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You have to be aware...

73.229.163.4

In Reply to: RE: Amazon... Shmamazon... posted by Victor Khomenko on April 30, 2025 at 15:17:08

There are many sellers on Amazon besides Amazon. Some items are sold by and shipped by those sellers. They just happen to have their products up on Amazon. And those sellers will have their own return policies that you need to be aware of. And then there are items that are stocked by and shipped by Amazon but the seller might not be Amazon.

Some sellers will jack up their prices slightly when they make their product available on Amazon, probably to cover Amazon's stocking and shipping fees. I have a few good examples of this with Ham Radio gear. Buying the exact same $300 radio from GigaParts via Amazon could be $40 more expensive vs visiting the GigaParts website and buying direct from the merchant. You might pay a shipping fee and have to wait longer but the net price could be lower.

Other sellers will offer hard to get items, sometimes new, sometimes discontinued, and sometimes used. These might have ridiculously high prices. I was shopping for a discontinued Nest security camera to match the other older ones that I currently have around my home. The prices were ridiculously high.

When shopping Amazon you want to know who the item is being sold by and shipped by and if the merchant is not Amazon you want to know the return policy.

In many cases where you see several merchants selling the same thing, it's almost like a reverse bidding system. Some merchants will offer lower prices but the delivery time might be longer. I usually buy things that are offered under Amazon Prime shipping where the price is fair and the delivery time is usually within two days (sometimes overnight) but rarely more than 3 or 4 days.... and the return policy is simple. Items that I buy via Amazon Prime can usually be returned within 30-day by simply dropping it off at the local Kohl's or UPS Store. I don't even have to box it or provide a label. Just show the clerk the QR code (return code) on my phone.

If you're looking for absolute lowest price Amazon is not it. I think they offer fair prices, broad choices on most items, super easy returns, and fast delivery. And on many items they ARE cheaper than my local brick and mortar store.

Follow Ups:

We usually buy Prime - Goober58 10:55:24 05/01/25 (7)
Used to have great prices on new CDs and preorder vinyl. Those days seem to be long gone.

We've discussed moving off Amazon completely but lower prices and product selection keeps us there.
- RE: We usually buy Prime - AbeCollins 13:08:29 05/01/25 (1)
  My wife and I both do a lot of shopping on Amazon including household supplies. We use Amazon Prime and with stuff arriving a few times a week on our front porch we are getting our money's worth. Plus there's Amazon Prime video for streaming movies and shows but we don't use it that much. Wife prefers Netflix.
  - RE: We usually buy Prime - Goober58 16:15:52 05/01/25 (0)
    We try not to use Amazon and usually it's Prime. We've given up on Sam's Club, Lowes, Home Depot and most major chain restaurants and support local whenever possible.
    It's true American capitalism has become very corrupt because of an excess of money in the hands of those who benefit from it being corrupted. I've heard discussions on why many of the kinds of economic protections that were added after the writing of the constitution but have now been removed again were not included in the constitution in the first place. And the reason was such protections were never added in the first place was that it was assumed that naturally American business would look out for the best interests of the citizens in it's own best interest. As time went on it was proven false so those protections were eventually added. No doubt trickledown economic proponents assumed that American businesses and corporation were going to spend that new found wealth in the best interest of the citizens and America as whole. Well that's been proven wrong again. The big problem in the long view is that we have repeated the same error twice and those who benefited from the deregulation and tax cuts are going to insure we will never put those controls back in place. The progressive tax code was a thing of beauty - everybody is supposed to pay the same tax while taxes increase only on the dollars made over the previous bracket. So perfect and fair I can't believe they scraped it.
    
    Edits: 05/01/25
- RE: We usually buy Prime - emailtim 11:34:34 05/01/25 (4)
  That is how monopolies work. Offer low prices until the competition is gone and then they are free to charge what they want.
  
  Insurance companies use that to penetrate new markets, get customers to switch because of low rates and then crank up the rates after they saturated the market.
  .
  
  2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
  - RE: We usually buy Prime - AbeCollins 13:05:26 05/01/25 (3)
    Total hands-off unrestrained and abusive capitalism is the way of the billionaire class. Introduce guard rails in the form of legislation to protect consumers and the right screams bloody murder socialism. It's not. It's common sense.
    - RE: We usually buy Prime - emailtim 13:22:48 05/01/25 (2)
      But it wasn't the right that put Bezos on the thrown, it was Xi'Dumb's lockdowns that killed all of the competition and alternate supplies. FACT, enjoy what you "paid for".
      
      Also, there are EXISTING laws against monopolies that aren't being enforced by either party.
      
      I used to get normal next day or 2nd day deliveries from Amazon because they are local.
      
      Now I get 7 day deliveries after the lockdowns and they are no longer accurate on their delivery dates. They no longer have to provide service after gaining monopoly status and price fixing all of the shipping carriers.
      .
      
      2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
      - RE: We usually buy Prime - AbeCollins 14:02:43 05/01/25 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: We usually buy Prime posted by emailtim on May 01, 2025 at 13:22:48
        
        I'm not sure what you're ordering but I'm still getting Amazon overnight 4am-7am or next day or two day deliveries on most of my orders. If it's going to be longer than that I know up front before I Submit my order.
        For now anyway:
        
        Edits: 05/01/25
        
        RE: We usually buy Prime - emailtim 14:22:29 05/01/25 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: We usually buy Prime posted by AbeCollins on May 01, 2025 at 14:02:43
        
        Latest purchase was a PCIe 3.1 quad-port NIC with Intel I226-V controllers.
        Ordered a week ago, latest tracking has delivery between 6pm and 8pm this evening.
        Going to use it to test a bare metal OPNsense 2.5Gbps router/firewall.
        .
        
        2022/03/30 Historical Records CENSORED
        Intel® Ethernet Controller I226-V (Open in New Window)
        
        Edits: 05/01/25

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