AMAZON dot IE lands next year .. Dedicated Irish Amazon Store

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122117053#Comment_122117053

It's very easy to say "Oh what about the little guy", but what do we manufacture in Ireland that Amazon might compete with? I went into a tech shop looking for solder, this is the stuff you use for soldering, it looks like a coil of silver wire, €14. Went home, ordered a coil of it on Amazon for £3, it arrived in the post 2 days later. I appreciate keeping a bricks and mortar shop open has its over heads, and its handy in an emergency, but the difference in prices can be significant.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119061#Comment_122119061

That's not quite correct. I can get items vat free from Amazon EU sites or I can claim it back. Buying from Amazon UK costs me 23% more because they are not in the EU & I can't claim back the vat.

Also for non prime members they don't get free shipping. They get a shipping discount / rebate if they spend over €25 euros or so BUT because it's a discount rather than free they pay duty & vat on the shipping. This can work out €3 or €4 euro extra in customs charges for non prime members.

I do believe that prices will be higher to Amazon Ireland but they will definitely save on customs charges if not prime members

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122119006#Comment_122119006

I agree. An Post lose a lot of money on rural deliveries every year. A regular business can't provide such a service because they must break even or make a profit on such a service. An Post can offset losses from rural deliveries against profits from collecting tv licenses or paying out social welfare payments.

jos22

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122120946#Comment_122120946

I haven't bother with it with a while, in the past majority of stuff I went to watch, that wasn't amazon show pop up saying this show is not available in your region

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122121561#Comment_122121561

Are you a business customer? You must be if you’re claiming back VAT.

I’m not.

As a Prime member, yes I have free shipping. It makes sense if you order a lot. As a person who just buys physical media, the above scenario (UK VAT deducted, Irish VAT added, no other charges) is exactly how it plays out for me, regardless of order size.

Montage of Feck

Amazon definitely isn't as good as it used to be, lots of sellers selling exactly the same chinsy products, might as well just take my chances on AliExpress with free shipping.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122121672#Comment_122121672

Yep Temu stock has invaded the market place along with ali Express which is up-market in contrast to temu. Also anything specialist, eg I was looking for some pretty particular coffee grinders and they didn't stock any of them. Years ago they would have.

irishgeo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122121591#Comment_122121591

Or perhaps they make their profits from delivering Amazon packages.

Galwayguy35

Great news.

No surprise the thread has whingers who are never happy about anything.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122122115#Comment_122122115

To be fair, it would seem that this move will likely cost existing users more (either with the "Treasure Ireland tax" or if they restrict or reduce the current access we have to the UK site) and offers very little over what the UK site currently does.

Like others have said I've noticed a huge falloff in item quality in the last year - to the point where I cancelled my Prime membership a few months back, plus I find it's actually often significantly cheaper to buy from the DE site if nor in a hurry (most of my purchases are tech related).

If they offered the Grocery or other UK-specific options it might be worth getting excited over.

Hyperbollix

Can see Irish customers getting royally shafted here. Being a small market using the UK Amazon site has it's benefits. We get the prices associated with a very big market for one thing.

I just think the inevitable "Paddy Tax" will appear in our checkouts on Amazon.ie. We're a rich consumer base who aren't that discerning about paying over the odds for anything. All Amazon would need to do would be to make Amazon UK a bit more expensive for Irish buyers, ie drop the free delivery option and start charging normal customs duties on all items to ROI. Then we're forced into using the .IE site and we will pay whatever they want us to.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122121593#Comment_122121593

Im the same. I down load everything I watch usually. Tried it last night and to my pleasent surprise, Clarksons Farm worked for me, so clearly things have improved. Not gone looking for any other titles.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122115756#Comment_122115756

Not everything in Ireland is price gouged though.

I recently got a George Moore novel in Hodges Figgis for €5.99. I also found a John O'Hara First Edition in a bookshop in D1 for €10.

Independent merchant sellers on Ebay/Amazon/Abebooks are often on the gouging bandwagon themselves because the value of old books, vinyl, vintage bicycles, vintage furniture etc. seems to have soaked through into general awareness.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122124429#Comment_122124429

Thats exactly what will happen but because of the cynical way some retailers in Ireland run their businesses, Amazon.ie could add a paddy tax and still undercut some of our native retailers. Was in B&Q last night. Despitre already having a decent socket set I saw one I quite fancied. I very nearly bought it, looked it up on amazon on my phone, same one £18 with free delivery.

Ive gotten into the habit of checking prices in shops online, before buying, it has been very beneficial. It's truly amazing the difference sometimes. And that was B&Q, a large retailler who can benefit from the economy of scale that a small time mom-and-pop type hardware shop can't avail of.

Strumms

will it be a case of just using your current Amazon.co.uk login to get into the .ie site ?

Always liked amazon.co.uk… Client with them since 2006.

At one point during the earlier stages of the pandemic and masks started becoming slightly more scarce… checked Amazon and sorted…. Got 4 boxes, good rate, delivered efficiently.

Over the years bought a lot of books and music that regular stockists say HMV & Tower would take weeks to obtain on order if not actually in stock.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122124577#Comment_122124577

Books! Amazons original raison d'etre. I work in IT, and the range of IT-related books in all Irish bookshops has been and continues to be ridiculous. Easons was the only one with a decent sellection. Waterstones selection was laughable plus you would want to be mortgage approved before you go into Waterstones.

Ive had an Amazon account since about 2005. My mum used to give out to me for getting stuff delivered, she didnt understand how it wasn't cheaper to buy in a shop. For a lot of reference books and being poor in my early 20s I was a big fan of second hand books from Amazon. There were some books I got where the postage cost more than the book itself.

The Perl Cookbook for example, brand new is about 40 quid, second hand I got it for about £5. And zero chance of finding it in Easons, Chapters, Waterstones.

LambshankRedemption

will it be a case of just using your current Amazon.co.uk login to get into the .ie site ?

I would imagine not. Because of how locations are registered in the amazon account, I suspect you will need an amazon.ie account for the IE site.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122124663#Comment_122124663

I can use my current Amazon account to login to any region though. So I'd suspect that won't be the case. Things like Kindle libraries are gonna be the interesting ones cause that's location based iirc.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122124718#Comment_122124718

Maybe you are right I dont know.

Off Topic, but slightly amazon related. I have a number of Amazon alexa devices in my house. I set one playing my playlist yesterday and I have a friend staying with me. I'm in the kitchen and I hear:

"Sabrina! Stop! Sabrina end playlist! Sabrina quit! SABRINA!

I go in and say, what are you doing? He says "Your stupid amazon thingy is not responding to me".

I say, Thats maybe because the wake word is Alexa, not Sabrina. 🤣

Oh how we laughed.

Now ask me where John works.

Varik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122121561#Comment_122121561

I've to order off a personal account from Amazon UK as the business account doesn't work anymore but I then expense that, it's still Irish VAT your paying so I can claim that back.

Not paid anything high enough to get the extra customs.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122129397#Comment_122129397

I think you will find that you can't claim that vat back from Amazon UK. An invoice that you claim the VAT back has to have an EU Vat number on the invoice.

I highly recommend that you double check with your accountant. If you have a VAT inspection in let's saw 5 years time then you have to repay incorrectly claimed vat. They add penalties & interest. They will tend to delve deeper if they see incorrectly claimed vat.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/customs/businesses/brexit/info-businesses/vat-gb-after-transition/reclaiming-vat-incurred-in-great-britain.aspx#:~:text=VAT%20%E2%80%93%20Trade%20between%20Ireland%20and%20Great%20Britain&text=Under%20European%20law%2C%20you%20can,VAT%20Refund%20(EVR)%20system

Discodog

Never buy anything of value until you do a comparison.

I bought a new phone - 80 euro cheaper on Amazon.it than UK.

New watch - 90 euro cheaper on Amazon.de than Harvey Norman & 60 cheaper than Amazon UK

Varik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122129458#Comment_122129458

It's Amazon Services Europe that's doing the importation and charging Irish vat, it's their Luxembourg registered company your buying off and it's their vat number on the invoices.

If I bought something in the UK and payed their 20% I'm not getting that back but this is actual Irish vat you're paying to a Luxembourg company.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122129484#Comment_122129484

I've found consistently that the de site is cheaper than the UK one for electronics. OK you'll pay a tenner for shipping and have to wait a few extra days, but the savings can be significant!

Also for phone/tablets and accessories, check out this site in Holland -

https://www.gomibo.ie/

Bought a Galaxy tab A9+ there (the 8gb/128gb version) for 250 a fortnight ago. Cheaper than both Amazon sites and I ordered it on a Saturday morning and had it by Monday - I was astonished!

boredyooser

What a lot of people don't realise when buying from Amazon, is they are not actually shopping with Amazon themselves, they are shopping with an independent marketplace seller. People just click the yellow buy button and often don't realise who they are actually buying from. Over half of Anazon's sales in major markets are from independent sellers who list their goods on the platform.

Amazon may open up an IE site and establish a warehouse and delivery network, but a lot of the goods will actually be coming from outside Ireland. Nobody seriously believes that Amazon is going to stock a warehouse in Ireland with every single item listed on their website in the hope that some random person somewhere in Ireland might occasionally want one ?

That's not how it is going to work. They will fill their warehouse with top selling fast moving stock . Other stuff will still be coming from China, the EU, the UK and will be subject to the variables of shipping and customs that they are currently subject to. How Amazon will manage that I don't know, but the costs will have to be built into the sellers prices. And then returns will involve international postage / customs.

BaywatchHQ

Don't really like Amazon anyway, the only thing I would buy on it would be Blu rays or CD's and they often arrive damaged because of the poor packaging. Also they no longer use Royal Mail so their vans arrive at the most random hours of the evening.

Norrie Rugger Head

Amazon were great when the underdog. Now they don't even have to try.

It died, as a useful vendor, the day they merged their marketplace into the main storefront

I mean I'll still use it but, looking at my order history, the quantity and value of orders is constantly declining.