlands wasn't in EU. The most probable reason why you can't get packages from EU Amazon to Switzerland is because they are not in EU. The same reason applies to why you can't get packages to EU if you're trying to get them from US. Yes, some big sellers don't mind but small ones do, and EU Amazon does have a huge variety of sellers. For example, I've lived in Croatia before and after EU membership. The Amazon situation changed completely and now I can get packages from any EU Amazon.

NicoJuicy 9y ago

Cost savings/shipping costs and Prime?

Y_Y 9y ago

It's the same in Ireland (inexplicably, Amazon employs tons of people here). The solution is that several businesses have popped up to reship things from the UK. There's no legal reason you couldn't. One nice thing is that when I buy from Amazon I can compare all the EU Amazon sites for price and get the cheapest.

hsivonen 9y ago
Refusing to ship EU-wide is a common UK e-commerce anti-pattern that bizarrely applies even to Amazon. Even before Brexit was a thing. It's really annoying. Well, more money to German merchants (and amazon.de). Many German merchants even provide English UI for Nordic customers these days. (Amazon.de provides hit-and-miss machine translation to English.)

gambiting 9y ago

Yep, Amazon has a massive warehouse in Poland, but doesn't have a Polish website at all. The best you can do is purchase stuff off Amazon.de, but not everything ships to Poland, despite being dispatched from a warehouse in Wroclaw.

smhg 9y ago

In (at least) European Amazons, you can avoid looking at unshippable products by: - searching for something - selecting the most applicable category on the left, next to the results - selecting Amazon.(de|fr|it|es|co.uk) on the bottom left (under Seller) What is sold by Amazon generally gets shipped anywhere (within Europe?). As a company, before Amazon Business, this also made sure you'd be able to shop without VAT.

chrisper 9y ago
A lot of the products from German Amazon cannot be shipped to Switzerland. Not sure why.
- bitcoinboi9 9y ago
  Because it is not in EU.
  - akvadrako 9y ago
    It's also true for The Netherlands.
    - bitcoinboi9 9y ago
      It's true for many countries. The biggest reason is because they are not in the EU. The logistics of getting stuck at some border control is something most sellers don't want to deal with.
      - johannes1234321 9y ago
        Last time I checked the Netherlands we're in the EU and there was no Nexit. Switzerland is different, though. They are indeed outside the customs union. (Which is always interesting to watch, when travelling across the border in trains and passengers are confused by the radom customs control, since they are part of Schengen, where people, not goods, can travel freely)
        bitcoinboi9 9y ago
        Well, I don't understand what's there to check, I never said Netherlands wasn't in EU. The most probable reason why you can't get packages from EU Amazon to Switzerland is because they are not in EU. The same reason applies to why you can't get packages to EU if you're trying to get them from US. Yes, some big sellers don't mind but small ones do, and EU Amazon does have a huge variety of sellers. For example, I've lived in Croatia before and after EU membership. The Amazon situation changed completely and now I can get packages from any EU Amazon.