Amazon towers over the Rest
Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
one stop shopping , low prices, free shipping deals |
| Disadvantages: |
not all items can be shipped abroad, and not all marketplace sellers ship abroad anyway |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Being an expat has its upside and its downside. Upside is I get to experience a different culture and visit interesting places many friends and family have never seen. Being in the UK, I also sooner or later get the latest hit TV shows from the States, and the books. BUT (and there is always a but), not everything that I would like to watch or read, or have my children read, are available here easily, and then there is the thorny issue of buying birthday and Christmas presents for family left behind. I would not dare try convincing my mother that I simply could not buy her a Mother's Day gift, either!This is where I find Amazon a huge help. Selling everything from electronics to bulk groceries, to jewelry, to DVDs, and books, and more, this is practically a one stop shop for anything I might wish to buy for my family and friends back stateside, or to have sent to us here. I am pretty well much limited to only being able to have books, some PC games, and dvds sent here, but this is better than nothing! As an added bonus, Amazon recently introduced being able to pay in my current locations currency at the rate for that day, so no more guessing at how much will show up on my card! Ordering gifts is simple. I shop as usual, putting items in my basket, and go to checkout. I had to register the very first time and verify our email address, an again each time I added a shipping address. This is so that no one can simply hijack my account, such as if I left myself logged in on a shared computer and walked away, forgetting to log out first. I have the option at checkout to choose gift wrapping for a modest fee on some items, and can have a free gift tag regardless. There is also a box to tick to not have prices present on the invoices no matter what, which I really appreciate, as Uncle Frank doesn't need to know how much I did or did not spend on that watch he got for his birthday!Likewise ordering for ourselves is simple. if ordering dvds and games that can be shipped here, I am limited to ordering only 1 of each title, and a message appears under the price information to bring this to my attention. I of course, also must have a region free DVD player to play the DVDs, but that is another issue altogether! Prices do not include customs fees and charges, so its wise to know your limits and the rules on personal allowances when ordering as otherwise you have to pay a bit of duty to collect your parcel, but again, that's rules of the country I happen to be in, and not Amazon's policy!In the UK, the limit happens to be round about £30 per person, or roughly $60 at today's exchange rate. Amazon very handily allow more than one name listed on the shipping label, so as long as I mind the allowance and ensure I put the names down of each person in the family the item is for, I don't come a cropper. This means that I can enjoy Andy Griffith, my children can enjoy Sesame Street and old Disney films on DVD, and hubby can enjoy Gomer Pyle, and all come in one box without hitting duty, as long as I select the saved address with all our names on. At current exchange rates, its cheap to order from the US, and helpful to the economy back home, so I am pleased it is so simple! In addition, the Marketplace offers second hand as well as new, and sometimes beat the prices of Amazon itself and even eBay. Knowing the exact amount that will show on the invoice for customs is no bother either, as Amazon now show the currency at checkout of the host country. So I can roughly guess, then proceed to check out, and see what the actual cost in British pounds sterling will be before hitting submit. That's really handy as if it is for us, I can be 100% positive that we will not go over our personal allowances, and if its a gift, its not so big a deal a few pennies here and there, but still handy to have to enter into my register to balance the old bank account, seeing as we prefer to pay by debit card.Overall, customer service has been great too. Amazon had a parcel get lost in the system I ordered for a birthday back Stateside. Once it was evident that it was lost, Amazon sent a replacement out without delay, and refunded the next day delivery charge we had paid. In addition, we received a $5 credit via a gift certificate from them. Another occasion I had a query about ordering goods as a gift for family back home, that could not be shipped abroad. I knew it could tell I was abroad, as the messages under the DVD listing popped up as I mentioned, and a little banner asking if I wanted to search for the book or DVD on Amazon.co.uk was present when I perused the site. So I was unsure if it would flag up and disallow me buying my mother a crock pot for Christmas as she really wanted one to take to the church pot luck suppers. Within 24 hours I was assured that I could place whatever I wanted in the basket, and it would tell me if I could order it based entirely on the delivery address. I was also informed I could order everything for Christmas I wanted from the site at once, and select the different delivery addresses, and pay only once. Little helpful things like this really make or break a site, and it sure has gotten our return business. As a supermarket here says, "Every little helps". And Amazon certainly has.
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