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Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

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Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#411

Post by lotsofpulp »

jgust wrote: post #379
lotsofpulp wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is trying to shed all possible liability as a merchant and collect their 15% or whatever rent, since that’s where the margins are. That’s at odds with what I’m looking for as a buyer, which is a seller that will vet and stand behind their products.

As any reasonable, educated consumer would be. I would like to know if a McMaster-Carr, Grainger, et al had fallen into the same traps Amazon has when it comes to supply chain and if eventually Amazon will be shaped into a similar company & business model.

Amazon's actions make it clear that the company's goal is not to provide the customer with products of a minimum and consistent quality, nor is it to make it easy for customers to even purchase products from Amazon.com. Note how they hide the option to filter for only products shipped and sold by Amazon.com

Amazon knows that retail margins are tiny, a few percent at best, and that is not what they are interested in. It takes a lot of labor to provide high quality vetting and constant vigilance over suppliers. What they are interested in is high margins, which comes from being a platform.

I don't think McMaster Carr or Grainger ever had any intention of becoming platforms for resellers so they could take a top line cut of sales and outsource quality control.

If anything, I think Amazon is probably trying to reduce their shipped and sold by Amazon.com retail operations and focus on the high margin web services. Why compete with Walmart/Target/Best Buy/Home Depot/Lowes for <5% profit margin with huge liabilities when you can make 20%+ easy on super scalable web services?

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#413

Post by abakker »

kube-system wrote: post #199
larrik wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

My dad used to have a recording studio before he passed away. Our Sweetwater rep (the same one the whole time)called every couple months for 13 years just to see if I need any other equipment, and to tell me when older gear I had was going obsolete due to driver support etc. fantastic experience, and one of the best companies I’ve ever bought from.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#414

Post by shams93 »

caymanjim wrote: post #171
cpascal wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Other than BestBuy, no other retailer "gets" ecommerce Target.com is a pretty solid experience. Walmart.com is also surprisingly good. Although I'm sure people can provide horror stories for both retailers.

newegg.com is great. They primarily sell computers and office equipment, but if I'm buying that stuff, it's my go-to. Fast delivery, fantastic customer service. If something is defective, they'll send you a replacement with a return shipping label, no questions asked. Been using them for nearly 20 years without a single complaint.

Yeah I got a pair of raspberry pie to play with running Kubernetes on bare metal while I’m stuck at home. No delay no extra shipping cost.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#415

Post by sarah2079 »

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…

I am also in Mountain View and haven’t been in a store since February.

I have been able to place pick up orders with Nob Hill Foods for two weeks out (delivery has not been available lately).

One of my husband’s colleagues has had good luck with Draeger’s via Instacart (he said same day!).

If you make an Amazon Fresh cart and then refresh the page where you select your delivery window a lot between 9 pm and 12 am you can sometimes catch the new batch of delivery windows being released. For most Amazon Fresh warehouses they are released at midnight, but it is controlled by the local warehouse, and ours releases the new slots at random times in the evening. When I can get a slot Amazon fresh is my favorite—good selection and 90% of what I order actually arrives, which is great.

My husband also mentioned a friend successfully having toilet paper delivered from Home Depot.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#416

Post by cactus2093 »

sjwright wrote: post #371
fmela wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right or wrong, you can get around the sales tax using B&H's Payboo credit card (for use on their site only): https://www.bhphotovideo.com/credit-cards

It’s a discount offer, I don’t think it actually elides tax payment. According to the URL you cited: “B&H will collect and remit state sales tax in accordance with state sales tax laws and regulations. So, customers do pay required sales tax and do not need to keep track or file anything separately.“

Yes you just get credit card cash-back in the amount of your state sales tax. Which is not bad, living in CA for instance it gives you 7.25% cash back. Compare that to Amazon where you get 5% back with their card, or any general purpose credit card where you won't really find better than 2% rewards for online shopping.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#417

Post by FreshFruitGuy »

williamdclt wrote: post #100
Cerium wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instacart releases slots throughout the night. 2am to 5am are great for getting one. There are many currently lesser known delivery systems - search for ones targeting minorities. For example Yamimeal (despite having meal in the name - they do groceries). Also, buy bigger orders if you can. I have been getting at least a couple hundred dollars at once, good for 7-10 days. I would get more at once, but I want to eat s…

I don't know if they can be delivered, but frozen vegetable can be kept forever and are often better than "fresh" supermarket vegetable because they are frozen right after being picked, so they actually are fresher. My only source is my mom though, you might want to double-check this claim

Here you go! Evaluate at your own risk

1.https://books.google.com/books?id=64FJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT144&lpg=...

2.https://books.google.com/books?id=vFNpcwXlDT8C&pg=PA37&lpg=P...

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#418

Post by peterwwillis »

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…

Driving 50 miles ? There's tons of places for groceries in Mountain View...

Here is a list of CSAs and farms near mountain view: https://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?map=1&lat=37.412895&...

Try the Farmstead app: https://www.farmsteadapp.com/

Some stores are near you on Mercato: https://www.mercato.com/

Check grocery stores near you on Yelp; call them to see if they deliver, I'm sure some do (Safeway definitely used to): https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=groceries&find_loc=mou...

Grocery On Wheels seems to prioritize deliveries to senior citizens, they may also make an exception for the immunocompromised: https://www.groceryonwheels.org/

You should also check the news, google and call any wholesale food distributors nearby you, the ones that deliver to restaurants. Near me they have been delivering boxes full of fresh food to residences for very low prices, something like $35 a box.

Basically, abandon the idea of national chains, look for local places. In rural areas this is nearly impossible; near and in big cities, there are tons of options. And don't forget to look for non-white-owned businesses - but you might have to actually ask someone nearby, as they don't always advertise on Google.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#419

Post by cactus2093 »

Wistar wrote: post #323

Although the focus is somewhat narrower than amazon, for my professional needs I have had nothing but an excellent online experience with bhphotovideo. I have ordered hundreds of items worth tens of thousands of dollars from them starting about 2007. Their site can be a little frustrating, mostly from not narrow-enough categorization, but their app for iOS is very good. Their prices are usually as good and often bett…

I'm also a fan of B&H (even more before they charged sales tax outside of NY), but prices "often better than amazon" isn't true. For any brand name purchase of the type you'd get at B&H like a camera or computer, it's gonna be the same price on Amazon or Best Buy or Adorama or any other major online retailer. The prices are dictated by the brand along with rules on what kind of sales are allowed and when, so retailers can't undercut each other.

Amazon can be kind of hit or miss in niche products like camera gear though, so B&H might have better selection. And the listings on a site like B&H are more uniform compared to the wild west of Amazon's 3rd party sellers, so I do like it better for browsing.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#420

Post by plorkyeran »

unethical_ban wrote: post #391
plorkyeran wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'll disagree again. The market price for shipping a table across the country is more than what Amazon charges. They have built shipping into their pricing through different methods.

What does that have to do with what I said in any way? My complaint isn't that non-Amazon retailers charge too much for shipping.
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