In my experience, webstores are a good indicator how corporations
really divide the world. It's not quite by continents, not quite by geopolitical borders, not quite by customs unions... And that sucks.
Here's the example of Amazon.co.uk, comparison of their shipment rates to Egypt and Estonia.
Egypt
Standard (7-10 days)
Music / DVD / Blu-ray - £1.49 per item + £2.09 per delivery.
PC & Video Games / VHS / Software - £2.99 per item + £5.49 per delivery.
Books (includes audio books) - £2.99 per item + £5.49 per delivery.
[...]
Estonia
Standard (8-10 days)
Music / DVD / Blu-ray / Software / Video Games (excluding consoles) - £3.60 per delivery + £1.80 per kg.
Books (includes audio books) - £5.50 per delivery + £1.80 per kg.
Other categories (including Video Games consoles) - £5.50 per delivery + £1.80 per kg.
Although Amazon is working on its own delivery system (http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304788404579521522792859890), for Amazon in Europe (and all other web stores) that's simply down to the prices charged by logistics companies. Incidentally, delivery costs are typically better for Amazon.de and .fr. There's also a website (http://quico.eu) where you can check Amazon pricing across Europe, although it doesn't include shipping charges.
PS I usually try to avoid Amazon because I don't want a total monopoly.
They may work on or already have their own delivery system, but they should not treat Estonia like Egypt. Actually, they (Amazon.co.uk) treat Denmark like Egypt too, while Austria gets more favourable shipment prices. What gives? The problem seems to be that everybody can invent their own delivery system and invent the shipment prices too as they go along.
Perhaps Amazon can take some of the shipping surcharge out of the equation by internal shipping between its own warehouses? On Amazon Germany the pricing seems to make more immediate sense (https://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_intd_intfee?nodeId=200170100#GUID-F712B4A9-33E3-4F57-8C7F-A6D0A47F5550__SECTION_E774ACB833D145D7A2BE4EB32E7F9F06) in that it's €5+€2.50 for most of Europe and a tad less for countries bordering Germany. Egypt is thus presumably charged €9+€4/kg (Africa), the same as e.g. Russia and New Zealand. The most interesting thing there is how cheap the US is in comparison (€3+€3/kg), but of course a lot of that is probably down to sheer volume.
PS The now Amazon-owned bookdepository.com often comes out better price-wise as well.
Today I took a look at Alibaba.com. It sucks in every possible way. Luckily I was not buying anything.
Aliexpress seems to be the China store du jour.