Amazon UK and Indigo Starfish - what's the go?

[MacEachaidh]

Does anyone know the actual situation between these two companies, and how to order items that have been assigned to Indigo Starfish?

I've been trying to buy the BD of Firefly (the series) off Amazon UK, but the checkout baulks at it and says it's not in stock - even though the website says it is.

OK, stock control issues, I thought. I wrote an e.mail to Amazon, which has kicked off an ongoing conversation to which I've had four replies so far - all four of them contradictory to the other three. One of them even told me that if I wanted to buy BDs for Australia, I should be buying them from Amazon.com.

It would seem there's an info mismatch between their e.commerce system, their main website, and their customer service.

Anyone know the actual story? Has anyone managed to buy this title successfully?

[Lazlo]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Does anyone know the actual situation between these two companies, and how to order items that have been assigned to Indigo Starfish?

I've been trying to buy the BD of Firefly (the series) off Amazon UK, but the checkout baulks at it and says it's not in stock - even though the website says it is.

OK, stock control issues, I thought. I wrote an e.mail to Amazon, which has kicked off an ongoing conversation to which I've had four replies so far - all four of them contradictory to the other three. One of them even told me that if I wanted to buy BDs for Australia, I should be buying them from Amazon.com.

It would seem there's an info mismatch between their e.commerce system, their main website, and their customer service.

Anyone know the actual story? Has anyone managed to buy this title successfully?

Don't know about Firefly specifically, but i would say that 95%+ of the items i've ordered from amazon uk have come from indigo starfish. I had an order with one item sold by amazon and the other by Indigo and didn't have any issue with the purchase.

They are based on one of the channel islands which had VAT related benefits for amazon but something i read in the UK section of the forum said that this situation was changing. Maybe it's affecting international orders already.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Lazlo

Don't know about Firefly specifically, but i would say that 95%+ of the items i've ordered from amazon uk have come from indigo starfish. I had an order with one item sold by amazon and the other by Indigo and didn't have any issue with the purchase.

Thanks for your reply, Lazlo. This has been pretty much the case for me too, from what I understand.

I was hoping for a simple reply from Amazon - "out of stock for overseas despatch, check back in a week or so" - something like that. The convoluted replies I've gotten have just made it all the more complex and confusing.

If I can't order it, I can't order it - obviously. But it would be clearer if Amazon UK's website could give straight up-front info in such cases - like Amazon US's "We can't send this to your specified location".

[gettodamoofies]

It's explained on the link that says "Why?" on every product page:

Indigostarfish.com is an independent Jersey-based merchant offering to supply goods to UK customers via the Amazon.co.uk website. Orders placed with Indigostarfish.com are subject to the Indigostarfish.com Terms & Conditions.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/cust...odeId=13378011

Basically Indigostarfish have an arrangement with Amazon to fill certain UK orders. None of ours are according to that information and to my knowledge. In the 180 separate items I've bought from Amazon UK over the past two years not one has come from them.

As for your buying issue, well the most obvious guess to me would be that yes, it's in stock but that it's in stock with Indigostarfish. That would explain why 1) it's in stock on the web site; and 2) you can't order it (as Indigostarfish don't ship to Australia).

[MacEachaidh]

Thanks mate, but I don't think you've read all I said.

I understand about indigo starfish, how its function is to despatch the orders to the UK and how it was set up by Amazon in the Channel Islands as a tax dodge. The order wasn't placed with indigo starfish. It says on the website for this item that it is in stock and fulfilled by Amazon.

Anyway, the only one who can give me an answer, I guess, is Amazon. I posted here in case someone here had successfully ordered this item from Amazon UK.

[gettodamoofies]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Thanks mate, but I don't think you've read all I said.

I understand about indigo starfish, how its function is to despatch the orders to the UK and how it was set up by Amazon in the Channel Islands as a tax dodge. The order wasn't placed with indigo starfish. It says on the website for this item that it is in stock and fulfilled by Amazon.

Anyway, the only one who can give me an answer, I guess, is Amazon. I posted here in case someone here had successfully ordered this item from Amazon UK.

I did read all of what you said. I was responding to what you said:

Does anyone know the actual situation between these two companies, and how to order items that have been assigned to Indigo Starfish?

My post was directly answering that question. You didn't mention until your last post that it was in stock and fulfilled by Amazon so I was speculating on the reason for the stock/order disparity based on what you'd posted - that you'd tried to order something in stock that had "been assigned to Indigo Starfish".

Anyway, I have successfully ordered it - bought in on September 23rd. If I go through the checkout now it places the order just fine too: