Smoke and Mirrors at Amazon.com? - Comments Page 1

Total BS. You are comparing apples and oranges. Free shipping is not the same as free two day shipping and jet.com has very little selection. I will stay with Amazon.

Good for those guys founding Jet.com, I wondered when Amazon would get a true online competitor! I will give them a tryout.

Jet.com looks as if it might have the formula for industrial supplies - my area of trade here in Britain.

We use both eBay and Amazon in part as advertising and in part because industrial/commercial buyers do check these sites and buy from them. But we are frustrated by both the lack of any sensible discount system.

The complete inability to engage in sensible dialogue and the self-righteousness of the sites' justification for doing things their way make the experience the more galling.

I have found Amazon prices to be increasingly non-competitive as compared to other shopping venues. I certainly have not done an exhaustive study but as I'm often in the market for electronic items I frequently check Amazon prices with those on Best Buy. Very often I look at the Amazon prices and say to myself, "Are they nuts?!" Almost invariably prices are cheaper at Best Buy and they offer free shipping (order $25 +). Better still, the product can be picked up at the many convenient Best Buy locations.

tried to buy 6 pr underwear for $$11.95 each. instead sent on pair which including shipping came to $20.00. tried again, same thing. Bait and switch? unfair practice? crooks!!!

Thanks for the Promo Code!

Thanks for this information. I used the promo code and got the 12 month free membership.
I am an Amazon Prime member, too. Now I can compare between the two and see which I'll stick with next year.

I shop at Amazon.com frequently. It also pays to watch the day you shop. For example, we recently had to replace our food processor. I saw the one I wanted on Thursday for $77.99, but didn't get to order it. On Friday am, the same one was $99.99. It currently sold on Best Buy.com and other site for $79.99. Tuesday (yes, I waited), it went back down to $77.99. Thanks for all the good work you do.

Yes, Amazon's price edge has mostly disappeared.
Best Buy and other vendors cheerfully match Amazon's prices if they are cheaper.
More worrisome is the relationship with Woot, who disposes of Amazon's returned merchandise. Amazon implies that it's return policies still applies, but Woot's policy clearly states no refunds, and very limited exchanges (DOA only).
Shopper, take care.

Yes, Amazon's price edge has mostly disappeared.
Best Buy and other vendors cheerfully match Amazon's prices if they are cheaper.
More worrisome is the relationship with Woot, who disposes of Amazon's returned merchandise. Amazon implies that it's return policies still applies, but Woot's policy clearly states no refunds, and very limited exchanges (DOA only).
Shopper, take care.

I have found that Jet doesn't offer many of the things I need. Also one order from Jet netted me at least 8 different deliveries from 8 different places with 8 different boxes. And at $8.25/month Amazon Prime TV is well worth the cost even if you don't buy anything else. And oh yeah - Kindle books are a good deal you don't get from Jet.

Walmart plays this also. I shopped for a TV for my daughter's dorm. The TV was there and price listed. I then happened to notice there were 2 "other sellers" and clicked on that only to discover WALMART was listed as an "other seller" and at a price $100 lower than the original page. After a few clicks I discovered the original page Walmart sent me to was selling the TV by Circuit City. I'm OK with Circuit City being another seller, yet if go to Walmart Tvs I expect it to be from Walmart.

I alway compare Amazon to e-bay. Some items cost less on Amazon and others on e-bay. I never compared prices of Amazon regular to Amazon prime. I will do that in the future.

Yes I have Amazon prime and I have seen the differance I go to Wallmart and save

I had noticed that shipping was often bundled into Amazon's "free" shipping price and always thought it was nuts to pay for the "Prime" loyalty program. If I don't qualify for free 3-5 day shipping, I'll usually leave the item in my shopping basket until I've $35 worth of purchases.

I'll stick to Amazon. Returns are easy, Love all the Movies I can watch for free, their music Library is tremendous. Many items I oeder i get the same or next day. The price differences can be attributed to Dealer/Seller who charge more or switch and bait.
Ebay has wa to many sellers who are located in China and I don't like waiting months for an item. Even when you seect Local often it may list NY, or another nearby site which is just an Office, the order ships to them who then forward it to you.

I am dropping Amazon Prime because I don't use many of the specials they include as benefits, and I am not in such a hurry that I need immediate delivery of anything I order. I looked at the Jet site but it is one of the new sites that has abandoned usability in order to look flashy. I prefer something more straightforward and less bouncy. I guess I'll never know if the prices are better or not since the screen blacked out rather inconveniently.

I'll give Jet a look--thanks for the promo code--but for most of the items I buy, Amazon does have the best price. If not, I buy elsewhere. That doesn't happen very often.

What I love about Amazon is the customer service. They have taken such exceptional care of me that I'm spoiled for other vendors. No one takes care of its customers like Amazon does.

I've been using Amazon since 1996, and in truth, liked all of my results. I'm 63, so my buying a Crosman Air blow pistol, was for varmints that hang around the house. It's to STING THEM, not kill them. Not knowing anything about it, like what size plastic ammo to get, 20gr, 12gr, 6gr or what, I used Amazon's buy these three, and save. So, because I'm on Prime, I chose the Crosman, and they had 20gr ammo with it, and an extra magazine, for ONLY .97 cents. But when I went buy it, something was wrong. I was being charged OVER $5.00, to have that .97 cent extra mag., delivered. Whoa. I saw the extra mag was NOT used with PRIME, so that is why I'd have to pay shipping. So, instead of .97 cents, it actually cost over $6.00, with the Crosman costing $14.00. No way, so I cancelled that extra mag. But when it arrived, I never got the Crosman to fire a pellet one single time. The magazine where you load the ammo, has a little plastic tab, that you use to lock the spring in place. That was broken off, and the gun would shoot no ammo out of it. Also, 20gr ammo, does not work or fit in this pistol, and that comes from Crosman directly. So, return time.

My first time to return something, and I was shocked, that what I was returning, the Crossman NEVER worked, the 20gr ammo was THE WRONG SIZE to begin with, Amazon should not have offered that size, to go with the pistol. But I soon saw I had to PAY over $4.00, to cover shipping. Me pay to return stuff that was useless? I called Amazon, spoke to an agent named HAI, and she said she'd waive the cost of shipping, for me. I was contacted to confirm that, so I was happy..., until next morning I sent a notice by Amazon that my payment return, was being docked of the cost of shipping, so I'd be paying the $4.00 dollars anyway. By then, I was steaming, called Amazon back, told them they could shove their package, and was about to hang up, when another lady jumped in, and said it was ALL A MISTAKE, and I'd pay nothing to return it. I said okay. UPS came that day, stuck a label on the box I had made, and left me the tracking number. That was Wednesday, Thursday I checked my account on line, and Amazon had returned the price I paid for the stuff.

That same Wednesday, I called Amazon again, asking if the price for a Crosman CO2 Air Mag C11, if Amazon would match a price I found at Wal Mart for the pistol? The difference was Wal Mart was about $15.. cheaper, than Amazon, while Amazon was TWO CENTS CHEAPER, THAN CROSMAN's price? They said NO, the price they charge, is established by the seller, CROSMAN, in this case, so they could not match it. I went to Wal Mart, their price was $29.99, which is better than Amazon's $47.98. And I got a great surprise, that at checkout, they offered it at HALF PRICE, so it only cost me $15.00, instead of the higher prices, and this one, WORKS. This, to me, is an example of what the story of Amazon that Bob gave, on things not on the up and up, at Amazon. So, we need to keep that in mind.

I was intrigued by the information so I went to jet.com and randomly shopped for a few things I typically buy online or at Costco. Here's what I found: they have page after page of the same items! For instance, in one category, they showed 21 pages of choices, but the items were repeated so many times that there were really only maybe five pages of items for sale. I hope they do give Amazon a run for their money, but right now shopping on jet.com is pretty annoying unless you know exactly what brand and style you are looking for. Why would I want to scroll through 21 pages and see the same item on every page? Crazy! Some of the prices I saw were good, some not competitive at all (for example, vitamins. Puritan's pride is way cheaper.) But I'm thrilled that you took the time to alert me to this new site. Thank you! I love your newsletter.