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Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

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Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#191

Post by kube-system »

racnid wrote: post #188
mauvehaus wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I beg to differ. Rock Auto is where it's at for auto parts. The website is ugly as hammered shit, but it's fast, shows you the options grouped by rough quality level (economy/you cheapskate, daily driver, performance, etc), shows you what part to select so it ships from the same warehouse as the parts already in your cart and saves you shipping, and returns are painless (disclaimer: I've only ever done returns for co…

Their website is one of the clearest and easiest to navigate parts website I've ever come across. I just wish there was an equivalent for motorcycles.

Bikebandit's website isn't too bad after you figure out how to select your bike.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#192

Post by passthejoe »

Someone1234 wrote: post #169
jakearmitage wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HomeDepot's ecommerce is a joke. Not only the shopping experience is poor, they treat logistics as if they were doing you a favor. And, on top of all that, you get damaged items. I made 7 purchases and all 7, in different periods of time, had to be returned or replaced. Same for Lowe's. There's a reason people shop on Amazon. Other than BestBuy, no other retailer "gets" ecommerce.

I had a Home Depot order delivered recently, zero padding. It was just a cardboard box surrounding the product, and the product itself had little internal packaging (inc. Lithium Ion batteries). I'm surprised Home Depot hasn't started fires before. Luckily the product I ordered worked fine, but I wasn't best pleased when I opened it. It was pretty obvious the manufacturer designed the product packaging for retail she…

My favorite from Target was eight Contigo travel mugs (bought for holiday gifts) that came in a very large box with no padding. Even though they could have clanked around and gotten very scratched, they were all OK. Sort of a miracle, but it didn't give me much confidence in Target.com.

And you can't state quantities on the Target.com site when you select an item. You have to go into the cart and change the quantity. That's something most sites do better.

Also, I understand it's a difficult time inventory-wise, but don't let me put stuff in my cart if you can't deliver it and won't let me order anything until I remove them. Give me a "save for later" feature ... like Amazon does.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#193

Post by solotronics »

bradlys wrote: post #82
ebg13 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the items I tried ordering that was cancelled showed 34 in stock at that store while I was on the phone with them (immediately after the delivery person left) trying to find out why they cancelled my items and they were saying the items were probably out of stock in that store. And if you have three stores within a couple of miles of you that all claim to have a bunch of stock of an item but you order from one…

This is one of the reasons I don't buy things from Home Depot if I can help it. I've gone to multiple stores thinking something was in stock to only find they were all out of stock. On top of that, the staff there are almost helpless when it comes to finding things that aren't on the shelf itself. If it's up top, be prepared to waste an hour trying to get someone to fetch the item. (If it's there!) Their poor system…

I mean technically that is stealing but I guess its pretty low on the scale of "bad stuff".

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#194

Post by orchard_vkm »

whymauri wrote: post #155
Diederich wrote: post #41

Help requested. My wife, who is in her 50s, is immunocompromised, and she also has a history of fast escalating and difficult to treat respiratory problems. We are and have been (for the past 32 days) treating this bug very carefully. If she catches it, she has a very good chance of not surviving it. Our son and I are at less risk, but we can easily bring this bug home. We've been having more and more trouble getting…

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt wrote a really good COVID-19 Food Safety Guide [0]. You may find it useful when preparing food at home or dealing with food delivery. He's also really active on Twitter and Reddit, so you can probably ask him more specific questions or even this question and he'll reply with some good, professional advice. [0] https://www.seriouseats.com/2020/03/food-safety-and-coronavi...

Great resource. Thanks very much for sharing!

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#195

Post by plorkyeran »

dangrossman wrote: post #76
bluetidepro wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree 100% with this. It's appalling how many other sites (esp. the direct manufacturer ones, like you mentioned) use dark patterns with their shipping/handling prices. It really does make you understand why everyone wants to use the big sites like Amazon, at least they are pretty straight fwd when it comes to the price, shipping, fees, etc. Nothing worse than getting down an e-commerce funnel only to find you wast…

It's not a dark pattern that shipping actually costs everyone that isn't Amazon a lot. Go get a shipping quote from UPS or FedEx for sending a desk across the country. It's not going to be any cheaper than these stores are charging. They're not hiding extra profit in their shipping fees. People are so used to Amazon Prime that they have no idea what things cost to ship any more. I run a small online store and every 1…

Honest sites let you enter a zip code at the very start of the shopping process and display an estimated shipping cost as you're looking at items. Dishonest sites make no mention of shipping costs until you're at the very end of the checkout process.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#196

Post by hsitz »

selykg wrote: post #65
larrik wrote: post #47

Right when this all was starting, I had finally chosen a bass guitar I wanted. I decided to try and support a non-Amazon business in GuitarCenter (the local music shops focus a lot more on school band instruments). So, I order online, and pick the "pick up at store" option, since it says they are in stock. I show up, and an hour later they figure out that they don't have it in stock, they only have the floor model (w…

Check out Sweetwater next time. They are significantly better. Their site actually shows you each guitar/bass they have in stock and they have an entire gallery Of photos for each. If you order one they’ll send a zip or the whole collection of photos. If you call and talk to the sales rep for you (you’re assigned one) they can usually knock 5-15% off. They also make sure each guitar/bass is setup to factory spec befo…

Sweetwater is good. BHPhotoVideo is also excellent for music stuff (as well as tech in general). Free shipping, great service, affiliated payboo credit card that covers sales tax, saves me 10% on every order.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#197

Post by keanebean86 »

mauvehaus wrote: post #175
jakearmitage wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HomeDepot's ecommerce is a joke. Not only the shopping experience is poor, they treat logistics as if they were doing you a favor. And, on top of all that, you get damaged items. I made 7 purchases and all 7, in different periods of time, had to be returned or replaced. Same for Lowe's. There's a reason people shop on Amazon. Other than BestBuy, no other retailer "gets" ecommerce.

I beg to differ. Rock Auto is where it's at for auto parts. The website is ugly as hammered shit, but it's fast, shows you the options grouped by rough quality level (economy/you cheapskate, daily driver, performance, etc), shows you what part to select so it ships from the same warehouse as the parts already in your cart and saves you shipping, and returns are painless (disclaimer: I've only ever done returns for co…

I've also had great experiences with Rock Auto. I've been ordering the occasional part from them for about 10 years. Shipping can be expensive but everything comes pretty quick.

Some parts are cheap but they're also inexpensive.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#199

Post by kube-system »

larrik wrote: post #177
selykg wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Sweetwater next time. They are significantly better. Their site actually shows you each guitar/bass they have in stock and they have an entire gallery Of photos for each. If you order one they’ll send a zip or the whole collection of photos. If you call and talk to the sales rep for you (you’re assigned one) they can usually knock 5-15% off. They also make sure each guitar/bass is setup to factory spec befo…

Never really heard of them before. Looks like everything I bought is out of stock anyway, but it's good to know there are alternatives.

All pro musicians know and love Sweetwater

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#200

Post by [deleted] »

solotronics wrote: post #193
bradlys wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the reasons I don't buy things from Home Depot if I can help it. I've gone to multiple stores thinking something was in stock to only find they were all out of stock. On top of that, the staff there are almost helpless when it comes to finding things that aren't on the shelf itself. If it's up top, be prepared to waste an hour trying to get someone to fetch the item. (If it's there!) Their poor system…

I mean technically that is stealing but I guess its pretty low on the scale of "bad stuff".

[deleted]
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