Amazon UK and Germany Raise Shipping Rates ... Again

Discussion in 'Marketplace Discussions' started by Geof, Oct 10, 2020.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Geof

    Geof Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Miguel, CA USA
    After the virus turned everything upside down, Amazon UK's regular £3.06 shipping for one CD to the US — about $3.97, even for box sets — was suspended, and deliveries were then being listed as Amazon Global Shipping and rates were over £12 (about $15.50), making it ridiculously pricey to order one CD. It was the same on Amazon Germany. Then about two months ago, the UK was once again shipping regular airmail. I began getting CDs from 3rd party dealers at reasonable prices and shipping times. A bit late to the party but welcome nonetheless, Amazon UK and Germany also shortly thereafter resumed their regular rates.

    But in the past week or so, they have suddenly increased their prices significantly, over 100%. Now, one CD from Amazon UK is £6.96 (about $9.10) while Germany has gone up to €12.95, ($15.40). A lot of UK releases (like Esoteric releases and the Jethro Tull Deluxe Book format reissues) have usually been much cheaper than buying them as imports on US Amazon, but this kinda throws that out the window, although admittedly it still might be a good deal on box sets. However, recently I'm finding ImportCDs to have better prices than Amazon UK, like $10.79 for Esoteric single disc reissues with only $2.99 shipping and the upcoming Iron Butterfly box ($36.59 on ImportCD vs. $46.39 on Amazon UK (even with the VAT deduction) and $58.81 on US Amazon).

    Has anyone heard any explanation for the sudden increase after briefly dropping back to their regular shipping price and then suddenly more than doubling it? Not surprisingly, their customer service had no official explanation.
     
  2. MC Rag

    MC Rag Forum Resident

    Maybe they're adjusting their postage prices in line with the recent increase in UK Royal Mail International prices. It now costs me £5.75 to post a CD weighing between 101g and 250g to the US. It's still half the price of postage for buying a CD from the USA, but I know price increases always suck!
     
    sonnyrock likes this.
  3. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    I'm in Canada, and when Amazon UK sends me notice of something its AI thinks I might be interest in, I look, and see the shipping cost of single CD is still about 19 Pounds!!!

    We've entered an age of chaos...
     
    Dave likes this.
  4. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Today I thought I might post about this issue on the Amazon UK site, but got a message :

    Eligibility

    To contribute to Community Features (for example, Customer Reviews, Customer Answers), you must have spent at least £40 on Amazon.co.uk using a valid payment card in the past 12 months. Promotional discounts don't qualify towards the £40 minimum. You do not need to meet this requirement to post Customer Questions, create or modify Profile pages, Lists, or Registries, or to read content posted by other customers.
     
  5. Chee

    Chee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Denver
    Rip city Amazon.Royal Mail: 5pounds.75pence from the UK to the USA. That's cheaper than the $14 from the USA to the UK. Wow.
     
  6. John B Good

    John B Good Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    NS, Canada
    Got into a chat with Amazon Helper about high shipping prices from UK to Canada (much more than to USA it seems). Got nowhere, so I ended it with "This conversation can serve no purpose. Bye"
     
    Reese likes this.
  7. Reese

    Reese Just because some watery tart threw a sword!

    I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.
     
    John B Good and Rolltide like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine