ISLANDERS are among more than a million Scots being ripped off by delivery charges, typically paying £19 more for packages than other parts of the UK, according to new research.
Analysis of more than 3000 complaints also shows some consumers in remote areas wait more than a month longer for parcels to arrive than the rest of the country.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), which carried out the research, blames a "postcode penalty" that sees island communities typically having to pay a 500% mark-up on standard delivery of goods online.
Couriers tell customers that deliveries to the Highlands and Islands can take up to seven days longer than for the rest of the UK. But CAS warns the actual delay can be anything up to 35 days, causing a headache for those sending presents to arrive before Christmas Day.
CAS said it has uncovered enough evidence for the Office of Fair Trading to investigate courier delivery charges.
Susan McPhee, CAS head of policy, said: "Many Scots are being routinely ripped off by unfair and unjustifiable delivery charges just because of where they live. That is clearly and deeply unfair, and it cannot continue un-challenged.
"We call on online companies to examine their delivery policies and make sure they are not applying this unfair postcode penalty on Scotland."
The organisation found about a million Scots face surcharges, late delivery or are refused delivery altogether when they try to buy goods online. At least 75% of delivery surcharges made by retailers applied to consumers north of the Border. That rose to 82% on Scottish islands.
More than half of the 534 retailers investigated could not deliver to any Scottish island.
Citizens Advice said it means 100,000 people living on Scottish islands are left with less choice in where and how they shop. Around 14% of companies refused to deliver to parts of the Highlands and Islands.
It found the PA postcode area covering Argyll and Bute is one of the most shunned areas by delivery firms, despite some communities being less than an hour's drive from Glasgow.
The organisation said 335 retailers (63%) of those looked at charged extra for delivery to certain parts of the UK. And 72% of those surcharges applied to consumers in Scotland.
It also found 39% of retailers took an extra three or more days to deliver to consumers in certain parts of Scotland, while 69% did not offer delivery by Royal Mail despite the postal service's delivery costs being the same anywhere in the UK. .
Online auction site eBay came under most fire in the report with more than 299 consumers describing it as problematic.
Citizens Advice said a glitch in the firm's computer system had viewed the postcode for the Inverness area as offshore.
Mattresses World appears to deliver to the Western Isles, but not to Pitlochry in Perthshire –245 miles closer to its distribution centre
Amazon came out far ahead when consumers were asked to name a good delivery service.
CAS has warned retailers that delivery charges should be "based on costs incurred and not on arbitrary postcodes".
It said retailers should offer delivery by Royal Mail wherever possible and "work to ensure fair and equitable delivery costs across the UK".
David Martin, head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: "Extra charges will apply to more remote areas where the cost of delivery is higher. What we think is fair is if retailers are fully transparent about their costs.
"We have always been clear that transparency is key, so consumers will always know before they make the final payment what the costs are."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article