Amazon and selling to Ireland

Mumha

Registered User
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196
Does anyone know why so many electronics goods are unavailable for sale to Ireland on amazon.co.uk ?
 
Ah ! Thanks, euroDilbert. I can get round it by getting it posted to by UK based sister and then sent on from there, but it's an unnecessary pain. So much for the Common market !
 
Thanks for answering a question I always asked myself but never asked out loud.........
It's mad - some items are only a couple of euro, yet still will not ship to Ireland. I mean why not charge the extra that the WEE directive imposes?

Having said that, I recently tried to order a Billy Connolly Box Set of DVD's, and got teh usual electronics message "will not ship to this destination". This is despite the fact that it was in stock, with delivery options to Ireland (and prices listed etc). Can't see how the WEE directive applies to this?
 
Does anyone know why so many electronics goods are unavailable for sale to Ireland on amazon.co.uk ?
They will deliver to Ireland, just get them delivered to someone you know in the six counties of Ulster.
 
There is another issue here - Amazon is often just a marketplace, or front, for other companies, so it might not be Amazon.co.uk that is refusing to sell abroad in some cases but another company. I know I have had difficulty buying the oddest things, such as laser toner, so I end up using my parents address in Ulster. It is daft really, but there you go.
 
I mean why not charge the extra that the WEE directive imposes?

The extra charge that the WEEE imposes is not the issue though - it is the directive that all old items must be accepted in return and recycled that causes the problem for amazon.

They would have to set up a method for achieving this to be WEEE compliant and it makes more sense for them just to block the sales instead.
 
They (they being amazon themselves - not a marketplace seller) wont deliver PSP games to Ireland - yet if you checked the restricted delivery options on the games they state they DO deliver them to Ireland, but at checkout refuses to.
 
So it would appear that the bottom line is RoI-based customers are not important to amazon.co.uk and their partners.

That being the case, why bother jumping through hoops to facilitate sales from them and putting the burden of WEE compliance back on local retailers / councils for foreign sales?
 
If it isn't illegal to purchase items more cheaply 'abroad' (i.e. across that dotted line up North) and then importing it, then who isn't going to do that if they can?
 
If it isn't illegal to purchase items more cheaply 'abroad' (i.e. across that dotted line up North) and then importing it, then who isn't going to do that if they can?

People who don't want the hassle or have no connections in the North. For any commercial transaction, there is always a cost-saving/effort tradeoff and similarly applies here
 
People who don't want the hassle or have no connections in the North. For any commercial transaction, there is always a cost-saving/effort tradeoff and similarly applies here

Totally agree. Completely. No argument there at all.
 
What I don't understand is why Amazon have taken this stand ? I've had other electronic stuff sent by other companies without any of this WEEE charge.

Surely it is anti-competitive ? e.g. a good is say €100 in Luxembourg but €110 here due to higher vat and WEEE. So how can the Irish Government enforce an extra tax in another member state ?
 
Dick Roche T.D. should hang his head in shame (weee and all that) and he wants a YES vote in the forthcoming referendum. I wont say anymore on the subject.
 

Agree 100%. And their exhorbitant postage charges for delivery to the south while offering free delivery to the six counties illustrates this further.
 
Agree 100%. And their exhorbitant postage charges for delivery to the south while offering free delivery to the six counties illustrates this further.

That's why where possible (obviously not electronics though) I buy from Amazon.com not .co.uk - I simply ignore all suggestions on the home page that if from Ireland I should log on to .co.uk
 
That's why where possible (obviously not electronics though) I buy from Amazon.com not .co.uk - I simply ignore all suggestions on the home page that if from Ireland I should log on to .co.uk

What's the advantage of that, shesells ? Isn't .com coming from the US, which brings its own issues ?
 
Dick Roche T.D. should hang his head in shame (weee and all that) and he wants a YES vote in the forthcoming referendum. I wont say anymore on the subject.

I don't see the point in voting in the referendum. If they don't get the result they want , they'll just say we didn't understand the implications and hold another referendum in 6 months time
 
What's the advantage of that, shesells ? Isn't .com coming from the US, which brings its own issues ?

Sorry, yes indeed it is coming from the US but with the exchange rate in our favour at the moment and the lower delivery charges, I buy all my cds and books from .com