E-commerce giant Amazon is making free shipping to Israel cheaper, slashing its minimum value requirement to pre-pandemic rates.
The service will now be available to online shoppers for certain products at a minimal total cost of $49 instead of $65, reverting shipping fares back to the company's policy introduced in November 2019.
Qualifying orders will be marked with “FREE Shipping to Israel” or “FREE shipping on qualifying orders over USD 49” at checkout. However, orders will still be subject to Israeli import taxes.
Estimated delivery time will be provided at checkout and varies depending on item availability and delivery address, Amazon said.
The retail colossus has reintroduced free shipping to Israel in August for a higher minimum threshold after withdrawing the service in the early months of the pandemic last year.
In addition, the company began offering an ever-growing selection of products to Israeli consumers at no extra cost, setting its sights on biting off a greater chunk of the local market.
With its attractive shipping rates, Amazon is once again competing with shopping sites such as AliExpress, Next, Asus and SHEIN, as well as Israeli competitors, for the wallet of Israeli shoppers as online shopping has gained much popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, Amazon, alongside Google, was also recently chosen by the Israeli government for Project Nimbus, a $1.2-billion spending plan aiming to provide cloud services for the country's public sector and military.