Amazon: Free Shipping to Singapore for Orders > $125

Amazon: Free Shipping to Singapore for Orders > $125

Amazon has now focused on the Singapore Market, and is offering free shipping to India and Singapore for customers who order at least US$125 worth of goods. Hurray for online shoppers. I think I spend more money online that at retail shops now. There are caveats, of course: The products must be tagged under the AmazonGlobal program and sold by Amazon.com.

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Amazon carries a wide range of product. Depending on the products that you are looking to buy–such as PC graphic cards or SSDs–you may actually enjoy quite a bit of savings. However, do take note that purchases over a certain amount will be subjected to local taxes. The amount of GST payable is computed based on the CIF value (cost, insurance and freight) of the goods plus all duties payable. The postage paid for the goods can be taken as freight and insurance charges.

To sieve out what is available for International shipping, refer to the image below, when searching, filter your selection by clicking on the box to only show products with “AmazonGlobal Eligible”. For the free shipping, the overall order must be above US$125, and total package weight under 20lbs or 9kg. The second criteria is not clearly listed, but that would bump up the price if you are ordering bulky objects.

Global-eligible

On to Amazon, they have a whole range of products, from Electronics, to Clothes, to Shoes to Home Appliances, so what’s actually good to buy?

1) Routers! The Asus RT-AC66U is recognised as one of the top home routers currently available and the recent IT Show Prices are at S$299 – though the advantage is that it comes with 3 years local warranty. From Amazon, it is going for about US$182, that works out to about S$229, a savings of over $70.

2) SSDs – There isn’t much significant discounts for SSDs at the moment, but when they do, Amazon gets pretty aggressive in terms of pricing. Even now, models like the Sandisk Extreme 120GB is available for around US$100, which is about 30% cheaper than Singapore prices.

3) Graphics Card – Singapore prices are really too high. For e.g. the MSI N670GTX 2GB GDDR5 retails at $628 in Singapore, but the same model retails for US$368 only. This would put you in the GST paying category though. The lower end models, such as the Nvidia 660TI also see similar price differentiations between US and SG prices.

4) Watches – I find the Seiko, Timex and Orient watch ranges on Amazon to be quite varied and at pretty decent pricing too. They also have various watch winders on sale. Most people head to Groupon etc for such deals but I don’t see any bringing in these models yet. At US$50, for a watch winder with two compartments, it’s a steal!

5) Kindles – Strangely, although Kindle shows up when you select AmazonGlobal eligibility, it doesn’t qualify for shipping to Singapore. For Kindle buyers, refer to the guide here, you would need a Concierge service.

2 Replies to “Amazon: Free Shipping to Singapore for Orders > $125”

  1. Thanks for this useful piece. I like to know whether this new “free shipping ” also means that
    1. I can use a Singapore credit or debit card with a Singapore address – so nor more need to register for a US credit card ?Also no more need to use ComGateway or VPost ? right ?
    2. what kind of warranty comes with the purchases – US or international? eg Nexus 7 purchased from US are eligible for local warranty support from ASus whilst a Nexus 4 purchased from U does not get local support during the warranty period.
    3.Buying separate purchases ( each less that SIN $400) on the same day but at different times- will they attract GST ?
    4.Looks like electronic retailers in Singapore are in for a tough time if Amazon becomes popular in SG .

    Thanks .Your site is always so useful

    1. Hi Dave,

      Thanks for the comments :)
      1. Yes, you can use a Singapore credit card or debit card for the purchase. There is no need to use ComGateway or VPost for items eligible for AmazonGlobal shipping. You can specify the local billing address as well.

      2. Warranty as you correctly highlighted, will be tricky. Some items would have international warranty, but I suspect most do not. Most electronic products in Singapore are sold through a distributor, and they may / may not honour warranty for items not purchased through them. Asus is pretty good though, and do recognise international warranty for notebooks and tablets.

      3. Buying separate purchases, each less than S$400 should rightfully not incur GST charges. It is per individual consignment.

      4. Well, there will still be instances where local retailers still have the edge, like warranty and the ability do physically try out the equipment. Dead on arrival products are always a huge concern for online shopping. But in general, it is indeed time for the local scene to shape up! Competition is always good for consumers.