Scottish Highlands, Islands, IOM and Channel Islands
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Seller_KoKtKhiYB0nEO

Scottish Highlands, Islands, IOM and Channel Islands

Anyone any advice on shipping goods to Scottish Highlands, Islands, IOM and Channel Islands, Amazons policy is that these areas should be able to receive Free Delivery like the Mainland Areas of the UK, yet there Help Section classifies this:
Locations Outside Mainland UK

Here’s a list of locations considered to be outside mainland UK, and how they’ll appear in the product detail page messaging:

BFPO
Channel Islands
UK Islands, including:
    Hebrides
    Isle of Arran & Curran
    Isles of Eigg, Rum & Canna
    Isles of Lewis and Harris
    Isle of Man
    Isle of Skye
    Isle of Wight
    Orkney
    Scilly Isles
    Shetland
Northern Ireland
Scottish Highlands

I am completely feed up as a seller as buyers increasing purchase goods from these areas.Amazon need to pull there finger out with sorting out there Shipping Settings to allow sellers to apply additional and Amazon expect these order sent at a loss???
My goods are usually in or around 10kgs and sending them by Royal Mail is just not feasible as there prices usually cost more than the product, sending with Hermes can also be costly.

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Tags:International expansion
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19 replies
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Seller_bIVNWAWuPbk3l

I have a problem with this as well.

The way I have tried to get around it is two-fold.

My carriage costs to all these locations is about 20% more, so I build in a little to all prices and that averages out Ok over the range of orders.

Where I run in to trouble is with the Channel Islands.

I have 2 templates in effect:
1 is for standard goods. They can ship with Royal Mail and so I do treat all locations the same. I don’t use Royal Mail normally, but as this option is open for outlying areas, where couriers don’t cover well, it allows me to mix and match.

2 is for technical goods that cannot ship with Royal Mail and this is the template where I run in to problems with the Channel Islands.

All of a sudden my typical shipping cost goes up from £3-£5 per order to £20-£30 per order.

So in my template I have not allowed shipping to the Channel Islands.

Now I get an email from Amazon:
Immediate Action Needed: Shipping Template Correction and they have given me a week to allow shipping to the Channel Islands or they will amend.

The irony is that with Amazon FBA they do not have to allow this universal coverage. The Channel Islands are outside of the standard UK carriage area.

I’ve just been on to seller support and they advise me it is a hot topic and that I am added to the list of complainants that the technical team is dealing with.

I can’t see it fixed in a week.

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Seller_47rQMKbwog1Kh

What i find amazing is this is attached to some pages on amazon, that amazons themselves can’t deliver outside of mainland UK.

Yet we are expected to absorb the cost.

See the attached snippet, i removed from a page 2 minutes ago.

Regards

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Seller_KoKtKhiYB0nEO

Amazon really need to get there act together on this subject as they seem to be forcing sellers down the FBA route. I am going to keep pushing Amazon on this topic as eBay can sort things out within a day and use a much easier shipping template that works!
I have 2 cases pending Amazon support on this, when they ask for feedback 1 star is all they are getting until this is resolved!

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Seller_bIVNWAWuPbk3l

Just to update, I opened a case on 16th January and they are still looking in to it. At least it shows they are taking this matter seriously.

FBA wouldn’t be an option for me as I ship goods that are not allowed under FBA.

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Seller_bIVNWAWuPbk3l

Yes I do.
Can you imagine how many companies have been on to them?
Some of them will be large organisations as well turning over a lot of money.
One of my competitors is a multi-million pound International Company and will be in exactly the same boat.

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Seller_IotgWgSZV4UrT

Last time I looked at a map, most of the Scottish Highlands was still attached to the mainland.

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Seller_G3nxbOE2aKTGK

The only thing we have found to help is upping the delivery time to these areas to the maximum, which I believe is 20+ days.

This prevents most buyers from purchasing, if we do get a message from anyone from that area we explain the reason briefly. We still get the odd order.

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Seller_saK5Ah2SaNYjL

When we first started selling on Amazon we listed all our products. Our main busines is large canvas prints. We no longer sell these on Amazon. It cost us more than the product was worth to send to the Channel Islands.

Our biggest customer gets us to drop ship all his canvas products and he can’t avoid the Channel Islands so he absorbs it.

The other issue with the CI is many sellers, including myself use cash accounting for VAT so you ship the CI VAT free for tons more shipping costs and get less money for it. Nah.

We stopped selling anything on Amazon that can’t go with Royal Mail. It cut our product range in half.

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Seller_bIVNWAWuPbk3l

My case I opened as mentioned above onm 16th January is still open.
I get a weekly email apologising for the delay and my settings have remained unaltered.
I have 2 templates.
One for all my items that will ship with Royal Mail and that includes remote locations and Channel Islands.
One for my Gas Cylinders, which doesn’t allow Channel Islands.
My standard shipping to Highlands, Islands is only about 25% more so I absorb that.
Channel Islands is 6 x more for CO2 and I cannot absorb that.

I’ll keep you all informed.

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Seller_IotgWgSZV4UrT

The Advertising Standards Agency has issued an enforcement notice preventing claims of free UK delivery if it does not apply across the country.

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