Amazon

Yes, they ship, but it's not free. Yes, there are people who will tell you they call to get the charges removed, but it is clearly stated that addresses in the territories other than Puerto Rico are ineligible. Now, why they separate all the territories from PR, I do not have a clue.

Because PR is in U.S. Customs zone. VI is not. Not sure about other territories.

There are also some merchants that sell through Amazon but fulfill the orders themselves that will ship to STX.

I order quite a few things using Amazon's Subscribe and Save service, regular monthly shipments of dog food and toiletries and many other staples. All shipped free via USPS.

Yes, they ship, but it's not free. Yes, there are people who will tell you they call to get the charges removed, but it is clearly stated that addresses in the territories other than Puerto Rico are ineligible. Now, why they separate all the territories from PR, I do not have a clue.

And again I will state yes you can items shipped here free if you follow the guidelines-and yes you will have to get on a chat or call to get it--as far as "it clearly states", yes it does and has not changed for donkey years and never will but during your chat or whatever they will try to point this out and even insert a link in the chat that says so--ignore them and it-your next statement is--I live in the US Virgin Islands and the usvi are eligible for free shipping as long as:

1--the item must be sold by or full filled by Amazon--no 3rd party

2--you Must choose STANDARD shipping--which went to crap over a year ago and can take up to a week or more now to get out the door even though Amazon is in control of all your items-- will still show up usually within 4 days after they free it up--reminds me, ALL your items must follow what I wrote. 3rd party will cost you.

3--the new reduced free shipping minimum is $25 so must have that much in the cart to protest later and as I said following guidelines.

If they don't want to play tell them to get a super or just end the conversation and try again. Usually only takes me 1 time but have gone 2 or 3 sometimes to clear it up. Always fun have a drink of your choice available. : )

Oh almost forgot the most important part--They MUST BE eligible to ship here meaning no red flags on checkout. I usually wait until after it is shipped to bug them as you are not charged officially until it ships--only a pending charge

Good luck and now back to our regularly somethings

I'm not sure how much clearer it can be:

"Ineligible

Items fulfilled by Amazon Marketplace sellers that are not marked as Prime-eligible.
Magazine subscriptions.
Personalized gift cards.
Any item that doesn't have a message indicating that it's eligible for Prime on its product page.
Addresses in the U.S. territories, possessions, protectorates (other than Puerto Rico)
International destinations"

There are also some merchants that sell through Amazon but fulfill the orders themselves that will ship to STX.

I guess I should clarify, some of those 3rd party merchants will also ship free. Others will not ship at all. Often an item is available from multiple sellers. I'll put them all in the cart and attempt to checkout and then delete the red flags that won't ship. What's left (if any) will then show if there is a shipping charge or not.

Thank you. That's mainly what I'm worried about - things like dog food and such that are so much cheaper on Amazon than in the stores down there.

NO rome doest work here. I used to be able to call and get the shipping reversed but looks like they're not doing that anymore. Annoying.

it also seems like the shipping is higher than before

Subscribe and Save

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=rcxsubs_details?ie=UTF8&node=15283820011

echo: If you are going to live in the USVI, you will have to come to grips that stuff is plain expensive. Besides the shipping cost (which you are trying to get around), there are gross receipt taxes on items at every level (the wholesaler, the retailer), not to mention taxes that the VI government comes up with at the drop of a hat. Heavy items like dog food come in on a boat. Most stateside companies ship through USPS, UPS, etc. I would not be surprised if they figured this all out. I just want them to send me books, an item that I can't get on island for lack of a book store....

I give up--you all can keep talking sh-t till the cows come home. AGAIN--I do not care what the damn rules say--you CAN and WILL get your shipping in the mail to here returned IF and ONLY if you follow the rules I outlined. I have done it for years even when it went up to 35 then 49-then back down to now 25--whatever

Believe what you want but I just had an order last week credited AGAIN.

Oh as far as shipping any dog food or such yes you can if it eligible to ship here. What I will tell you is you do NOT want to trust Amazon for proper packaging. 40# bags of food and/or cans of food that I have sent to Paradise for free and pay a small fee to Paradise used to arrive in what looked like it was dragged. Not to mention broken bags. No way in heck I would try and put that much thru the mail. At least with them-

Good luck and keep paying for things you don't have to---

I'm not sure how much clearer it can be:

"Ineligible

Items fulfilled by Amazon Marketplace sellers that are not marked as Prime-eligible.
Magazine subscriptions.
Personalized gift cards.
Any item that doesn't have a message indicating that it's eligible for Prime on its product page.
Addresses in the U.S. territories, possessions, protectorates (other than Puerto Rico)
International destinations"

And once again reading comprehension is lost--I CLEARLY stated that free shipping was available to here. If you read what I wrote I never said anything about calling/ chatting to get any PRIME refunds only shipping in the mail using the standard option.. Your attempt to be right applies to PRIME shipping.

If you read what I wrote CLEARLY you will notice I mentioned using the MAIL and shipping and how you CAN get your mail shipping back-

I now leave you at your wrong and condescending reply to reflect the error in your ways.

Holy cow.

Has anyone else notices really slow to ship dates? The last 5 or so orders I placed on Amazon it took them at least a week to ship out items that were in stock at time of order. The last two orders I contacted them 5 days after the order to ask what was up and it was always "we are shipping today". Happens with Amazon and other sellers both.

i do for one item, but just for the random stuff it seems higher

Subscribe and Save

http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=rcxsubs_details?ie=UTF8&node=15283820011

I've seen this randomly and more often then not (for free shipping anyway) for quite some time. Not unusual for an item to ship on the last day of the range of dates they give for estimate. One time I inquired about when my order would ship on the day before the last and they voluntarily upgraded the order to priority delivery.

I don't stress about these things. I order a lot from Amazon and just accept that fact that it will get here when it gets here. Sometimes I can have stuff shipped direct, sometimes it has to go through Paradise Freight. That's life when you live on an outpost like the VI.

FWIW I bought some photo equipment on PRIME last week - $108 worth - all sold and shipped by Amazon. They charged me $15 and change for shipping to my PO box with standard shipping. I called a day after placing the order they said the VI is not eligible for prime. I know they've done it in the past for me many times but I've also gotten this answer many times as well.

So before you get all triggered once again - yes it does work SOMETIMES - not all the time. For giggles I will call again tomorrow and see if I get a different answer. I don't usually ask for a manager because when I worked retail I HATED when people would do that. It was the BEST ever when I was the manager on duty and they said that - I would always do the "I am the manager B!" line. In my head of course lol.

ps - the post office cant find the afore mentioned equipment. Awesome.

I don't stress about these things. I order a lot from Amazon and just accept that fact that it will get here when it gets here. Sometimes I can have stuff shipped direct, sometimes it has to go through Paradise Freight. That's life when you live on an outpost like the VI.

It's not so much the 'how long it takes to get here' it's more why is it now taking them so long to ship? I order tons of really random things for my job and I know that shipping time takes what it takes, but not shipping things out in a timely fashion is not something I don't want to deal with. I've ordered dump truck tires from California and had to send them through Tropical had them delivered to me before Amazon even shipped an order placed the same day. I've taken to ordering from eBay when I can. More often than not they ship the very same day I place the order. I was just wondering if anyone else was noticing delayed shipping with Amazon or if I'm just lucky like that 🙂

ps - the post office cant find the afore mentioned equipment. Awesome.

Probably stolen.

I don't stress about these things. I order a lot from Amazon and just accept that fact that it will get here when it gets here. Sometimes I can have stuff shipped direct, sometimes it has to go through Paradise Freight. That's life when you live on an outpost like the VI.

It's not so much the 'how long it takes to get here' it's more why is it now taking them so long to ship? I order tons of really random things for my job and I know that shipping time takes what it takes, but not shipping things out in a timely fashion is not something I don't want to deal with. I've ordered dump truck tires from California and had to send them through Tropical had them delivered to me before Amazon even shipped an order placed the same day. I've taken to ordering from eBay when I can. More often than not they ship the very same day I place the order. I was just wondering if anyone else was noticing delayed shipping with Amazon or if I'm just lucky like that 🙂

Amazon is huge. They have fulfillment centers all over the place. Different items are probably stocked in different locations. It's anyone's guess what logic they use to prioritize which item/order gets pulled when, I'm sure the selected shipping priority factors in but there's probably a lot more to it than that. Some of the fulfillment is no doubt automated or partially automated, perhaps some not so much. The number of orders already placed at a given time waiting to get pulled probably factors in. How many items are in your order and whether or not they are all in stock or in the same warehouse would factor in. While I have seen the shipping time vary considerably they almost always ship within the window originally quoted and the final delivery almost always shows up in the delivery window they quoted. Sometimes I'll get an item with standard free shipping in 2-3 days of placing the order, when they ship from the warehouse 60 miles away. Other times an order shows up on the last day of the estimated delivery window. In the states and in the VI.

*-) 🙁 :S Stop mentioning or bringing in PRIME to the conversation--you are not trying to use PRIME--for all intensive purposes that word is not in your vocabulary-I need to print a how to leaflet for using Amazon--but don't listen to me, only been buying from them to here for 27yrs and don't know anything. Also have been a member since 2000 and Prime since whenever they started. I don't know how I could explain it any clearer than my previous posts but reading and all. Night-

Edit: Concerning the late shipping they have done that as I said earlier for better than a year now. It is their way of trying to force people to pay for Prime. It works great for getting things to Paradise or VI free. As I said I have been Prime since it started but still get the wait game for the mail. The only thing you need to look at is the est. delivery time that is in bold on the final page and agree to it in your head that you can wait that long. They will hold it until a couple of days before delivery then spit it out. That is for STANDARD shipping. If you choose international you will pay but also get your items usually within 2 days--ok enough freebies-next lesson how to extend your prime free--