When Amazon Prime Now launched, we were so excited about it because of its 2-hour delivery.
It is still a relatively new service by Amazon itself, so the variety of goods and products on it cannot be compared to Amazon USA’s site.
Anyway, it looks like shopping on Amazon USA will be less fun now that they are removing free shipping to Singapore.
Farewell, After Four Years Of Free Shipping
According to Geek Culture, they verified this with an online Amazon representative.
In this blog post in 2013, the site announced that consumers in Singapore and India get to enjoy free shipping under the FREE AmazonGlobal Saver Shipping service when they have orders above S$125.
Earlier today, the same blog reported that items from the blogger’s purchases from his Black Friday 2017 sale, that used to qualify for the service, now no longer has free shipping.
In a later update at 1.30pm local time, the tech blogger had clarified the news with an Amazon representative.
Apparently, the service is still available but buyers have to contact Amazon’s customer service to waive the shipping charges.
But he reckons that it is only a “matter of time before they totally shut it down”.
But… Why?
Geek Culture believes that this probably happened because of the entrance of Amazon Prime Now.
Some of the products on the mobile app were more expensive than those listed on the US online store.
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So in a bid to retain users and increase user acquisition on the app, Amazon decided to leave Singaporeans with only one choice.
They also think that it could be because global distributors are turning away from cross-border sales since talks of imposing GST on goods bought online.
Perhaps local retailers stand to win now as consumers are now left with lesser options.
As my colleague throws up his hands and said, “I guess the good news is we don’t have to wait for our friends to kup to enjoy the free shipping now.”
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