shopping again, or, "think twice, purchase once (rather than the other way around!)"

So I was buying a book. For someone in France. Amazon (US) is more than happy to sell you a book and ship it to France.

Somehow I thought they might help me out and let me buy it *in* France, so it would *ship* from France to France, but no. No such option was offered. Too bad -- that would have been some nice customer service. In fact, Amazon (FR) is so separate from Amazon (US) that they didn't even know I existed when I tried to sign in.

Anyway. It didn't occur to me that I might rather purchase the book from Amazon (FR) until after I had already purchased it from Amazon (US).

[Digression. I find it very annoying that they won't tell you the shipping -- price or duration -- until the very very end of the process!!!!! The thing that sent me looking for alternatives was the "9-36 business days" for shipping from the US. Thirty-six days???????????????????????????????? Gee, I'm sure I'm unreasonable, but doesn't that seem excessive? Amazon (FR) is in French, so I'm not sure if they said they'd ship on Thursday, or if it would arrive on Thursday, and who knows where in France they're shipping from (or if it's even in France, I suppose). But still. It ain't gonna take 36 days, I'm betting.......

Ed. note -- purchased Monday afternoon (Ann Arbor time), arrived Thursday morning (Paris time)

End of digression.]

I went and bought the book from Amazon (FR) (which was cheaper, despite costing more in Euros than dollars, because there was no shipping, let alone no international shipping). Then I tried to remove the book from my order at Amazon (US). The website told me it was "in process" and declined to let me remove it. Hmmm. I am not a machine (so I don't give up when first told "no"), and I think changing my mind within half an hour of my original purchase really ought to be an option.

You can get to a place where Amazon (US) asks you if you want them to call you Right Now. Better be by the phone; they do call Right Now. The person who calls you is not in the US, and the phone connection may be dicey, which adds to the difficulty of communication with someone who is not a native speaker of English.

But we managed to get clear to each other who I was, and that I wanted to cancel the book from my Amazon (US) purchase, and she successfully cancelled the order. Good. Then she sent me email telling me I could have done it myself, despite the fact I told her I had tried to do that and had been told it wasn't an option............

Ah well. Whatever.

Success all around, in the final analysis. I suppose, really, the whole thing was an amazing display of global commerce and communication. I sit in the comfort and privacy of my home in Michigan, USA, and buy a book. Twice -- once in the US and once in France. (My first-ever purchase in Euros, how exciting.) Then, a woman in India (I bet) helps me cancel the US order..................


It's surely not the case that everything now is better than it was a couple of decades ago, but communication around the planet is SO much easier and cheaper, and purchase of goods around the planet is likewise So much easier than it used to be. No longer are we limited to the people/resources in our own neighborhood, in very important ways.

Cool.