Free shipping from Amazon on orders from £25

robinvn · 06-10-2009 10:46AM #1

Hi,
I'm quite new to this, so I hope this is valid as a BA:
According to the Irish Times, Amazon are doing free shipping for Irish customers.

Online retailer Amazon has announced that it it to introduce a free delivery service for customers in Ireland.

The service is eligible for goods on all orders costing £25 or more.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1006/breaking25.htm

Could be interesting!

abelard · 06-10-2009 10:48AM

Fantastic news by the looks of it. Hopefully it's a long-term policy going forward

Soarer · 06-10-2009 10:53AM

Just tried it there with a couple of blurays that added up to £27, and there is definitely free shipping!
That said, you have to select free shipping. The default option you have to pay for. I like to call it The Ryanair Syndrome!;)

The Black Oil · 06-10-2009 10:57AM

Good news, thanks for posting it.

zzap64 · 06-10-2009 11:00AM

Arse, just ordered a few things less than a week ago and paid around £10 postage!!

Still it's very good news . Was always very annoying seeing the ads for free posting etc. until you logged in and selected "Ireland" and got wacked with the postage charges.

loyatemu · 06-10-2009 11:00AM

cool - just checked and the super saver option is now available, also they will bill in Euro if you turn the currency converter on.

dudara · 06-10-2009 11:01AM

Feck, I just bought a £50 item recently and paid for the shipping.

Great news for us Irish consumers though. Thanks.

Vic Vinegar · 06-10-2009 11:03AM

That's great news! nice one.

dubmick · 06-10-2009 11:04AM

great news, Amazon will be getting a lot more business from me.

dmeehan · 06-10-2009 11:05AM

Soarer wrote: »

Just tried it there with a couple of blurays that added up to £27, and there is definitely free shipping!
That said, you have to select free shipping. The default option you have to pay for. I like to call it The Ryanair Syndrome!;)

the shorter the delivery option chosen, the more expensive it costs, with the longest time for delivery being free

Fingleberries · 06-10-2009 11:41AM

Nice one ... it's about time they started offering this outside the UK / US ... Pity I just bought a heap of stuff with 'em ... Typical, eh?

:rolleyes:

Rsaeire · 06-10-2009 11:51AM

Finally; I have been waiting for years for Amazon to do this. Free shipping for orders over £25 and a lot of electronics eligible to be shipped to Ireland makes for a great service.

Macer123 · 06-10-2009 11:52AM

Thanks OP - Had just ordered Disney Blu Rays in Amazon BOGOF yesterday. After seeing your post I changed the delivery to Free. The free delivery was accepted based I guess on the price of two Blu Ray ( as the BOGOF discount is taken off at the end). My overall order ended up costing £17 odd and I still received the free delivery.

The Sparrow · 06-10-2009 12:07PM

That's great news. Thanks OP.

What's the story with the currency converter? I assumed that they meant that it would be like Play.com and everything would be displayed in euro but I can't find that anywhere.

bk · 06-10-2009 12:08PM

A nice first step, but Amazon still have a lot to do to properly service Ireland.

Amazon.co.uk has a number of very serious usability issues for Irish users:

1) The price shown isn't the price you pay as they change vat from 17.5% to 21.5% at the very last step of the checkout process.

2) No idea if third party companies actually ship to Ireland until you get well into the checkout procedure.

3) No indication of how much shipping to Ireland will be for third party companies, anywhere.

Amazon really need to launch an amazon.ie site, where prices in euro (with a fair exchange rate), Irish VAT added on, only third party retailers who ship to Ireland shown on it and their shipping prices up front.

Rsaeire · 06-10-2009 12:25PM

bk wrote: »

A nice first step, but Amazon still have a lot to do to properly service Ireland.

Amazon.co.uk has a number of very serious usability issues for Irish users:

1) The price shown isn't the price you pay as they change vat from 17.5% to 21.5% at the very last step of the checkout process.

2) No idea if third party companies actually ship to Ireland until you get well into the checkout procedure.

3) No indication of how much shipping to Ireland will be for third party companies, anywhere.

Amazon really need to launch an amazon.ie site, where prices in euro (with a fair exchange rate), Irish VAT added on, only third party retailers who ship to Ireland shown on it and their shipping prices up front.

I completely agree with your points.

The VAT change at checkout had me stumped for quite a while, but I never really looked into it as it was such a small price difference.

noodler · 06-10-2009 12:32PM

Its so they can send electronics etc here isn't it? I know they recently opened up alot more of their lines for delivery to Eire.

I guess they could check our ISPs and know to charge us our rate of VAT (21.5%) straight away tho. (But then you could have someone in England or the North order for you?).

The Black Oil · 06-10-2009 12:34PM

All solid points there, bk. Frustrating..

RobertFoster · 06-10-2009 12:37PM

Get news on the free shipping, but the VAT issue can still rule them out competitively compared to other UK retailers. It's a pain to have to go through the checkout to see the final price - the cynic in me believes it's so people go "ah sure, I've come this far" and continue with the purchase.

quiche · 06-10-2009 12:41PM

So does this mean that getting an Amazon Prime account would make more sense now?

noodler · 06-10-2009 12:41PM

noodler wrote: »

Its so they can send electronics etc here isn't it? I know they recently opened up alot more of their lines for delivery to Eire.

I guess they could check our ISPs and know to charge us our rate of VAT (21.5%) straight away tho. (But then you could have someone in England or the North order for you?).

?

turgon · 06-10-2009 12:53PM

Yeah the ISP's can cause problems. As I detailed earlier, Book Depository charge prices based on ISP as they have free delivery (nearer to UK the cheaper). Its easy to use a proxy to get a better price, but its highly insecure and comes unrecommended.

Im logged into Amazon.co.uk and they know Im from Ireland yet they still dont change the price. Thats something they could do.

ShaneU · 06-10-2009 01:07PM

Do they still add on the Irish tax?

Drakus · 06-10-2009 01:11PM

I wonder how this effects those of us that pre-ordered Win 7 a few weeks ago as the item will not be shipped(and charged) untill the 22nd of this month.

noodler · 06-10-2009 01:18PM

turgon wrote: »

Yeah the ISP's can cause problems. As I detailed earlier, Book Depository charge prices based on ISP as they have free delivery (nearer to UK the cheaper). Its easy to use a proxy to get a better price, but its highly insecure and comes unrecommended.

Im logged into Amazon.co.uk and they know Im from Ireland yet they still dont change the price. Thats something they could do.

Good point, no real excuse if you are logged in (although, address can still be subject to change even if you are logged in).

ShaneU wrote: »

Do they still add on the Irish tax?

21.5%, which has been mentioned above about 6 times? Yes

ShaneU · 06-10-2009 01:19PM

Tried to order xbox 360 elite, postage and packing £6, VAT £36.50

There simply isn't a way of getting bargains from amazon.co.uk until they stop charging the 21% Irish VAT rate, there's too many alternatives, mainly the Hut group, where I can purchase things cheaper.

darraghn · 06-10-2009 01:20PM

Drakus wrote: »

I wonder how this effects those of us that pre-ordered Win 7 a few weeks ago as the item will not be shipped(and charged) untill the 22nd of this month.

I have two copies of Win 7 on order - just went in and updated the Shipping method to Free. saved approx £10. Thanks OP.

karlyk1 · 06-10-2009 01:21PM

Amazon really need to launch an amazon.ie site, where prices in euro (with a fair exchange rate), Irish VAT added on, only third party retailers who ship to Ireland shown on it and their shipping prices up front.[/quote]

You would think this would solve the problem, but it seems when a UK company has a .ie microsite they just double the price of everything anyway.

noodler · 06-10-2009 01:21PM

ShaneU wrote: »

Tried to order xbox 360 elite, postage and packing £6, VAT £36.50

There simply isn't a way of getting bargains from amazon.co.uk until they stop charging the 21% Irish VAT rate, there's too many alternatives, mainly the Hut group, where I can purchase things cheaper.

The HUT is in Jersey though and even if they shipped a 360 (which I'm sure they wouldn't to Ireland) then you would most likely get hit with customs.

noodler · 06-10-2009 01:26PM

I believe HMV are a better bet. They do charge a small delivery but no Irish VAT.

Not sure why they can do it but Amazon can't?

I am guessing it means you will never be hit with customs on an Amazon order but since HMV is in the UK (and hence the EU) you shouldn't be hit with it there either tbh.

ShaneU · 06-10-2009 01:35PM

noodler wrote: »

I believe HMV are a better bet. They do charge a small delivery but no Irish VAT.

Not sure why they can do it but Amazon can't?

I am guessing it means you will never be hit with customs on an Amazon order but since HMV is in the UK (and hence the EU) you shouldn't be hit with it there either tbh.

It's not as if they send over the extra 10% VAT to our government, the company is based in the U.K. so it should charge U.K. tax rates. Until they drop it I can buy 99% of dvds, cds etc. cheaper elsewhere.

Free shipping from Amazon on orders from £25

Comments