What's Romania's Amazon.com?
February 24, 2011 10:16 PM Subscribe
In the US, I like to use Amazon to send gifts directly to the recipient. What similar service could I use to send gifts to people elsewhere in the world?
I am lazy and afraid of the stern ladies who work at the Post Office. So when I need to send people gifts, I often just buy them on Amazon and have the gift shipped directly to the recipient. This works splendidly here in the US, but obviously if I want to buy a gift for a pal in Helsinki, the shipping charges add up.
So I'd like to be able to do the same thing for friends and family overseas: buy a gift from a local or regional retailer with a fairly wide selection of goods and have it shipped directly to the recipient.
I'm particularly interested in retailers in Europe who will ship to the Netherlands and Romania. Any ideas? Thanks!
I am lazy and afraid of the stern ladies who work at the Post Office. So when I need to send people gifts, I often just buy them on Amazon and have the gift shipped directly to the recipient. This works splendidly here in the US, but obviously if I want to buy a gift for a pal in Helsinki, the shipping charges add up.
So I'd like to be able to do the same thing for friends and family overseas: buy a gift from a local or regional retailer with a fairly wide selection of goods and have it shipped directly to the recipient.
I'm particularly interested in retailers in Europe who will ship to the Netherlands and Romania. Any ideas? Thanks!
Best answer: seconding cmonkey. You could also look at amazon.de - this can sometimes get you lower shipping costs AND available gift items could be closer, culturally speaking.
posted by theobserver at 11:22 PM on February 24, 2011
posted by theobserver at 11:22 PM on February 24, 2011
Best answer: Abe Books is a nice, friendly alternative to subsidiary of Amazon.com. I use it instead of Amazon because its shipping rates are much less skewed toward US buyers. I've received free shipping from the UK to India, and from the US to Australia. When shipping isn't free, it's usually cheap - or at least, not dramatically more expensive for non-US locations.
posted by embrangled at 12:08 AM on February 25, 2011
posted by embrangled at 12:08 AM on February 25, 2011
Best answer: Amazon.de ships books and a limited range of other products without any extra costs to the Netherlands.
Amazon.co.uk ships books for free to the Netherlands, and a limited range of other products, from a minimum of £ 25.
However, an online bookshop like BookDepository ships for free to almost any country in the world. And there are others, who advertize with free shipping, like Play.com. Don't know if they offer gift wrapping and such. Would surprise me if they don't.
So, nowadays, within Europe, it often is a case of looking who has the lowest prices, than anything else.
posted by ijsbrand at 4:34 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
Amazon.co.uk ships books for free to the Netherlands, and a limited range of other products, from a minimum of £ 25.
However, an online bookshop like BookDepository ships for free to almost any country in the world. And there are others, who advertize with free shipping, like Play.com. Don't know if they offer gift wrapping and such. Would surprise me if they don't.
So, nowadays, within Europe, it often is a case of looking who has the lowest prices, than anything else.
posted by ijsbrand at 4:34 AM on February 25, 2011 [1 favorite]
You could look for reputable online retailers in those cities and just place an internet order. I've done this with flowers and had absolutely no problems.
posted by JJ86 at 8:12 AM on February 25, 2011
posted by JJ86 at 8:12 AM on February 25, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone! Great options here.
posted by thehmsbeagle at 10:27 PM on February 25, 2011
posted by thehmsbeagle at 10:27 PM on February 25, 2011
« Older Is it worth paying to have my iPod Touch fixed? | Infant seat in front seat? How bad? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cmonkey at 10:58 PM on February 24, 2011