Okay, here goes. EY dwellers, please weigh in on if I missed anything, if I am wrong about something, or if you THINK I am wrong about something even though I am not. Note: all details were changed to someone else's to protect MY identity. Also, examples I used are in what I have experience in. Excuse me if you wanted different examples.
Ordering on Amazon 101
1. Make sure the delivery option in the upper left corner shows either "Shipping to Israel" or a saved Israeli address.
If it does not currently show an Israel address, sign in and add an Israel address.
1A. Address tips
-To ensure proper delivery, you must know your seven digit zip code. You can obtain this best by seeing what the mail that successfully arrives to your address says. If not, the Doar (Israel Post) website has a way to find yours.
-Success comes closer to reality if your english-language street is spelled the way that Waze (not Google, Bing or Open Street Maps) spells it.
-You should put down the phone number of someone with the following qualifications: 1. Speaks Ivrit. 2. Will answer every telemarketer as soon as the package is in the country. 3. Is in a place that has cell service at all times of day.
-You will need to save an ID number, either a passport or a Teudat Zehut, for the recipient of the order, under the address settings (you should be prompted for it, but sometimes only when you place an order). If you are ordering multiple sub-$75 orders at once, try to split them up under different ID numbers (and obviously, recipient names that match). Note, however, that I often did not and I never got asked for tax.
2. Navigate to the product category you are searching for (or put a phrase in the search bar) and click the "Ships free to Israel" option on the left.
3. This will result in three types of items. One type of item will show no price - it is unlikely that this item will ship to Israel at all. (I know, you put in the filter, why does it show you this? That's life.) Another type of items shows "Ships to Israel." This item can be ordered, but you will likely need to pay more than it is worth to ship it. (Before COVID, the shipping costs were more normal. But nowadays, unless the item cannot be purchased in Israel at all, it is almost never worth it if you have to pay shipping.) Lastly, some items will say either "Free shipping to Israel" - if the item is worth more than $49 by itself - or "Free shipping to Israel when you spend over $49 on eligible items." This last option means you must collect items with this description until your bill is $49. Amazon varies regarding discounts and coupons - much of the time, the coupon can lower the cost back under $49 but you still get free shipping. (Example: $50 item with $5 coupon - total bill is $45 with free shipping.) However, this is not always the case, so pay attention to what the total bill says before you click that purchase button.
An example of an order that was counted as above $49 even though it was less because of a Prime discount:
4. An important note regarding item options such as sizes, capacities and colors:
Even when you navigate to an item that showed as free shipping, anything can happen when you change an option by the item. If you change the size, capacity, color, version, or anything similar, it may no longer show as free shipping to Israel or even shipping to Israel at all. (Other things can also change, such as the SELLER. I personally never order anything electronic except from Amazon as the seller, or another seller I recognize, or the manufacturer.)
Here is an example: the 32GB 2-pack ships free, the 64GB card ships but you have to pay, the 32GB single card does not ship at all.
It may not make sense - after all, why should the pink one ship free but the blue one cost $20 to ship and the green one won't ship - but take what you can get and ignore the rest.
5. Do your research. Israel tends to sell cheap Chinese gadgets for less than they sell them in the US (on Amazon - ebay may still be cheaper). However, a particular gadget is often available for sale in the US months before it gets to Israel. I have noticed that plasticware is almost always cheaper in Israel. German appliances are also often cheaper - I priced a certain Braun mixer in Israel at 1150 shekel, and Dan posted a deal the next week for $350 for the same product. Again, do your research.
6. What tends to ship free? Smallish things. I have ordered office supplies, flash drives and internal SSDs, laptops, articles of clothing such as shoes, ties and pajamas, watches, magnet toys, and various toys. What tends to not ship at all? Groceries. Everything else is fair game, sometimes yes and sometimes no.
7. Sometimes it pays to think outside of the box. (ha, ha...) I once ordered a gallon pitcher. Shipping was not free but someone wanted davka that big, and they don't sell large pitchers like that here. Similarly, while it pays to order cheap items and not clear the $74.99 cap for paying tax, sometimes it is still a better deal after tax than it costs here. A classic example is a laptop. The cheapest fast office laptop runs about 1700 shekel here. If Amazon sells a $330 laptop, taxes will cost around $80. This comes out a tiny bit cheaper, but instead of getting a laptop from 2019, you are getting a significantly better modern system. Moreover, once you are talking about more expensive systems, the savings widens. A 4000 shekel laptop can be gotten for $850 after tax. An 8000 shekel laptop can be gotten for $1600 or so - a savings of about a quarter.
8. You've got lots of friends who take things into EY for you? Double check how much you are saving for that effort. If you ship a $300 laptop to NY, you will pay $327, but if it ships directly to Israel on Amazon you will pay $375. Is the savings worth making that friend shlep it for you? (Note, however, that the best price is usually not on Amazon. If you can get that same computer or something similar for $230 somewhere else, the equation changes.)
9. There is much discussion regarding setting pickup locations. I have never been asked for this, perhaps because I do not get texting. I do, however, get emails regarding many Amazon deliveries. These merely provide a tracking number (in addition to Amazon's tracking), and offer an option to set a pickup point. It is not necessary to do so, provided you will answer your phone when they call. There was a period that all my packages were delivered by the same guy - this is no longer the case today.
10. Note that Amazon's tax charge is a deposit. If they are charged less, they refund you the difference. (In 50 orders, this happened to me twice and was in the single digits. Just saying.)
Okay, everyone, weigh in, please. Anything to add/subtract?
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