My name's Alex and this is my website all about Garrucha in Spain. Register now for free to talk about Banking and finances in Garrucha and much more!
Amazon Marketplace warning
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2024 5:49pm
I think this is worth knowing.
Amazon is not primarily a seller, with loads of warehouses full of the goods we buy. It is mainly a reseller, with over 80% of its shipments being from 3rd party suppliers. You can check this by looking on the right hand side, where it will say, "Shipped from Amazon" and underneath, "Supplied by SomeCompany." This can include Amazon Prime items. So what's the big deal, you ask? In Spain, when you buy an item from a reseller, you get your warranty from the supplier. No big deal unless the supplier either goes bankrupt or decides to stop using Amazon as its selling platform. What happens then is that nobody is responsible for the warranty, and Amazon will only give you 90 days from the date of purchase. I bought a Samsung phone in 2022 which has 2 years' warranty, which is 730 days. To 90 days, that's a difference of 640 days, only one day short of 1 year 9 months. That's a lot of warranty to lose on an item that could potentially have cost over 1000€.
There appears to be a loophole in Spanish law that Amazon can use to back out of its responsibility. One way round this is if you pay with a UK credit card, and you can make a Section 75 claim against Amazon if it refuses to honour the warranty. If your card is UK based, the transaction is deemed to be done there, so it is subject to UK consumer law. It's easy to make a claim, all on line (at least with a NationWide credit card) and you can attach emails and documents in support of your claim. This is the second time I've made such a claim against Amazon. Now, I don't buy anything of value from Amazon unless I use my UK credit card.
Also note that if the supplier is no longer using Amazon for whatever reason, you also lose your product support.
Amazon is not primarily a seller, with loads of warehouses full of the goods we buy. It is mainly a reseller, with over 80% of its shipments being from 3rd party suppliers. You can check this by looking on the right hand side, where it will say, "Shipped from Amazon" and underneath, "Supplied by SomeCompany." This can include Amazon Prime items. So what's the big deal, you ask? In Spain, when you buy an item from a reseller, you get your warranty from the supplier. No big deal unless the supplier either goes bankrupt or decides to stop using Amazon as its selling platform. What happens then is that nobody is responsible for the warranty, and Amazon will only give you 90 days from the date of purchase. I bought a Samsung phone in 2022 which has 2 years' warranty, which is 730 days. To 90 days, that's a difference of 640 days, only one day short of 1 year 9 months. That's a lot of warranty to lose on an item that could potentially have cost over 1000€.
There appears to be a loophole in Spanish law that Amazon can use to back out of its responsibility. One way round this is if you pay with a UK credit card, and you can make a Section 75 claim against Amazon if it refuses to honour the warranty. If your card is UK based, the transaction is deemed to be done there, so it is subject to UK consumer law. It's easy to make a claim, all on line (at least with a NationWide credit card) and you can attach emails and documents in support of your claim. This is the second time I've made such a claim against Amazon. Now, I don't buy anything of value from Amazon unless I use my UK credit card.
Also note that if the supplier is no longer using Amazon for whatever reason, you also lose your product support.
