Amazon’s Free Delivery to Israel Back

Amazon’s free delivery promotion to Israel is back, after the company shut it down last week in the wake of large orders to Israel that apparently strained the company’s logistics. The deal was halted just days before Prime Day, in which many of the site’s products were on sale.
The deal is the same now as it was when it was first implemented two weeks ago. Customers must spend a minimum of $80, and the purchases must be made directly from Amazon, not third-party sellers. Those products will qualify for Amazon’s GlobalShopping Delivery program. At checkout, purchasers have the option of choosing Amazon GlobalShopping Delivery; according to the site, the average shipping time was 12-17 days. The deal applies to a wide range of items, including furniture, ice chests, children’s highchairs, vacuum cleaners, and much more.

GlobalShopping Delivery is available in countries around the world, and this is Amazon’s second try to include Israel in the program. After the shipping program was announced several weeks ago, it was curtailed to include only “light” items, like clothing.

Sources in Amazon’s Israeli organization told Yediot Acharonot that the company was simply overwhelmed by the response of Israelis; in the five days the deal was available, Israelis ordered millions of dollars worth of merchandise, much more than the company expected, and was unable to cope with the load.

In addition, the sources said, many of the items ordered are likely to be held up by Israeli authorities, who will inspect them to ensure that they are up to local standards, which are tougher than in many other countries.