Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#81

Post by ornornor » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:28 PM UTC

derriz wrote: post #56

ornornor wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’ll be fine. Switzerland isn’t in the EU and doesn’t have amazon. Instead amazon ships for free from .fr,de,it and include the reduced vat etc so you don’t have anything extra to pay when receiving. Me for returns they cover the actual shipping costs back to their warehouses.

Do you live in Switzerland? Only a fraction of what’s listed on amazon.de or amazon.fr will ship to Switzerland. Pretty much no electronics will ship to for example. The China loop hole was closed recently so that alibaba and the like are now unavailable. Often you just have to suck it up and pay “Swiss” prices from a local reseller.

I’d say a third of the stuff ships. Sometimes I can find the item locally for a comparable price, but sometimes I’m SOL. It could be better but it also forces me to reevaluate how much I really need something, and reduce on clutter.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#82

Post by eeh » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:28 PM UTC

headmelted wrote: post #32

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In context of Brexit, the inevitable consequences of the UK's actions is quite often a "bombshell" to the UK. The denial is strong.

This. You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. What's bizarre is that when challenged on how ridiculous that is, they'll immediately accept it as rational before saying "well we voted out anyway so it doesn't matter".

Is it the average Joe, or is it the 95th percentile idiot that happens to get attention?

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#83

Post by CaptainZapp » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

derriz wrote: post #56

ornornor wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’ll be fine. Switzerland isn’t in the EU and doesn’t have amazon. Instead amazon ships for free from .fr,de,it and include the reduced vat etc so you don’t have anything extra to pay when receiving. Me for returns they cover the actual shipping costs back to their warehouses.

Do you live in Switzerland? Only a fraction of what’s listed on amazon.de or amazon.fr will ship to Switzerland. Pretty much no electronics will ship to for example. The China loop hole was closed recently so that alibaba and the like are now unavailable. Often you just have to suck it up and pay “Swiss” prices from a local reseller.

Which isn't too bad on electronics (including camera equipment and such) where Swiss prices are quite reasonable.

Now for the rest...

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#84

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:30 PM UTC

eeh wrote: post #82

headmelted wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. You really have to be here to believe the extent to which the average Joe on the street believes they'll be able to have their cake and eat it after this is settled. What's bizarre is that when challenged on how ridiculous that is, they'll immediately accept it as rational before saying "well we voted out anyway so it doesn't matter".

Is it the average Joe, or is it the 95th percentile idiot that happens to get attention?

The 52% idiot.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#85

Post by ornornor » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:30 PM UTC

corty wrote: post #72

derriz wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you live in Switzerland? Only a fraction of what’s listed on amazon.de or amazon.fr will ship to Switzerland. Pretty much no electronics will ship to for example. The China loop hole was closed recently so that alibaba and the like are now unavailable. Often you just have to suck it up and pay “Swiss” prices from a local reseller.

And swiss prices are absolutely outrageous. In addition to lots of taxes and duties on certain goods, labour prices in switzerland are sky-high, so visiting a retailer there is usually more expensive than a short shopping trip to France/Germany/Italy...

I don’t think there is duty on most things. VAT is 7.7%. What jacks up the price is retailers thinking « this is Switzerland, people are used to pay through the nose so why not make an extra 20% »

What irks me the most is companies that have no presence in CH but who will ship to CH, and when you go to their website everything is 20–30% more expensive compared to their .de or .fr store (where vat is 20%!). Even though shipping is extra, and it all ships from the same warehouse in Germany or Ireland. Like misterspecs, or revolutioncycles.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#86

Post by acd » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:32 PM UTC

This is an example why exiting global cooperation such as the European Union is bad for the economy. Another side effect may be that For example the real estate market in London goes lower due to less foreign professionals competing for housing. Plus the price of vegetable at the supermarket will be higher due to more expensive imports from Holland the gardeners of Europe and Spanish fruits being more expensive. There is a benefit less carbon emissions from transport. Amazon selling less may be good for the local economy in that local producer can sell more local made products. Consumers will be hurt as they can buy less goods for the same amount of money.

As a European I hope UK will want to rejoin the EU. This will take time. I see price inflation in UK due to less foreign trade will lead to price increases. Inflation will make central banks raise interest rates which will make it more expensive with mortgages. I guess this was not the story UK brexit politicans sold to the UK people. And yes less income less income to UK national health service in form of taxes which was also not what was sold by politicians. Hope UK will rejoin EU soon. Frankly post Covid-19 the question is if UK can afford to exit EU.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#87

Post by AnssiH » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:33 PM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #44

Does anyone know what could be a specific reason leading to this change? I mean, deeper than "no single market", what would prevent Amazon from running the same operation, potentially with slightly higher fees to offset relevant transport/import taxes. They ran marketplaces at crazy prices before, like shipping to Australia before local distribution centres.

I believe they theoretically could, but I guess they don't consider it cost-effective, or are waiting to see what happens, or they are already planning to do it but it will take much more time.

Regarding your "shipping to Australia" example - that is just regular fulfillment of Amazon.com orders from US stock, with an international destination address. That will continue to work in all EU/UK marketplaces, this change is only about fulfilling e.g. amazon.de orders from UK stock and vice-versa (EFN) and cross-border movement of not-yet-sold stock (Pan-European FBA).

Regarding EFN: There is already a similar cross-border program called Amazon Global Store, where Amazon ships e.g. US stock to amazon.co.uk buyers (example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AFTQ4X8). It also works for 3rd-party sellers, in which case Amazon buys the item for itself in US and then ships it to the customer in UK ("Allow Amazon to buy my products to sell globally" in Amazon US seller settings). However, this is much more limited in scope of products compared to what EFN currently is, and those items do not currently ship "internationally" (e.g. I can't order a Global Store item from amazon.co.uk to Finland like I can with EFN items).

Regarding Pan-European FBA: I believe Amazon does not want to move non-sold 3rd-party stock across customs jurisdictions, or at least it has never done that before. Shipping sold items to end-customers (which they do, e.g. Australia example above) is a bit easier, as e.g. valuing the items is easy (it is exactly the amount the customer paid), and Amazon never has to be at the receiving end.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#88

Post by CaptainZapp » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:34 PM UTC

Hamuko wrote: post #54

viraptor wrote: post #44

Does anyone know what could be a specific reason leading to this change? I mean, deeper than "no single market", what would prevent Amazon from running the same operation, potentially with slightly higher fees to offset relevant transport/import taxes. They ran marketplaces at crazy prices before, like shipping to Australia before local distribution centres.

Doesn't Amazon not deliver to Switzerland or something? I think I heard that Swiss people for example can't order from Amazon.co.jp. Meanwhile I can order from Amazon.co.jp to Finland and Amazon (or DHL) handles everything from shipping to VAT and to customs declaration.

I could be off, but here's what I recall:

A couple years ago Switzerland changed the rules that companies shipping to Switzerland must collect and administer Swiss VAT and companies the size of Amazon said fuck it! and thus don't ship from the US any more. I suspect that the same goes for Amazon Japan.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#89

Post by rwmj » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:36 PM UTC

dariosalvi78 wrote: post #58

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way my British friends told me, nobody really took the brexit vote seriously and treated it like a Lord Buckethead, Boaty McBoat Face joke. At least until the mic dropped and the consequences of their joke vote became clear.

They confirmed they wanted Brexit in the last elections. They had no excuses when Boris was elected. If that is what people want, that is what people deserve.

That's more a consequence of our terrible electoral system combined with the most incompetent / most poisonous opposition leader ever.

Re: Amazon’s UK FBA operations will be split from the EU

#90

Post by williamgrant » Sun, Jul 19, 2020, 1:37 PM UTC

Reason077 wrote: post #29

So stupid! The UK voted to keep Europeans from coming over here and taking our jobs and seducing our women with their sophisticated accents. There was nothing about blocking European goods and European fulfilment centres. Boris Johnson even assured us that it was going to be easy to get a "great deal" on free trade. This is not the Brexit we voted for!!

> The UK voted to keep Europeans from coming over here and taking our jobs and our women with their sophisticated accents.

This comment expresses an appalling amount of xenophobia and classism. This warped, cartoonish portrayal of "Brexit" voters on HN is not unexpected, but it is disappointing it seems to escape moderation.