Went online to buy something and Amazon came up with a good price. Because the goods cost more than $50 the order page offered free delivery. However when I went to the checkout, the bill included a delivery charge. I could not see any easy way to remove the charge. I bought the goods including delivery charges, seeing no alternative but to cough up. I queried this after a frustrating search on the Amazon site to find a contact point. The response was that I should have pulled the delivery options button to see free delivery. There was nothing to indicate that I needed to do this to get free delivery. Every other online trader I have used that offers free delivery over a price threshold does not include an automatic delivery charge at checkout. Itâs my view that this is an Amazon scam and is worthy of a Shonky Award for opaqueness.
Not just Amazon. See my discussion of Ebay and several others April 2020 Do You Shop Online where Free delivery kept disappearing, being replaced by an outrageous amount ($180 - $400 to deliver a 2-4kg box 50 to 1,100km worth $120 - $210).
You need to check which Amazon is selling the item. You donât get free shipping from the UK or US, for example, except if they are having a âspecialâ (which they do from time to time)
Yes, I realise that, it was amazon.com.au! Amazon in the US doesnât ship a lot of goods. In the past I have used Reship.com to get Amazon items from the US that arenât shipped to Australian addresses. But that was a long time ago when the exchange rate was more favourable and the goods were only available here at an extortionate price.
Yes Zackarii, I looked for similar threads on this forum, not hard enough obviously, before posting. It was about my experience. I love (not) that some sites are adept at the con. It was worth calling them out. I did get my delivery credited when I complained but itâs just too opaque.
As well as checking which Amazon is selling the goods you also need to check where the goods are coming from. Amazon is a shop front for many different sellers (like eBay). If the goods are not coming from Amazon stores/warehouses you may have to pay delivery.
Hi Karen, good point, I understand that. Except that in this case the free delivery offer came up and, after my complaint, was honoured. Note that I was shopping through amazon.com.au. I wouldnât expect free delivery from the US or other overseas branch.
Being on the AU website doesnt mean your stuff is coming from Australia. It doesnt even mean that its Amazon selling it.
I periodically get stuff which comes from the UK or the US and without a special promo, free shipping is not included. You need to check the box for Australia and also make sure that the seller hasnt included shipping as a charge. Amazon isnât much different to ebay in that respect. Anybody can sell through the site.
I get that too, but you are missing my point and that is that, having offered free delivery to automatically have a freight/delivery charge added in at the check out is pretty devious. And to not have any way of removing that charge that is transparent is shonky. At the end of the day, it is withholding an offer which has been freely made. Regardless of where the parcel is coming from if the Australian site offers free delivery, as the entity making that offer ultimately Amazon in Australia has an obligation to honour that agreement, legally and ethically.
Booktopia charges the same for one book or many. Can use their wishlist to collect wanted titles, then order less frequently. And it is (I hope) supporting an Australian business.
Booktopia - $6.95 delivery charge. I couldnât believe it - ordered a heap of âcheapiesâ along with my intended reference books and told them I wasnât in a hurry as I knew a number of them had about 10 days to a month lead time to get into stock. They sent what they could when they arrived, always apologising for the delay. I got about 10 Aust Post deliveries, all for the sum total of $6.95. I am sure they went broke sending my $2.50 remaindered titles, kudos to them for excellent customer service!
Certainly beats the Ebay mob who would not deliver a 2kg parcel to my postcode, but miraculously could deliver for $400 âexpressâ.
Totally agree, a blatant attempt to mislead consumers. I recently had the same situation, couldnât find the hidden âfreeâ delivery and then ordered the same item from another online platform for the same price incl free postage.
Honestly, if you all expected free shipping on everything just because Amazon advertises free shipping for Prime, you must not have read the T&C or paid attention to your cart when you added things. Personally I never expected everything to be free. Its very d*****d clear that its not. https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201910440
NOT a scam.
And now, I am leaving the discussion because clearly I am not of the same frame of mind as some of you.
Sue, once again I say, you have not understood my reply or my original post. Amazon said I was entitled to free delivery as I listed the item in my cart. But then they automatically put in a delivery charge at checkout and did not make it clear how I could claim free delivery. Iâm perfectly willing to pay delivery and do so when it is levied. If a seller offers an entitlement to free delivery and then makes it difficult to claim it, this verges on the dishonest and the seller needs to be called out on it. When I eventually raised this issue with Amazon, they honoured the free delivery offer and refunded it. Issues like this are why we are members of consumer advocacy groups like the ACA, for a fair deal, including ensuring online trading is conducted in a transparent and easily navigated way. I will continue to shop with Amazon and will continue to pay delivery charges when required. I will also exercise the offers of free delivery if they are offered. In every other respect, I was pleased with the product and the speed of delivery.
It applies to any customer who purchases eligible items over the value of $39.
This includes:
Any item that is sold and fulfilled by Amazon AU, or sold by a third-party seller and fulfilled by Amazon AU, and has âFREE Deliveryâ eligibility messaging on the product detail page is eligible and contributes to your free delivery order minimum of at least $39 (source).
If Amazon has a delivery cost at checkout for eligible items, it is a issue as many customers who didnât scrutinise the order at checkout may not realise they had paid for delivery when in fact it should have been free. While not a scam per say, it is inappropriate of Amazon not to automate the free delivery offer as it will catch many customers into paying for delivery when it should have been free.
I have been boycotting Amazon since amazon.com.au came on board. The only reason I have anything to do with it is because we joined Prime which is supposed to offer free shipping to members BUT only on certain items and even Prime only has so many titles âincluded in Primeâ and much of the content is for rent or purchase. It is a scam so I give as little money as possible to Amazon. Shop local!
