Amazon Germany

@Snowball6 what do you need? Lets see if we cant find it in Bulgaria.

@Snowball6 what do you need? Lets see if we cant find it in Bulgaria.

    Heres another one thats got me scratching my head. Why are we all fussing about with ggbg. How come Bulgarians just get their bits and bobs delivered with nothing but their phone numbers?I ordered a couple of bits from Amazon then Speedy dropped them off to me. They gave me a bell the day before and told me they come twice a week. Once the driver couldnt suss out where my house was so I went down to meet the driver. Turned out to be a decent excuse for a walk and a bit of a chinwag.Gwynj nailed it there Emag is about the same price anyway. Rather give my money to local websites than Amazon to be honest.
   

    -@mickeyhart

Bulgarians get their bits and bobs delivered IF the supplying company already knows their address, through previous transactions; likewise, the courier companies only know your address if you've used them before and they therefore already have your details on file.

Emag is often, but not always, stupidly expensive compared with buying goods from other BG companies, let alone buying from abroad. I'm sure that any sensible person shops around for the best price/delivery cost before placing their order - and there's a LOT of things which are much more expensive/unobtainable here in BG.

I prefer to buy in-country/locally when I can, but not if it involves crazy mark-ups....

@JimJ not had any bother giving my village and phone number. Sorry mate seems like a piece of cake.

Maybe the moral of this whole sad story is " if you cannot buy it in Bulgaria do without".

Maybe the lesson learnt, at least by me is " if you cannot buy it in Bulgaria do without".

Don’t have to ”do without”.  Sorted delivery via GGBG and very happy about it😁

    @JimJ not had any bother giving my village and phone number. Sorry mate seems like a piece of cake.
   

    -@mickeyhart

You seem to only deal with companies who have psychics in their sales department - or perhaps DANS allows commercial access to their databases  nowadays?

The courier companies use the phone numbers of existing senders/recipients to access their address details (providing they know if you've moved since the last consignment) but the suppliers of goods don't have such information, so unless you're a previous customer they have no way of knowing who/where you are and where to send the goods. Our local courier drivers all know my name and address by heart and will usually offer to drop my orders off where I actually am if they call and I'm not at home but still reasonably close by, but there's been a national shortage of mind-readers since Baba Vanga dropped off her perch.....

    Maybe the lesson learnt, at least by me is " if you cannot buy it in Bulgaria do without".
   

    -@Kath948381

How would Global Capitalism survive if we were all so faint-hearted? "Consume or die" must be our motto, Comrades!

Moral of the story is ( to me at least) " if you cannot buy what you want in Bulgaria do without".

I started this thread to get helpful advice and got some really kind a d useful repiles.  Why others use it to give me their unsolicited opinions Ive no idea.

i have just been for a wonderful ride in the hills on my horse.  To all those with nothing better to do but moan, get away from your tech, get out there and have a life.  You’ll be a lot happier than sitting indoors fretting about my shopping habits.

It's the very essence of "soshul meejah": a question is asked and then it's a free for all of advice and opinion, with a liberal seasoning of argumentation.  Welcome to the Virtual Saloon Bar, where everyone who feels like it can have a say - and you don't need to be "indoors" to join in, thanks to Bulgaria's wonderful mobile phone coverage.....

To all those with nothing better to do but moan, get away from your tech, get out there and have a life.
   

    -@Snowball6

Truth, right there!

Glad it worked for you, Snowball!

So far when buying things for the house my shopping has been to buy from the local shops in the nearest town first. If they don't have what I need try Bulgarian online sites - emag, Praktiker, Jysk, IKEA. Then look further afield like Amazon.de only if I still haven't been able to find what I want.

I don't imagine most of us would go straight to shopping in Germany if what we wanted was available in Bulgaria. But as it's a smaller market the choice is less. Some products simply don't seem to be available in Bulgaria. For me, it's not a matter of trying to save a few euro, but of simply getting what we wish to buy. Though I admit if the price difference was ridiculously large, I'd be tempted to buy from overseas, too.

Micky, some village houses might be harder to find than others! I had problems with my first online order, they couldn't find the house and as I still haven't managed to set up a Bulgarian SIM (seems I need to be somewhere I can access Bulgarian wi-fi to do it, otherwise the phone company insists I'm in the UK), couldn't call my UK mobile. Then, on the second delivery attempt, the courier was relieved and happy when he found me and said now he knew where it was, there'd be no future delivery issues. Doesn't matter here we buy from, probably the same local couriers will be involved. This thread was purely about reducing delivery fees when buying from outside Bg.

@janemulberry It was a doddle for me but I have a Bulgarian SIM.
Speedy gives me a bell and I dish out directions. Had a bit of a mixup once where they couldnt find my place so I toddled down to meet the van. Reckon thats how most Bulgarians handle it.


Jimj mate, youre spouting cobblers about mindreaders. I use the name of my village in the address and my number everything gets to me just fine. Cant fathom why everyones making a meal out of something so simple.

    @janemulberry It was a doddle for me but I have a Bulgarian SIM. Speedy gives me a bell and I dish out directions. Had a bit of a mixup once where they couldnt find my place so I toddled down to meet the van. Reckon thats how most Bulgarians handle it.Jimj mate, youre spouting cobblers about mindreaders. I use the name of my village in the address and my number everything gets to me just fine. Cant fathom why everyones making a meal out of something so simple.
   

    -@mickeyhart

Yeah, if you live out in the middle of nowhere that probably works - but Sofia's a village of 2 million people, so it's a little different here: we even have running water and electricity...

@JimJ blimey you must be rolling in it like Phil up in Borovets. Good on you mate!

@mickeyhart

The only thing I'm rolling in has to be washed off with a hosepipe....

If I cannot get it in Bulgaria then I'll do without I had to get rid of years and years of "stuff" before I moved here.

@Kath948381

There's some "stuff" that you can't get here but still can't do without - people's needs are different, so one can't generalise...

True Jim but what you don't have you usually don't need. I've got two internet radios brought over from the UK because you cannot get them from shops here but no TV, but I managed. I would like a small slow cooker but then again I can wait. Meanwhile beware the green eyed monster.

@Kath948381

Where would Global Capitalism be without beads and mirrors we can't resist?

I have to say that I'm quite happy with radio apps on my phone, PC and tablets; I've never seen the need for a separate radio set. Am I perhaps missing something?

Then you must be a lot younger that me Jim because when it comes to tech I'm " still banging the rocks together" to quote a famous ish book. Meanwhile I got rid of my microwave many years ago in the UK because it took up way too much kitchen space and I only really used it for defrosting home made meals. I was brought up by a Mum who couldn't afford a TV so learnt to pretend that we had one when I was at school but I only used to watch it for the news when my children grew up.and left home and husband number two was and still is living with his elderly Mum in the UK.

@Kath948381

If I were a lot younger than you you'd be communicating via a ouija board!

As I like to tell people - while secretly (and unsuccessfully) hoping they'll at least pretend not to believe me - I was born in the first half of the previous century. I wouldn't be so ungallant as to ask a lady her age but I suspect that I predate you by quite some years....

71 and still going strong ish Jim

@Kath948381

Just a kid then!

Yes a kid with two new knees and an absent husband and loads of repairs, gardening and log spliting to do.

Yeah, you youngsters are always complaining - if you'd been in the Boer War, like I was, you'd soon change your tune....

Gosh Jim I see what you meant about a weji board, excuse spelling. I've decided to get the noon bus into Burgas for a burger and a little shopping . Because I'm worth it 

Please keep the replies on topic so others can follow along and find relevant information.

For other back-and-forth chat, please either use the PM system or post on this topic please.

Kath, Jim, you two are making me feel like a baby still! Thank you!

Kath, if the local homeware shops don't sell slow cookers, emag do, and I'm sure have some smaller ones. They're listed under "Multi-cookers", and there are some basic just-slow-cooker ones. They aren't all 24-functions-you'll-never-use Instapot copycats, thoygh you'll need to scroll through a lot of these. I've been looking for what I need for my kitchen, currently an empty shell,

And if they don't. Amazon.de definitely do.

@janemulberry

Instant Pots are wonderful: no more of the annoying foibles inherent in old-fashioned pressure cookers, and lots of very useful additional functions, including Slow Cooker, Yoghurt, Bread Proving, Sous Vide etc   I use mine pretty much every day and it's quite common for me to have two on the go simultaneously.  There's an IP subsidiary here in BG, or Amazon.de also carry a few models..

I'll try and find Instant Pots for sale in Burgas thank you.

@Kath948381

instantpot (dot) bg  There's also a group on FB - search for "instantpotbgcommunity"; it's in Bulgarian but people quite often post For Sale ads when they replace their IPs and you can pick up one at a bargain price to see how you get on with it.

Thanks for that information, Jim. I was strongly considering getting a Instant Pot or something similar. Having both a pressure cooker and slow cooker in the one device would be so useful.

@janemulberry

Talk to me before you splash out: there are various different models - and manufacturers - so it can be a real minefield trying to compare them all in terms of what functionality you really need and which offers the best bang for your buck (or Lev )

Another note on Amazon Germany...

If and when I order stuff now (it's rare, the last items were for my DJI action camera) most deliveries are contracted to FAN Courier - a Romanian company, who are nigh impossible to contact.  What happens is this...

1. Amazon tell you the day it will be delivered

2. Amazon tell you the package is out for delivery

3. Amazon tell you the courier tried to deliver but failed and will try again tomorrow.

4.  Amazon tell you the package is delivered...

In reality it goes like this...

1. Amazon tell you the day it will be delivered.

2. FAN can't find my address, because the entrance is in another street, not the address street.

3. FAN dump it at Econt, 75 metres from my home, or, if it's an unfamiliar driver, dump it at Econt's main center in Varna.

4. Amazon tell you the day it will be delivered.

5. I go to my local Econt to see if it's there (usually it is) pay a small handling fee, collect package.

If package isn't there, wait another day and either Econt deliver to my door, or package is dumped at Econt local office.

😁

@cyberescue1

That's why it's best to use Gabieli or one of the other DE to BG shipping companies - and it usually works out cheaper