Amazon "free delivery" charges

davidlizard

Attempted to buy several items from Amazon, and when I got to the checkout was told I qualify for free delivery - this is the Free Super Saver Delivery which I always use, not the Amazon Prime thing which is well documented here and I would not touch.

However, looking at the breakdown of prices, I noted that I was still being charged £3.99 delivery.

I was curious to see what was attracting this charge, so I removed the items one by one from the checkout basket and found the one item that was attracting a delivery charge - a £4.75 cleaning solution. As soon as I removed this item, the delivery charge went down to £0.00 as expected.

It turned out this was not from amazon, but from one of amazons "partners". It appears that the free delivery thing only applies to stuff bought directly from amazon and not from one of amazons associates - even though it is through their website and in the same shopping basket.

I mentioned this to colleages at work who all seemed aware of this anyway and was surprised that I did not realise this, but thought I would air it here to save anyone else falling into this trap.

welshbookworm

And when I bought 3 DVD's at the same time from Amazon I had the 'joy' of paying 3 lots of P&P !
I only made that mistake once.

custardy

davidlizard wrote: »

Attempted to buy several items from Amazon, and when I got to the checkout was told I qualify for free delivery - this is the Free Super Saver Delivery which I always use, not the Amazon Prime thing which is well documented here and I would not touch.

However, looking at the breakdown of prices, I noted that I was still being charged £3.99 delivery.

I was curious to see what was attracting this charge, so I removed the items one by one from the checkout basket and found the one item that was attracting a delivery charge - a £4.75 cleaning solution. As soon as I removed this item, the delivery charge went down to £0.00 as expected.

It turned out this was not from amazon, but from one of amazons "partners". It appears that the free delivery thing only applies to stuff bought directly from amazon and not from one of amazons associates - even though it is through their website and in the same shopping basket.

I mentioned this to colleages at work who all seemed aware of this anyway and was surprised that I did not realise this, but thought I would air it here to save anyone else falling into this trap.

they are separate companies trading through the amazon website
its not really hidden on Amazons site
if you are concerned then filter your search results with those eligable for supersaver delivery

Takoda

The Amazon Prime service is actually OK. I had a free trial last month. It would be an excellent service if they didn't use Royal mail for some parcels. They sometimes don't turn up on time and you've no way of tracking the parcel. If they'd used just carriers I'd have signed up at the end of the trial.

It is always really obvious when looking at an item whether it is free delivery or not. It says so, right after the price of the item, in big bold black letters.

soolin

The marketplace service is not exactly rocket science, in fact as others have said even before you add something to your basket it shows the delivery charge if it isn't from Amazon itself.

cyberbob

davidlizard wrote: »

I mentioned this to colleages at work who all seemed aware of this anyway and was surprised that I did not realise this, but thought I would air it here to save anyone else falling into this trap.

Not much of a trap when it's clearly written on the site.

Helix

The item page also doesn't have "This item qualifies for Free Supersaver Delivery" on it if it is a marketplace item so it is rather obvious and as has been said you can filter marketplace items out.

SandC

I have to agree, it's really quite obvious when something is from marketplace rather than Amazon stocks.

tuggy

Sorry another one here agreeing that its obvious if an item is from Amazon direct, or just a seller advertising on the amazon site.

letsbehonest

I buy lot's of stuff on Amazon and find it all very upfront and informative, in fact Amazon is always my first port of call and their service is superb.

suited-aces

I bought this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuine-HTC-Leather-PO-S520/dp/B003HRZRCE/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1284397174&sr=1-1) advertised for 6.60+free shipping, and was still charged £3ish postage, with no options to change postage type.

Is it because I'm in Northern Ireland, or is there a fault or something misleading?