thetao

I added a post to the Complaining About Amazon thread a couple weeks ago

and was a little disappointed that nobody jumped on the bandwagon. But I've continued researching the problem and believe I've found the answer. Has anybody heard of the Amazon Global Store? It's already hit Australia:

http://fortune.com/2018/04/18/amazon...onal-shopping/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...ts-you/9820312
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-...y-more/9821062

and this feels like a very gradual tightening of the noose around US buyers, too. It would be great if the prices were the same, but kind of like the inflated shipping costs for EBay's GSP, they're not.

I originally wanted to buy the old James Mason movie The Seventh Veil from Amazon UK:


but no, can't do it. But I can buy the same product from amazon.com, sold by Amazon themselves...for nearly 3x the price:


I was also interested in the rare noir The Night Has 1,000 Eyes from Amazon DE:


but again no. I also can't buy a version from Amazon IT:

https://www.amazon.it/notte-ha-mille.../dp/B007XOCK5E

(but pssst, there's a possibly better version still available from Sinister Film, don't tell Amazon):

https://www.amazon.it/Notte-Ha-Mille.../dp/B0178VH74K

The odd thing is that while this DVD is available from Amazon.com at inflated prices, this time Amazon isn't one of the sellers:


so maybe that blows a hole in my theory? I dunno.

Veil is from Odeon/Screenbound and I spent some time checking the New Release list and British Films -> Pre 1940 list at http://classicfilmsdirect.com (leaving out Network, Arrow, etc. titles) against Amazon UK's listings and found this is literally the only Screenbound DVD that's blocked. I contacted Screenbound directly, and they were very nice but clueless. Night is part of a 25-disk collection, and I checked most of them on Amazon DE (many are OOP or ship only from third party sellers), and only one other title is blocked, This Gun For Hire:


I contacted Amazon UK and Amazon DE, and an email address I didn't know before amazon-pr at amazon dot com, but as usual, nobody could give me a straight answer.

Any thoughts? Even if my conclusion is wrong, there is still something going on.

thetao

I was just playing with the VPN feature in Opera. Neither DVD will ship to Sweden or Singapore either, so perhaps they won't ship these titles outside the country at all? Still looking for an answer other than "because".

Edit: Doesn't ship to the Netherlands either. Yes, it appears to be a global block.
Edit #2: A VPN direct to Germany (with some tweaking) solves the problem, but then during the order process, the site chokes (as expected) on the shipping page. So the solution really is to just buy from somebody else.

I guess they really don't want my business. Still curious why.

BobO'Link

I've seen this on several items. Some DVDs, some "toys to life" figures.

A DVD I ordered several months back was OOS at the time so the order is "pending." Since that time it's come into stock but has that "Does not ship to the US" bit added. Something that *wasn't* there when I placed the order. It's still holding and I'm not going to cancel. Their "reasons" just don't hold water.

It's the same for the game supplies. I've purchased "toys to life" figures from both Amazon.uk and some of their MP vendors. It's just specific ones that have that "Do not ship to the US" restriction. No rhyme or reason.

I agree that "something's going on" but, like you, can't figure out the logic of the restrictions.

I don't think it's because of the "Amazon Global Store" vendor. Every time I've checked the Amazon.uk price on such offerings it's within pennies of the "Global Store" price plus shipping. That's for DVDs, BRs, and board games.

thetao

Thanks for the reply. As you find them again, would you mind adding the URL's here, so we can create a better case?

I am familiar with some MP sellers also not shipping overseas and don't understand that either, but always assumed it had to do with hidden costs to the seller, even if "fulfilled by Amazon." Perhaps Amazon subsidizes shipping for their own items but hits MP sellers with an additional fee, or maybe the MP seller carries liability if the item gets lost? But then we must have some Amazon sellers among us who would have confirmed or denied this long ago during previous discussions. So it's still confusing.

I don't believe DVDTalk does actual reporting, so for lack of other obvious contacts, I emailed Bill Hunt @ TheDigitalBits. No reply yet.

Viper187

Actually, it's a glitch, according to HarriBella.UK.Ltd (one of the larger sellers on Amazon UK):

elektrolad

Amazon Global Store UK
This is very dodgy as regular Amazon has set itself up a third party seller account. Their claim is so they can offer more worldwide merchandise, but they already did. Just other people were selling it. And Amazon wasn't happy with a cut, they wanted the entire sale.
Amazon Global Store UK seems to be immune to the $3.99 shipping of most every seller by charging more for shipping. This is why I stay away from them. I haven't ordered anything from AGSU so I don't know exactly from where it has shipped. Amazon has negotiated with postal services and private companies the world over to get the best rates. That $3.99 sounds pretty cheap to process and deliver a package. Well it is and Amazon still makes money from your postage fee. The mountain of cardboard they send along is another matter.
Also, AGSU don't offer Prime. A legit Amazon that doesn't offer Prime shipping. This could be a problem in the future as well as making them look bad and more greedy. I have noticed with certain products that Amazon sold now seem to be unavailable, but Amazon Global Store UK miraculously has previously sold out items in stock. Amazon gets all the money AND makes even more with their bloated shipping fee. Last year I had a box set on backorder for 7 months, and it was commercially available at many places. Eventually the order was cancelled and they told me someone else was offering it. Guess who?
There is no auto rip either for cds. Not that I bother with it, but I want what I paid for.
Couple years ago I bought a box set from Amazon Warehouse. (Third party seller account)
Same deal, no auto rip, but free shipping with that item.
Argued with them for days for my auto rip that I don't use, but paid for. In the end they told me Amazon Warehouse was a separate entity. Sure, one they set up, gets their merch from Amazon, and uses Amazon facilities for storage, processing and shipping.
Only thing I choose to do is not buy from them as long as they hide behind a wall of lies.
This is a very sleazy way to treat your customers. And many will never know they are being screwed.
I buy a lot of music and blurays. Years ago it was music and dvds. Mainly from the UK branch cause that's what I like. And to some extent ebay. But when sellers turned up on Amazon US with that same British content for less my spending on the Amazons flipped sides of the ocean. Also, that's when Prime came along. (I had Prime for awhile before I realised you also got the video content. Then I had to buy a dongle. The next month the dongle went down in price...)
Now when I'm looking for music/video I give ebay* a little more time.

For legal purposes:
In no way should this rant be considered slanderous toward Amazon or any of their affiliates even though no matter how delicious their cake is Whole Foods offers a paultry discount on their special offers. At least you didn't install another wine display where the pinball machine was. I know people love their wine. I get it, life is depressing enough, but one day you realize this is it. That's all it will ever be. There's no trip to Mars for you. You're gonna be here when the caps melt, now that overpopulation is gonna bring people even closer to you. But there's wine. And a mountain of singly used Amazon packaging.

*btw, ebay has THE best search engine. When I look for something those items show up. Not like other places when I search for a mens XL velvet-lined, led, bluetooth ready codpiece and the page is populated with women in tube tops and ladies in brassieres and not a codpiece in sight or I do a price low to high and all of the items disappear except for the tube top woman. I'm talking about you Amazon. Your search engine SUCKS! And I don't see how women can wear these things. Most uncomfortable.

TheBang

Sorry about the autosave. We'll get right on that.