At that point, I’d only identified that the Amazon check out was flagging some Xbox games I had in my basket as being unshippable but notall of them. As I had other things on the order that I wanted, I proceeded with it, expecting to get an email or something from Amazon explaining that they couldn’t ship the Xbox game (Ratatouille as it happens) to me because it was a class of software.

Imagine my surprise this morning when the postman delivered a package containing the game to me. Sheesh. I did notice, however, that the item description seems to categorise the Xbox game as ‘video’.

Either Amazon have miscategorised the product (an Information Quality problem which Amazon never suffer from) or their policy on shipments to the Republic of Ireland is a nonsense.

Electrical goods like toasters and blenders and TVs I’d understand, but software or games makes no sense at all unless there is some form of market carve up taking place. And if there is, then miscategorising products so they sneak through the net can only result in problems down the line.

Apparently Amazon UK have a more ‘Kafka-esque’ sense of humour about things…

So I decided to try to order some Xbox games as part of my Christmas shopping. I fully expected to get big “DANGER WILL ROBINSON” warnings for all the purchases given Amazon’s decision NOT to sell software or electrical goods into the Irish market for no apparent reason (which I’ve written about before here and here and here and which featured on other blogs last year… here…. and which I brought to the attention of the relevant Government Minister here). I haven’t actually received a response on this yet, over a year later. Shame on me for not chasing it up.

Imagine my fricking surprise when I got this…

Apparently the XBox game Ratatouille is not the same class of thing as the XBox games “Cars Mater-national” or “the Simpsons”. Now, this puts Amazon across two of my pet bugbears…

1. Nonsensical and unexplained restrictions on shipping of goods within the EU (which, in the absence of a REALLY good explanation is probably a breach of EU law)
2. Buggered up information quality

If all of the game titles had been restricted I’d have simply shrugged my shoulders and moved on. But they weren’t. This suggests that either:

• The information which Amazon use to classify their games and software is inaccurate or incomplete and allows exceptions through the net (boo hiss)
• OR (worryingly) The restriction on shipping electrical goods, games and software has less to do with the WEEE regulations in Ireland (Amazon’s nonsense excuse) but have more to do with producers seeking to create and maintain artificial market segregation. In the context of a web site selling into Ireland, that could raise issues of EU law and, if it is the case that a number of different manufacturers have made similar requests to Amazon to restrict the Irish Market, then that could be viewed as a cartel-like operation, which is apparently a bad thing.

Not that Amazon would pander to that kind of thing. Gosh no. This has to relate to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations because they define Electrical and Electronic Equipment as:

“electrical and electronic equipment” means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA of European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volt for alternating current and 1,500 volt for direct current;

Yes. That definitely includes inert plastic with encrypted digital information on it (aka a dvd or cd with MS Office or Halo3 on it – take yer pick). Although, if you were particularly pedantic an Xbox game does rely on “electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly”. But only if you are being RIDICULOUSLY pedantic. I am pedantic. I’m renowned for it. Even I wouldn’t stretch things that far…

Either way it is an avoidable and undesirable process outcome, and as it is happening inconsistently it is embarrasing. . It is particularly irksome given that Amazon are basing a Customer Service Call Centre in Cork and have a Service and Operations centre in Dublin and have been applauded by our Government for their investments.. Amazon’s relocation from Slough to Ireland was caught by the BEEB…

I’ve posted on this previously and these posts can be found under the Amazon-Inania category on this blog.

However, I forgot just how crap Amazon are at geography and how they seem to be incapable of recognising that

• ‘Northern Ireland’ is just one part of a larger island
• Ireland is a large, literate country with reasonably high disposable incomes
• ..and a lot of their business is actually based here (customer services in Cork, a data centre in Dublin
• Deliveries shipped to Belfast or Derry often are transited through Dublin airport

So, I trundled through the terms and conditions of their service. Deliver to ‘Mainland UK’, delivery to ‘Other United Kingdom Locations’ which includes the Channel Isles and British Forces Posted Overseas, but not a whit of delivery to the Republic of Ireland.

So, I decided to see if they have any logic that prevents people in the Ould Sod from signing up, much like they have checks and balances to stop us buying software or computer games or electrical goods.

Ehhh… nope, I’m allowed to right through to the bit where I’d have to part with cash irrespective of what address I use.

So, Amazon will take money off me for a service that they can’t/won’t deliver (no pun intended), because they are not using information they have about me (my address) to prevent me parting with cash, or they can deliver it (ie Prime deliveries to Irish Republic) but they have bungled their Terms & Conditions because they’re idiots, like those people who claim Oscar Wilde was British.

I’m fricking angry now. Must go have a coffee to cool off.

Mulley – if you’re reading a Nintendo Wii will calm me down nicely.

my comment : http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2006/05/07/amazon-uk-shift-the-goalposts/#comment-7818

 Here is their response… which includes the email and name of the Private Secretary to the Minister, which I’ve cut out for sake of privacy. If anyone wants them, comment and request (I will not post this information publicly at this time). I’ll ignore the fact that they spelled my name wrong even though all they had to do was cut and paste it.

Having read the posts and comments over at Michele’s blog, I had to get my writing fingers out.

Let’s start with the issues in the order they come to me:

1. The point was made that if you contacted a baker and asked for their cheap bread, they would be entitled to decline your offer of slang-bread for eating-bread on the grounds that they couldn’t reasonably meet your request without additional costs. Amazon don’t make bread. Amazon is an incredible logistics machine with a proven capability to get packages from Dusseldorf to Dublin – as long as you are willing to pay the shipping costs.
2. There is a quasi-Irish Amazon site – it’s called shopireland.ie and it is run in association with Amazon. Prices are in euro and are quoted at Irish VAT rates. It is very nice. I have used it a lot. (Michele Neylon has informed me that this is an Amazon Associates site – thanks for the clarification.) This is what happened today when I tried to buy from an ostensibly IRISH website. Apparently Ireland is ‘International’ on an Irish site… I wonder if Dermot Ahern knows we’re not in the EU anymore? I wonder how the owners of shopireland.ie feel about their business being impacted by Amazon’s unilateral decision?
3. Somewhat ironically (as anyone who has read the comment over on Michele’s site) Amazon’s customer service centre is not in the UK but…. in Ireland (Cork), as is their Systems, Networks and Operating Centre (Dublin). So our transactions are being captured (technically speaking) within the jurisdiction of the Irish Republic. But as we don’t live in the Irish Republic anymore we are “International”….
4. Companies may try to segment their regional markets for a variety of reasons: operational reporting, segmented pricing (ie different prices in different countries). However if they attempt to enforce those prices when a citizen of the EU ‘shops around’ and puts a retailer in a role of ‘passive-seller’ then any attempt to prevent that Retailer from selling to that consumer is an illegal act – either under Free Movement of goods or Competition Law (abuse of a dominant position in Market A to protect/grow Market B).
5. Warranty issues may be a valid argument – but most of the appliances I’ve bought in recently have either come with warranty information for EVERY EU country or just for the UK (because we speak English and they used to live here we must be English apparently). Therefore, the warranty issue is not as strong an arguement. Also, Caveat Emptor is a defence available to the manufacturer – the buyer would take on the risk of not being covered by a warranty – no reason not to sell it.

So it looks like we are no longer in the EU because Amazon has decided so. I can see how that might be the case, what with the CIA allegedly using Shannon as a carpark and Airforce 1 and Airforce 2 stopping off for Duty Free every few months. Combine that with a national development plan that has put the car (single occupant preferred) at the centre of transport planning and I’d be forgiven for thinking we were the 52nd State of the US.

It is either that or Amazon has just bungled into a whopping Information Quality problem. (Well, we do sit between Iran and Iraq at the UN, we’re obviously Middle Eastern).

Given the impact this has on Irish Consumers, and given that Amazon’s Customer Service call centre is based in Cork, I would suggest letting Eddie Hobbs know…. he can drive down and ask them why they are letting us get ripped off!