Seeking an alternative to Amazon.co.uk

Ganapata

Locky wrote: »

Do any of these comparison sites have companies that could be useful?

http://www.gamecrawler.co.uk/
http://www.bluraycrawler.co.uk/
http://www.dvdcrawler.co.uk/
http://www.bookcrawler.co.uk/

BlahDVD ship to France: http://www.blahdvd.com/
I didn't know they were still going! Not sure how cheap they are though.

Thanks I will have a look at these

petestan

Ganapata wrote: »

Yes, you are right, this is very strange however !!!




No, not really, please read my first post, I explain clearly what I am looking for, so obviously when suggestions are different to what I am seeking, I state it.


Really? Why would I have created a post in the first place then?

The reality is there are only a very few alternatives to Amazon and the vast majority of those will be more expensive than Amazon because Amazon price matches or undercuts their competition.
Other posters have already told you numerous sites but you have found fault with them all. Maybe it's time you searched yourself and came back and told us of any you find, I won't be hold my breath waiting.

amat_endura

I too am trying to find an Amazon alternative, but due to them not paying tax rather than anything else.

As mentioned above it's pretty difficult, but thanks to MoneySavingExpert I found Megashopbot, and thanks to this thread I found that the book depository is part of Amazon!

Hive.co.uk ships to the EU but not for free - they quote £4.99 for books and £3.99 for DVD/ CDs

bargainhunter6677

Play.com is probs best bet man

[Deleted User]

amat_endura wrote: »

I too am trying to find an Amazon alternative, but due to them not paying tax rather than anything else.

As mentioned above it's pretty difficult, but thanks to MoneySavingExpert I found Megashopbot, and thanks to this thread I found that the book depository is part of Amazon!

I'm getting quite a lot of my stuff elsewhere these days (like you, I object to Amazon not paying any UK tax). It's saved me loads of money because I've kicked "the Amazon habit" - far too easy to impulse buy ...! (and most of the books, etc. I've bought from them are still unused, I'm ashamed to say). Also, it's opened my eyes to the fact that they really are very often not the cheapest.

Latest example - wanted a book for my hubby which was £1.50 via The Works on eBay (brand new incl free postage). On Amazon at the moment the same book is £9.59 !!! (It's called The Extra One Percent by Rob Yeung). Confusingly - The Works charges less for it via eBay than their own website ...

Amazon is NOT always cheaper, honestly. I've found that they usually offer the latest books / DVDs whatever much cheaper, but the rest can be found cheaper elsewhere.

amat_endura

bargainhunter6677 wrote: »

Play.com is probs best bet man

Unfortunately Play.com is about to stop selling directly due to the VAT loophole it uses being closed. You can still purchase through the marketplace but that's no better than ebay in my opinion. I prefer to use retailers with a bit more protection whenever possible. Wowhd seems to fit this bill, although as they are based in HK you've got to wonder what their tax arrangements are........

Ganapata

amat_endura wrote: »

I too am trying to find an Amazon alternative, but due to them not paying tax rather than anything else.

As mentioned above it's pretty difficult, but thanks to MoneySavingExpert I found Megashopbot, and thanks to this thread I found that the book depository is part of Amazon!

Hive.co.uk ships to the EU but not for free - they quote £4.99 for books and £3.99 for DVD/ CDs

I personally do not care about Amazon not paying taxes and to be honnest, they are rather clever to use International taxation rules, which are 100 % legal by the way.

Anyway, so far I follow some of the suggestions and I tried the following : The Book depository and The Hut.

The Book depository had an excellent customer services but I will not use again due to poor packaging of the book I ordered and arrived damaged. It is a shame really because their prices were lower or equivalent to those of Amazon. The choice was also very restricted compared the one on Amazon.co.uk

The Hut, this merchand is a kind of a joke. The first Blu-Ray I ordered never arrived, it was replaced after a month and it took this one a full month to get to my address (I live in France, not in Tibet). It also arrived with its case broken due to poor packaging. It's been roughly a month ago and so far no solution have been offered to me. It also takes a full week for the Hut to answer an email which is rather tedious to send due the layout of the site.

So I am back to square one, still no alternative. Play.com, as I said before do not offer payment in GBP if you live in France, and the price in Euro is too high (a commission must be taken, but it is rather huge compared to the price in GBP)

Any new suggestions?

Ganapata

Corona wrote: »

wanted a book for my hubby which was £1.50 via The Works on eBay (brand new incl free postage). On Amazon at the moment the same book is £9.59 !!! (It's called The Extra One Percent by Rob Yeung). Confusingly - The Works charges less for it via eBay than their own website ...

I had a look at the works on Ebay UK , unfortunatly, the site is not visible when your IP is located in France. It says that "access has been blocked due to legal restrictions in some countries". Silly again I live in France, what kind of restrictions could it be on books or Blu-Ray ... anyway, this happens too often with Ebay.. I look at their site outside Ebay, delivery charges is 8.99 GBP for the International, items are not cheaper and choice are restricted plus they only seem to have DVD but no blu-ray

manzana698

You can try differentiation by changing business model and rent out your inventory instead of selling it. You can earn better profits.

A good site offering free ads and no commissions is hirejungle.co.uk. It worked for me!