Amazon EU - Moneysaving guide for UK residents

leonardo

Aim of this thread -

To develop and create a detailed 'dummies guide' for people living in the UK, that want to purchase an item from one of the other european Amazon sites e.g amazon.de, amazon.es etc.

Why? Sometimes, if done right, you can save money.

This thread aims to bring all useful info, under one thread for newbies onward.

All input is welcome, please contribute anything useful to exploring and detailing how to do this well/effectively.

leo.

1.Use google translator to make foreign amazon sites usable for those that do not read that language.

2.Apparently there are websites that compare across all eu amazon sites using the asin number of a product (recommendations welcome).

3.It would seem amazons own conversion rate can be beaten, and is quite poor compared to some alternatives (would love some input on this).

4. VAT is changed to the rate, charged in the UK (EU law).

brown_ambassador

Use a credit card that charges 0% on forex transanctions, e.g. Post Office Platinum, Nationwide Select, Halifax do one I believe as well. This will save you about 3%, make sure you select for it to charge you in Euros on the Amazon transaction.

[Deleted User]

1) Register for the Travelex Supercard:
https://www.supercard.io/
2) Compare prices across EU and US Amazon stores:
http://priceonline.eu/
3) Er... that's it.

cs94njw

Amazon hates shipping its Kindle to the UK from the US or Germany. Is this against the EU law?

leonardo

ciaccino wrote: »

1) Register for the Travelex Supercard:
https://www.supercard.io/
2) Compare prices across EU and US Amazon stores:
http://priceonline.eu/
3) Er... that's it.

Excellent suggestions so far, please keep them comming.

R.E: supercard, this is one of the reasons I want to expand this thread.

It seems that they charge 50p for domestic transactions. Now I think theres many of us interested in this card. But does it mean that a purchase from within the UK to another EU country is considered a domestic transaction, or something else?

I think one of the key things this guide can help with, is helping people figure out what cards / payment vehicles can be used to avoid comission/ conversion fees / transaction fees.

If you know of cards/methods of making the payment in euros as cheaply as possible, put them forward please.

cs94njw

BTW - found this: http://www.borderlinx.com/DE/en/

Useful if you want to buy a really nice cheap Kindle from Amazon.de, and get it shipped to the UK.

Sui_Generis

cs94njw wrote: »

BTW - found this: http://www.borderlinx.com/DE/en/

Useful if you want to buy a really nice cheap Kindle from Amazon.de, and get it shipped to the UK.

Have you any idea of what the costs are? The base Kindle is about £15 cheaper but if this costs e.g. £10 the saving is negligible.

Doc_N

cs94njw wrote: »

Amazon hates shipping its Kindle to the UK from the US or Germany. Is this against the EU law?

Not at all (though you do need to watch customs and duty charges on imports from the US - EU is fine).

Amazon don't like it, though, because it reduces their ability to charge higher prices in countries where they can get away with it.

sarah1972

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5201289

[Deleted User]

sarah1972 wrote: »

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5201289

http://priceonline.eu/
will also check on Amazon USA.

leonardo

Though this thread could do with a shot in the arm.

With the Christmas swing now in full effect - New information / updates and observations are being sought!

There are significant savings to be had with purchasing from Amazon's various EU sites.

so

I'll start with asking, currently what are the best payment methods to use to avoid/reduce fees as much as possible?

This thread is open to any and all new/updated info. and is intended as a guide for newbies!