Woohoo! Amazon.co.uk has introduced its free delivery service for Irish customers who spend more than £25.10 (no, I have no idea why they’ve chose such a bizarre sum either). The site has also introduced Amazon Currency Converter which will allow customers using a Visa or MasterCard issued in euros pay in euros. As long as they don’t hike the prices for customers shopping in the Republic, then it’s all good news.
My definition of shortly and Amazon’s are, I’ve just realised, very, very different. Way back in 2006 – ah remember 2006, we’d so little to be complaining about back then – I reported how the online retailer had irritatingly stopped shipping electrical goods to customers in the Republic. When I contacted amazon.co.uk at the time I was told it had cut us adrift because of problems implementing the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive, whereby retailers and producers have to take in old electronic equipment when new equipment is sold. “We are still talking to the Government about how best to implement the directive,” a spokesman told me. “While the discussions are ongoing we have ceased shipping to the Republic he said, adding that Amazon hoped to be able to resume selling electronic goods here “shortly”.
Shortly finally arrived last week when the company signed up to the directive and resumed shipping electronics and a whole bunch of other stuff to Irish customers. The company will now take back old electrical equipment on a like-for-like basis, free of charge in one of four recycling centres in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. A restriction on goods weighing over 30 kg is still in place and things like mobile phones and light-bulbs remain out of bounds for Irish customers but it’s still news to be welcomed although whether we have any money left to be shopping on amazon.co.uk is very much in doubt.
