# Amazon - no more free delivery to Portugal!



## jellybean

As of today, 3rd April 2014, free super saver delivery is no longer available to Portugal! I'm gutted


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## travelling-man

Strewth. That's a blow.


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## travelling-man

There are other options such British Food Shopping British Expats Supermarket & Sausage & Burgers Casings, Skins and Seasonings for many products but most are generally more expensive than amazon.

I should say I have no connection with either site mentioned.


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## jellybean

Yes, I know there are alternatives but Amazon sells practically everything and always much cheaper than elsewhere, including Portuguese shops. And the charges are now really high. I wanted a 2.5litre can of paint and a 15kg bag of dog food and the delivery charge was £27!!! If I took off the dog food it still came to £10 just for the can of paint. They are definitely going to lose business.


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## travelling-man

jellybean said:


> Yes, I know there are alternatives but Amazon sells practically everything and always much cheaper than elsewhere, including Portuguese shops. And the charges are now really high. I wanted a 2.5litre can of paint and a 15kg bag of dog food and the delivery charge was £27!!! If I took off the dog food it still came to £10 just for the can of paint. They are definitely going to lose business.


I agree completely...... we buy or rather used to buy no end of stuff from them but I'm burgered if I'll pay the new prices. - Pet food was an especially good buy!


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## JohnBoy

I'm speechless. I relied on them for so much and loved their customer service too.

I bet MRW won't be too happy either.


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## anapedrosa

I am disappointed as I just completed my first order and was feeling pleased about their options. I went to the Shipping policies and they state the new policy, without noting that it recently changed. Then I noticed that they have a Spanish Amazon that has inexpensive and a free option (free with premium, so I still have to figure out what that means. 
An ad at the bottom of their site pointed to a site for the pet food we use and they appear to have free shipping. Pienso Royal Canin Razas - Hiperdog 
Thank goodness for Google translate.


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## canoeman

Stupid thing is that Amazons Spanish product ships from UK we use it fairly frequently but not certain that Prime applies to Portuguese deliveries, it certainly didn't to Amazon UK to Portugal.

Another alternative is EBay Spain where again a lot of product is from UK suppliers and generally EBay shipping is cheaper than Amazons

Just checked Amazon ES and it states Prime or Premium as it's called there is free in the* Peninsular* for 2-3 day delivery at 14.95€ py no minimum spend, couple of things I need so I'll try an order today


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## jellybean

Got an email from Amazon this morning about them no longer offering free delivery. It also says they 'strive to provide EU customers the best possible selection at low prices and hope to see you again soon'. They better not hold their breath. Like TravellingMan, I'm not prepared to pay those extortionate delivery charges.

Thanks for the tip re Amazon ES. I'll certainly be looking into it. If not, petmeds.co.uk have a good selection of food and sundries and have a flat delivery rate of £12, with free delivery if you spend over £150.


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## canoeman

No food on Amazon ES


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## jellybean

For books thebookdepository.co.uk does free worldwide delivery. For clothing (a variety of brands) asos.com also do free worldwide delivery. Also, Play.com offer a variety of goods inc. books, clothing, electronics, health & beauty, homewares etc. and delivery is free to Portugal


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## JohnBoy

It will be interesting to know if the Prime service from Amazon.es does include this part of the peninsula. Especially as Prime from Amazon.es costs €14.95 against the more expensive £79 in the UK.

There is a thread absolutely on fire the Amazon forum about the ending of free delivery and you can access it here and add your two pennorth.

The thread includes one post giving details of how we can complain by letter or email directly to Amazon and I will repost it here:

22.23pm 03/04/14 - THREAD MEMBERS - WE HAVE A RESPONSE FROM AMAZON - please ALSO direct your complaints to the address below - hopefully with enough protest and reason we can persuade them to reverse their policy decision (From 3 April, 2014, FREE Super Saver Delivery will no longer be available for deliveries to Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Gibraltar, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal or Sweden).

Head Office
Amazon.co.uk,
Customer Services,
Patriot Court,
1-9 The Grove,
Slough,
Berkshire,
SL1 1QP,
United Kingdom.

Please make sure to include your e-mail address in your letter and be aware that it may take 10-14 days to reply to queries sent by traditional post.

Alternatively, you could send your letter, as an attachment to an e-mail, to the e-mail address customer-attachment-requests @ amazon.co.uk.

Please note that all letters received to this address will be passed to Customer Service for resolution (according to Amazon).

There are a few comments from Amazon today which give the impression that this might not be a lost cause e.g. " Our appropriate department will do there to best to see if this offer can be availed again in future."


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## jellybean

Great! I'm going there now to add my voice to the protest and will also send a letter of complaint. Obviously the best form of protest is to stop ordering from them until they reinstate the free delivery option. It's not as if Amazon can't afford it.


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## JohnBoy

I've just remembered that I have not posted reviews on any of my recent purchases on Amazon, and there were many. I am so pleased as it has given me the opportunity to enter the following for each item:

"Item as described and delivered promptly. But if the seller is reading this they might like to know that there will not be any further orders thanks to Amazon's recent policy change to cease free delivery to several European countries. Such a shame. Bye bye Amazon."


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## jellybean

JohnBoy said:


> I've just remembered that I have not posted reviews on any of my recent purchases on Amazon, and there were many. I am so pleased as it has given me the opportunity to enter the following for each item:
> 
> "Item as described and delivered promptly. But if the seller is reading this they might like to know that there will not be any further orders thanks to Amazon's recent policy change to cease free delivery to several European countries. Such a shame. Bye bye Amazon."


Brilliant!!! Can I steal it?


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## JohnBoy

Please do. The more the merrier.


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## travelling-man

I'm doing the same thing now.


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## canoeman

Amazon ES specifically says the PENINSULA so should include Portugal as Portugal is part of the Iberian Peninsula, Book Depository has been owned by Amazon for quite sometime and I stopped buying from them at that point as considerably dearer than Amazon so not exactly free delivery


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## jellybean

travelling-man said:


> I'm doing the same thing now.


It's quite therapeutic isn't it TM? Some form of protest...:tsk:


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## travelling-man

It is indeed.  LOL!


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## siobhanwf

canoeman said:


> No food on Amazon ES


No dog food either


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## jellybean

Most of the people complaining on the Amazon website forum are Portuguese! So it's not just us expats who feel let down and disappointed by this. Everyone's saying they're boycotting. Hope Amazon gets severely kicked in the revenues and eventually buckles...


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## jellybean

Someone just posted this on the forum. Not sure how true it is. Shame if it is, I liked my MRW delivery man...

_Free super saver removal means that I will place no more orders with amazon, but more importantly it means the loss of employment for the MRW delivery personnel in Portugal, MRW were told on Monday and the staff were out of work on Tuesday. 

This is typical of a large corporation who claim to help communities.

_


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## travelling-man

Amazon have a farcebook page and these companies are generally very sensitive to criticism on such media....... so let's all get busy and give some kak!


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## oronero

I fully comprehend everybodies stance with regards to this ending of free delivery.

However there is a potential benefit to Portugal and it's shopkeepers, an increase in domestic and local commerce. If it would lead to a slight drop in Portuguese retail prices due to an increase in quantity savings when ordering from the wholesalers that would be great for all involved.


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## jellybean

I'm on to it TM - many others have already posted complaints on their page. Keeping up the pressure


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## jellybean

oronero said:


> I fully comprehend everybodies stance with regards to this ending of free delivery.
> 
> However there is a potential benefit to Portugal and it's shopkeepers, an increase in domestic and local commerce. If it would lead to a slight drop in Portuguese retail prices due to an increase in quantity savings when ordering from the wholesalers that would be great for all involved.


All very well but often it's not only the price of the goods but the quality that's worse in Portuguese shops. I've bought several electrical goods locally that have broken down well before their time - 2 doorbells, a microwave, pc....all more expensive but poor quality. And sometimes the price difference is huge - I needed a junior hacksaw, it was €8.99 in Bricomarche and just £2.50 on Amazon. So yes, I'll support local enterprise if I can afford it, but don't forget, buying online provides employment for local delivery services too


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## jellybean

Goodness - there is now an online petition

https://www.change.org/petitions/am...ing-for-eu-countries-and-international-orders

and a FB group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/156366857883113/


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## travelling-man

Petition here: https://www.change.org/petitions/am...ing-for-eu-countries-and-international-orders


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## JohnBoy

I've signed but only number 78.

Come on folks. Let's make Amazon sit up and take notice.


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## jellybean

JohnBoy said:


> I've signed but only number 78.
> 
> Come on folks. Let's make Amazon sit up and take notice.


Getting there - I was number 48  Think it's only been up for a short while so still early days. It's worth joining the FB group as folk are posting alternative stores with free delivery.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/156...ment_id=237093926477072&notif_t=group_comment


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## siobhanwf

Now almost 800

https://www.change.org/petitions/am...ng-for-eu-countries-and-international-orders#


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## canoeman

oronero said:


> I fully comprehend everybodies stance with regards to this ending of free delivery.
> 
> However there is a potential benefit to Portugal and it's shopkeepers, an increase in domestic and local commerce. If it would lead to a slight drop in Portuguese retail prices due to an increase in quantity savings when ordering from the wholesalers that would be great for all involved.


Not quite as simple as that, we shop locally or in Portugal where possible but they are many items across many areas that are unavailable or Portuguese retailers are unable or even want to try and obtain which is the big issue, a simple thing available in the UK a worm for the end of drain cleaning rods which in Portugal they don't sell drain rods but do sell exactly the same thing for chimneys but drain attachments no, I ended up making one after endless round robin conversations

Computers another area it's virtually impossible to buy a English keyboard laptop

We make bread but in Portugal it's very difficult to buy anything but 2 types of basic bread flour Amazon came into it's own here because they carried a great range of all types, just a couple of items but the list is endless

The big issue I find with Portuguese retailers is a total lack of commercial awareness or possibility of increasing trade by offering or being prepared to get something they don't stock


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## RoystonB

The big issue I find with Portuguese retailers is a total lack of commercial awareness or possibility of increasing trade by offering or being prepared to get something they don't stock[/QUOTE said:


> I totally agree. There have been any items that I have purchased and then required several more, but as they were sold, they do not restock, ever, or only eight months later.
> 
> This includes building material, food, clothes, the list goes on.


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## JohnBoy

canoeman said:


> We make bread but in Portugal it's very difficult to buy anything but 2 types of basic bread flour Amazon came into it's own here because they carried a great range of all types, just a couple of items but the list is endless


I'm with Canoeman on this one. I recently went back to the UK for a 5 day Artisan bread making course happy in the knowledge that all the flours that I would subsequently need were available with FSSD from Amazon. I managed to get one order through on FSSD before they cut it but now the shipping costs will be as much as the flour making it totally out of reach. Oh well back to my little man at the bakery I suppose but it's bleached and not organic so not what Artisan baking is all about.


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## siobhanwf

I have been using DOVES flour for bread making. It's great.....so frantically searching internet..... Might be worthwhile approaching them direct if we had a large enough order

I shop locally for as much as I can but have to sometimes turn to internet shopping when all else fails


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## JohnBoy

My teacher wasn't too complimentary about Doves and I have a preference for Bacheldre or Shipton. But whatever the brand, the new shipping rates double the cost making it way too expensive. I have dropped Bacheldre line asking what they could do in the way of shipping and am waiting for a response.


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## canoeman

What about places like Union Jacs at San Martino do Porto or online British Corner Shop


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## siobhanwf

British Corner shop add £23.40 for delivery up to a certain amount. I did a trail order this morning 


Unionjacs have standard bread making flour generally Hovis which I dont rate or like :-(


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## siobhanwf

Well they deemed it fit to answer my original complaint with a "sort of" more personalised version......   


My name is Naveen and I work for the Customer Escalation team at Amazon.co.uk.

I have checked your previous correspondence with us and would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused by this whole situation.

I can certainly understand your disappointment as you used to place orders to be delivered to Portugal using the free delivery method.

I have now taken your comments and complaint as your feedback on this policy change and forwarded the same to our business team for review. 

This kind of feedback is invaluable to us, as it helps us continue to improve our website and provide better service to all of our customers.

We appreciate the time you've taken to write to us.

This feedback you've provided will be used in reviewing the service provided.

Alternatively, I suggest you to check our EU Amazon website to see thwther they are offering free delivery to Portugal or not. 

http://www.amazon.es/
Amazon.fr : livres, DVD, jeux vidéo, CD, lecteurs MP3, ordinateurs, appareils photo, logiciels et plus encore !
http://www.amazon.de/
Amazon.it: elettronica, libri, musica, fashion, videogiochi, DVD e tanto altro

If we can be of further assistance, you can reply directly to this e-mail. You can reach us by chat or phone from this link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/contact-us

Customer Service can be reached by phone and chat.

If you need to call us, we can be reached on Freephone (within the UK) 0800 496 1081. International customers can reach us on +44 207 084 7911.

Once again I apologise for the disappointment caused by this situation.

We hope to see you soon on Amazon.co.uk.



SEEO YOU SOON......THEY ARE HAVING A LAUGH!!!!!


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## travelling-man

siobhanwf said:


> * British Corner shop add £23.40 for delivery up to a certain amount. I did a trail order this morning  *
> 
> 
> Unionjacs have standard bread making flour generally Hovis which I dont rate or like :-(


Blimey. That didn't take them long..... their delivery charge was only UKP11 per box a short while ago. 

I guess that just goes to prove how much business amazon are giving away!


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## canoeman

Friends just placed this order so maybe delivery dependent on value
British corner shop order 30 kilos £11,99 delivery Total all inclusive £121


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## baldilocks

Hi everyone. Now you are starting to enjoy the problem we have been having for over a year now. They stopped our FSSD ages ago but kept it for the likes of France and Portugal. All our representations on the matter just came to nowt.

Unless, you are rich, the only solution is to make changes to your lifestyle and use what is available locally. In our experience Carrefour (do you have them?) carry lots of stuff. How far are you from the Spanish border? if not too far a trip over to visit one of the larger Mercadona branches may well provide much of what you need- they even do a lot of gluten-free stuff. Go to www.mercadona.es click on "online shopping", then click on where we are (you can set the site to give you results in English) and it will give you where you can find the nearest branch to you. Then go through their online shopping order to see what they carry (this is not usually the full range of what you might find in the store, but it will give you an idea).


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## canoeman

Ah but those in Spain can have free delivery from Amazon es for Premium service at 14.95 per year no minimum spend no limit to number of parcels, we in Portugal now seem totally discriminated against because Amazon UK have stopped free delivery, Prime doesn't apply and the stupid customer service agent who replied to siobhanwf should have if he bothered to check be aware that none of Amazon EU sites will deliver to Portugal free even if signed up to one of Premium options that Amazon would appear to be forcing on all their customers across EU


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## siobhanwf

travelling-man said:


> Blimey. That didn't take them long..... their delivery charge was only UKP11 per box a short while ago.
> 
> I guess that just goes to prove how much business amazon are giving away!



The trial shop I did was for bread flour


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## jellybean

I just hope their former customers in the EU hold out and don't order from them unless and until they bring back Free super saver delivery (even if they raise the spend threshold) - or at least a reasonable charge per order. That's the only way to kick them in the revenues and make them see the error of their ways.

There have been a few articles about it in Portuguese online newspapers, would be good if the British media gives Amazon another bashing too. Not holding my breath though...


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## BodgieMcBodge

Am I reading this right, you are saying..

" We have sopped buying via Amazon because of the postage charge so to make them capitulate to our demands we are now going to stop buying from them"?? 





jellybean said:


> I just hope their former customers in the EU hold out and don't order from them unless and until they bring back Free super saver delivery (even if they raise the spend threshold) - or at least a reasonable charge per order. That's the only way to kick them in the revenues and make them see the error of their ways.
> 
> There have been a few articles about it in Portuguese online newspapers, would be good if the British media gives Amazon another bashing too. Not holding my breath though...


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## jellybean

BodgieMcBodge said:


> Am I reading this right, you are saying..
> 
> " We have sopped buying via Amazon because of the postage charge so to make them capitulate to our demands we are now going to stop buying from them"??


That is exactly what I, and several thousand other EU customers are saying. Do you have an issue with that? Would you continue to buy items from Amazon that were previously delivered FREE and you are now expected to pay £40 to deliver? Like many others I'm voting with my feet and have stopped shopping with them. I now buy from other retailers who do deliver for free - or for considerably less. When they notice a considerable drop in EU revenue, they will have to review the delivery options they offer to EU customers or their shareholders will not be happy.


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## BodgieMcBodge

How would Amazon know that every time you do not buy an item from them it is because you are making a protest?







jellybean said:


> That is exactly what I, and several thousand other EU customers are saying. Do you have an issue with that? Would you continue to buy items from Amazon that were previously delivered FREE and you are now expected to pay £40 to deliver? Like many others I'm voting with my feet and have stopped shopping with them. I now buy from other retailers who do deliver for free - or for considerably less. When they notice a considerable drop in EU revenue, they will have to review the delivery options they offer to EU customers or their shareholders will not be happy.


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## jellybean

BodgieMcBodge said:


> How would Amazon know that every time you do not buy an item from them it is because you are making a protest?


Because I order regularly from them like many others. Dogs don't just need food once, I order food monthly and spend over £100. They have received hundreds of complaints, there is a petition with over 2,600 signatures, and their FB page is also being bombarded with complaints. Thousands of people are boycotting them, not just me. So when they notice the drop in revenue, they will take notice.


All I can say is petmeds.co.uk used to have a £150 threshold before you qualified for free delivery to Portugal. Other EU countries had a much lower threshold (£50). I wrote and complained and stopped ordering from them (as I'm sure many others did) and they have now lowered the threshold to £80. Not low enough but they obviously noticed a reduction in revenue and did something about it. So voting with your feet and shopping elsewhere can work.


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## jellybean

Petition now has over 3000 signatures!

http://www.change.org/petitions/ama...ing-for-eu-countries-and-international-orders


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## BodgieMcBodge

jellybean said:


> Because I order regularly from them like many others. Dogs don't just need food once, I order food monthly and spend over £100. They have received hundreds of complaints, there is a petition with over 2,600 signatures, and their FB page is also being bombarded with complaints. Thousands of people are boycotting them, not just me. So when they notice the drop in revenue, they will take notice.
> 
> 
> All I can say is petmeds.co.uk used to have a £150 threshold before you qualified for free delivery to Portugal. Other EU countries had a much lower threshold (£50). I wrote and complained and stopped ordering from them (as I'm sure many others did) and they have now lowered the threshold to £80. Not low enough but they obviously noticed a reduction in revenue and did something about it. So voting with your feet and shopping elsewhere can work.





That all sounds very heroic but the stats don't add up. 


3k petition vs 30,000,000 Amazon users (my guess) that is a 0.0001% protest
Your £1200 pa dogfood vs Amazon assets $40.16 billion

I am no fan of Amazon and will no longer sell through them but the reason they do things is to increase their revenue or, in a specific sector, reduce their loss. They drop the lossmaking "free postage" in some places as, overall, the profit from selling is not sufficient to cover the shipping cost as well. For some items it may work but overall it is not sustainable in their buisness model. Check the cost of buying £100 of dogfood and add the shipping cost from the UK to Portugal (and some other countries), if Amazon can't make a profit from it then you would expect them to stop supplying the service which they have done.

Still how would Amazon know that every time you do not buy an item from them it is because you are making a protest? I often don't buy things from Amazon and they never take any notice.

Good luck with your protest


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## jellybean

And you base your 'maths' on the assumption that I'm Amazon's ONLY customer in the EU. Well done!!! That's utter brilliance. No wonder no-one ever takes any notice of you. I won't either.


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## BodgieMcBodge

jellybean said:


> And you base your 'maths' on the assumption that I'm Amazon's ONLY customer in the EU. Well done!!! That's utter brilliance. No wonder no-one ever takes any notice of you. I won't either.


No. I know you are not the only Amazon EU customer as I and many of my previous customers are within that catagory. I assumed there are 30,000,000 Amazon users of which 30,000 (0.0001%) have joined a protest group.


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## siobhanwf

BEHAVE GUYS. We all have our own opinions and a bit of respect goes a long way


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## baldilocks

Personally, I think that any form of protest, unless the entire Amazon customer base in the EU threatened to vote with its feet, will make little difference. These big corporations are a law unto themselves and they know that there will be plenty more customers to replace those who decide to boycott them.. There has been a trend in recent years for many businesses to restrict their offerings and a number of companies who used to send to Europe no longer do so. Quite why, I have not been able to fathom. 

SWMBO and I had a "one-man band" type of operation importing handmade crafts from Colombia as a way of enabling small villagers to have a wider market and become more self-sustaining. We used to also export to USA, Gibraltar, Finland, Russia, none of which, at that time, were in the EU so that meant various customs formalities had to be handled. Any business that is within the EU should have no difficult in exporting to people within the EU, it is no different from selling to their home territory. All it takes is the will to do it!


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## siobhanwf

One of the most annoying things Baldilocks is that fact that although amazon.es is meant to serve the whole of the peninsula . However when I did a trail order with a premier account they wanted €20 for delivery


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## JohnBoy

Thanks for clearing that up Siobhan. I know that there was a thought that 'Iberian Peninsula' included Portugal as it certainly does geographically. I think that Amazon uses the term to define mainland Spain as opposed to the Balearics.

I have seen several webites where mainland Portugal (as opposed to Madeira and the Azores) is described as Continental Portugal. Perhaps Amazon describing Spain in a similar manner would be less confusing but better would be the reinstatement of FSSD. Are you listening yet Amazon?


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## canoeman

I tried same and have now lodged a complaint with EU as all definitions and maps say Portugal is part of the Iberian Peninsula as is Gibraltar and Andorra might be more successful than tackling Amazon


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## johnjohn47

baldilocks said:


> Personally, I think that any form of protest, unless the entire Amazon customer base in the EU threatened to vote with its feet, will make little difference. These big corporations are a law unto themselves and they know that there will be plenty more customers to replace those who decide to boycott them.. There has been a trend in recent years for many businesses to restrict their offerings and a number of companies who used to send to Europe no longer do so. Quite why, I have not been able to fathom.
> 
> SWMBO and I had a "one-man band" type of operation importing handmade crafts from Colombia as a way of enabling small villagers to have a wider market and become more self-sustaining. We used to also export to USA, Gibraltar, Finland, Russia, none of which, at that time, were in the EU so that meant various customs formalities had to be handled. Any business that is within the EU should have no difficult in exporting to people within the EU, it is no different from selling to their home territory. All it takes is the will to do it!


We deal through Amazon (and other web based providers) and what they have done is agree a price with delivery companies based on bulk use and tried to work this into the price of the product, in some areas (large concentration of customers?) this has made an overall profit but in other areas/countries it has been a loss. The areas where it has been a loss have been discontinued. Amazon are not being vindictive just doing business, you can expect them to review the matter over a period of time and if there is a way of changing it to make a profit then they will do so. Even within the UK the national carrier has three different delivery areas with different prices.


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