Ordering American books from Amazon

Okay. So I ordered an American book from Amazon.de. They give NO delivery options from what I can tell--you get it through Deutsche Post and that's it. The book was $25 USD and it took three weeks for it to get to me. Two weeks later I receive a bill from General Logistics Systems (whoever the hell that is) for 50 euro.

What the hell?

It would have been cheaper and quicker for me to order from Amazon.com. For an express overseas delivery, I've paid $30 and had the book in hand within the week through UPS.

The German Amazon is pretty easy to use even for someone with lower middle language skills. But is there something I'm missing here? Why the *%$*&!! should anyone pay so much money for such slow service? Regular US mail moves faster than that for a fraction of the cost.

I almost want to create a PSA informing Americans who are accustomed to speedy service that German "efficiency" is pure mythology.

Did amazon.de have it in stock here in Germany, or did they have it shipped over from the states? If that's the case it's probably a bill for import duty, VAT, handling, storage and delivery from the port of arrival. I had the same experience when I ordered something from the states - the fees were more than what I'd paid for the goods.

You'd probably have had the same fees if you'd ordered from amazon.com.

What you have to do is find a friend in the U.S. military who is stationed here. Get them to order it via Amazon, as they pay regular U.S. mail rates. Not any use for this time, but perhaps for next.

Good idea, showem. But I'm thinking the next time I'll have the books shipped to a U.S. address and get a friend to send over in the post. Woud cost in the $15 range and get here in 7-10 days.

Malcolm, I'm aware of all the import fees and taxes. When I ordered not one, but three DVDs from Amazon.com a while back the bill from UPS for all that stuff was only 18 euro.

The other thing I'm not liking about Amazon.de is that they've only got an "English Books" category. I've found no indication of where the item originates. I'd assumed UK but I'm the ass now because as with so much here in Germany that should make sense I was wrong.

I was hoping someone could tell me I've missed some tiny print or sign somewhere that says the order would be coming from the U.S. I damned sure don't want to order from them anymore if they can't give a better idea of the final cost.

I'd guess that the "UK-Preisempfehlung" or "US-Preisempfehlung" next to the item would be an indication of where they're from. Some of them don't have that though...

if you order books from amazon.de then you are ordering from a german company. they cannot charge you extra shipping just because the book came from the u.s., unless you approved this. it could be that the book was only available from the u.s., then it was shipped to you directly and customs got a hold of it and you were requied to pay customs on it. you should ask cause €50 is a lot.

i do notice when i order "english" paperbacks, they all come from a uk publishing house. even my hillary clinton and harry potter book's had a differen format than the u.s. versions.

my mama bought me pajamas from victoria's secret, but had it sent directly to me. but becuase the damn thing cost €30, hence over the duty-free limit, i had to pay nearly €25 on administrative costs. oh i should say custom's said they look for stuff like this with a business logo on the outside. had my mom shipped it to me and labelled it as "gift", t hen it would of gone through.

I expected that my order would come from the UK. I pretty much expected that everything under "English Books" would come from the UK unless otherwise indicated. Stupid me.

I can't find anything on my past order, but I've recently made another order of two books totalling 36 euro. I placed this order almost two weeks ago, yet it says:

Voraussichtliches Versanddatum: 3. Februar - 5. Februar
Lieferung voraussichtlich: 4. Februar - 9. Februar

WHY??!

Two *&%$ing probable delivery windows? Two weeks after I ordered??? What, are they shipping it over by rowboat? The Verpackung und Versand is listed at a cost of 0.00 euro and it says Deutsche Post. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it told me on my last order. This extra bill I have here is from General Logistics Systems and this is not mentioned anywhere on Amazon.de that I can see.

Why the hell does everything in this country have to made three times more difficult than necessary?

I think this one is going to get moved to:
German Impatience whilst Queueing

Micnic, might I suggest a pint or two? or maybe some red wine?

Have you actually called up this company to find out what the bill is for?

i would hazard that is the date they estimate they can send it out on and they are just saving you the mental sums of figuring out that it might arrive chez toi
2 to 3 working days later...

i know a few people that work at amazon.de, they are all fluent english speakers... ring 'em up and give 'em hell about the 50 yoyos...

WM6, I've developed a nice little outer shell and practiced eye roll for almost all the other nonsense crap that happens over here. I can let the rudeness slide, the unbelievable inconvenience one faces when a simple item like a kitchen sponge is needed (another rant, sorry), the incorrigible service, the dearth of decent footwear, the ass-backwards opening hours...a glass of wine does nicely in the face of all that.

But this is my money. That's completely different. I expect to pay what I'm told the product costs, not get some surprise bill for two times the original price. I'm willing to pay extra for faster delivery but I'm gonna scream and shout about being charged 50 clams when it took them three weeks to get it to my door. Especially when they've given me no choice in delivery terms.

Slightly off topic, but I received two packages this past November from my sister who lives in Hawaii (military). We had to pay zollamt fees on both of them. One was 25 Euro, the other was 38 Euro. Unbelievable!

A little late coming into this one, but it just might be a scam. Hopefully you have not paid the invoice yet. I was sent an invoice from a Swiss company for about €1300 relating to patent studf, and when I searched on the internet found a warning from the EPO about this company contacting all patent applicants. Not illegal.

The fact the company only has a PO Box, and bank account, no web, Email, fax or phone, was rather suspicous.

Call General logistics, tell them you have ordered nothing from them, and why are they invoicing you. Assuming there is a telephone number on the invoice.

As Elefenstar said, you ordered from a German company, and if said company had to import goods, that is not your problem. So if General Logistics really demand their invoice be paud, complain to amazon.de, and amazon.com, and BILD Zeitung.

Well I must aplogize (but only in the slightest way): I'm not being billed for the Amazon order but rather for a Christmas gift from my father. Duty tax and all that because he naively gave the value of the contents and that sent off bells and whistles.

The irony is, a week before I got this bill from General Logistics, I paid EUR 40 to send the gift back to the states.

Should I have to pay for a gift I didn't keep--especially when I paid to send it back?

Still not ordering from Amazon.de anymore. I waited three weeks for the arrival of my last order and because I wasn't home when on a Friday morn when they "delivered" it I had to go all the way to Postzentrum and wait in line for 40 minutes to pick it up. Ordering it through Hugendubel and dealing with their surly customer service would have brought me a fraction of the hassle and probably taken three days.

Sorely disappointed in the German version of a company that go so much of my money and patronage in the states.

i never have had any problems with amazon.de, but then again i also switch between and Booxtra (which no longer ships for free, sadly).

and regarding gifts from the u.s., you have to tell your friends and family not to put a value of over $25 on the package or have them send you something which has a business packaging on the outside, cause customs will open it. they told me this themselves!

sucks how much money you have to spnd to figure this out. i got bit hard too.