Amazon and shipping. My heads had enough

[friendly1uk]

I go through this most of the times I use amazon. I end up looking at some other countries site, and amazon offer links from the advert explaining the international rates, then after checkout it's "sorry, not to this address" and after lots of different addresses you realise it's actually "sorry, not on this side of the planet"

I'm perplexed. Heads shot. How do you know if something will post? I want to ask the seller, but amazon let me, then say, oh no, you can't ask, even though we let you do lots of typing again. You have never purchased from amazon. Which again is a load of wasted typing and they are not even right. I have bought from them before, though that to was an equally brain cell killing nightmare. Why do they let me go through it all, only to then say no. Lots of swearing needs inserting here to fully understand my anguish.

I want a DOPPELGANGER D2 from Amazon JP. http://www.amazon.co.jp/DOPPELGANGER-%E3%83%89%E3%83%83%E3%83%9A%E3%83%AB%E3%82%AE%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC-%E3%83%95%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%90%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%80%90%E8%BB%BD%E9%87%8F%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%95%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%80%91%E3%82%B7%E3%83%9E%E3%83%8E-%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B8%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB%E3%83%84%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%81%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%96%E3%83%95%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%80%90%E5%89%8D%E5%BE%8C%E3%82%B5%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9A%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3-%E5%89%8D%E5%BE%8C%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%96%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AD%E3%80%91LED%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%88/dp/B00359G7BE/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t It is cheap as chips and I want it! other sellers also have it, but there is litterally no point looking at the adverts. Non will tell me anything about postage and I can't message them. I have felt hatred towards amazon for years for the large number of hoops you have to jump through, to be told no. Not shipping it.


I do know a girl in japan who frwards things. She sent me a phone once, so I sent her some UK chocolate bars. I'm well in there, but this is a big box and 22kg all in.


Can anybody work that bloody site. I just can't navigate it

 

[friendly1uk]

Not be be beaten, I find a list of other suppliers. Here is just one from the list

As you can see, they talk of internation shipping. Many hoops later... Not to your address, meaning not to any address on this side of the globe.

Am I being stupid? You see the link for more details... it take me to a dog that can't find it's bone. Advert after advert it's the same story. Talk of shipping internationally, but won't do it, and dead links


It's not me is it? Over 10 years these fools have been yanking my chain. They need to give me a job that involves slapping people!

 

[beast775]

Fun post,but feel yer pain.. i have no luck with amazon .

 

[TheBeastie]

Yeah unless its "sold by amazon" seller I normally get that we don't ship to that country which can be a big let down.
I bought a 256gb SSD a few years ago directly from Amazon as it was about $100 cheaper including shipping.
When it came it was was all there except the actually SSD drive, it was just an empty box, clearly a thieving postie somewhere long the way opened it up and took it and then continued to let it travel its journey to me.

I posted it back under amazons "missing accessories" and got my money back no questions asked, which was happy.
About 1.5 months later all the SSDs in AU started to fall under the same price as amazon did anyway, seems like the SSD manufacture was about to cut prices but was giving Amazon first dip a head of everyone else.

I prefer buying from ebay because its very upfront about if I can actually order it or not, Amazon too many times requires digging.

I also got my suspension seat post from Amazon as well,Cane Creek 3G Thudbuster Long Travel Seatpost, which was a good deal was cheaper then anywhere else and conveneient.
Looks like its every cheaper now.. its got the words I have to see "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com"
http://www.amazon.com/Cane-Creek-Thudbuster-Travel-Seatpost/dp/B003NE5IRK
When I was looking at buying from any AU seller was going to be about $240 AUD.

 

[The fingers]

The only complaint I have about Amazon is that buyers keep asking me questions about items that I bought years ago. :x

 

[TheBeastie]

The only complaint I have about Amazon is that buyers keep asking me questions about items that I bought years ago. :x

I only find that really annoying when they ask the same question I have already answered or ask it in a different way when the answer is already obvious, thats really annoying.

 

[arkmundi]

Have you tried going to http://www.amazon.co.uk/ instead?

 

[friendly1uk]

The advert actually says "Ships from and sold by Amazon.co.jp"

The UK site don't have them.

Though the bike is 36000 yen, it will incure 15% tax then 20% duty and as it's made in china a 48.5% anti-dumping charge. So it's actually doubled in price before it's even been posted. A charge which will also incure all the afore mentioned skankery.
This £200 bike will be £500 which is definitely sucking. If I could actually get one!!

 

[friendly1uk]

I wrote to amazon and got a promising reply. However, when viewing foreign language sites text often appears as tiles. Does anyone know what this means?


My pc's have all done it. Tiles seems the best description but it means something else. Hampering my search. Which has been going on maybe 15 years :S

 

[friendly1uk]

Not a single view.
Here it is without needing to click. Anybody seen anything like this before? All my compters ever have done this. Must be 8 machines since the late 90s
View attachment 1

under 20 kibbles and still wont show... I will chop it up...




3rd time lucky..

 

[markz]

I gave up on Amazon the first time I tried to buy from their .com website. Thier .ca website I have only boughten 1 or 2 things from them, one was a extended battery from Anker with a back cover for my S4 phone. The others were some hats that never fit my huge noggin. That the other thing I've learned, do not buy clothing items online. Shoes didnt fit from shoebuy.com. I somehow got scammed into buying their deluxe platinum whatever membership on my first buy. A $90 sucker punch!

 

[friendly1uk]

90 of anyone's dollars is really quite rude.
Any internet business has to accept returns under the distance selling regs, though that might be only Uk law. It's still not worth the bother a lot of the time though. Having to pay the postage and record delivery costs too much in many cases. Ebay's system expects you to print off a return label which the seller pays for, but until you print it, they presume you have not returned the item. So unless your the rare person that has a working printer, you have to pay the return, then hope the seller refunds you, while suffering endless reminders to print off the label. There is a strong case for real shops.

I have found the boxes are because I don't have the correct charicters to display. Which I guessed many years ago. No idea how to get them though. Most PC's have a set of charicters they fall back on if they don't have the right ones, but I don't even have those.

To my surprise, I tryed google chrome. Another of those things that appeared from nowhere and I certainly never asked for. It can read it! so it's not my operating system letting me down it is Firefox. Which is up to date. Another gripe as I liked the old one better. This one has a rubbish search bar, that can't guess anything. It displays no forward thinking at all. Time for a new brouser me thinks.



I have wrote to a mail forwarding person in Japan. They might be able to help. If not, the bike is 36000 now, and postage 11000 with a fee from tenso (another forwarding company) of 5000 on top. 52000 total, but the bike is on offerat that, it was over 60000 originally. It seems reasonable enough. After the tax and duties due, I'm looking at £380 delivered. Though it's actually £200 for the bike in japan.

 

[markz]

Yeah I know, it sucks. Called "Premium" or "Platinum Amazon Club" or whatever, I made sure my prepaid CC didnt have $90 on it, or $70 or whatever it was.
They tried 3 times to suck that outta me. DENIED! Both on the .com and the .ca websites. I guess its probably a "Accept/Agree to Terms" fine print that no one reads.

Dont get me wrong, I will still buy stuff from them, but when I do, I make a bank transfer to my ZoomPass Visa (One of the best prepaid CC around, zero fees) which takes a couple days. Its always now from .ca website, and its normally always from Amazon itself, not some user seller, which I think is kind of a safeguard in a way. No paypal, I never understood why they dont do that, must always come down to the fees. Like some stores, will add an extra 3% when buying with CC. MemoryExpress does that, its a computer/electronics chain in Western Canada.

Buying stuff this way gives me time to contemplate my purchase, like any good money manager will tell you when using a credit card. Its too impulsive! You buy needless items without thinking. Like going grocery shopping when your hungry, we always buy more.....look at Costco shopping.

Then I got my PIVOT Visa from any PetroCanada station that sells the PIVOT vouchers. (More fees, $2 loads per voucher and $0.49 per purchases), harder to find stations that sells these Vouchers. But if I am really in a hurry, anyplace anywhere sells a prepaid cc, always fees up the ying yang! Always!

The hats I bought and returned, it wasnt worth the hassle. I was broke though, needed the little $8 back.

I like the ease of ebay and paypal. I was always hesitant to buy stuff on ebay, but I bought two dozen items now over the past few years I have been on it.
Only real issues are the items coming from China, sometimes takes forever, even with the time frame given for delivery from seller.

The only thing really that concerns me, is the fact there is no guaruntee that the item is geniune and falls under the North American (or just Canada) CE listing for safety. Asia is rampant with copies, fakes, etc. so I was thinking the cases I bought for my old Samsung Ace IIx phone, how do I know the plastic is safe, or the dye/paint used, could be lead. What about the name tag strings I bought. The cell phone clear cover to protect it. Is the plastic industry standard, or some concocktion some dude in a small warehouse came up with to reduce his costs. Its common sense not to buy drugs online, but people still do.

I think everything has its place. Amazon has its place in the market, so does ebay, paypal, bitcoin etc.

Just one pet peeve I have is since I live in Canada, its sometimes soooo hard to get an item you want off amazon.com or walmart.com. If I want the item, I literally have to drive across the border to a mail drop and pick it up. Im 3 hours from the Sweetgrass border crossing. I could hire a company to forward it, additional costs. I have run into this situations a handful of times. .com said $10, .ca said $18. We Canucks pay more for everything, from Advil to tires, its just a blanket money grab. Thats why any product you want to become filthy rich selling, sell to USA! I think however perhaps our British/Irish counterparts might have an easier time of things, since being the the European Union has its benefits. Britain was amazing when I went, train service excellent. I would love to go back again and do it the right way.

 

[Punx0r]

Restricted substances in consumer products (plastics, lead paint, nickel plating) are usually only a serious issue if the product is ingested, hence safety concerns are usually directed towards childrens toys. For adults the issue is normally just one of potential skin irritation from handling.

Electrical safety is something else. Switchmode power supplies with lethal voltages on the casing or low-voltage output. Fake RCDs and circuit breakers that are any empty box with a solid wire between input and output. Grey market electrical imports from China should be treated with suspicion IMO.