Amazon Prime Australia Is Crap

bargainzz on 21/06/2018 - 20:23
Last edited 21/06/2018 - 23:16 by 1 other user

Have been following the Amazon Prime launch in Australia, and the marketing material made it look very promising. With the upcoming Geo-block of the US site from shipping to Australia, they made it out to be a method of buying through both local AND international sellers - promising free shipping for orders over $49 on international orders. Sounds great right? Well the execution - as usual in Australia - is a complete flop.

Take this beard trimmer, a popular among ozbargainers on Amazon as it is much cheaper to buy it in the US via Amazon than to buy it locally. Currently $59.95 USD and a Prime eligible product, simply add .au to the URL and the price changes to $161.86 AND to add salt to the wound - No free prime shipping.

The same rings true for a boatload of US products. So rather than do what I imagine they easily could have - which would have been to keep the international distribution channels open that currently ship to Australia from the US and add GST to it as per the upcoming law change that lead to the initial geo-blocking, they've completely shafted Australian's yet again. Why even advertise that a Prime benefit is free shipping from international vendors when rubbish like this happens due to the insanely restricted range of vendors we are able to buy off.

No real point to this point just felt like ranting.

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Comments

    • Diji1 on 21/06/2018 - 21:35

      Reads like a hit piece tbh. Does Amazon not advertise on free to air and newspapers making them an indirect threat to Channel Rupert?

      • try2bhelpful on 21/06/2018 - 22:02

        each to his own, I don't really see it like that. I don't think it provides much value to a small business owner if they have the "stuff" together.

  • Happy501 on 21/06/2018 - 21:27
    +1

    Yeah, I think your entirely right. I need to cancel my subscription. They really fooled me, esp with the prime book thing which we cant even get in Australia.

  • BertieBrown on 21/06/2018 - 21:37
    +5

    The thing I love about Amazon is their 2-day shipping promise /s, which is actually just that they promise to ship it to you within 2 days within their own operation, not that you'll actually get whatever you ordered within 2-days. I mean sure, it's difficult to guarantee shipping times, but the Amazon 2-day thing is blatantly misleading IMO.

    It's bizarre to me that Amazon is disallowing orders from overseas, but then again I guess they think they've got enough of a backup plan to continue to be profitable here going into the future.

    • SirFlibbled on 22/06/2018 - 11:53

      Most businesses use a guarantee of 'shipping' because that's in their control. Once it goes out to carriers, all sorts of crap happens (as I recently learnt).

      That being said, as long as carrier hiccups don't happen, you get the item pretty quickly. I ordered Cards against Humanity with Prime on Tuesday and got it Weds (in Canberra).

    • onetwothreefour on 22/06/2018 - 06:23
      +1

      So who should we vote for then?

      • Gandalf the Thrifty on 22/06/2018 - 08:13
        +6

        Diji never answers this part. Just whines about lib/lab in loads of forum posts.

        • follow on 22/06/2018 - 08:35

          Waiting for PUP to make a comeback

        • onetwothreefour on 22/06/2018 - 10:02

          Yeah I know, maybe if we ask him every time he posts then he might give. He's a typical internet expert.

      • dogboy on 22/06/2018 - 09:30

        That is easy! ANYONE, I man ANYONE except Labour or Liberal. While people keep voting these 2 parties in, things will never change. Need to clear out the swamp and give them a wake up call.

        • [Deactivated] on 22/06/2018 - 12:48

          It's simple but it is not easy.

          Most democracies defaults to a two party system because an divided opposition rarely stands a chance against the coalition.

        • [Deactivated] on 22/06/2018 - 12:55

          no, don't vote for the greens, they're batshit crazy, stick to independents and other minor parties

  • Nutrino on 21/06/2018 - 21:55

    These are FBA, filled by Amazon, they can charge whatever they want as it's not set by Amazon.

  • hasselbladsnapper on 21/06/2018 - 22:04
    +2

    Amazon local prices are so high, recently purchased a lens through EGlobal in Hong Kong for around $345 Aud shipped, price from Amazon AU —-range $580 to $760. I could get it on Amazon USA for around $460 plus shipping, still not as good as my HK based purchase!.
    Only good thing on Amazon AU ….. Kindle books and the odd super special. If they carry on in this mode, I think they will be out the door in the not too distant future, we are not total mugs here!!.

    • poboy on 22/06/2018 - 10:54
      +1

      It's almost as if they used the GST as a convenient scapegoat to close access to their cheaper US store. Their AU store has sales targets dammit and the execs need their bonuses.

  • Axelstrife on 21/06/2018 - 22:05
    +8

    You are comparing an item sold by Amazon themselves vs one not sold by a seller ON amazon.

    • KBZ on 21/06/2018 - 22:22

      ^ This point so much.

    • bargainzz on 21/06/2018 - 22:31
      +2

      That's not my point - the point is that Amazon, when introducing prime to Australia and advertising it as a service capable of fulfilling Amazon international orders, could have easily just sold this item from themselves as they do in the US, through the Australian site, and shipped it through their existing shipping channels. But they didn't. They chose to not allow the sale of it through the Australia site, resulting in no local price competition and local sellers, such as the one listed, selling items at bullshit prices.

    • havebeerbelywillsumo on 21/06/2018 - 22:33
      -1

      There are 3 comparisons not 2.

      (edited) The clarification gets the point across, thanks

  • trongy on 21/06/2018 - 23:14
    +9

    Right now prime doesn't offer much, but I expect that to change in future.

    There are three categories of sales on Amazon
    1. Sold by Amazon, shipped by Amazon
    2. Sold by 3rd party, shipped by Amazon (aka Fulfilled by Amazon)
    3. Sold by 3rd party, shipped by 3rd party.

    In the US, the first two categories are eligible for Prime Shipping. Right now the Australian Amazon has a bit from category one and a lot of category 3. With the fulfilled by Amazon offer, the seller pays Amazon to hold their stock in Amazon's warehouses. I haven't seen that on the Australian Amazon yet, and I'm not surprised because I don't think it would be attractive to the seller until prime shipping is available. I expect that will change in future.

    Most of the super bargains on the US site are from the first category. They are due to Amazons power when it comes to negotiating deals with manufacturers. Some of those manufacturers will have exclusive contracts with Australian distributors which means that Amazon can't just wave a wand and get the deals they want. Over time, as contracts expire and new ones are negotiated, I expect that Amazon Australia will get better deals.

  • SirFlibbled on 22/06/2018 - 11:43

    You do realise your beard trimmer example, the bear trimmer isn't sold by Amazon in Australia but Glendora? Almost every time someone rants about 'Amazon being a rip off' they use a third party seller as an example. It's like people don't understand the concept of a marketplace.

    Maybe Amazon might add the US item to their Global store, but it's doubtful due to the power plug issue (and the need to comply with Australian standards). They may also be contractually limited from doing so by the manufacturer.

    I'm sure Amazon will (eventually) sell everything in the US store via the AU store they're able to as long as a) they don't already sell it in Australia b) there isn't another significant reason - legal, contractual, standards, the item is too big to post oversea etc.

  • kaos on 22/06/2018 - 12:10

    poor Amazon still has to deal with crappy Aus couriers.

    Example- I ordered 2 things on a holiday Monday, (I am a Prime member in US but locally it had not launched yet)

    Scheduled for delivery on Friday (yup 4 days) and the courier didn't even attempt to deliver- he just took it straight to the local Post office, who messaged me to pick it up.

    Um, the reason why I had it delivered to my wife work is because I didn't want to pick t up- in this case buying on Amazon was a WORSE experience than just buying locally

    • SirFlibbled on 22/06/2018 - 13:40

      Better than what I got. Ordered my item to be delivered to a parcel locker. Amazon gave it to Fastways who didn't even contact me to pick it up from their joint. They just returned it back to Amazon.

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