Almost three years ago I wrote about how Amazon UK had stopped shipping a lot of goods to Ireland. At the time it was very hard to get any tangible details from Amazon about the change in policy. Eventually an answer of sorts was forthcoming, though it took a lot of effort to get it! Basically Amazon were concerned about the Irish (and EU) legislation affecting the recycling of electronic goods. What was incredibly annoying was that Amazon managed to apply the same criteria to a much wider range of products than just electronics.
In any case as of a few days ago the restriction has been lifted. I’ve successfully ordered a Logitech Harmony remote control (I’d been thinking of getting one for ages) and they took the order without any issue. Admittedly the Amazon site still has lots of references to delivery restrictions on the product details pages and the change only applies to Amazon not their marketplace vendors.
It would be interesting to know why Amazon took so long to make this change in policy, but it is very very welcome. More competition is always good.
Hallelujah!
I stopped buying from Amazon completely. The most annoying thing was that they’d let you go through the entire ordering process before telling you at the last step that there was “a problem with the delivery address”. A problem with the delivery policy more like! My numerous complaint emails were just answered by the stock response about the product recylcing fund issue – but that didn’t apply to music CDs, DVDs and games.
Anyway – good to see that they’ve come to their senses. Apparrently they no longer enjoy the luxury of picking and choosing the nationality of their customers.
It’s still not possible to order at least some classes of games and toys from them though (although it’s possible to order from the Marketplace). Just yesterday I tried to order Settlers of Catan (the boardgame) from them, and couldn’t due to geographical restrictions, so I decided to give my cash to one of the Marketplace sellers instead. Their loss.
Keith
That’s interesting. A lot of the marketplace vendors won’t ship anything overseas – even books 🙂
In any case Amazon get a cut on all marketplace sales, so they still win 🙂
Michele
Jody
I’m not sure why they changed the policy, but I’m delighted that they did. I know our staff will be as well, as we tend to give them Amazon vouchers for their Christmas bonus
Michele
I’ll continue to buy elsewhere apart from exceptional circumstances. I have no intention of jumping back into bed with them just because they flip a bad decision three years later, and implement the change badly while they’re at it.
adam
Adam
And I thought I was stubborn 🙂
I’ll probably buy more of certain things from Amazon than before, but to be honest their pricing on some of the electronics goods isn’t that good
Michele
I purchase lots of CDs and books on the Amazon UK marketplace area. I continue to be amazed/annoyed at how many of the vendors won’t ship from the UK to the ROI. (And yeah, you have to go through the whole purchase process to find that out!) What?!?! OR if they do, they jack up the postage. Echos of eBay there.
Oh and really DON’T get me started on this crazy policy of NOT allowing ROI residents to use the Amazon version of iTunes to download music tracks.
I would have spent hundreds at Amazon UK this year, but they wouldn’t ship here, so I send my money to Elara.ie. The funny thing was I did buy some CD’s from Amazon.com (U.S.) and they had no problem shipping here.
So how do we know whether they’ll ship an item or not? Do we have to go through the order process and just hope for the best?
Settlers or Siedlers is cheaper from the German Amazon, and they’ll deliver it happily to Ireland
I just did a trial run on an LCD TV and was refused. Checking their Ts&Cs, they now include Ireland as a destination for most things except very bulky items. So anything over 26″ LCD is too large.
Ah excellent, this is great news. And coupled with a decent exchange rate with Sterling, its off to Amazon I go.
Mind if I link to this from my blog_ I ordered a digital camera the other night from Amazon and had forgotten they didn´t till I saw this blog post.
Very tempting to go bananas ordering stuff especially with 1’click.
Donal
Presumably they’ll update the shipping details on the items eventually …
Michele
Kieran
You don’t need to ask for permission to link to me 🙂
Michele
Thanks Michele, I’m glad to hear this, I’d like to shop at Amazon UK again, though as many have said it’s more bother to go through the order process and then still find that they won’t ship here. (Though there aren’t many alternatives out there!)
One year I did all my xmas shopping for my kids via Amazon. The next year my sister in the US sent the kids a couple hundred pounds in Amazon UK gift vouchers and when they went to pick out stuff; could only get DVDs, software and books. (She did this because in the past my family in US have had nothing but trouble with all the various Irish online toys shops.) I emailed Amazon and they did reply that it had something to do with the WEEE legislation. The tone of the message made it sound not so much that it was a problem with the system handling it, but that Amazon had a beef with the Irish government (maybe me reading too much into it).
I believe the issue with Amazon Marketplace vendors is not Amazon’s fault. It’s like eBay, some of the vendors just don’t want to get into it. One guy wanted to personally deliver an item to my husband’s niece, which we thought was completely inappropriate!
Would be good if we had an Irish alternative, but I guess that’s a lot to ask. It’s not too surpising that the US and UK online retail companies see Ireland as such a small market in the grand scheme of online shopping that they don’t really cater to us.
Ann
Depending on the age of the children there might be Irish options open to them at this stage 🙂
Michele
For those that are wondering what will be delivered – basically Amazon (not other sellers) will deliver everything to Ireland except:
TVs
Lightbulbs
Toys
Games (Video Games are Ok though)
Mobile Phones
Magazine subscriptions
Childrens Clothes
Car Seats
Medicines
Blank Cds/DVds
Safety equipment (whatever they mean by that)
Anything over 30kg
========================
This is great news.
I’ve updated ShopIreland.ie to reflect this.
Cheers!
Donovan
Donovan
I added Bluray player section to http://www.films.ie shortly after I found out 🙂
Michele
Michele,
This blog attacted a lot of attention in the papers over the last few days…nice one! I’ve family up North so luckily enough I’ve never had issues ordering off Amazon 🙂
You might find this bit of news about Amazon interesting (not necessarily for the right reasons)….
http://valleywag.gawker.com/5210142/why-it-makes-sense-that-a-hackers-behind-amazons-big-gay-outrage
Sounds like a result tho it took long enough. ive just attempted to have amazon.co.uk ship to Northern Ireland which is well within UK legislation… laws… postal service… and had a dont ship to that address response. after contact i was told they are happy to ship worldwide (but seem uninterested to ship within their own boundary). The item was not dangerous (it was for my 9yr old daughter) explosive… flamable… fragile…. not on any ‘watch list’ for flying etc
Well done amazon for another failed attempt at customer service. thanks tho because i picked up the desired item £5 (yes we use the same currency as mainland UK over here) from Argos who were more than helpful.