Why on earth do you Amazon?

[destrekor]

Have you looked at third-party sellers on Amazon?

I prefer to buy most things Amazon-controlled, so either Amazon sold and shipped, or third-party fulfilled by Amazon. Reputation of product is a huge point for Amazon, so products billed as fulfilled by Amazon will have the best chances of being genuine, AND in the event they are not, the easiest to dispute and return. With the world market in which we live, protection from counterfeits is a huge protection. While ebay and paypal have upped their game in this regard, Amazon, as a buyer, is a world apart.

For everything fulfilled by Amazon, the majority of the product is co-mingled with their own stock, so an Amazon buyer could get inventory the 3rd party seller provided. You may get it, but concerns are quickly alleviated by their customer support.

 

[imaheadcase]

As soon as amazon started taxing here, my purchases from them is cut in half or more. I never buy electronic or other high end stuff from them. Just bought a $700 video card from newegg, i saved $60 because amazon while same price was taxed now.

States praise amazon for taxes now, but amazon own research showed that when put into a state its sales dropped so much the tax did not amount to much in the end.

 

[John Connor]

eBay has been fighting tooth and nail to make sure they don't get that tax crap. I also get E-mails from them about fighting taxation and such.

 

[ch33zw1z]

That's basically what it boils down to for me as well. Amazon is largely legit, returns are effortless, Prime shipping, and movies.

It's made me lazy to the point where I order random stuff like trash bags with free shipping just because I don't want to go to the store, because why not

Yep

 

[destrekor]

As soon as amazon started taxing here, my purchases from them is cut in half or more. I never buy electronic or other high end stuff from them. Just bought a $700 video card from newegg, i saved $60 because amazon while same price was taxed now.

States praise amazon for taxes now, but amazon own research showed that when put into a state its sales dropped so much the tax did not amount to much in the end.

I'd say they have made up for it in the end by having an insane distribution network. Having warehouses in a given state means quicker shipping on cheaper service offerings. So what they may lose in shopping revenue, they probably make up plenty by a combination of reduced shipping costs and some uptick in subscriptions thanks to word of mouth revolving around the quick shipping. I've had numerous packages billed as the prime 2 day shipping, only to watch Amazon not actually ship it until the next day after ordering, and it then winds up at my house the day after that. So really it ends up being 1-day shipping and Amazon doesn't have to rush process that order to meet the deadline for orders where it promised the buyer guaranteed 2 day shipping if ordered by X time.

Though really, the end result is they know they can ship it ground, as in the order process they figure out how far the nearest warehouse with stock is from you, in order to tell you "if you order by 6pm you can have it by some day that is effectively 48 hours or less." They aren't really saying they are going to ship it with 2 Day shipping within an hour or two from your order. Rather, they are including processing/packaging time and know they can almost always make it an overnight ship with ground service, as they have the logistics on point.

I'd really be interested in seeing the figures on membership and revenue (post-ship) in regions before and after implementing tax. Not studies, but hard numbers, especially future projections. There could be some years of expected retreating revenue before they end up making it back in spades. A lot of variables in play in these decisions for Amazon. What causes subscription/business loss for some, due to other changes, improves the outlook for others. I haven't bought less just because they implemented tax collection in my state. The selection still destroys local retail, and often I can save gas by not having to travel to a store that's not in my immediate vicinity. And where some variety of a product isn't in stores around me, I can still get it on Amazon for the same price, or cheaper, than comparable products in stores. If it is in stock locally and I'd rather not risk damage in transit, I'll go pick it up locally and use price match. Generally at Best Buy but many of the big stores now price match direct Amazon stock.

Oh, and it should be noted, you weren't being saved tax. You just failed to report the purchases and tax that was not collected. Don't worry, some are quick to judge for this, but I'm not, as I cannot say I haven't done that before.

 

[Svnla]

I do not care for Amazon but because I do get pay with Amazon gift cards from my side business so I have to purchase items from it.

If there is a way to converse those GCs into cash without any extra cost.

 

[Paladin3]

I have more time than money and kinda enjoy shopping, so I check several deal sites, eBay, Amazon and lots of other online sellers depending on the item I'm after. Lowest price doesn't always equal best deal. You have to smartly consider:

• base price
• shipping
• tax
  
• shipping time
• trustworthiness of seller
• return policy
• warranty
• rebates
• misc. risks if buying from unknown seller

The old saying is "buyer beware" for a reason.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Selection: Escape the tyranny of local retail. Why choose from a measly 6-10 options when you could choose from dozens?

Reviews: People don't hang out in local stores waiting to clue me in on prospective purchases (except maybe those paid to sell me something).

Availability: Most of the stuff I purchase on Amazon (or online) I don't know of a local source for, and would have to spend good time tracking it down in local stores - possibly fruitlessly.

Price: Usually competitive, I'm typically hitting up 3rd-party Amazon sellers these days, and Amazon keeps their price down. Hooray for competition.

Ease of return: If buying stuff to fit my body. E.g. shoes


If local stores want to compete, they need to at least help buyers discover their local wares without leaving the house. <---- business idea

 

[Puffnstuff]

You always have to shop around.

Ain't that the truth and as of April 1st amazon is charging sales tax which negates that advantage over other retailers.

 

[Sheep221]

Selection: Escape the tyranny of local retail. Why choose from a measly 6-10 options when you could choose from dozens?

Reviews: People don't hang out in local stores waiting to clue me in on prospective purchases (except maybe those paid to sell me something).

Availability: Most of the stuff I purchase on Amazon (or online) I don't know of a local source for, and would have to spend good time tracking it down in local stores - possibly fruitlessly.

Price: Usually competitive, I'm typically hitting up 3rd-party Amazon sellers these days, and Amazon keeps their price down. Hooray for competition.

Ease of return: If buying stuff to fit my body. E.g. shoes


If local stores want to compete, they need to at least help buyers discover their local wares without leaving the house. <---- business idea

I have lots of stores in my area offering goods for sale both online and in their conventional store with status of availability on orders on every item+ stock availability on every store they operate, you can make a reservation and pickup goods yourself in the store or you can just order them and have them shipped.

 

[Billb2]

The longer you shop the less you pay.............

 

[slag]

LOL this is so true. Sure it takes 2 minutes to break it down and put it in the recycling, but I tell myself "what if I need to return it, or what if I want to ship something out to someone, I'd hate to pay for a box when I had some I got rid of, I better keep them".

We use them for Christmas presents. And then throw away the other 99%

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Ain't that the truth and as of April 1st amazon is charging sales tax which negates that advantage over other retailers.

I bought some leather watch straps from Amazon that were cheaper than 2 others I bought later, not on Amazon. With a promo code and free shipping, the latter 2 came out about $7 less, even though they were more money to start. The company I bought them from even sells on Amazon. The one awesome part about the first 2, I ordered them on Saturday, they were delivered the next day, now that was fucking fast.

 

[Nashemon]

I'm honestly not sure. They have some things you can only get from them. I used to consider them reliable, but have had a changing opinion of them over my last few experiences. I don't have Prime. I've never cared about the speed of shipping. Just need it to arrive in the same condition it was described.

I've been buying video game stuff the past month or so. I just had to return three different shipments. Two of them for damage sustained during shipment, and one for wrong product (EU version listed as US).

One sorry looking box arrived, tape torn, side ripped off, soaking wet. Inside were two popped air cushion things, and the two books I ordered, water damage to one and huge dent in the other. Another item was a collectible that they for some reason felt they should put in a bubble mailer instead of a box like the seller listed. Needless to say it got crushed.

I've returned five things in my life to Amazon, four of which were this year (2017). "Fulfilled by Amazon" has a different meaning to me now. I used to think, fast, free shipping, easy returns. But now I think careless handling by robots, and inappropriate packing. Seems like free shipping is eating away at their margins, so they are cutting corners on it. I'd gladly pay for shipping if it guarantees me a sturdy, well-packed box.

On eBay, at least the seller has some idea of product value and handles/packages it appropriately. And you can usually see photos of the actual product. Though I've seen several recently that don't accept returns and don't accept Paypal, which I would never consider purchasing from.

 

[rh71]

Completely depends upon if the seller is Amazon itself or a third party seller as to whether the product is authorized for a particular seller to sell. And waaaay too many knock-offs on Amazon these days....getting worse than ebay.

I don't think it's worse on Amazon from what I've seen, but if/when it does get so bad (like you have to watch out for it on ebay), it will be a sad sad day that we lose our dependable marketplace.

What exactly has ebay done about it? Why would they be better in that regard? Still seems like the wild west to me - a perception I'd love to have corrected.

 

[destrekor]

I don't think it's worse on Amazon from what I've seen, but if/when it does get so bad (like you have to watch out for it on ebay), it will be a sad sad day that we lose our dependable marketplace.

What exactly has ebay done about it? Why would they be better in that regard? Still seems like the wild west to me - a perception I'd love to have corrected.

I'd say it's about equal chance between third-party on Amazon and similar sellers on eBay. If I have to go with a third party, it's almost always fulfilled by Amazon (Prime). If it's a seller-direct, I very very carefully look over their reviews. And I don't think I've ever bought something from a third party seller on Amazon that was something I'd worry over regarding knock-offs and counterfeits.

 

[bigi]

I compare the prices between Amazon and eBay and often times I get a better deal at eBay with free shipping or the product is cheaper. Take for example my recent purchase. I was looking at American flags that are made by Valley Forge on Amazon. I was going to pull the trigger on one. Stuck it in my basket and the total cost was around 29 bucks! I said screw that! Went to eBay and found the same damn thing for $18.95 and free shipping!

There are some things on Amazon that eBay doesn't have, but more times than not I buy from eBay. And I get rewarded with eBay bucks. Keep in mind I don't pay monthly for no Prime crap to get free shipping on eBay.

Amazon blows big time. It is actually much worse than eBay now. I hardly go there anymore and yes fvck their prime crap.

Fully replaced by ebay/newegg and B&H which have better prices 99% of the time.

 

[Fritzo]

I compare the prices between Amazon and eBay and often times I get a better deal at eBay with free shipping or the product is cheaper. Take for example my recent purchase. I was looking at American flags that are made by Valley Forge on Amazon. I was going to pull the trigger on one. Stuck it in my basket and the total cost was around 29 bucks! I said screw that! Went to eBay and found the same damn thing for $18.95 and free shipping!

There are some things on Amazon that eBay doesn't have, but more times than not I buy from eBay. And I get rewarded with eBay bucks. Keep in mind I don't pay monthly for no Prime crap to get free shipping on eBay.

I usually find stuff within 5% of eBay, Amazon ships it to my house in 1-2 days, and if I need to return something, I just print off a label and send it back with no hassles.

Oddball stuff, sure, eBay might have better prices, but for mainstream stuff, it's hard to beat.

 

[Darwin333]

I rarely leave the house just to shop

Amazon for clothes and everything else
Pea Pod for food
Ebay about a couple times a year, never had a problem.

My biggest problem is all the empty Amazon boxes I need to dispose of.

Man I wish we had something like Pea Pod in my area.

 

[Darwin333]

I think people overstate online issues. I've never had issues with Ebay (and I've 1000's of transactions since 1996 both buying and selling) or Amazon, but I agree, Amazon is not the cheapest on many things. I price compare and go to whoever can get it to me cheapest. Now that Amazon pays taxes, it is much less them unless they are the only one who carries. it.

Unlike many here, I'm not worried about getting things as soon as I order them. If I wanted to do that, I'd just buy it local. Old school mentality I guess. I will say that over time if you really are doing your day to day shopping there, the convenience fee isn't healthy.

Someone mentioned clothes. The number of times my wife has been burned by buying clothes online is insane. I tell her to stop but she continues to do it. I rarely buy clothes other than cheap t-shirts online for this reason. I like to try them on.

I guess I can understand why women would have a hard time buying clothes online but I have never had a single issue buying clothes online. Granted I generally only buy brands that I already own so I know how they fit already.

 

[Leyawiin]

I take all my pocket change I gather for a couple years to Coinstar and get Amazon gift certificates with it (if you don't get a gift certificate of some sort they charge you 9% for the service). It amounts to about $600 a year so oftentimes I buy from Amazon just because I always have money loaded in it, even if they're not the cheapest. The Coinstar gift certificates are like "found money" or pennies from heaven. Its not coming out of my checking account so its almost like its free.

 

[ponyo]

What's up with the super low Amazon marketplace price on videogames? I know it's a scam since all the sellers are new with very few feedbacks if any and new games are priced like 20% of the MSRP. I was looking at the new Zelda game for the Wii U and there were pages of the scam listings on Amazon. So how does the scam work?

Part of the reason why eBay is so good for the buyers is why I would never sell on eBay. People think Amazon has good return policy? Lol. eBay gives you 180 days return period. Even if the buyers say no returns on the listing, you can return it because eBay will force seller to eat any cost and any return. And eBay has the best price for bullion anywhere. No one is even close.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I started buying from Amazon back when they were just "Earth's Largest Bookstore," because they were. I got tired of going into a B&N or other bookstore looking for a series by an author only to find they had at best the most recent book in that series.

Then Amazon added music, and I could get older CDs and ones from less popular artists that Tower didn't bother to carry.

Then they added everything else, and Prime. Now it's easier to buy gel pens or file folders from them than making a trip to an office store. Newegg is still a better place for parts if I don't mind waiting a few days, but Amazon is the place to buy almost everything else.

eBay is a sleazy flea market where I can't trust the sellers to be there next year, and can't trust that the product is genuine with a valid warranty. No thanks.

 

[nakedfrog]

I remember griping when Amazon bought CDNow.

 

[destrekor]

I started buying from Amazon back when they were just "Earth's Largest Bookstore," because they were. I got tired of going into a B&N or other bookstore looking for a series by an author only to find they had at best the most recent book in that series.

Then Amazon added music, and I could get older CDs and ones from less popular artists that Tower didn't bother to carry.

Then they added everything else, and Prime. Now it's easier to buy gel pens or file folders from them than making a trip to an office store. Newegg is still a better place for parts if I don't mind waiting a few days, but Amazon is the place to buy almost everything else.

eBay is a sleazy flea market where I can't trust the sellers to be there next year, and can't trust that the product is genuine with a valid warranty. No thanks.

I use both Amazon and Newegg for parts. Sometimes a place like FrozenCPU if they have something the others don't, or a better price. It all just depends on the price at the time I go to order.