Amazon UK new pre-order pre-payment policy

Rick A · 23 Jul 2006

Linda, can you shed some light on this?
they have a new policy to charge upfront just 5 days after any new pre-orders are made.

Linda · **Posted:** Mon Aug 26, 2019 4:03 pm

Amazon UK is not the first to make the change, but is perhaps the largest site to do so. This will likely become the standard pre-order payment process for all UK and EC retail websites as we head into the new decade. The policy was initially implemented at gaming sites (and in Amazon UK's own gaming department) months ago because of people who would continually pre-order games to get promo bonuses upfront, then cancel the pre-order for the games themselves. Now it's being rolled out to other departments, and across all of the European Amazon sites. It doesn't change the pre-order price guarantee (any difference will be refunded to us), and we can still cancel an order before shipment as always.

Quote:

When you pre-order an item that is yet to be released, we charge you the full order amount when the item gets dispatched. If the shipping date is set after more than five days, that charge occurs on the fifth day since your order was placed.

We’ll dispatch your item as soon as it gets released. You can check updates to your order status, or cancel your order anytime before it gets dispatched, by visiting Your Orders at Amazon Sign In.

Whenever you pre-order a book, CD, video, DVD, video game or software item from Amazon, the price you pay will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.co.uk between the time you place your order up to and including the end of the day of the release date. If your order qualifies for the Pre-Order Price Guarantee, you'll be refunded the price difference once your order dispatches.

Immediately after you place an order, we now request your bank to authorise the full order amount. At this stage you’re not being charged yet – your bank is reserving the funds until the transaction processes.

We only charge the full order amount when all the items included in your order have been shipped. Should an item require more than 5 days for dispatching, your payment method is charged on the fifth day since your order was placed.

This new experience will avoid processing multiple authorisations and charges for the same order.

Rick A · 23 Jul 2006

Thank you! We will need to check our stmts just a bit more closely now. More concern on how banks transact than Amazon customer service.

I had a good laugh, an Amazon customer remarked about the change as "This whole thing kind of reminds me of Brexit". :lol:

Rokin Robin of Locksley · 20 Oct 2007

I don't see how this makes much of a difference. When you place a pre-order, Amazon UK will put a hold/reserve on your bank credit card account, but you don't get charged for it until it ships. Your statement will not reflect a charge date for a hold/reserve, only a charge date for a shipment.

The only way it might come into play is if you're close to maxing out your card, and a new pre-order on hold/reserve might take you over your limit, and you might get rejected. Is that it? Am I missing something else?

In the past on a few occasions, don't remember which card or the online store, I'd place a pre-order, I'd get an email from my cc bank noting the authorization for an X amount of $, but no official charge. And sometimes this would get pinged / repeated several times before shipment, as if they were just making sure that funds would be available when they finally did ship the item. Which was a minor nuisance, but no charge would go thru until shipment.

But I don't know nuthin'...

Seth · 12 Jul 2006

I don't see this on the Amazon UK site - where is it? Also, I have an August 8 pre-order in for the Abbey Road box, and my card hasn't been charged - did this new policy go into effect after that?

Also, it looks to me that they are saying they will actually charge you if the release date is more than 5 days out, and if you cancel, they will have to process a refund?? Or am I reading this wrong.

Spiderboy · 31 Jul 2006

Seth wrote:

Also, it looks to me that they are saying they will actually charge you if the release date is more than 5 days out, and if you cancel, they will have to process a refund?? Or am I reading this wrong.

There's also the issue of fluctuating exchange rates. Say you're initially charged £100 at a rate of $1.25/£ (i.e. $125). If when you cancel, the £ has fallen (think Brexit) to $1.20/£, you're refund will be only $120, and you've paid $5 for nothing. The same thing could happen - albeit to a lesser degree - for price reductions.

Linda · **Posted:** Wed Sep 04, 2019 7:14 pm

Seth wrote:

I don't see this on the Amazon UK site - where is it?

It's not on the site yet, Seth. That's the response which is sent when a customer queries about the new process.

Quote:

Also, I have an August 8 pre-order in for the Abbey Road box, and my card hasn't been charged - did this new policy go into effect after that?

In the music department, yes.

Quote:

Also, it looks to me that they are saying they will actually charge you if the release date is more than 5 days out, and if you cancel, they will have to process a refund?? Or am I reading this wrong.

That's correct.

Rokin Robin of Locksley · 20 Oct 2007

Spiderboy wrote:

Seth wrote:

Also, it looks to me that they are saying they will actually charge you if the release date is more than 5 days out, and if you cancel, they will have to process a refund?? Or am I reading this wrong.

There's also the issue of fluctuating exchange rates. Say you're initially charged £100 at a rate of $1.25/£ (i.e. $125). If when you cancel, the £ has fallen (think Brexit) to $1.20/£, you're refund will be only $120, and you've paid $5 for nothing. The same thing could happen - albeit to a lesser degree - for price reductions.

So I guess the inverse applies as well. You place a pre-order for a deluxe boxed/box set priced at £100, at a rate of $1.25/£, your cc gets charged $125. Then the £ rises to $1.30/£ before it ships. If you keep the order, you're already locked in at $125. But if you cancel your order, your refund is $130, you've made a profit of $5.

So if that's the way it is, it's a toss up, but opposite to the way it was before. Before if the £ rose between order date and shipping date, it cost you more in $; and if the £ sank, it cost you less. Now, if the £ rises between order and shipping date, you benefit by having paid less; and if the £ drops, you lose out by having paid more.

Crazy...

David Beller · 12 Jul 2006

Several months ago I pre-ordered the James Taylor Warner Bros. box from Amazon.uk. They dinged my amex card that day. I was surprised. Next day they sent me an email to tell me this was done in error and IF I WANTED they would issue a refund at once and bill me when the box shipped per usual. I declined the refund as we were talking twenty bucks. The box shipped as scheduled. I was not billed a second time. End of story.

Seth · 12 Jul 2006

Rokin Robin of Locksley wrote:

Spiderboy wrote:

Seth wrote:

Also, it looks to me that they are saying they will actually charge you if the release date is more than 5 days out, and if you cancel, they will have to process a refund?? Or am I reading this wrong.

There's also the issue of fluctuating exchange rates. Say you're initially charged £100 at a rate of $1.25/£ (i.e. $125). If when you cancel, the £ has fallen (think Brexit) to $1.20/£, you're refund will be only $120, and you've paid $5 for nothing. The same thing could happen - albeit to a lesser degree - for price reductions.

So I guess the inverse applies as well. You place a pre-order for a deluxe boxed/box set priced at £100, at a rate of $1.25/£, your cc gets charged $125. Then the £ rises to $1.30/£ before it ships. If you keep the order, you're already locked in at $125. But if you cancel your order, your refund is $130, you've made a profit of $5.

So if that's the way it is, it's a toss up, but opposite to the way it was before. Before if the £ rose between order date and shipping date, it cost you more in $; and if the £ sank, it cost you less. Now, if the £ rises between order and shipping date, you benefit by having paid less; and if the £ drops, you lose out by having paid more.

Crazy...

Arbitrage trading?

Rokin Robin of Locksley · 20 Oct 2007

Exactly my thought. You can speculate on 1000 Pink Floyd boxes, or just trade the £ futures contract, ha...

Amazon UK new pre-order pre-payment policy

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