ON-LINE RETAIL giant Amazon.com has decided to hand over all of its sales of books and DVDs from customers in Argentina and Venezuela to its Canadian subsidiary. The firm has removed all the affordable shipping options to these countries, making shipment by courier the only choice.

Chile and Colombia had it bad with the Standard Shipping option no longer being available, but at least those countries still had 'Expedited' shipping available as an option. To our surprise, when we tried to order a couple of books to be delivered to the INQ LatAm HQ in Buenos Aires, we found 'Expedited Shipping' no longer available, in fact, 'Priority Courier' is the default and you can't change the shipping method.

Amazon.com says: "There are a number of countries around the world where we've changed the shipping options from our US web site so that we can better track the orders and ensure they arrive as promised," and informed us that " These countries include Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, South Africa, Argentina and Russia."

The expedited shipping was delivered by the local postal service, but handled in its international leg by the Deutsche Post. Merchandise arrived safely and on time, provided you could wait 11 to 20 business days. We never lost an order. Now, the countries of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and Argentina are the only three for which Courier shipping is the only choice. Courier shipping is outrageously expensive, and Amazon.com cannot even let the customer choose which courier will be used. Mandatory courier shipping means that purchasing a $9 USD book turns into a $46 dollar proposition – four times the book price just in shipping.

Asked about this, Amazon.com's spokesperson confirmed that Amazon can choose either DHL or UPS, whichever it pleases, without letting the user have a say. Having used both, this scribbler can say that DHL is one of the most unpleasant services we've ever used, and if a package is stopped at the customs for whatever reason (lack of invoice) be prepared to be charged about $70 greenbacks by DHL just to be handed over the DHL shipping guide. UPS on the contrary has much more affordable rates and Fed Ex for instance – which Amazon.com doesn't use – has no such fee in the local market.

The INQUIRER contacted Amazon.com's PR spokesperson, Patricia Smith, who told us, "Priority shipping is the only option for customers who place orders from the .com web site, since priority shipping enables us to better track the package and ensure that it reaches the customer when promised." We pressed the issue and wanted to know if the reason was a high number of complaints about delayed packages, or a high number of reimbursements for lost merchandise... Amazon.com wouldn't say.

Smith told the INQ, "If you prefer to order from one of the European sites, several other shipping options are available for customers ordering from www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de and www.amazon.fr."

Despite the fact that prices in Euroland currency are much more expensive and that even expedited shipping is much more expensive, we decided to check Amazon.com's subsidiary up the US border, and found Amazon.ca not only continues shipping with both Standard and Expedited shipping, but its prices are very favourable: you can get a $12 USD book delivered to the southern end of South America for $25 using Expedited Shipping which usually arrives in two to three weeks.

Just for testing we entered an order for one $10 book at the US Amazon.com site, delivered to Buenos Aires using the only shipment choice now available, courier. It ended costing $47.15. The same order on Amazon Canada, and delivered with the less expensive option was $37. And the heavier the order, the more costs skyrocket using Amazon.com's courier-only option. For instance a single big book worth $26 was $36 in shipping for a total of $63.

The irony of this is that Canada to Argentina ain't exactly a short trip, yet it has suddenly become the most affordable choice for people in these "restricted" countries.

This isn't the first time Canada has dared to "Think Different" than its neighbours down South, eh. µ