If you use Amazon you have probably encountered a listing by a ‘Seller,’ an organisation or individual who uses Amazon as a means to sell their wares. It’s a bit like an eBay shop, only, because it’s Amazon, it appears a bit more legitimate and you don’t have that nagging doubt at the back of your mind you’ll be ripped off or scammed in some way. Pfft!
Check out the seller’s delivery charges before you buy anything!
Rip off number 1:
Here’s an example. I bought a TomTom car satnav from Amazon, Post & Packing (express delivery): £5.01 (fair enough). To go with it, I bought a universal mains charger – cost: £3.75, from Star e-Shop. On the seller page it says free delivery. Ah good, I thought, free delivery. Oh wait, I want it to get here about the same time as the TomTom so I’ll get it shipped express instead of standard. What do you think that would cost? £3.99? The same as the TomTom? No. £10.98! For a £3.75 bloody charger!
Here’s a screenshot of the sneaky delivery charges page [you may need to find the scroll bar at the bottom of this page]:
Note the part of where it says ‘per Item’ – £3.99 (still seems reasonable, right?). Now cast your eye to the part where it says ‘per Shipment’ – £6.99. That’s right, they charge you £3.99 for the item PLUS £6.99 for the shipment; total: £10.98! For what?! Shipping it as express instead of standard?! Now my understanding of the pricing was that if you had one item it would cost you £3.99 (i.e. the ‘item’) OR £6.99 if there was more than one item – i.e. ‘per shipment.’ Seems they charge you for an item and then add a shipment cost onto the top. WTF?! Complete RIP OFF!
Here’s Rip off number 2:
Believe it or not, this one is even worse than the Star e-Shop’s outrageous charges. This rip off is by ExpressPro.
While I’m using Amazon I remember I need to pick up a couple of Microphone jack plugs. Total cost for both jack plugs is a whopping £0.94. That’s right, less than one pound. That’s how cheap these things are. Now what might you think standard delivery on those would be? Free? £3? Nope. £7.70! Now stupidly, because these things were only £0.47 each, I didn’t look at the delivery charges before I bought them (something everyone does on eBay) so now I’m stuck with their outrageous £3.85 per item delivery rate! Actually, I didn’t look at the other one either but it was Amazon and they are careful to stop shit like this from happening, right? Apparently not.
So there you have it – £18.68 delivery charges for items that cost a grand total of £4.69! What a complete rip off. I really feel like I’ve been utterly scammed.
Update:
I’m actually angrier at the moment about Star eShop than Expresspro, probably because the package from Star eShop arrived and I was able to see the true cost of the postage – £4.95.
Think about that for a moment. Star eShop (sucks) offer free standard delivery, so by my reckoning the package would probably cost them £1.25 to ship standard (but nothing to me), the ‘expedited’ delivery I asked for cost £4.95 so the difference is about £3.70. This is the approximate figure I should have paid to get express delivery rather than (free) standard, i.e. the difference in cost. What they also charged me was a rather inexplicable £6.99 on top of the difference, grand total; £10.98 delivery on a package that only cost them £4.95 postage!
Update 2:
Now the other items from ExpressPro have arrived. Now pissed off as equally as I am with Star eShop.
Envelope is A6 sized and both items (microphone jack plugs) were in the same envelope. Postage merely marked as 1st class (i.e. £1.25 at most).
Amazon.co.uk are disgusting. I purchased a book through them and tried to send it back and nothing worked on the site and I kept going back to the begnning all the time. You are easily sucked into their Membership rubbish which is a brilliant way for them to take your money without your consent and then they have the audacity to treat you like shit when they have done so. Also Vistaprint are doing the same scam. You purchase business cards with them then they take monthly payments from your account. When you contact they are polite and give you a refund. I am not happy with Amazon.co.uk I did not sign up for Premier Membership. I asked for a refund and was given a partial refund.
I spoke to an Irishman at Amazon today who offered no apology they think it is their right to take £47+ from your account. I am not interested in any form of membership all I want are the goods that I ordered. If they are free of charge or postage paid that is all I am interested in. Amazon have got their legal team to cook up a way of scamming the public to take our money on a contual basis. Consumers must watch out for these thieves. They are very much above their station. They offer cut price goods then try to rip you off with their RUBBISH MEMBERSHIP PACKAGE. I do not remember accepting their Terms and Conditions. If they operated a website that was reliable that would make a big different. Its the thumbs down for Amazon.co.uk from me. I will never ever purchase another item from them again. THEY ARE SCUM ripp of merchants. Beware of these scumbag companies who offer cheap goods and then create a Membership Rip of Scheme to help themselves to your money. Spread the word folks Amazon.co.uk are thieves and treat the consumer like dirt.