Alternatives to Amazon Shopping - Comments Page 1

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Posted by:

Elaine M Berkopec
11 Apr 2017

Jet.com as part of Walmart is just another part of a big gorilla. No thanks.

Posted by:

Renaud Olgiati
11 Apr 2017

Before, and usually instead of, ordering anything apart from foodstuffs and books from Amazon, I always search the same product on Ebay and very often find it there, at a lower price+shipping cost.
Only drawback, for products ordered straight from China, is the delay in receiving the order.

Posted by:

Paul M
11 Apr 2017

I try to remember to use Amazon Smile rather than plain old Amazon. You can choose among several charities (I chose St. Jude's Hospital) and Amazon Smile makes a small donation (with no added cost to the purchaser.)

Posted by:

Teri
11 Apr 2017

For large items it pays to shop around. I ordered the latest, greatest Shark vacuum from the SharkClean website last week. They canceled the order because their site was having issues with PayPal. In hopes of receiving it faster I did another compare search. Amazon was more expensive but stacking coupons at Kohls.com saved me over $100...about a third of the original price. I also received $40 in Kohl's cash for a total $140 in pocket of which is almost half the original price.

Posted by:

MmeMoxie
11 Apr 2017

Must say that online buying has changed. When I first started buying online it was about 20 years ago. One of my first purchases was a book, not an e-book, but a real live paperback from Amazon. Not only were their prices good, but shipping was next to nothing, at that time and their inventory was excellent.

In those early days for me, I purchased mostly from small companies, especially for my computer components. Of course, I used Pricewatch.com. It was the place to find what you needed in computer items, especially for older computers. I could see the various prices including shipping and select what I wanted. Pricewatch also gave me many smaller companies where I learned to find the best ones.

My very first online purchase was my first computer from Tiger Direct. Mind you, this was back in Sept. 1996. It cost me a little over $2,000, which included my Desktop, the Monitor and the Printer. My monitor was the most expensive shipping of all the items. It was an old 15" CRT and they all weighed a ton!!! My last CRT monitor was a 21" and when I got that one, the prices had come down dramatically.

When I first started using online purchasing, so many of my friends thought I was not that smart and I would be compromised. I kept telling them that purchasing online was a lot safer than in person. Yes, I have had to change the number on my Debit Card 3 times. Not because I was compromised but my number was in a batch of numbers by Visa that had been compromised. It never affected me. I know I was lucky but that is because I have always been cautious with the companies I use.

I still purchase online today. It is so easy for me and I love using Sam's Club Pick Up. You place your order with them, they get all of your items and you simply go to the Pick-Up area, pay for your items and go to the car!!! How's that for shopping??? LOVE it!!! Walmart is starting to do this in certain stores.

Right now, Walmart will not allow you to use a Debit Card to pay for the items, it must be a Credit Card. Totally stupid on Walmart part - When a Debit Card is used the store gets their money right away, with a Credit Card it could take up to a month for them getting a payment. Debit Cards are directly connected to your Bank Account. Credit Cards are directly connected with Visa, Mastercard, American Express and so on.

As anyone can see - I LOVE doing online shopping!!!

Posted by:

clyde
11 Apr 2017

I agree shop around and save a lot, Jet .com tried and could not save me anything, I have Amazon prime but still shop around can save more if do, best way is do a web search using the search engine you want

Clyde

Posted by:

Skip
11 Apr 2017

Your article is spot-on. My mama told me, you better shop around.

Posted by:

Robert K
11 Apr 2017

No more Amazon for me. Much too expensive. I check Jet.com, also can be too expensive. More often than not, I find goods on eBay for less money, and it includes free shipping (No minimum $35 or $40 order needed.)

Posted by:

Mat
11 Apr 2017

I use a google extension called Wikibuy. Select an item on Amazon, and it will find the lowest price available elsewhere. (If there is one)

Posted by:

Jmal
11 Apr 2017

One Chinese entry I find interesting on notions is fasttech,com They have a wide variety of smaller things but the shipping is slow,

Posted by:

Al S
11 Apr 2017

MmeMoxie I disagree, Before I received my Walmart Store Card and a Master Card I used my Debit Card there and still do at dozens of sites. Instead of selecting Debit Card I just Select Credit Card. The Seller sees the same Card Number whether it is a Debit or CC. You get the same protection with it as you would with any ordinary Credit Card. Doing so for more than 30 years. On Mail Order it works the same, check and put your Name Number Ep Date and Cid.

Posted by:

RandiO
11 Apr 2017

Thank you for another informative topic, Mr. Rankin!
That "800-pound gorilla" needs to go on a diet and loose the extra 200 pounds s/he has gained!
I gravitate to eBay when online shopping and have had good success when problems arise with undelivered items and/or items not being as advertised. Using PayPal for payments (rather than releasing my credit card information directly to sellers) feels like an extra layer of perceived security. Now that Amazon is being forced to charge tax on all purchased items (in 46 states) and the free eBay eBucks certificate program (1%) adds extra savings to buyers. Unlike Amazon Prime, eBay does not charge the annual $99/$119 for free shipping, which is another worthy bonus. Since most sellers have a presence in both Amazon and eBay; similar items are mostly available in both sites, yet end up being cheaper for the above listed reasons.
As always, Caveat Emptor and YMMV.

Posted by:

John D. (John Dean)
11 Apr 2017

I won't buy from Rakuten anymore. After a bad and lengthy experience trying to prove they only sent a cover and not the $99.tablet. It took weeks and many emails including photos of the shipping label and box before Rakuten finally agreed to send the item.

Amazon.com has always resolved problems usually in hours instead of days or weeks. Shopping where you receive Excellent Customer Service is worth paying a little more sometimes.

Posted by:

Kenneth Heikkila
11 Apr 2017

I always shop around, but I often find the best price plus shipping at Amazon and sometimes EBay. I also like the Amazon Smile option to give a small percentage to the charity of your choice. Also the Honey browser add on sometimes finds a cheaper price than what first pops up on Amazon, though unlike what I have read in many, many articles I have never found it hard to find the lowest price on Amazon, because whatever seller you first click on, the others are ALWAYS listed somewhere near the top of the page.

Posted by:

RandiO
11 Apr 2017

This is probably a selfish request, yet I must appeal to all online shoppers not to hesitate to provide feedback for those sellers with whom you have had problems with and/or their services rendered were not as advertised or expected. Thank you!

Posted by:

Karena
11 Apr 2017

I second John D.'s opinion - I used to shop at Rakuten, but not any more. When a vendor sent me an item that was NOT the one that was on their listing - and was then unresponsive when I contacted them directly - Rakuten refused to intervene. Why should I shop through them if they don't offer me any protection as a buyer? I'll pay the extra couple of bucks to shop somewhere where I'll be protected from unscrupulous sellers.

Posted by:

Kirill
11 Apr 2017

Pretty rarely use Amazon - it's too greedy and since - expensive. Better to use Google first - to find the lowest price overall. This way you can find some virtually unknown seller that gives you great price for something special. But that method requires to check if that is a legitimate player, not scammer.

Mostly I use Aliexpress for small items. It usually gives you lowest prices, but most of the time with very long delivery. Then - ebay. Again - since that is a marketpace - research seller history beforehand. I didn't lose any money, thanks to refund policy. At least yet. But it's a risk of any online transaction.

Also don't forget internet pricematch. Find an offer everywhere and bring the print to any brick-and-mortar store. The model should match exactly, otherwise it doesn't work. And also it should be regular price, but it depends on the associate you work with.

Delivery cost can be avoided by using "Store Pick Up" for any online store that has also brick-an-mortar one, like BestBuy, Walmart, Fry's Electronics, etc.

And, of course, rule of thumb - keep an eye on promotions and sales - there you can find prices that way lover that a couple percent, like in Bob's example with Jet.com.

Posted by:

Kirill
11 Apr 2017

Oops... Came after a while and found a screen with post and post it. Look like screen didn't refreshed itself when laptop came to sleep...

Forgot to add that sometimes you can find good offers at sites of offer aggregators, like LogicBuy.com. It was bought by PcMag and became less interesting, but anyway worth to check.

And, of course, newegg.com and tigerdirect.com. The best way to get good price is to be subscribed to their maillists, as for Fry's Electronics (with their promo codes that can slash 50% off).

Posted by:

bobdeloyd
11 Apr 2017

Never use a debit card online.

Posted by:

artm
11 Apr 2017

A) Citibank (and likely others) offer one-shot credit card numbers. I use them for online purchases, especially those made outside of the USA or subscriptions which I don't want to auto-renew. The vendor receives only the one-shot number; the fee is charged to your regular credit card number.

B) Honey is another browser extension (like WikiBuy) which checks for lowest prices. It also tests discount codes.

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