Amazon UK Allowing Standard Shipping To USA Again

[stratford]

Originally Posted by noirjunkie

Not for me. I wanted to buy ten blu-rays, and they wanted over 43 euros for shipping.

noirjunkie If you mean from USA (with out checking) I'd say not bad if it gets to you in under a week. Only 5 Euros delivery per title

[noirjunkie]

Originally Posted by stratford

noirjunkie If you mean from USA (with out checking) I'd say not bad if it gets to you in under a week. Only 5 Euros delivery per title

That's a ton of money compared to what it used to be. It used to be about three euros for the first title, and then just under one euro per title after that. Shipping for ten titles would have come out to about twelve euros total.

[Surge92]

Originally Posted by ilovedealsbaby

what happens to the uk shipping used to be super cheap to us canada now the cost to ship is more then all the movies i put in the order lol

COVID happened and screwed us all. Base and Amazon UK were my go-to UK retailers. After COVID, Base stopped shipping to the U.S. altogether, and Amazon UK's shipping rates skyrocketed.

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by Surge92

COVID happened and screwed us all. Base and Amazon UK were my go-to UK retailers. After COVID, Base stopped shipping to the U.S. altogether, and Amazon UK's shipping rates skyrocketed.

Same. And there are now some releases that Amazon UK won’t even allow me to buy at all.

[EndZero]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

For as long as I’ve used Zavvi, they’ve always shipped to the US. What period did they not? They even have a US version of their site.
After placing a few orders and reading reviews of their service on this forum, I only consider them a last resort.

Months. figured it was cause of the rona.

[YogiYahooeys]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

Same. And there are now some releases that Amazon UK won’t even allow me to buy at all.

Yup, I can't get nary a single media title to even show as available on AmazonUK for me anymore. A large majority of links here on the site that clearly list the price on AUK when clicked take me to a page that says the item is unavailable without any prices or sellers.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by YogiYahooeys

Yup, I can't get nary a single media title to even show as available on AmazonUK for me anymore. A large majority of links here on the site that clearly list the price on AUK when clicked take me to a page that says the item is unavailable without any prices or sellers.

Several of the Amazon's will hide items unless you are signed into your account with an address set in that country.

I have a fake UK address set in my AmazonUK account and I get quite a lot more items shown when I have the UK address set as a default rather than a US or Canadian address.

Apparently some UK people are seeing the same thing if they sign into Amazon.com with a UK address in their account. If they create a Mock US address then a lot of items appear suddenly

Originally Posted by Surge92

COVID happened and screwed us all. Base and Amazon UK were my go-to UK retailers. After COVID, Base stopped shipping to the U.S. altogether, and Amazon UK's shipping rates skyrocketed.

Covid is part, Brexit may be a bigger part, and the last admin nuked the World Postal System agreement to gain virtually nothing except higher prices for US customers

[YogiYahooeys]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Several of the Amazon's will hide items unless you are signed into your account with an address set in that country.

I have a fake UK address set in my AmazonUK account and I get quite a lot more items shown when I have the UK address set as a default rather than a US or Canadian address.

Apparently some UK people are seeing the same thing if they sign into Amazon.com with a UK address in their account. If they create a Mock US address then a lot of items appear suddenly

[Show spoiler]



Covid is part, Brexit may be a bigger part, and the last admin nuked the World Postal System agreement to gain virtually nothing except higher prices for US customers

That's a pretty recent change, isn't it? I don't recall having that problem even mid-last year...

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by YogiYahooeys

That's a pretty recent change, isn't it? I don't recall having that problem even mid-last year...

I live in the US and finally bought a region free player at the end of last summer, so this is all my fault!

I noticed the huge shipping increase on Amazon UK from ~£3 to £13.44 for 1 BD around Oct/Nov. Soon after, they also started adding US sales tax as well.

Some examples of direct AUK orders (just) before-times in early Sept:
- Placed my first order of all Region B BDs that included 14 releases (some were multidisc sets) from all different companies and came in 3 separate deliveries. Total shipping charge for all was only £15.95.
- I preordered the Dawn Of The Dead BD box set. It's a heavy set with 7 discs, 2 books, and a box, but they still only charged £3, removed the VAT, and no US sales tax. (Joke's on me though because they sent me the UHD box instead and I don't have a player.)

Now when I view all 14 of those BDs they won't sell me a single one.

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by YogiYahooeys

That's a pretty recent change, isn't it? I don't recall having that problem even mid-last year...

Within the last couple months some starting noticing this with some items. I first saw it in Dec or Jan when some of the new Doctor Who Collections were announced. It's not all items so if you aren't seeing any media something else may be going on. It's not even just those items that won't ship to the US b/c I still see many or those even when I'm signed in with my US address.

It's just odd behavior all around

[YogiYahooeys]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Within the last couple months some starting noticing this with some items. I first saw it in Dec or Jan when some of the new Doctor Who Collections were announced. It's not all items so if you aren't seeing any media something else may be going on. It's not even just those items that won't ship to the US b/c I still see many or those even when I'm signed in with my US address.

It's just odd behavior all around

No, it's not all media, just the titles I actually want. lol

[hariseldon]

Originally Posted by YogiYahooeys

No, it's not all media, just the titles I actually want. lol

Ahh- that nitpicky detail

[Skeets Kelly]

Seems odd to me that the biggest online retailer in the world won't ship or price gouges for shipping to the States now but you can still order from the little guys for reasonable (comparably, that is) shipping.

[ikms]

Originally Posted by Skeets Kelly

Seems odd to me that the biggest online retailer in the world won't ship or price gouges for shipping to the States now but you can still order from the little guys for reasonable (comparably, that is) shipping.

It was the last thing I expected as I had been shopping mainly at the UK Amazon for years (importing 99% of my discs) thanks to their typically good prices and the VAT deduction making the international S&H better than free. Going back to the minor shops (none of which has the same selection or basic price-tracking) seems very late 90s early 2000s blackstar/bensons world. While I'm glad the small sites get more business, but it means less purchases overall and missing out on many limited editions.

[Americo]

Was gonna buy some limited stuff from 101, and Arrow... but decided to call it quits. Cheapest shipping for 7 Blu-ray's is like $40, and you got the taxes too.

Tried going straight to 101, and it was ugly there too. About $27 per Blu. The new taxes, and shipping has plummeted my Europe buys.

[dex14]

Originally Posted by Americo

Was gonna buy some limited stuff from 101, and Arrow... but decided to call it quits. Cheapest shipping for 7 Blu-ray's is like $40, and you got the taxes too.

Tried going straight to 101, and it was ugly there too. About $27 per Blu. The new taxes, and shipping has plummeted my Europe buys.

Zavvi has a flat rate.

[Americo]

Originally Posted by dex14

Zavvi has a flat rate.

Yeah, I buy from them now.

[Baguda]

Originally Posted by dex14

Zavvi has a flat rate.

I haven't looked at UK or Germany shipping prices for a long time since I got frustrated with the shipping price increases. I remember some months ago I looked at Zavvi when they had a decent deal on Disneys, I think, but I don't think I ordered because there wasn't anything Disney I didn't already have.

Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Zavvi UK missing a lot of titles that Amazon UK or Germany has? For instance, I regret not having bought Hobbs & Shaw 3D, Germini Man 3D, and Flight of the Navigator Blurays when they were available before Amazon UK shipping prices skyrocketed (which I never expected to happen). I'm pretty sure Zavvi doesn't carry any of those and probably never will. Perhaps I'll be able to get Raya and the Last Dragon 3D from Zavvi someday as they do tend to carry Disney/Marvel, but AFAIK Zavvi just doesn't have that much that I want.

[GrouchoDis]

Originally Posted by Baguda

Correct me if I'm wrong: isn't Zavvi UK missing a lot of titles that Amazon UK or Germany has? For instance, I regret not having bought Hobbs & Shaw 3D, Germini Man 3D, and Flight of the Navigator Blurays when they were available before Amazon UK shipping prices skyrocketed (which I never expected to happen). I'm pretty sure Zavvi doesn't carry any of those and probably never will. Perhaps I'll be able to get Raya and the Last Dragon 3D from Zavvi someday as they do tend to carry Disney/Marvel, but AFAIK Zavvi just doesn't have that much that I want.

They don't have as much stock as Amazon UK but they do have most titles, they also have a lot of exclusive steelbooks if that's your thing. They do have the boutique labels like Eureka, Indicator, etc but in pretty low quantities. You do pay VAT but they do have regular sales, sometimes quite good ones, and flat shipping helps makes it worth it. Your only other real option at this point that I'm aware of is Rarewaves but they have even less stock but cheap shipping, so good for individual titles.

I do try to add UK titles to both my Amazon UK and Zavvi wishlists to keep track of them.

Wherever you buy from, the exchange rate is pretty terrible now so I haven't been getting much from the UK lately.

[cyborgLIS]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Won;t allow preorders for certain labels it seems

Arrow, Network, and Eureka items most often seem blocked until release day .

Other worldwide labels (Disney, Sony, Universal, etc) mostly seem unaffected. Not sure why, but it's been like this since they reopened shipping the first time in June.

This seems to be the current situation. I tried Arrow and WB titles without luck, but was able to add a Sony title. Is this the new normal? It seems to have started around the time of the pandemic, but i don't understand the relation.