amazon.de vs amazon.co.uk

Mad Benny

I find amazon.co.uk excellent to deal with for returns and warranty issues. I am considering purchasing an electrical appliance for approx €500 on amazon.de that works out at €560 with amazon.co.uk.

Has anybody had an experience returning an item to amazon.de under warranty?

I don't speak German. I was considering going with amazon.co.uk for peace of mind.

I would prefer to buy off an Irish retailer but the price is over €800 for the same item.

Cabaal

OP.
Install google chrome and then visit amazon.de
It will auto translate the website for you

Mad Benny

Thanks for the tip Cabaal. I use that feature all the time. It's excellent.

My concern is with returns. I can easily translate german text but it won't necessarily work that well the other way.

I was wondering if both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de use the same customer service centre. If that's the case then communicating in English won't be a problem.

looksee

If you are purchasing electronic items be aware that if you want a new, standard, commercially packed item with all the manf.s warranties you have to buy one marked 'brand new'. If it says 'new' it means it could be bulk packed that does not have all the stuff including warranty that you would expect from a commercial item.

UrbanSea

What's the appliance by the way?

Mad Benny

UrbanSea wrote: »

What's the appliance by the way?

It's an expensive Espresso machine. Some people say that they don't travel well.

dudara

Moved to Online Buying & Auctions

dudara

rubadub

Mad Benny wrote: »

I would prefer to buy off an Irish retailer but the price is over €800 for the same item.

On an item like this I would chance asking if they can match it or come close to matching it. I would pay more for having equipment like that from an Irish shop for ease of returns etc. Equipment like that can have massive markups, the retailers are often chancing their arm and would be selling with massive discounts to regular buyers on account. They might jump at the chance of a sale.

No need to go in verbally haggling if you are uncomfortable doing it, just pop off an email being honest saying "look I can get it here for €X, can you come close".

UrbanSea

Not necessarily true rubadub. Depending on the brand in question,it can be more or less than others. Retailers generally stick to a % profit,not a set number.

OP what brand is the machine? The odds are it is much cheaper online,not through consumer exploitation by irish retailers but for the simple fact they'd be special orders,and economies of scale wouldn't come into question for the retailers,where it would for a huge firm like amazon

UrbanSea

Not necessarily true rubadub. Depending on the brand in question,it can be more or less than others. Retailers generally stick to a % profit,not a set number.

OP what brand is the machine? The odds are it is much cheaper online,not through consumer exploitation by irish retailers but for the simple fact they'd be special orders,and economies of scale wouldn't come into question for the retailers,where it would for a huge firm like amazon

Mad Benny

UrbanSea wrote: »

OP what brand is the machine?

It's a Gaggia.

Mad Benny

rubadub wrote: »

just pop off an email being honest saying "look I can get it here for €X, can you come close".

That's a good idea. No harm in trying. I fired off an email to one vendor. I found a very good sale price from another but they are out of stock.

rubadub

UrbanSea wrote: »

Retailers generally stick to a % profit,not a set number.

yep, depends on the retailer though, in this case it is a highish end product, you won't see it in powercity or argos. Brown thomas would be different from a (usually) "trade only" catering outlet, I would not expect BT to go down in price much, if at all. The list price in many trade places is really chancing their arm for walk in customers, many are doing the bulk of their sales at a high discount.

Another tip is to wait until nearer the end of the month when some desperate sales man has to make up his monthly quota!

UrbanSea

Apologies rubadub,that's true,I thought it may have been a brand that is common to electrical retailers. I'm working in an electrical shop and I don't know of any Graggia distributors,they'd be more specialized than your run of the mill electrical shop OP