Waiting for the day when Amazon arrives in Thailand

[Thaidude]

Too bad there is no amazon here in Thailand. Infact there is no proper online shopping sites(lazada sucks i heard?). Maybe its because the people here tend to purchase from offline stores or is it the government which doesn't want foreign company taking over

 

[pgrahmm]

Well....

I have bought from Amazon while living in Thailand....

The trouble is, like EBay a LOT of their vendors have been coerced/forced to sign on for the automatic "customs" charges perpetrated by the likes of Fedex, Dsl, etc. which adds a huge amount to "clear"....

 

Oddly enough, except for one time, I've been able to still shop there, find the identical items, & find vendors not on that program - and guess what?.....NO customs/taxes have ever been levied.....

 

Unfortunately - on that one time I had to return the item - bye bye $120.00usd.....

[Lite Beer]

Nothing wrong with Lazada. Never had a problem.

Had a delivery today. 2 days early.

[OMGImInPattaya]

It already has...it's called Lazada. It's not as full-featured, nor the same business model, nor as cheap, however, for many items it gets the job done. I would definitely give them a try...I've bought many things from them without incident. If access to rock-bottom and speedy online shopping is important to you, living in a developing country is not the place to be; as retailing in general is not as sophisticated and some goods and services are more expensive or not available at all.

 

You could also try Big C...they have an online store where you can order stuff for delivery...so does Central Department Store I believe. However, it's only a convenience service and the prices are the same as in-store.

Edited September 19, 2016 by OMGImInPattaya

[pgrahmm]

3rd post up - s/b DHL ....

[kannot]

Like Uber taxis then it will be deemed "unfair"

[Maybole]

I bought a small item from Amazon back in february. A month later they helped themselved to £79 from my bank acount for something called Amazon Prime. It is a video express sevice which I had never heard of and would never use. Somewhere I failed to uncheck a box. Be very carefull to read all the small print in any amazon contract.

[Old Fool]

LOL.  Prime is the greatest of all memberships.  The video streaming is so-so but the music streaming is top of the line.  And if you live in the states you get 2 day delivery for free on any prime item.  This is the single greatest thing I would lose if I moved over seas.  

[Alive]

Well uber tried to enter the Thai market and has been beaten back it seems. You are waiting for Amazon but will get ChaoPhaya, a glorious website/company that offers everything those western sites offer.

[Colabamumbai]

You can order my books thru Amazon but pay shipping to Thailand.

[dotpoom]

I love stopping at the Amazon gaffs while holidaying around Thailand.....In the PTT Service Stations .....I might add.

Edited September 20, 2016 by dotpoom

[Colabamumbai]

Just sold another one in Britain this morning on Amazon, by A. Clark

"201 Things That You Must Know About Thailand."

[mcfish]

Ali Express is another.

[johng]

7/11 also have an online store. You can pay and pickup goods at your local branch

[Bangkok Barry]

 

I have used Amazon. almost always from the UK, probably 100 times and never had a problem. I used to get dvds sent and never had a problem. Just occasionally I had to pay the postman 10 or 15 baht to receive the package. However, many items are not available for delivery to Thailand. The chance of Amazon opening up a dedicated service in Thailand is less than zero. The country is hardly a player on the world stage.

[Henryford]

Lazada does not suck, it's almost as good as Amazon. A great range of products available on line at good prices. Free delivery and COD (which Amazon doesn't offer), what more do you want.

[toofarnorth]

2 hours ago, dotpoom said:

I love stopping at the Amazon gaffs while holidaying around Thailand.....In the PTT Service Stations .....I might add.

On the same wavelength as me . Travel around need gas  and a coffee look for the PTT sign.  I have a Capp. the wife goes in 7-eleven.

[attrayant]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

Lazada does not suck...

 

Except for its website, I agree.  Most of their products are locally sourced, which they can hardly be blamed for, but that means many unfamiliar brands and a lot of no-name/generic stuff that you'll have to take a chance on.  I am starting to see more foreign-made products available there lately.  When you add something to your cart that ships from overseas, you'll get a pop-up about it.

 

When I was back home and searched for a product on Amazon, I always sorted the results from least to most expensive.  With Lazada I do the opposite and select from the upper third price tier, hoping to get a better quality product.

[ronaldo0]

Never had a problem with lazada and have used them loads of times.

Only thing I will say is that you need to check the seller with some items as can be fakes being sold. Perfume and aftershave being prime example.

Also if something is far cheaper from one seller than all the rest I usually give it a miss.

[Suradit69]

21 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

Nothing wrong with Lazada. Never had a problem.

Had a delivery today. 2 days early.

 

Likewise. I ordered a TV and it arrived earlier than their estimate and it's worked perfectly.

 

Also buy things from Amazon UK without any problems. Yes with them and with eBay you have avoid purchases that involve prepaid customs clearance, which is a ripoff.

[Sooo Upto Me]

22 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

Nothing wrong with Lazada. Never had a problem.

Had a delivery today. 2 days early.

 

Same with me, had many items delivered over the yrs never any probs with Lazada, In fact most came early. Once I had to send bac faulty microwave got full

 refund an postage within 10 days into my bank.

[alexlm]

Thais always order from Facebook and Line and pay with a bank transfer.

Most of the store managers speak Thai only, though.

[impulse]

The problem when Amazon does come to Thailand is that it will still be in Thailand.  Between the protectionist tariffs and VAT, the costs will be higher on Amazon, too.

 

I've had great luck with Lazada, where the quoted price is the delivered price.  No surprises.  I just wish Lazada would clean up their search function and expand their offering to include the stuff available on AliExpress.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The problems with Lazada -- apart from their sometimes dubious customer service -- are the growing share of imported items that cannot be purchased COD, a lot of goods of questionable quality and/or with no brand identity, and sometimes little or lacking product details on their website, at least in English.

 

What makes an online retailer live or die in the end is, along with pricing, their customer service, and Amazon has a great reputation in that regard. If something's wrong or a mistake has been made or a product is defective and somewhat past the official return period, their reps are empowered to make adjustments and try to keep reasonable customers reasonably happy -- so they'll keep coming back as return customers.

 

Lazada, unfortunately, has not the slightest clue of that kind of philosophy/mentality toward customer relationship building.

 

I've ordered a few things from Lazada and the orders went fine, but they were small and low cost items that were only done COD. I'd NEVER order anything from them that wasn't COD where I have the right to simply refuse a questionable product and keep my money in my pocket...instead of trying to get it refunded from Lazada after the fact.

 

If Amazon came to Thailand and operated like Amazon does elsewhere, Lazada would be history in my household.
 

Edited September 20, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[mcfish]

18 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

The problems with Lazada -- apart from their sometimes dubious customer service -- are the growing share of imported items that cannot be purchased COD, a lot of goods of questionable quality and/or with no brand identity, and sometimes little or lacking product details on their website, at least in English.

 

What makes an online retailer live or die in the end is, along with pricing, their customer service, and Amazon has a great reputation in that regard. If something's wrong or a mistake has been made or a product is defective and somewhat past the official return period, their reps are empowered to make adjustments and try to keep reasonable customers reasonably happy -- so they'll keep coming back as return customers.

 

Lazada, unfortunately, has not the slightest clue of that kind of philosophy/mentality toward customer relationship building.

 

I've ordered a few things from Lazada and the orders went fine, but they were small and low cost items that were only done COD. I'd NEVER order anything from them that wasn't COD where I have the right to simply refuse a questionable product and keep my money in my pocket...instead of trying to get it refunded from Lazada after the fact.

 

If Amazon came to Thailand and operated like Amazon does elsewhere, Lazada would be history in my household.
 

The problem with COD is that you have to be at home for the 3 hour gap they provide that can easy turn into a 5 hour gap. Its probably unlikely they will hang around anyway while items are unboxed and tested especially electrical stuff as it would impact the daily delivery schedules

[Sandman77]

All parcels of a total weight of maximum 2 kg I can forward when it's declared like a letter without insurance of total coasts of 18€ a month to any adress in the world when I sign up for it online if I it's registered then simple ask my nabour to make 2 kg boxes of all amazon stuff I ordered and send it to my home adress from his adress this coasts me 4,50€ each parcel, and will be forwarded free of a total of 18€ a month , to any adress in world no matter how many parcel has been forwarded
it's a little bit tricky, but it works!
For me amazon is avalible in Thailand without high dhl tax coz it send cheaply with this produce over national postiffice I ordered mûsli nuts and fruits and all was delivered within one week !



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[balo]

Lazada is great .  

 

I also use Ebay a lot , you can buy most stuff that Amazon offers from there, sometimes a bit more expensive.  My Olympus camera I found on Ebay , shipped directly from Japan , I saved 4000 baht compared to a Thai dealer.