What are Amazon up to?

[jonny777]

I love Slo-Zap glue. 

 

It dries so slowly that it gives time to get components in exactly in the correct place before the glue dries completely. 

 

I like to purchase 2oz bottles, but they are not always easy to come by locally, so occasionally I do an internet search for the lower price mail order variety. 

 

this looked good from Kings Lynn Model Shop

 

http://www.kingslynnmodelshop.co.uk/p3830/5525662_Slo-Zap_CA_2oz_PT33_-_Thick/product_info.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=xigen_shopping_feed&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3v3YBRCOARIsAPkLbK5IXU1oNAPoeb0g9WdiZYK_ADBPZsU99eLIz_2yDoJNChvyNN6KKygaAs0gEALw_wcB

 

 

 

Note the prices - RRP £12.95, their price £11.65

 

I usually check on Amazon just to see the lowest possible price (subsidised by US hedge fund investors) although I will never buy anything from them due to their various non-union, slave labour and minimised uk tax liabilities (but that is political and so will gloss over).

 

Imagine my surprise to find this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pacer-Technology-Zap-Slo-Zap-Adhesives/dp/B0006O8EQM/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1528811185&sr=8-3&keywords=slo-zap 

 

Nothing from the UK, and only a few more expensive versions if I delve a bit deeper into the page. 

 

Why are Amazon UK promoting stock from US suppliers when UK ones have the stock at much lower prices? 

[centraltrains]

Why are Amazon UK promoting stock from US suppliers when UK ones have the stock at much lower prices? 

 

Because they get some sort of payment for either listing/selling them on behalf of the business, where as the UK suppliers have no such arrangement with Amazon so wouldn't be in their commercial interest to do such?

Edited June 12, 2018 by centraltrains

[Horsetan]

...Why are Amazon UK promoting stock from US suppliers when UK ones have the stock at much lower prices?

Possibly because the UK stockists are not on Amazon, which is the go-to instant source for many these days.

[Torper]

I think that by the time you order the glue from the Kings Lynn retailer you'll end up paying £3.95 postage on top of the £11.65.  As a matter of principle I wouldn't buy from them because they refuse to supply certain Scottish mainland postcodes.

 

As for Amazon you can get a 1oz (28g) bottle for £6.20 + £2.99 postage -https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=slo-zap%C2%A0.%C2%A0 . It comes not from Amazon, but at least from a UK address.  Somewhat curiously, on the same page they offer the same bottle at prices ranging from £17.85 to £41.84, all plus postage.  Who on earth in their right mind  is going to choose the expensive ones?

 

DT

Edited June 12, 2018 by Torper

[Spitfire2865]

Who on earth in their right mind  is going to choose the expensive ones?

 

DT

Its a common tactic in online selling.  Its often more of a hassle to delete a listing and repost when its back in stock than it is to adjust the price to something so ridiculous no one would order it.  So you get to keep your listing online while ensuring you dont have to cancel any orders as a result of it.  

[Antony Farrell]

Well at least you will be able to get stuff. In Australia we are being cut off from Amazon's International sites and will only be able to access their Australian site which has a much smaller list of items.

[centraltrains]

Well at least you will be able to get stuff. In Australia we are being cut off from Amazon's International sites and will only be able to access their Australian site which has a much smaller list of items.

Use a VPN?

[Andy Mac]

Use a VPN?

I think they are actually blocking delivery to Australian postal addresses, part of the process is redirecting you from the Uk or American sites to the local Australian site, which to be honest, is extremely expensive compared to buying from the Uk or Australia and having the goods delivered here...

[Horsetan]

I think they are actually blocking delivery to Australian postal addresses, part of the process is redirecting you from the Uk or American sites to the local Australian site, which to be honest, is extremely expensive compared to buying from the Uk or Australia and having the goods delivered here...

Divide and rule. All part of the world takeover plan.

[57xx]

Well at least you will be able to get stuff. In Australia we are being cut off from Amazon's International sites and will only be able to access their Australian site which has a much smaller list of items.

 

I wish Ebay would follow suit, I'm sick to death of being given results from the USA by default instead of just the UK. I don't want to pay extortionate shipping and customs charges, thank you ebay. </OT off>

[ruggedpeak]

I wish Ebay would follow suit, I'm sick to death of being given results from the USA by default instead of just the UK. I don't want to pay extortionate shipping and customs charges, thank you ebay. </OT off>

Is it not your search settings? I use Ebay a lot (I rarely use Amazon as its rubbish for finding what you need - seems to be a website mainly full of things that are out of stock) for all sorts off things and searches are listed UK first then a separate section below with overseas listings.

 

You can adjust responses on the side of the page:

 

[jjb1970]

If EBay switched off their non-UK sites to UK customers it'd render it a bit pointless for me. Most of the stuff I buy on Ebay is brass HO, almost all of which is from international sellers. I have also used it to buy ice hockey and figure skating stuff from international sellers.

[ruggedpeak]

Why are Amazon UK promoting stock from US suppliers when UK ones have the stock at much lower prices? 

 

Taking competition out of the game is part of business. Once you've killed off the competition you can charge what you like. It relies on people being too busy/stupid/lazy to shop around locally.

[Bucoops]

Is it not your search settings? I use Ebay a lot (I rarely use Amazon as its rubbish for finding what you need - seems to be a website mainly full of things that are out of stock) for all sorts off things and searches are listed UK first then a separate section below with overseas listings.

 

You can adjust responses on the side of the page:

 

 

But you still get items that post to UK.

[Ben Alder]

Rarely use Amazon for things like this. Here is the first result of an ebay search -

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pacer-Zap-SLO-ZAP-ca-slow-set-Cyano-Adhesive-1oz-PT20/141748709565?epid=1405198031&hash

[Jol Wilkinson]

Rarely use Amazon for things like this. Here is the first result of an ebay search -

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pacer-Zap-SLO-ZAP-ca-slow-set-Cyano-Adhesive-1oz-PT20/141748709565?epid=1405198031&hash

 

Also available from Phil at Hobby Holidays for 4p more. Old fashioned perhaps but  I would prefer to support a supplier of useful stuff like HH than eBay or Amazon.

[Ben Alder]

Completely agree with that,though there are times when if you only need one thing, a source like this can be handy.

[ejstubbs]

Why are Amazon UK promoting stock from US suppliers when UK ones have the stock at much lower prices? 

 

It sounds as if you might have a bit of a misconception about how Amazon Marketplace works.  It's up to the UK retailers to sign up to and use Amazon Marketplace, if they want to.  Many don't bother because they prefer not to have to pay Amazon their cut of the resulting business.  If a retailer chooses not to be on Amazon Marketplace, there's nothing Amazon can do about it.

 

It's not like those aggregation sites that trawl the web (usually not very thoroughly or very well) in order to return lists of retailers they've found who stock an item you've Googled for.  Those sites make their money from the adverts they display alongside their "hits",  (They are also pretty annoying because they tend to clog up Google's own search results.)

 

Back in the dim and distant, Google used to do something similar but, because of their much better trawling and indexing technology, did a much better job of it.  Then they decided to make Google Shopping a revenue source in its own right (rather than just being a.n.other source of revenue from targeted advertising), and it became much less useful.

 

I wish Ebay would follow suit, I'm sick to death of being given results from the USA by default instead of just the UK. I don't want to pay extortionate shipping and customs charges, thank you ebay. </OT off>

 

Are you sure you're not using ebay.com rather than ebay.co.uk?

[Sheffield]

Can Amazon really be called "smaller suppliers"?

[Hroth]

Is it not your search settings? I use Ebay a lot (I rarely use Amazon as its rubbish for finding what you need - seems to be a website mainly full of things that are out of stock) for all sorts off things and searches are listed UK first then a separate section below with overseas listings.

 

You can adjust responses on the side of the page:

 

I have found that even when "UK Only" is selected, there will be a fair amount of suppliers (admittedly at the cheaper end or if you are looking for electronic devices) who claim to be in London or wherever and provide a vendors address somewhere in the Far East.

 

On Amazon, it sometimes comes as a surprise when you find your purchase covered with customs labels as there is often no indication of origin.

[Horsetan]

I have found that even when "UK Only" is selected, there will be a fair amount of suppliers (admittedly at the cheaper end or if you are looking for electronic devices) who claim to be in London or wherever and provide a vendors address somewhere in the Far East.....

This may well be part of the VAT evasion that Chinese sellers seem to be adept at.

[ejstubbs]

And their general deception of the innocent UK customer whose only fault is to want things ridiculously cheap.

 

(You can usually tell if an item is really going to come from China by looking at the expected delivery date.  Although some sellers lie about that as well, of course.)