6 ms·

It's not just Nigeria. And I agree. The way Google does this with an error page for non serviced locations feels really off. It's not how the web is supposed t

by netcan 13y ago

It's not just Nigeria. And I agree. The way Google does this with an error page for non serviced locations feels really off. It's not how the web is supposed to work. Not shipping to other countries is bad enough. This is rude. Google should just put these things on Amazon.

davedx 13y ago
They do put them on Amazon. Then you get to the checkout, and Amazon tells you you're not allowed to ship it to where you live if you're outside of Google's allowed territories. That's why I had to send my sister in the UK money to get my hands on my Nexus 4... annoying, and stupid.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
sampo 13y ago
> It's not just Nigeria. It's not just Africa, either.
tempestn 13y ago
Amazon is annoying in the opposite way. Even if you're logged in, they give no indication at all that they won't ship something to you until you actually try to buy it. Very irritating when comparing several options to have to add every one to the cart to check that you can actually buy it before wasting the time of considering it too carefully.
- Andrenid 13y ago
  When I'm logged in on Amazon I get a warning next to the product price that I can't ship it to my default location.
  - scott_karana 13y ago
    There is that, but it only applies if you're an existing, and logged in customer.
    - itsameta4 13y ago
      Well how could they possibly fix that?
      - pandeiro 13y ago
        geoip?
        jaredmcateer 13y ago
        GeoIP isn't really a good solution. I work on a large ecommerce site and this comes up from time to time. GeoIP databases are unreliable at best, especially for areas where IPs tend to jump borders (e.g., Toronto and Detroit)
        tempestn 13y ago
        But they wouldn't need to use it for anything critical. Just for a message like, "It appears that we can't ship this to your current location: Calgary, AB, Canada. Please _log in_ to check availability to your shipping address," or something along those lines.
        jaredmcateer 13y ago
        And if it thinks I'm in Montana? I don't get that message, and assume since in the past it knew I was in Calgary so I must be safe to add it to my cart. At least I know right now that I have to log in all the time to be sure I can safely add items to my cart
        tempestn 13y ago
        But the worst case then is that you add something to your cart and then find out later that you can't buy it, just like now. It's not going to make the cart self-destruct. ;) If it thinks you're in Montana once, it's probably going to every time. So you'll see exactly what you see now. Heck, maybe this is exactly what they DO do, and it thinks I'm in Washington so I never get a message. :) But for the majority of cases where it can geolocate the country properly, at least to the resolution of US vs not-US, it would be helpful.
  - tempestn 13y ago
    Hmm, I just double-checked and I don't get that. I'm in Canada. Have two addresses registered, both Canadian. For example, [1] is appears to be available, and also claims to have free shipping (as do many items listed on amazon.com eve though the free shipping is US only). When I add it to my cart, proceed to checkout, and choose an address though, it lets me know about the "slight problem" with my order... the fact that I can't get it. Maybe it's only Amazon Fulfillment items that do this? [1]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ENG6TI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ENG6TI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_ti...
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - yskchu 13y ago
      It doesn't work if you aren't logged in and haven't set a default shipping address. e.g. I see "We are not able to ship this item to your default shipping address."
      - tempestn 13y ago
        But I am logged in and have set a default shipping address. So either it's different depending on country, or it's because this item is a fulfillment item, or if you're also in Canada and looking at the same item... I don't know, I guess Amazon just doesn't like me?
        ddeck 13y ago
        It's not just you. I get the same behavior. Logged in with default shipping address (Hong Kong), but only find out on proceeding to checkout as you described.
        Ravi___ 13y ago
        try activating 1 click checkout..
dspillett 13y ago
> The way Google does this with an error page for non serviced locations feels really off. And hypocritical, given they are quick enough to penalise sites which present different content to there crawler than everyone else. Presenting different information by way of adding a warning ("we can not currently supply thsi item to the location you seem to be calling from, please come back later and in the meantime let's have a look at what you could have won...") would be fine, but an error feels like "you can't have one and we don't care".
mcv 13y ago
Amazon sometimes also refuses to ship to certain countries. I remember when I tried to order something but couldn't find it on amazon.de or amazon.co.uk. I could find it on amazon.com, but they refused to ship. Very annoying. I'd like to get rid of these stupid borders.

by netcan 13y ago

davedx 13y ago

They do put them on Amazon. Then you get to the checkout, and Amazon tells you you're not allowed to ship it to where you live if you're outside of Google's allowed territories. That's why I had to send my sister in the UK money to get my hands on my Nexus 4... annoying, and stupid.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

sampo 13y ago

> It's not just Nigeria. It's not just Africa, either.

tempestn 13y ago

Amazon is annoying in the opposite way. Even if you're logged in, they give no indication at all that they won't ship something to you until you actually try to buy it. Very irritating when comparing several options to have to add every one to the cart to check that you can actually buy it before wasting the time of considering it too carefully.

Andrenid 13y ago
When I'm logged in on Amazon I get a warning next to the product price that I can't ship it to my default location.
- scott_karana 13y ago
  There is that, but it only applies if you're an existing, and logged in customer.
  - itsameta4 13y ago
    Well how could they possibly fix that?
    - pandeiro 13y ago
      geoip?
      - jaredmcateer 13y ago
        GeoIP isn't really a good solution. I work on a large ecommerce site and this comes up from time to time. GeoIP databases are unreliable at best, especially for areas where IPs tend to jump borders (e.g., Toronto and Detroit)
        tempestn 13y ago
        But they wouldn't need to use it for anything critical. Just for a message like, "It appears that we can't ship this to your current location: Calgary, AB, Canada. Please _log in_ to check availability to your shipping address," or something along those lines.
        jaredmcateer 13y ago
        And if it thinks I'm in Montana? I don't get that message, and assume since in the past it knew I was in Calgary so I must be safe to add it to my cart. At least I know right now that I have to log in all the time to be sure I can safely add items to my cart
        tempestn 13y ago
        But the worst case then is that you add something to your cart and then find out later that you can't buy it, just like now. It's not going to make the cart self-destruct. ;) If it thinks you're in Montana once, it's probably going to every time. So you'll see exactly what you see now. Heck, maybe this is exactly what they DO do, and it thinks I'm in Washington so I never get a message. :) But for the majority of cases where it can geolocate the country properly, at least to the resolution of US vs not-US, it would be helpful.
- tempestn 13y ago
  Hmm, I just double-checked and I don't get that. I'm in Canada. Have two addresses registered, both Canadian. For example, [1] is appears to be available, and also claims to have free shipping (as do many items listed on amazon.com eve though the free shipping is US only). When I add it to my cart, proceed to checkout, and choose an address though, it lets me know about the "slight problem" with my order... the fact that I can't get it. Maybe it's only Amazon Fulfillment items that do this? [1]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ENG6TI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ENG6TI/ref=ox_sc_sfl_ti...
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - yskchu 13y ago
    It doesn't work if you aren't logged in and haven't set a default shipping address. e.g. I see "We are not able to ship this item to your default shipping address."
    - tempestn 13y ago
      But I am logged in and have set a default shipping address. So either it's different depending on country, or it's because this item is a fulfillment item, or if you're also in Canada and looking at the same item... I don't know, I guess Amazon just doesn't like me?
      - ddeck 13y ago
        It's not just you. I get the same behavior. Logged in with default shipping address (Hong Kong), but only find out on proceeding to checkout as you described.
        Ravi___ 13y ago
        try activating 1 click checkout..

dspillett 13y ago

> The way Google does this with an error page for non serviced locations feels really off. And hypocritical, given they are quick enough to penalise sites which present different content to there crawler than everyone else. Presenting different information by way of adding a warning ("we can not currently supply thsi item to the location you seem to be calling from, please come back later and in the meantime let's have a look at what you could have won...") would be fine, but an error feels like "you can't have one and we don't care".

mcv 13y ago

Amazon sometimes also refuses to ship to certain countries. I remember when I tried to order something but couldn't find it on amazon.de or amazon.co.uk. I could find it on amazon.com, but they refused to ship. Very annoying. I'd like to get rid of these stupid borders.