I wonder if they'll ever expand their international shipping options.

Currently, their shipping to Russia costs $35.98 minimum (International Priority Courier only) and they only ship new books (no used books, CD, DVD, etc.) That has been the fact for a long time, and provides means for existing for various middlemen (who also work with eBay and others). Seems like all the progress in quality of service of US companies is US-focused?

Used books are sold by independent vendors, so they're not really shipped by amazon but by a 3rd party... I don't know about CD's & DVDs

Those too. Basically, if you price the book at 1p, Amazon doesn't get their 15% (?) cut, which is why so many sellers charge 1p (or 1 cent). But if the postage is more than £2.75 (in the UK at least), they have to charge more, and then Amazon get their cut.

Basically, it's hard to make a decent profit by selling used books on Amazon, however, you can just put up the price. I've seen most used prices shoot up in the last few months.

The distribution of Amazon web sites seem to be heavily weighted towards those countries with the highest GDP. Maybe not a coincidence.

1. www.amazon.com 2. www.amazon.co.jp 3. www.joyo.com 4. www.amazon.de 5. www.amazon.fr 6. www.amazon.co.uk

Much of the stuff we order on Amazon Prime comes within 24 hours regardless of the shipping option. It's pretty impressive to order something two-day at 3 PM and have it arrive the next morning. Amazon's operational prowess and relationships with their shippers continue to amaze.

I'm still waiting for same month delivery. Standard shipping takes 18-32 business days. How hard is it to ship all packages to the bigger European countries, and then use the national one-day postal service? Not enough volume?

> and then use the national one-day postal service?

I just sent a letter from Britain to Germany, and it was there the next day. So you might not even need to ship to all countries.

Um. Amazon already do same-day deliveries in London and Birmingham in the UK. Have done for some time now.

Pretty pricey. I'm not sure how B&N compares, but for one book the minimum shipping cost on Amazon would be $18.48.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=2...

Well -- its only $6 if your a prime member. And $18.48 is pretty darn reasonable compared to UPS same-day shipping prices (admittedly designed for a very different purpose).

Prime is REALLY worth it when it comes around to the holidays, and this just makes it better.

Less hastle. Better gifts. Easier to hide the gifts. And Prime's perks continue throughout the year.

I can't help but think that providing and advertising a specific service targeting only a handful of cities is going to give a good handle to all those state revenue boards trying to say they have a nexus within their jurisdiction for purposes of tax collection.

Ever since Barnes and Noble introduced this (in Manhattan) a few years back, I wondered when Amazon would follow suit. It's an awesome idea, and not a bad price for Prime members, but I wonder what percentage of available items are in each warehouse.

I'll bet Amazon already has a pretty good idea of which items are currently most frequently ordered with overnight delivery.

B&N has Amazon beat on shipping costs for Manhattan though. Unless Amazon brings down the cost, B&N will still be my choice. Be interesting to see how B&N responds - will they expand to other cities?

Didn't Webvan do this? :)

You are annoyed at the fact that some people still like actual physical books, and decided to swear and snark about it. Neither of those responses are particularly appreciated here, although exceptions are often made if there is an actual point hiding behind the snideness. Alas, however, your point is something roughly along the lines of "people who have different aesthetic preferences[1] than I do are luddites and are holding us back, and attempting to provide them a product or service in exchange for money is stupid". You then go on to provide approximately no justification for your assertions.

I didn't vote you down, incidentally, but I suspect that probably is a rough summary of why some people did.

[1] I'm speaking of the aesthetic preference for physical books over digital ones, here.

Thanks, I must be in a bad mood.

(I just caught swine flu and I am now a pariah)

Anyway, I love physical books, especially since I go through most books with two different colored pens. I know the value of having something physical.

But I see how random the rage must have been in this topic. I should probably hold myself back here and wait for a better context to explain my thoughts.

See you around.

I hope you start to feel better soon. At least you can socialize on the internet.