It's apparently impossible to order something from the Belgian Amazon site to have it shipped to the US. Is this true, and is it true for every non-US Amazon site? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by Asidonhopo@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I found this aftershave I'd been looking for on Belgian Amazon (amazon.com.be) - they dont sell the same kind in the US anymore but it's apparently still available overseas. I was going to see about having some shipped to me in the US and couldn't figure out any way to do so. I know the US Amazon site has this AmazonGlobal program where people from dozens of countries can order from the US site and have it shipped to them but apparently the non-US sites dont have a similar service available. Am I missing something?

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[-] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 26 points 1 month ago

I think allowed shipping destinations are defined product by product. At least in the opposite direction it's true, when I look at the US Amazon, some products are available for shipping to EU, some are not.

[-] Asidonhopo@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago

After some more trying (logging in with my email rather than my mobile #) it seems like it's working now. I appreciate the encouragement, I was ready to give up!

[-] cm0002@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Hell even here IN the US sometimes certain products are undeliverable to certain US addresses for...reasons apparently lmao

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Cost. That's why a lot of places exclude Hawaii and Alaska. Shipping to those places is a lot more costly.

You can argue that the customer will pay for it, but with so much "free shipping" these days that doesn't always work out.

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 10 points 1 month ago

It probably depends on the seller. Amazon doesn't buy/sell everything themselves on their site. Many things are from smaller companies using Amazon as a front end store.

Selling things to US customers can be quite complicated for European sellers and many simply choose not to. The issue being customs fees and registration for individual state sales taxes and such. It's a pretty heavy and costly process just to send a few products. If it was possible to sell a lot of products that way, Amazon would already be doing it and could easily outcompete their own seller clients.

My work has a EU only webshop and I've noticed that some Americans place their orders to be delivered to a German address and get charged German sales tax. I suppose there's some company forwarding the packages and doing the paperwork.

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Japanese Amazon is popular with people who want to import goods directly from Japan so I'd say this isn't a universal thing

[-] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

Perhaps the seller doesn't ship overseas? I'm Belgian and I've got that with US shops sometimes.

[-] Shard@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

This I never understood.

Amazon basically has an international presence. Amazon could easily allow a seller to ship to a local Amazon logistics location and then Amazon shipping could just handle the rest, perhaps with a slightly higher shipping fee.

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 1 month ago

That requires the shipper to agree to it. It also requires Amazon to build out a package collection infrastructure.

[-] Libb@jlai.lu 5 points 1 month ago

Would also require seller to fill many tax and vat forms (one per country they sell products into). And it may very well not be worth the effort.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

It is possible to buy from other countries, I've done it before (not Belgian). I'm guessing Belgian isn't part of the program. Do any near by countries also have the cream you want (Germany or France)?

They'll be a shipping charge for sure, but sometimes you can get things alot cheaper over seas. I'll buy multiple things in one go so the savings add up even with shipping.

You have watch the shipping cost at checkout as you go, one product can double the shipping cost for whatever reason. Avoid those ones if your goal is savings.

[-] th3dogcow@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Does the aftershave contain alcohol? There are usually shipping restrictions on things like perfume because of this.

[-] Asidonhopo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

It does, I haven't placed the order yet but I'll check back in when/if I do with how it turns out.

this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024

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