Order the stuff you were thinking about before April 1st.  Cost you 4% more after that, 4.5% for Oahu.

Order the stuff you were thinking about before April 1st.  Cost you 4% more after that, 4.5% for Oahu.

april fools?

Just made big order yesterday 

Unfortunately no.  Was on morning news.  But having tne free shipping on most items will still make it worth it.

I don't have Amazon Prime unless it's for a large or expensive  item and it can ship to HI, then I buy the monthly prime then cancel after I get my item.  Usually order small items thru ebay, and like to order optics, reloading stuff and even uppers from Brownell's edge program due to their very liberal return policy even if prices are higher.
 I've noticed more items that are non-hazmat or bulky that Amazon says cannot ship to AK/HI although some of their vendors will ship, but then it makes having prime free shipping useless.
If you live in CONUS, Amazon is great.  Saw an article about Amazon thinking of planning out of space shipments then laughed when they can't even support AK/HI.

Is Amazon opening a facility or operation  in HI ? Why are they charging sales tax?

Is Amazon opening a facility or operation  in HI ? Why are they charging sales tax?

From what I've seen on the internet, there is no requirement for online retailers (without a state presence) to charge customers tax.  However many state's threaten online retailers with a requirement to provide listings of customers and purchases.  The online retailers would rather collect the tax and give it to the state instead of the list of names and purchases.

Could also be related to Amazon's future efforts to take over their own deliveries.

There is a bulky item I want to order from a vendor who offers free shipping in the continental United States, but want to charge $400 to send it to Hawaii. The Box weighs 40 pounds is 40 inches long and 24 inches by 24 inches. I am going to have them send it to my daughter in Las Vegas and then have her send it to me. I am sure it will cost less than $400.

I've bought a lot of stuff from Amazon because of the cheap prices and convenience and thought it was the best thing ever invented.  However I started a part-time firearms accessories business and it opened my eyes to how as a local business it's very difficult to compete against amazon.  On a few products, amazon prices are cheaper than what I can get from the distributor.  On many items their markup is around 10-15%.  If I compete for that 10%, then taxes (4.5%) and credit card fees (3%) leave me with only a 2.5% profit.  Not something you can live off or is worth the effort.

So although it does suck everyone has to pay a bit more, it really helps local businesses a lot.

Amazon pricing is still pretty good. Have to factor in fakes and just plain crappy products. However, shipping is another aspect that has suffered recently and many friends have shared this observation. Standard feee shipping to HI can take like 7-10 days to ship, but then will arrive in like 2-3 days. Maybe they are waiting for other orders to combine or other logistics, but it can take like 2+ weeks to get an item. Expedited shipping is usually pretty timely, but if they miss, they will refund.

Yes, shipping to and from HI is a major factor. I used to buy and sell lots of items on eBay when I lived CONUS. Free UPS and cheaper expedited shipping was awesome. A friend reports expedited Amazon shipping as ordering morning and delivery same day PM.


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They purposely delay your order for a week and hope you add there Prime service,  for 2 day shipping.

If they start to add HI tax, I will shop eBay for no tax .....

Ige and the rest of the Democrats want all sellers to collect Hawaii tax. They're starting with Amazon the biggest one. It is only a matter of time.

They purposely delay your order for a week and hope you add there Prime service,  for 2 day shipping.

If they start to add HI tax, I will shop eBay for no tax .....

Even prime members get held up for around a week in Hawaii.

Sigh time to cancel prime and go buy everything on ebay again

Sigh time to cancel prime and go buy everything on ebay again

Yup.... just cancelled my Amazon Chase card. Once prime runs out it's bye bye.....

Even prime members get held up for around a week in Hawaii.

Yup. I have prime and without expedited shipping, typically wait 7-10 days to ship. Many friends notice the same.


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There is a bulky item I want to order from a vendor who offers free shipping in the continental United States, but want to charge $400 to send it to Hawaii. The Box weighs 40 pounds is 40 inches long and 24 inches by 24 inches. I am going to have them send it to my daughter in Las Vegas and then have her send it to me. I am sure it will cost less than $400.

Try Ship to Hawaii, its a freight forwarding service where you pick the item up from Honolulu Harbor.  It's going to take a couple weeks or so to get to Hawaii.  This is your best bet.

Damn, you live on Big Island right?  Not sure if there's a service there.

 

These blood thirsty azz wholes!

Just tried to order a red dot from Amazon from 8 different vendors and none of them will ship here. 

Just tried to order a red dot from Amazon from 8 different vendors and none of them will ship here. 

A lot of shippers use UPS or Fedex ground between mainland addresses, which is cheaper than USPS.