Amazon -- the frustrations

How often have you found something that looks like a good deal only to discover it isn’t?

One of the things that I have been seeing is how often there are wonderful deals through Amazon and I go to check it out because it is something that I have wanted. The worst part of this is after you have gone through all the analysis, of if you want the product or not, you decide to purchase the item and then this happens. Based on your location you should be shopping through Amazon.ca and not Amazon.com.

How what is bad if when the offer on Amazon.com is not available on Amazon.ca even for just a slightly higher price. There was one case that there was a book being offered for $0.99 on Amazon.com but when you went to the Amazon.ca website it was being offered for $7.99 which is extremely frustrated. Why is the price so much higher on basically the same site but in the United States they can get it for $0.99 but in Canada we would have to pay $7.99 for the exact same digital book. It wouldn’t be frustrating if the price in Canada was $1.49 for the book but 8 times what the deal in the States was is extremely maddening.

There are also the deals that exist on Amazon.com and are no where to be found on Amazon.ca which is also upsetting. There have been times that I have been looking for a cross-stitch kit and have found it through Amazon.com thinking I was on Amazon.ca only to discover that it isn’t available through Amazon.ca at all. These are the things that bother me because there is no way for me to purchase the item through Amazon.com no matter how I try. Ok, maybe if I had a mailing address or a shipping location down the States I could get the product but then there is the cost of going down to the States to pick up the item.

Looking for the books that are offered through various publishers and writers is the upsetting. I have found a number of times that the book through the American site is a wonderful deal but then it is either extremely expensive on the Canadian site or not even available. If people are going to make something a deal it should be available to more than people in the United States. I have now started letting people/companies know that the deal should state “only available in the United States” instead of letting people around the world think that the deal is also available to them.

The internet has opened up so much of the world to others but deals through sites such as Amazon can’t being opened up. If I am willing to deal with the exchange rate when I make the purchase on the .com site that is up to me and there shouldn’t be sites that are saying to a consumer, you cannot purchase from this site even a digital book because you don’t live in my country. Authors are losing out on some sales because of this limitation and it needs to be changed.

Amazon should be a place where I could go and purchase what I would like to purchase especially the digital media. If I am willing to deal with the exchange then that is up to me. If the item is also available through the .ca or other country sites let me know that and then let me make the decision of where I will purchase the item.