I think the arrogance grew in the eighties when if you needed something techie, or a good range of books or an album there was really no other one stop and well stocked shop. I’m just surprised that it has endured and the shops seem busy. Maybe Stockholm syndrome 
An Amazon user tip - It should’t be this way but it is.
When you want to buy something and find it is not available on Amazon.fr, then try closing the window and open another for looking on Amazon.de (Germany) or Amazon.es (Spain), for instance.
I have found that I can magically find what I want, with delivery inside EU no problem. (Sorry, not so effective in UK). Often delivery within 48 hours, which was particularly good when I wanted new Abus locks for our new home. I have bought quite a few things this way, even having a second membership account on the German site.
It ought not to work this way. Amazon should be able to cross country platforms seamlessly but for some reason it doesn’t.
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Yes, I have separate Amazon UK, France, US and Oz accounts. It seems to share my details across all of them but the products displayed are different on each.
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That is why it is important to ensure you enter a postcode local to the Amazon country site you’re using whether Amazon prompts you to or not.
Amazon search results will differ accordingly depending on country and where you let it think you are. Prices for same item differ vastly across countries eg 2.5 times the price for same item. Also it tries not to find some things on searches which are indeed available. So you have to work round this.
To stop a lot of Amazon’s nonsense, I keep wish lists in each country where I can retrieve the product reference off the item and type it in to another country site to force it to find it on the search (and often, pricing is still fine). Been doing this a lot in past month as I’m allowing myself a few treats for Christmas but still tight budget. Lots of rabbit holes to follow giving you hours of fun if you want. And some other opportunities if you think it through.
There’s a few tools around that help a lot eg as well as camelcamelcamel which shows price history, can help compare eg Buy from Amazon in Europe at the best price
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AMAZON what a waste of time.
Just spent 3/4hr trying to buy 2 items each item marked free shipping amazon €24.65 total when i click to pay they added €7,99 delivery. Could I get free delivery no so I decided I would do without. That’s the end of amazon for me.
That has certainly not been my experience here in France. Polite and very efficient to provide a refund after 9 months and a label to send the item back free of charge. Had I bought it in Leclerc, which I could have done, they would have sent it away for repair and I wouldn’t have seen it for 3 months.
you were short of 35 cents 0.35 as they ship free at 25 euros.
Would have saved you to take a fractionally more expensive version of one of your items, add something small or (sorry I’m not sure where, but Moneysavingexpert.com has where to find it in their Amazon section) somewhere, there is a list of absolutely tiny things you can add to an Amazon basket if you’re just a tiny amount short to make up a total for a promotion or a free delivery.
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Never have this issue on Amazon Prime but do have this tactic for online M&S. now have so many knickers the drawer barely closes.
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Try wearing some
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The drawer drawer?
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Not only Amazon but a timely warning from Which? re electric blankets and shawls selling online
Never had a single issue after more than 10 years of buying from Amazon. Delivery next day in the UK in my normal experience, but generally a week or so when I order in France. Yes, it’s very rural, and since Brexit I don’t hold my breath anyway. Purely anecdotal I know, and maybe I’m just lucky?
I look in the Amazon Warehouse for something. Lots of small cheap stuff there. Last month I bought some indelible marker pens for around a euro to make up the difference.
Look at the small print, sometimes it actually means free shipping, sometimes only free shipping if directly from Amazon and over €25.
I have never had a problem so far.
Amazon have laid off some 18,000 employees since November 2022 according to The Times of India 5 Jan 2023.
Probably increased mechanisation. Sad but a new fact of life. 
I just love getting an Amazon delivery. Expecting one today. Will be following the van as it travels across France to my front door. Six deliveries away. Shall be waiting by the roadside when I’m next on the delivery route. From Bordeaux to me just north at Saintes.
Jolly good service!
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I did the same last weekend with 3 deliveries, the guy had a picture of the top of our drive and a Google map link to where we are and I watched him go all around us and then bugger off with the “we couldn’t find your address” notification just after that 
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Two days in a row… non-delivery… and, according to the website, unable to deliver as customer was absent and unable to leave an Avis of Non-Delivery …
When the chap finally came this last Monday, I gently asked him if it had been difficult to find us… No… No…
and if we weren’t here, where would you put the Avis??
In there!
Just 2 feet from where he was standing… a large letterbox with our name and house number clearly showing… (official plaque)… aaargh.
When we placed the Order, the delivery was due via DPD…
It turned into Chronopost somewhere along the line… once the goods were ready.
The driver was smartly presented and polite.
No official markings on his van, which was ragged rather than rugged and the engine needed tuning properly… but I wasn’t cross with him… just the lies on the website.
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