FYI - Amazon dropped their minimum order for free shipping to Israel (for qualifying items) from $65 back down to the original $49.

In what is very exciting news for Israeli consumers, especially expats from Western countries, Amazon has renewed its free shipping to Israel promotion that was stopped by the outbreak of a global pandemic, Covid-19. With changes.

One of the victims of Corona was the Amazon free shipping to Israel deal on orders over $49. Shipping from Amazon can be expensive, and it was expensive, and that is before even taking into account that if your order is above the limit of $75 you will start to pay VAT as well. When Amazon introduced the free shipping deal there was an explosion of sales to Israel. 

Good news for online shoppers.

After a long break due to shipping restrictions due to COVID-19, and then a short period of renewed shipping to Israel at very expensive prices, Amazon has now announced that they are back to shipping to Israel at reasonable, even cheap, shipping fees, with door to door delivery.

The free shipping promo that Israelis enjoyed for many months earlier this year is not yet back, as shipping is not yet fully streamlined or cheap enough yet, but they are shipping now, at least they are shipping many more of their products, and it is cheap.

While until now you could only have stuff delivered from Amazon using their express service which was very expensive, standard shipping is now available again with cheap shipping prices. Import duties will still need to be paid on packages valued at over $75, but the shipping is reasonable.

Enjoy

It looks like the free shipping to Israel promo on Amazon has come to an end... at least for now.

With no fanfare and no announcement, the "this items ships to Israel for free on orders of over $49" has simply disappeared.

Had they announced an end date they probably would have had a million or so last minute orders in an attempt by people to get that last thing in under the deadline. Now there are many forlorn expats and Israelis upset and frustrated that they have been sitting on a few items in their shopping cart that they were just waiting to order...

Hopefully it is just because of logistical issues caused by the COVID-19 crisis and when that settles down the promo will be back, but the reason is unclear. Amazon has been silent on the matter as of now.

According to this report in JPost, people ordering goods from Amazon to towns in the Palestinian Territories seem to be faced with a dilemma.

The dilemma is that they can either enter the shipping address as being in the Palestinian territories, but then the free shipping promo to Israel does not apply and they have to pay the regular exorbitant Amazon shipping fees, or they can get the free shipping by entering the address as being in Israel but then they are using Israel as their home country name rather than Palestinian Territories.

Most of us Jews and Israelis would have no dilemma at all and we would put in whatever country name gives us the free shipping with no qualms at all.

The Palestinians, or some of them, are upset that when identifying the address as Palestinian they do not get the free shipping, and they do not want to have to put their location as Israel.

They consider this discrimination.

In the article Peace Now and other human rights organizations are quoted as saying this is blatant discrimination on the basis of nationality.

Amazon has the right to run a promo today in Israel and tomorrow in the Palestinian Territories and not offer the same to the other. Right now their promo is for Israel, but it is also not for Turkey or Jordan or Syria or Russia or Serbia or any of a multitude of countries. Just because they offer a free shipping promo to one country and not to another does not make it discriminatory - it just means they are trying to drum up business at this specific time in that one country but not in others. There might be a multitude of factors, such as shopping trends or shipping difficulties or other issues that might them  not want to offer the same promo elsewhere.

It is strange that the same address in, say. Ramallah, can be entered as being in the Palestinian Territories and as being in Israel, and either way it will get to the destination. That should not be possible. And it is fair to say that there should not be a difference in price if everything else is the same and only the selected country name is different, but I would chalk this up to being a glitch. It is possible that the promotion of free shipping is only meant for Israel but Amazon does not know what towns are where so if you put Israel in it will be included even if it is in the Palestinian territories. They should have an automatic system as you put the address in it identifies street names and associates the address with the city and country and everything is automatic, as many sites online already do. Perhaps it is difficult with many villages and less official street names and that makes it too unwieldy for Amazon.  I do wonder if I could do the same for my address in Bet Shemesh - can I list it as being in the Palestinian Territories, and if I do will I lose my free shipping promo?

Kikar is reporting on an interesting psak regarding someone selling his goods on the Amazon platform, and possibly causing Jews to sin on Shabbos.

Rav Binyamin Chuta, a rav and posek in Betar Ilit, was asked the question. He researched the situation and even spoke with senior executives in Amazon Israel to understand how the system works.

Sales done on Amazon sites all over the world, not including Israel, can rely on those who are lenient to operate on Shabbos because it is done without any involvement of the seller, and it is meant for the non-Jews. Amazon Israel is different, with a majority of Jews, it becomes a problem of causing them to sin.

On most websites, the buyer decides to buy something, puts in his credit card information and personal details, and completes the purchase. The seller then processes the order, and a Jewish seller can process it after Shabbos.

On Amazon, however, things run differently. On Amazon, anyone opening an Amazon store sends his merchandise to the Amazon warehouse, but the merchandise remains his, and he sets the price. When someone buys the product, Amazon collects the money, packs up the goods, and ships it out to the customer. The seller pays some fees to Amazon for shipping and handling and service fees and percentages. Two weeks later Amazon pays the seller the rest of the money via bank transfer. Rav Chuta says that Amazon does all this so the seller will never know who the buyer is, so he later will not be able to cut Amazon out of the future sales and sell directly.

As well, the sale generally only gets processed the next day, and sometimes more, so it is likely that noght is really happening on Shabbos anyway. And, much of the process is automated, and processed by robotic systems. This would make it similar to a vending machine, placed in an area of majority non-Jews, so as long as your intention is to sell to non-Jews, even if a Jew buys on Shabbos, you are not doing anything wrong. On Amazon Israel, however, this is a problem and you cannot have such a store that operates on Shabbos. The only way to do so would be to set vacation mode in the sellers account before every Shabbos, which essentially closes his store for the duration of the vacation.

I like that the rav even gives instructions for setting the account on vacation mode.

The Amazon promotion on free shipping to Israel (for many, but not all, items, and on orders above $49) is still going on, with no end in sight or announced.

Interestingly, Globes is reporting that one of the issues bothering Amazon customers in Israel is that when they need to return items, they have to pack up the item, go to the post office, stand in line there for who knows how long, and pay to ship it back to Amazon. The returns experience is thus a hassle and nothing like the way it works in the USA. Presumably, some people might be hesitant to order form Amazon, due to not wanting to have to deal with returning items should that be necessary.

Amazon heard the complaints and acted. They will now, supposedly, ease the process for returns and make it free as well!

According to the report:

Amazon will provide buyers with pre-paid return stickers. Thus whoever wants to send back a product that they have bought can take it to a Menta convenience store (where DHL service centers are located) and order a courier free of charge and forego the painful procedure of returning products at the post office and paying for it themselves.

With customer service like that, local Israeli merchants really better step up the game or worry about losing business to Amazon. Have you ever tried to return anything to a store in Israel? They almost always fight with you, refuse to take it back, only give store credit, or make life difficult for you in whatever way possible...

Online shopping has taken over the world. Even in Israel it has been increasing rapidly, and Amazon's entry into the Israel market has sent shock waves through the entire Israel brick and mortar retail industry. We've already seen businesses complaining about the effect of Amazon free shipping to Israel on their businesses, and they filed a lawsuit against Israel Post for giving Amazon priority service and hurting local businesses who suffer with delayed service because of Amazon.

According to a report on Hamodia.com, based on a Channel 12 report, a lawsuit has been filed by a group of businesses against Israel Post for not checking imported packages properly for payment of import duties.

As is known, personal import, meaning anything you buy for personal use on websites like Amazon, Next, ASOS, Ebay, Aliexpress or other sites, are tax-free up to $75. Once your purchase amount is over $75, you have to pay VAT (17%) and other duties. Over $500 and you will be hit with more duties.

The businesses are claiming that their businesses are being hurt because people are ordering from abroad and not paying the proper taxes, making it an uneven playing field. If the Israel Post would inspect properly and collect taxes that are due, many people would order less from abroad and buy locally.

The Supreme Court accepted the argument and as of February 15 Israel Post will be forced to inspect incoming packages more thoroughly to determine proper duties for collection.

Being how Israel Post can hardly keep up with the current workload, I do not see how they'll be able to function with such an added workload. Expect more delays in delivery of your packages. Maybe they will hire more handlers to inspect packages, and all this online purchasing that was thought to hurt the local economy and cause local unemployment will actually be a boon and increase employment in the Israel Postal Services...

After the recent reports about Israel Post secretly giving priority service to Amazon deliveries, leaving all other companies shipping through them in the lurch, things are getting really interesting.

According to TOI, an online business that relies on Israel Post for delivering the products customers buy from them has filed a class action suit against Israel Post for damages due to ongoing delays in deliveries of the packages. The lawsuit is for 50.6million NIS and the claim is that Israel Post is favoring Amazon deliveries to the detriment of all other companies.

The lawsuit claims breach of contract as preferential treatment is forbidden, along with the fact that he is paying full rate for deliveries yet the deliveries are not being processed in a timely fashion, even when he purchases special expedited delivery. Israel Post sold, and continues to sell, services at full value knowing it would not keep its side of the contract due to prioritizing Amazon packages.

I cant wait to see how this turns out. In the meantime, perhaps companies needing to ship product to customers should look for alternate delivery companies and stop using Israel Post. Even Amazon does not use Israel Post for all its shipping needs and uses a slew of other delivery companies to handle its deliveries.

Kan News is reporting that Israel Post is giving priority delivery service to packages shipped to israel from Amazon over all other packages, whether shipped internationally or even domestically, and many online businesses are suffering from this.

It seems the recent promotion by Amazon for free shipping to Israel on many products has swamped Israel Post with packages for delivery and they can't keep up with the number of packages coming in daily. They are swamped in packages and completely backed up.

Watch the Kan report:


I would just add that when Amazon and Israel Post announced the collaboration I suggested that Amazon must be getting some sort of priority service or else there would be no chance they would use the Israeli postal system, or if they would use it without priority service they would quickly cancel due to poor service form the Israel Post system.

I feel bad for the companies suffering from the delays. This can destroy a business. I hope they find a solution, perhaps using alternate delivery companies. Amazon is using a slew of delivery companies. While the bulk might be coming in via Israel Post, many are being delivered by other companies.

According to this article on TOI, and of course by seeing some people in some groups on Facebook complain about these things, Israel Post has been unable to handle the massive increase in packages arriving for delivery in Israel from Amazon shoppers.

Personally I have had no problems with any of the delivery methods and have gotten whatever I have ordered in a pretty timely fashion, sometimes even surprisingly fast, but one cannot say this was not predictable. Israel Post has had a bad reputation for a long time, and increasing their workload was not going to improve the situation.

While it was probably expected and predicted by just about every Israeli who might have ever used Israel Post, I did put it down in writing over 3 months ago when Amazon first announced it was going to be using Israel Post to handle much of the workload...

Amazon has basically come to Israel already. They are working with local sellers for distribution of local products through the Amazon site and have now also been running the free shipping promo from the USA to Israel on many items.

For the free shipping, you have to be buying qualifying items (many items qualify), purchase price over $49, and you will get the shipment to Israel free. It is advised to break up orders into multiple orders and keep your them under $75 each so as to avoid VAT charges  and import fees, but for some items you might find it worth paying the VAT but getting free shipping, such as on items you cannot find here, otherwise it is best to keep them generally under $75.

So, you can easily and cheaply buy now in Israel from Amazon.com.


And now Walmart is reportedly in the process of opening its first shop in Israel!

According to Calcalist, they have been working hard to get everything ready and are now at the stage of looking to hire cashiers in Jerusalem. Presumably, if it goes well, they would likely open shops elsewhere around Israel.

There soon wont be any need to look for someone traveling who can bring you something from the States. That is, except for Romanian salamis. But maybe we can get that sold here as well, somehow...

Heads up everybody.... Amazon is now offering free shipping to Israel!!!

Amazon is now offering free shipping to Israel on many qualifying items, not everything, on orders above $49.

that means you can qualify for the free shipping an still keep your order under the $75 limit for no import tax or VAT. Just note that if you go crazy and order a ton of stuff to take advantage and surpass the $75 mark, you will still have to pay the VAT and any relevant import taxes.

Qualifying items will have a note in the description that it qualifies for free shipping to Israel, and when you checkout and pay you will have to select the free shipping option.

I do not know, and have not seen it mentioned anywhere, if this is just a temporary promotion for a few days or weeks, or if it is a "permanent" arrangement... Hopefully they will find it worthwhile enough to continue long-term.

The purpose of this promotion seems to be to compete with the big annual 11.11 promotion by Ali Express, and then also with the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. It is entirely possible that after this shopping season passes, the Amazon promotion might also go away, but nothing official has been announced.

According to Globes, in prep for the launch of amazon Israel, Amazon has signed a deal with the Israel Postal Authority to use Israel Post for delivery of packages in Israel via Amazon Israel.

The deal is expected to boost revenues of Israel Post by tens of millions of shekels annually.

Way to go. This practically ensures customer dissatisfaction, especially when a significant percentage of packages don't get delivered or when it takes weeks or months instead of days for delivery.

The only hope is if Israel Post gives Amazon some sort of priority service, taking extra care to deliver Amazon packages quickly and efficiently. But then every other business in Israel shipping via Israel Post will get upset.