Why Amazon is struggling to crack Argentina

[MilHojas]

Why Amazon is struggling to crack Argentina

The company, which recently launched free shipping to Argentina, faces major challenges from regional rival MercadoLibre and a network of smugglers.

restofworld.org

 

[FrankPintor]

Interesting, when I was living in Chile, long long ago, I used my Amazon account to order stuff and the end-user prices were absolutely horrendous. Maybe we just have to face up to living at the end of the world. There are costs involved.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Argentina has a long long long way to go...

Try to make sense out of this image below:



Forget the supposed 50% import tax for toy categories or the 21% IVA on top of that. What you are seeing here is a 500% price difference, which I can only assume is because toy stores can't (after import limits of quantity, weight or values) actually import anything from the exterior in bulk. This is the kind of protectionist policies that have created a situation where millions of parents across the country can't afford a simple plastic toy car in order to protect a supply chain so bloated to the point that items cost 5x what the rest of the world is paying.

 

[jlynch]

amazons returns policy is awful with Argentina, they only offer self return within 30 days where you pay for postage which they refund later up to a maximum of 150 USD. (no pickups or dropoffs with ups/dhl)

For example, correo argentina if a package is over 2kg you have to go to retiro to post and below is the table of prices.
resto de america for product 5-10 kilos is 445.700,00

Encomienda Internacional - Vía aérea | Correo Argentino

Es un Paquete o bulto registrado con seguimiento en todo su trayecto, en la República Argentina mediante el Sistema Track & Trace.

www.correoargentino.com.ar

I recently bought a Cordless Brushless Hammer Drill and Impact Driver Combo Kit (with 2 batteries) where the UPS package shipping weight 15.40 lbs clearly logged in the tracking info, but the arrival weight was 14.0lbs and one of the two dewalt dcb205 battery which weights 22 Oz or 1.4 lbs was missing - the exact difference in the weight. The amazon tape sealing packages was replaced with clear tape so was clearly opened.

I made a claim against UPS to see where in the chain the battery was stolen. I am hoping that UPS would take weights of the packages along its full path and be able to track theft. These batterys are for sale on mercado libre from 128,000 - 300,0000+ pesos.

amazons customer service is like talking to AI bots with no automony whatsover, they could not offer compensation/partial refund for missing parts, and their only offer was to return the package even though you would be significantly out of pocket when it costs like 400USD to post and you get 150 USD back.

On the delivery side, it was quick and hassle free, the courier - UPS - manages all the declarations - all the info is logged in ARCA

Also I tried purchasing 3 items from the same seller, and was hoping that they would be packaged together but had to cancel the order when it appeared they would not be shipped together.

So after these experiences It does not surprise me of amazon struggling to crack Argentina.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Excellent point jlynch. It's no surprise when we consider that Amazon is trying to operate down here as an international company, which when factoring foreign currency, international shipment costs and local customs is absurd to try to compete with Mercado Libre.

If Amazon wants to be serious about this, they need to establish an on-shore presence in Argentina, local warehouses, capability to bill in pesos, and a local fleet of delivery vans.

 

[Caribbean Cool]

In the meantime....I'll take Amazon any day of the week.

 

[Ries]

seems like its pretty obvious that unless they let Amazon packages get shipped direct to argentine homes, with no taxes or duties that are not paid by Amazon and included in your purchase price, Amazon will never succeed here.
And its pretty obvious that Milei does not have alternate sources of tax income, nor the political power in the congress, to make this happen.

Even in the USA, amazon has gotten pretty crappy- they often will not allow free returns these days, and they have no living customer service agents, either on line or on the phone- its all bots.

The three stages of online business are:
Screw your investors, while not making a profit- Amazon did this for decades
Screw your suppliers and vendors- Amazon entered this phase about 6-8 years ago, letting in literally hundreds of thousands of completely unaccountable chinese vendors who drop ship from China, raising rates, not enforcing counterfeit or illegal copies, and dropping many of its own Amazon Basics, instead recommending completely crappy and higher priced chinesed product.
We have now entered the final stage-
Screw your customers. Amazon will change prices by the minute, always recommend paid ads instead of show you an actual selection of what you asked for, and in general make all decisions based on maximum profit and minimum service.
At this point, well over half of Amazon profits are from video and music streaming, web hosting, server farms, and AI, with a gigantic chunk of it in no bid contracts with the US government. Actual consumer sales are not a big part of their profits, nor their business plan.

Argentina will do much better if Mercado Libre could just sell imports at a reasonable markup instead of a 100% tax markup.

 

[jlynch]

Amazon prices + Free delivery + approx 28% import deposit (21% IVA + additional for deposit)
You are not paying US sales tax or European VAT so prices are comparable/better than Europe.
ML international imports (up to double) or ML products (up to triple) price I paid on amazon

Prices are great, ML cannot compete with this. But like I pointed out previously amazon returns and theft during transit (we have all strong suspicions where this happened) are the problem points.



The following label was put on the package, its a bit confusing as I was given a refund of 1.32
so Aduana slapped on IVA on the postage, even though the postage was free/discounted with implied official USD rate of 1042
and Gasto Documental UPS 67,000 + 21% IVA on that
was like a 70 USD difference that amazon picked up?

 

[on the brink]

Amazon is selling returned, used merchandise as new.

I got a bedspread that had clearly been used and washed several times. The colors were a bit faded, and the tags were wrinkled. I did not bother lodging a complain but just returned it, no doubt to be sold to the next sucker.

Savvy American friends tell me that Walmart is now far more reliable.