Amazon deliveries

atro1

Just went to order some goods from Amazon but the delivery costs are more than the goods themselves by a long way which to me is pointless. Cannot be good for Amazon because its now cheaper for some goods to go to Woolworths!
Could not find any code for free delivery either!

Colin2511

Is the total cost of the item less than woolworths? as somtimes they reduce the cost of the item because of the weight / price of the item (depending on whether it is Amazon or marketplace seller the shipping is either charged per weight / price - thus this is fixed. We sell by price, and as this sets the postage we adjust the price of the item, so that the total price is correct for the item& postage. (the reverse happens on expediated when it is one price whether you order 1 or 100 items, you only pay one amount)

Also many retailers have a fixed fee Woolworths is £4.95 delivery, so is it cheaper to order from them??, I don't order one item from woolworths / tescos etc because of this, but if I am ordering several items then this is ok

The cost of delivery is that, it will not compare to going to town, parking. paying at the checkout, you are paying online to shop from your living room in your slippers whilst the courier or postman do the walking,

Somethings are cheaper in town, somethings are not, but you need to take the total price into account, not just the headline figures

atro1

In principle I agree with you, but Amazon is becoming very misleading with the cost of the goods being a fraction of the postage.
As for the comfort of sitting in your slippers. most people still go into town, those that cannot surely this is Amazon taking advantage!
I, for one, who has shopped with Amazon for many years find all of this very disappointing.
Common sense has told me that the Internet bubble has to burst and it will. There are many out there who have found the net an easy way to find 'marks'. But I just thought that Amazon, as its name implies, was bigger than that.

deanos

Are you actually ordering from Amazon or a Marketplace seller ?

DaisyFlower

Postage on Amazon is free over £15 unless its a large TV or something similar that needs extra courier attention (ie 2 man delivery etc).

If your buying from an Amazon marketplace seller, then its like Ebay and they set their own postage so not Amazons fault.

deanos

DaisyFlower wrote: »

If your buying from an Amazon marketplace seller, then its like Ebay and they set their own postage so not Amazons fault.

Its Amazon that set the postage for marketplace sellers

Colin2511

deanos wrote: »

Its Amazon that set the postage for marketplace sellers

its not always the case, as the pro merchant accounts allow the seller to set their own shipping rate. This is why there is the variable and some sell flat rate, some weight based, some £ priced

I have already reported to amazon that I think the shipping rate should be clearer, along the price, so that people can see the total cost, as I charge shipping by £ (ie all my items are £1.79 for up to £10.00), but toy sellers mainly start at £3.00- £3.50, so they can reduce the cost of the item but the shipping is dearer (like the op described),

I think it would be fairer if all the charges were clearer

at the end of the day, a retailer needs to get the correct price for their item, from cost + margin + shipping + vat , sometimes the little people cannot compete with the big people, but this is business, you take the rough with the smooth,

as I said earlier, if I am buying a lot, or not going to town in the next few days then I order and get it delivered, (also saves hunting), but for Argos /Tescos / Woolies I tend to order online to pick up in store as I dont want to pay their flat rate courier charge...as this makes them expensive..

atro1

Looking into it further all the items I picked were from the market place. Hence the variable post rates.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Autoglym-Aqua-Dry-Car-Care-New/dp/B000MT0OZA/ref=pd_bbs_5/026-4304749-4406001?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192437911&sr=8-5
This is one of the items I wanted. But with over £7 postage it makes it nearly £3 dearer than Halfords and £2 dearer than Sainsbury's. I really dont know what postage that is? Personal courier perhaps!


Or perhaps I am turning into an old Grump!!

melbury

I was going to order some flash drives from Amazon Marketplace, but the postage was ridiculous. Now avoid Marketplace altogether, the postage charges are just too confusing - seem to be rip off. Unless I can buy item from Amazon itself, I go elsewhere.

Amazon Marketplace sellers take note, I am sure I am not alone in this!

Stubert

I have exactly the same issues with Marketplace; you can't see the postage price unless you go to the checkout - I want to know the total price before I've entered my ruddy email and password before finding out its too much.

Also really annoying is if you order two items from different sellers it doesn't give you each packing price, just give you a total for the goods and a total for the postage. It isn't really that clear who you are ordering from either - especially when you do a search.

Yesterday I paid something stupid like £5 postage for a pair of headphones, but still it ended up being £11 cheaper buying them from marketplace than on play.com.

jo_b_2

melbury wrote: »

I was going to order some flash drives from Amazon Marketplace, but the postage was ridiculous. Now avoid Marketplace altogether, the postage charges are just too confusing - seem to be rip off. Unless I can buy item from Amazon itself, I go elsewhere.

Amazon Marketplace sellers take note, I am sure I am not alone in this!

Your average marketplace seller can't alter the postage costs. These are set by Amazon. (Amazon then take a very large cut out of this as their fees!)

Only big businesses, which have special arrangements with Amazon, can alter the postage costs.