Amazon vs Play

[jack]

The last things I've ordered arrived.

* I am Deppless. Amazon took a couple of weeks to consider it, and then decided after "n week delivery time" to give up and refund and not send. However, I don't think they held up anything else waiting for it.
* The Sting finally arrived n0 years after it was produced. Mmmm.
* Preston Front is still on hold, I forgot, but that's the bbc's fault for not having released it :)
* Play was good, delivering promptly, including delivery in price, though hence no economies of scale -- due to Jersey tax dodge laws limiting order value? -- and helpfully (confirming I was me, since I ordered a lot for the first time by typing in my card number of the website.)
* However, all their invoicing say "Coming soon -- [films]" which is very confusing as they mean "coming out" not "being delivered", which made me go "Aah! Didn't order that," every time.

Comments

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's anything to do with tax laws, it's a business policy that the price on the website is the price you pay.

I guess the balance is between encouraging people to just spend a little more for the free postage (as Amazon do), and not annoying people out of the "ooh shiny!" impulse buy by adding P&P.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Sorry, yes, those are the two obvious approaches, and if orders generally can be bulked to post, then the amazon model is more like the real price. Though they sell books originally where a few extra pounds on the typical cost is more % than on a typical DVD. I don't know which I prefer; now I'm used to it I don't care, but at first I felt annoyed by a delivery charge and found a fixed price pleasingly simple. OTOH I feel diddled if I buy lots of stuff and it comes in a big box and I think there should be a discount. Maybe *that*'s a trick: have a fixed price, but have a small discount for large orders :) I want 2% of your savings if you agreed and it works :) Not that it would, you can only save a little bit on postage really.

You said all that more succictly with "ooh shiny" :)

But the point was, I thought you said there was a tax hole for orders under £18 or something? Doesn't that mean things need be ordered separately, or did I imagine that?

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

There's an EU regulation that means that posted items below £18 are not subject to VAT. We do exploit that to some extent by posting DVDs and CDs individually, regardless of how many are ordered at the same time.

I suppose that does mean we can't take advantage of cheaper posting in bulk, but on the other hand it also means standard size DVD cases can be packed by machine rather than by hand (irregularly sized items like boxed sets have to be packed by hand). Between the automation and the tax break, I think it's probably much cheaper for us to send things individually rather than in bulk despite the extra costs.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

That's it, that all explicates. Thank you!

Come to think of it, you do have effective discounts; all those "n+1 for n" type offers are ever so morish :)