WEEE Directive prevents online purchases by Irish consumers?

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ubiquitous

Registered User
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I have been looking to buy toys on the web for my kids for Christmas but have found it impossible so far to find a retailer that will ship toys to Ireland. I also noticed recently that play.com will no longer ship a CD to an Irish address.

I think I have found the reason here...

http://www.shopireland.ie/toys/detail/B0009YDDEM/NoddySly-&-Gobbo

Note: Due to a change in Amazon's shipping policies, toys cannot be shipped to Ireland. We apologise for this, and recommend trying one of the alternate stores. (WHY?)
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and here...

[broken link removed]

Why does Amazon not ship to Ireland?
Amazon have recently updated their shipping policies and can not ship electronics, toys, kitchen items or video games to Ireland. We do apologise for this, and will keep this page updated as we learn of any updates.

What's the reason then?
This year a directive came into play (referred to as WEEE, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive). In order to comply with the regulations, Amazon has had to take the step of halting the shipment of some items.

Does this affect everything?
No. You can help support Shop Ireland by continuing to buy books, music and DVDs as normal.

What can we do?
We do hope that normal shipping will be resumed, however until then we will be investigating alternative retailers and hope to provide a wider range of options for Irish purchasers. We will update this page as this takes place.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience that has been caused
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This appears to be a very serious development for Irish consumers. If the WEEE directive prevents online suppliers from shipping to Ireland, it needs to be scrapped or amended immediately.
 
ubiquitous said:
I also noticed recently that play.com will no longer ship a CD to an Irish address.
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You mean CD media or players? CDWOW still ship to Ireland in case that's of any use? In relation to CDWOW I have often found that browsing their A-Z catalogue doesn't show what I'm looking for but doing a search does.
 
ubiquitous said:
I also noticed recently that play.com will no longer ship a CD to an Irish address.
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They do actually. You just have to order in euro. However they will not ship electronics, again probably because of Dick Roche's stealth tax...
 
Hi

It should be interesting to see if someone raises this at EU level, given it's proving a restriction on free movement of trade & services from the looks of things.

Any thoughts ?

Cheers

G>
 
firstly, play never shipped their electronic goods to Ireland
secondly, its the management of it that is preventing amazon shipping, lots of other companies are doing it via setting up Irish websites/other means e.g. komplett, svp, pixmania, IMHO they just couldn't be bothered so its an easy excuse for them or they simply don't understand the legislation
 
should be interesting to see if someone raises this at EU level, given it's proving a restriction on free movement of trade & services
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Charlie McCreevey might be interested in it from that point of view, if you care to email him.
 
Just to clarify, it was a CD (ie a disc, not a player) that Play would not ship to Ireland for me. This was priced in Sterling so maybe tallpaul's suggestion would have worked. I simply bought it elsewhere on the web, but paid through the nose on postage costs as a result.

I can't see how or why Amazon or anyone else would be looking for "an easy excuse" not to ship to Ireland when it is the customer who is paying the shipping cost.
 
ubiquitous said:
Just to clarify, it was a CD (ie a disc, not a player) that Play would not ship to Ireland for me. This was priced in Sterling so maybe tallpaul's suggestion would have worked. I simply bought it elsewhere on the web, but paid through the nose on postage costs as a result.
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Tallpaul is right...you need to switch the prices to Euro before you purchase on play.com
 
Garrettod said:
It should be interesting to see if someone raises this at EU level, given it's proving a restriction on free movement of trade & services from the looks of things.
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Raise what? The WEEE directive? Well that's an EU directive so presumably the EU powers that be thing it's a "good thing".

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Or do you mean retailers choosing where they will ship to which is presumably their prerogative?
 
tallpaul said:
probably because of Dick Roche's stealth tax...
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I take it that like most people you are in favour of the governments incentives to reduce pollution and environmental harm. I cant see how this is a stealth tax, maybe I'm dumb. As a nation weee need to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Weee have proven in the past and weee continue to prove that weee need to be coerced into this. Be it plastic bag charge, bin charges or the water charges that will soon be introduced.
 
Anti-pollution and pro-environment incentives are all well and good but some of the measures included end up effectively discouraging major online retailers from servicing the Irish market, this could have serious implications for consumers. If online companies exit the market, it does not take a genius to predict that the high-street traders will take advantage.

It should be possible to draft regulations that don't effectively ban or otherwise overly complicate online commerce. So much for the much-trumpeted e-commerce hub of Europe...
 
ubiquitous said:
It should be possible to draft regulations that don't effectively ban or otherwise overly complicate online commerce.
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WEEE doesn't effectively ban such trade. Lots of other online EU retailers still ship electronic devices and CDs to Ireland!
 
I’m not certain if a retailer in one EU country is obliged to supply goods to a customer in another EU country, but if the retailer supplies goods trans-border he / she must charge the customer the same VAT that would be applicable to a consumer in the retailer’s country, or, if the retailer accepts responsibility for shipping, the VAT rate applicable to the purchase. That’s about it. If a retailer says that he / she cannot supply goods trans-border because of a particular implementation of the WEEE or any other directive you should complain to the nearest SOLVIT centre http://europa.eu/solvit that deals with trans-border problems caused by the (possible) incorrect application of EU rules by public authorities. (By the way, it is possible that it is simply more trouble than it is worth for the retailer to supply the goods trans-border and the EU is just dragged in as an excuse for not doing so.).
 
ClubMan said:
WEEE doesn't effectively ban such trade. Lots of other online EU retailers still ship electronic devices and CDs to Ireland!
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Thanks for helpfully pointing that out. Now, name me a supplier that still ship Noddy toys (the subject of my original post) to Irish consumers and I'll be eternally grateful.
 
Meathman99 said:
I take it that like most people you are in favour of the governments incentives to reduce pollution and environmental harm. I cant see how this is a stealth tax, maybe I'm dumb. As a nation weee need to reduce the amount of waste we produce. Weee have proven in the past and weee continue to prove that weee need to be coerced into this. Be it plastic bag charge, bin charges or the water charges that will soon be introduced.
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Not to take this topic even further OT than it is, I don't doubt that the overall aim of WEEE is entirely admirable. What I do object to is that, for once, the Government is very quick to introduce something that costs Joe and Josephine Citizen money. The Government however, is not so quick to get rid of taxes i.e VRT which has been cited time and again as contravening EU law.

Where the WEEE acts like a stealth tax, is that it is payable whether you are disposing of a product or not. I think the purpose of the tax is to assist in disposing of unused electrical products. If I go in to buy a TV, I pay €40 (or whatever it is) PRF, even if I am not disposing of my old one. DID or Powercity or whatever then forward this on to the Government. This, whatever way you look at it, is a tax.
 
tallpaul said:
Where the WEEE acts like a stealth tax, is that it is payable whether you are disposing of a product or not.
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The product you are buying will have to be disposed of eventually. So whether you are disposing of a product now or not is a mute point.
 
tallpaul said:
Where the WEEE acts like a stealth tax, is that it is payable whether you are disposing of a product or not. I think the purpose of the tax is to assist in disposing of unused electrical products. If I go in to buy a TV, I pay €40 (or whatever it is) PRF, even if I am not disposing of my old one. DID or Powercity or whatever then forward this on to the Government. This, whatever way you look at it, is a tax.
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Sorry but you are totally incorrect in this assumption. The money you are paying is for the future disposal of the product you are buying. The added bonus is that although we did not pay this previously we can now recycle our old electrical goods at no cost to ourselves.
 
Satanta said:
The product you are buying will have to be disposed of eventually. So whether you are disposing of a product now or not is a mute point.
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Then perhaps it would be fairer to only impose WEEE when disposing of a product...
 
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