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Amazon is no longer cheap. They collect sales tax and their prices are neither the best. Lightening deals are mostly junk.
I don't buy indiscriminately from any place without price shopping. But I also factor in the wonderful convenience of choosing from many products, instead of the perhaps 5 or 6 available in a local store. Plus I don't have to use my car and gas to go out, or subject myself to the crazy snowbird drivers around here during "the season".
I don't even look at the Lightning deals any more...I agree with you on that, but about 5 years ago we got a fantastic price on a lightning deal on a Dell laptop for my husband.
Go ahead and buy all your stuff online. Put the moms and pops and even the brick and mortars out of business.
Once they're gone, Amazon will drop their quality and raise their prices.
Why not?
There will be no competition, so they can do what they want.
i don't know why people want to always compare online shopping against local stores. It's not a fair comparison. A local store can't possible offer the broad selection, but am I supposed to limit myself to buying only the few products they choose to offer, just to help them feed their kids?
If a local business has something I want to buy, and it's a fair price, I'll buy it.
I spend a good bit at Amazon. I've been a customer since the river was on their website and they billed themselves correctly as the world's largest bookstore. I doubt that Amazon will ever have a facility in Wyoming so I should be OK on sales tax.
I've been buying pet food almost exclusively on Amazon for about six years. They're doing way better on dented cans than they did in the past. However, I've had two badly torn bags of dried dog food which I only buy every three to four months. I buy many food products that I can't buy any other way as well as just about anything else you can name except clothing. I noticed that there are some products which no longer show the Subscribe and Save option, but I am still able to buy them this way since I've been buying them. I hope that Amazon isn't going to phase out this program.
After a couple of shipping problems with Prime I decided not to renew it. They have twice shipped orders at slower speeds. The first time I called customer service I received an extra month of Prime. The second time, however, I reached India. They weren't even apologetic. I hope that this is not the harbinger of a coming storm. This is the first time that I've been really disappointed in Amazon. I never did use Prime for music or movies and the books available for loan on Kindle are seldom of interest.
I've heard of Chewy.com and plan to give it a try for cat litter. If I buy four 35# buckets it will qualify for free shipping and I'll save some money. It will also appear as if by magic right at my front door.
Chewy is the BEST. I can't emphasize that enough. I used them to autoship dog food for my two Great Danes for years. The only reason I don't buy from them anymore is I switched my dogs to a different food from Tractor Supply and they are more expensive with the new food. I price compared all over brick and mortar stores and the internet, and not only are they cheapest on price on the majority of everything, but you have no shipping charges on orders over $49 and their customer service is top notch. No automated system nonsense or reps from foreign countries who don't understand English.
I used to buy tons of items from Amazon with Prime, but their silly Add-On and Pantry Programs have made it not worth the membership fee, and I don't like getting nickel and dimed with sales tax on the free shipping eligible items.
I really like ebay. It has improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade. The sellers are so much faster and more reliable. I can get stuff delivered from overseas in less than two weeks, and ebay nearly always beats Amazon's prices on everything I'm looking for.
I buy used books from Abe Books. They have a larger selection than any other online bookseller, and function as a website for many independent booksellers. Most of the time, their books are cheaper than any other site, and they have millions.
I do not buy clothing online. I tried that for a while and got tired of having to return most all of it by mail. Trying things on in person is much easier for me, probably because I'm petite.
Lastly, I buy used furniture and used gym equipment on Craigslist. Craigslist is a valuable asset if you are selective with your purchases there. I don't recommend that venue when looking for roommates, real estate, or cars, but I got some beautiful pieces of furniture from that site. My latest acquisition was a solid oak chest of drawers and matching dresser with built in jewelry box in perfect condition for just $250. It probably would have cost me 5x that at a furniture store.
Go ahead and buy all your stuff online. Put the moms and pops and even the brick and mortars out of business.
Once they're gone, Amazon will drop their quality and raise their prices.
Why not?
There will be no competition, so they can do what they want.
Amazon already has thousands of competitors. They list many of them on their own website. I save hundreds every year this way especially on books.
Amazon has always carried low quality merchandise because that's what some people want. They carry high quality merchandise as well for people who demand the best.
The most remote locations in America today have more competition than NYC had twenty years ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
Chewy is the BEST. I can't emphasize that enough. I used them to autoship dog food for my two Great Danes for years. The only reason I don't buy from them anymore is I switched my dogs to a different food from Tractor Supply and they are more expensive with the new food. I price compared all over brick and mortar stores and the internet, and not only are they cheapest on price on the majority of everything, but you have no shipping charges on orders over $49 and their customer service is top notch. No automated system nonsense or reps from foreign countries who don't understand English.
I used to buy tons of items from Amazon with Prime, but their silly Add-On and Pantry Programs have made it not worth the membership fee, and I don't like getting nickel and dimed with sales tax on the free shipping eligible items.
I really like ebay. It has improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade. The sellers are so much faster and more reliable. I can get stuff delivered from overseas in less than two weeks, and ebay nearly always beats Amazon's prices on everything I'm looking for.
I buy used books from Abe Books. They have a larger selection than any other online bookseller, and function as a website for many independent booksellers. Most of the time, their books are cheaper than any other site, and they have millions.
I do not buy clothing online. I tried that for a while and got tired of having to return most all of it by mail. Trying things on in person is much easier for me, probably because I'm petite.
Lastly, I buy used furniture and used gym equipment on Craigslist. Craigslist is a valuable asset if you are selective with your purchases there. I don't recommend that venue when looking for roommates, real estate, or cars, but I got some beautiful pieces of furniture from that site. My latest acquisition was a solid oak chest of drawers and matching dresser with built in jewelry box in perfect condition for just $250. It probably would have cost me 5x that at a furniture store.
I just wait until I have enough for a $45 order on Amazon; I buy Add-On items with no problems or higher costs. Amazon doesn't want to charge you sales tax; that's the fault of the goverment thieves.
I've encountered many sellers who are on both Amazon and ebay; some are on other market sites as well. I often buy from ebay. However, I wish they would have a fifteen minute rule on their auctions. A fifteen minute rule means that an auction is extended fifteen minutes at the end if any bids are received in the final fifteen minutes. It's better for both buyers and sellers.
Neither Amazon nor any other seller is perfect, but we're not limited to one seller. I believe that the Sleeping Giant is Walmart. Can you imagine those two in a price war?
Go ahead and buy all your stuff online. Put the moms and pops and even the brick and mortars out of business.
Once they're gone, Amazon will drop their quality and raise their prices.
Why not?
There will be no competition, so they can do what they want.
That's exactly what Walmart did. Even Home Depot to an extent. I drive right by Home Depot to a local Ace Hardware when I need hardware store stuff. Even got a few bins from them this year, it's just easier to navigate and I love the store. They've been around over 100 years and are one of 3 hardware stores to survive Home Depot coming to town.
It seems like you almost have to shop online these days because there is so much that actual stores don't keep in stock anymore. I guess it's too expensive to carry an inventory?
But I'm not as happy with Amazon as I used to be. When it was JUST Amazon selling, I think it was great. Now when you have other sellers and "fulfilled by Amazon" I think sometimes you get ripped off. I have questioned before whether stuff I ordered that was supposed to be new wasn't really new. Sometimes it seems repackaged or something. I got some flea and tick medicine (Frontline) there that had different packaging than normal and seemed like the vials had been refilled and they were kind of leaky. Won't order that from Amazon anymore. And I ordered some perfume from Amazon that I usually get at Macy's. The package was a little different and the lid was different. I don't think it was the real deal. Since then I just go buy it at Macy's so I know I am getting the genuine product.
I support businesses that give me the best deal. Bye-bye, mon and pop predator stores.
The problem with people like you is that you confuse "best deal" with "value". You might get a cheaper price on line, but all you get is an item in a box, no one who is there to tell you how to properly use it, no one to tell you what part you actually need, and a lot more hassle if you need to return it.
We found out how "predatory" Moms and Pop stores were when we started shopping at places like WalMart. Yep, we sure got cheaper prices, but that is ALL we got. Go into any WM and look for an Associate to help you, and if you do actually find a human being, ask them some specific questions about what you are wanting to buy and how to use it.
Years ago Sears was a wonderful company. I would go in there and find an employee in any department who knew their products and who could help me with my purchases. If I was going to repair my sink at home there was a person in plumbing who knew how to do it and who was happy to show me the right way.
Then it changed. They went to prepackaged items, to compete, and their quality went down hill. I knew we were in trouble when I went in to buy a plumbing item and, when I asked the man in that dept for help, he said "I really don't know, I was in the shoe dept until yesterday !"
So keep buying your cheap online products and pretty soon you will be wishing you had a Mom and Pop store nearby who could help you when you have a problem !
Speaking of local businesses, yeah, it will hurt you in the end if you only shop to score an item at the cheapest price. Reason? Don't you see all of these big giant companies merging? When you lose competitors, you're left with a smaller selection. What do you think happens next? If you're the only shop? You can charge whatever you want! Service doesn't matter so much when you're the only place in town. The best places to shop are those that have a huge incentive to build and maintain a good reputation.
It seems like you almost have to shop online these days because there is so much that actual stores don't keep in stock anymore. I guess it's too expensive to carry an inventory?
But I'm not as happy with Amazon as I used to be. When it was JUST Amazon selling, I think it was great. Now when you have other sellers and "fulfilled by Amazon" I think sometimes you get ripped off. I have questioned before whether stuff I ordered that was supposed to be new wasn't really new. Sometimes it seems repackaged or something. I got some flea and tick medicine (Frontline) there that had different packaging than normal and seemed like the vials had been refilled and they were kind of leaky. Won't order that from Amazon anymore. And I ordered some perfume from Amazon that I usually get at Macy's. The package was a little different and the lid was different. I don't think it was the real deal. Since then I just go buy it at Macy's so I know I am getting the genuine product.
Then it wasn't our imagination after all! I'm glad you mentioned that. We had a very similar experience with Amazon. My fiancee bought two of her nephews each a Nerf gun that shoots those foam balls through a tube chamber for Christmas last year. The first Nerf gun came in the original Nerf packaging and was a authentic new item. The second one came in a plain, unlabeled cardboard box. She didn't even know what it was until she opened it. When she did, she noticed that even though it was a Nerf gun, it looked like it had been used, returned, then repackaged in this generic packaging. It was very weird. She was angry because she had paid for a new one.
She called cs and arranged for an exchange, insisting on another Nerf gun in authentic packaging. (It was a gift, after all). She received another one in the same generic cardboard box! She was really mad then and just sent the second one back for a refund. Amazon's products and cs seems to have slipped somewhat in the past couple of years, in my experience.
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