Contacts and phone numbers of carriers in Germany

DHL-Customerservice: +491805 / 345 22 55, or +49800/1888444

Deutsche Post Hotline: +49180 2 3333

DPD-Hotline: +491805 373 200

GLS-Hotlines +49180 - 507 1111

UPS-Hotline: +491805 882 663

Hermes-Hotline: +491806-311211

TNT-Hotline: +491805 900 900

Sending the reader Amazon Kindle as a gift

In the previous article about the reader´s parameters I wrote a recommendation for those, which want to give Kindle as a present to someone else, they should recieve it at their own adress first. If you want to save up some money on the postage or to speed up the whole process with your personal message included and without the invoice attached to it and also your registration (Amazon can automatically load it into your Kindle when you send it), here is the instruction manual:

You can can label your Kindle before buying it as Geschenk (gift) and Amazon will know, that the reader is meant to be sent in a umarked box and without the invoice. There is no extra charge for this kind of service, when you won´t demand it to be wrapped up in a gift pape. The pictures are attached below: 

Assisted purchase are always done this way because of the deregistration of the Amazon-Kindle account (you will register at it, after you recieve your reader).

Where to buy books in Germany

I tried out some different portals for buying books and Amazon.de has always proved to be the right one for me. A few times before I also tried to order some books on AbeBooks.de, where the books are often the cheapest in the whole EU (one can get a 5% cashback discount thanks to the registration at iGraal),  I just wouldn´t recomend you to order books which are meant as a gift or purchase them for resale. Because the books are wrapped in a bubble envelope and sometimes are the cornes scraped due to the transportation and also the delivery time is around 10 days. Amazone packes the books thoughtfully, they have them in stock and the delivery time is around 1 - 3 working days (you have to make sure that your seller is really Amazone). Books meant for resale and already packed in a box without logo (so you don´t have to buy another wrapping or box etc.) can be bought on Buecher.de. But you have to make sure, that they have the book in stock, in other case is the delivery time relatively long. Books are the most frequent article, which I purchase in Germany...

If you need to find out, which book is the cheapest in the world (new or old), then I recomend you this website, where you can compare them: JustBooks.de.

The manual for making your own, almost for free, book cover is shown here: http://frederick41.de/buchverp.html. The best way to break the cardboard is to break it in the right direction (if possible, not perpendicular to the lateral offsets board) and cut it by a steel ruler with a snap-off knife.

How does Amazon send off deliveries from Leipzig

We receive deliveries from Amazon everyday, which are often perfectly wrapped up (with exceptions) and I was quite curious how does the production of those deliveries in their "factory" work. E.g. this is the center in Leipzig, where they send off deliveries for their regular dealers, who are selling on Amazon.

Websites for tracking deliveries

You can see some links below, which allows you to keep track of your delivery, that you are expecting to come. It is necessary to know the tracking number (often marked as Paketscheinnr., Referenznr., Sendungsnr., Trackingnr., Kontrollnr., Tracking ID, Sendungsverfolgung, etc.)

• DHL Deutsche Post
• Hermes
• DPD
• GLS
• UPS
• TNT
• Česká pošta

Recorded delivery mail (RR) can´t be tracked, Recorded package (BA) yes.

This is how the received delivery from 3. 6. 2011 from Hermes looks like: 

Setting the mailing address in Gemany on eBay, Amazon etc.

When you you are setting your mailing adress in Germany in e-shops like eBay, Amazon etc., it is necessary to follow up on some rules. DHL Deutsche Post wants the deliveries, which are coming to the storehouse, to have in the first line the delivery place Mailboxde.com. The standard formular from a regular e-shop could look for example like this:

Firmenname: Mailboxde.com GmbH

Zeile 2: ID .... (... = Vaše číslo)

Zeile 3: nechte prázdné

Vorname: Vaše jméno

Nachname: Vaše příjmení

Strasse: Äussere Weberstr. 57

Postleitzahl: 02763

Stadt: Zittau

Land: Deutschland

Bundesland/Kanton: Sachsen

But e.g. on eBay.de it is needed to proceed in a little bit different way, so that you can achieve the required adress:

Mein eBay > Mitgliedskonto > Adressen > Bevorzugte Lieferadresse > Ändern (or Neue Adressen hinzufügen) > Land oder Region: Deutschland > Name der Kontaktperson: Mailboxde.com GmbH > Straße: Name Surname (or name company name), ID ... > till the field Straße (Teil 2) write: Äussere Weberstr. 57 > Postleitzahl: 02763, Ort: Zittau > I recommend to click on: Diese Adresse als meine Standardlieferadresse verwenden.

 On Amazon.de like this:

Mein Konto > Einstellungen: Neue Adresse hinzufügen > POZOR: In the 1. line have to be the name  Mailboxde.com, that´s why it´s needed to be solved this way > Vor- und Nachname: Mailboxde.com GmbH > Firmenname: Name Surname (or company name), ID ... > Straße und Hausnummer: Äussere Weberstr. 57 > Stadt: Zittau > Bundesland/Kanton: Sachsen (compulsory) > Postleitzahl: 02763 > Land: Deutschland > Telefonnummer für Rückfragen: Your telephone number with the dialling code (eg. +420).

It is necessary that the structure of your address looks approximately like this:

Mailboxde.com GmbH

Name Surname (or company name), ID ... (... = Your box number)

Dresdner Str. 9

02763 Zittau

Germany

It should be ok, even if you couldn´t state Mailboxde.com GmbH in the first line, just make sure it is written somewhere in the address.

Amazon Warehouse Deals

In the meantime I have only experiences with the purchase of books on Amazon Warehouse Deals, which are returned for example by other buyers. Amazon is offering them again with high percentage discounts and they also write down if there is any problem with the goods. In the same way Amazon offers many different kind of goods, which can be bought for a favourable prices. They are ofte marked as B-Ware etc. Before I thought of them as defective products, but it works like this: 

Amazone´ll receive the once sold goods back, they´ll check if the product is still functioning properly and avaluate the state of the product and at the end the product will be offered on Amazon again for a very low price as Warehouse Deal...