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Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

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Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#81

Post by steven2012 »

codegeek wrote: post #17

I am amazed at how amazon remains doing business with so low margins or no profits. We love amazon at my house and being Prime members, we are almost ordering everything under the sun from Amazon that we possibly can. Here is why we love it: - The reviews are actually useful. I just bought a 70 inch TV through amazon and the critical and helpful reviews really helped me get going with settings on the TV that would ha…

I came in to write exactly what you wrote above, point-for-point. I love Amazon, I with buying big-ticket items like stoves and refrigerators were easier through them. And I still have a bit of trepidation of buying TVs, etc, and would prefer going to Costco for those, since shipping back is so expensive in case something goes wrong. If they have a solution for that they will get all my business.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#82

Post by enscr »

codegeek wrote: post #17

I am amazed at how amazon remains doing business with so low margins or no profits. We love amazon at my house and being Prime members, we are almost ordering everything under the sun from Amazon that we possibly can. Here is why we love it: - The reviews are actually useful. I just bought a 70 inch TV through amazon and the critical and helpful reviews really helped me get going with settings on the TV that would ha…

This. Amazon has done almost everything right for the customer (as Bezos emphasizes in all his interviews). For me, the primary weak point is the dubious quality of third part sellers sometimes. Other than that, it's an awesome place to shop.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#83

Post by evandena »

xn wrote: post #31
res0nat0r wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I've been bitten by an add-on item since they've introduced it. A food processor would definitely get you free shipping in two days via Prime, it is small items like a 6oz bottle of lotion that costs $1.99 that you can't get by itself.

You'd think the Add-On Items would ship with any Prime-eligible order. For example, I wanted to buy a staple gun for $9.50, which will ship with Prime, but the $3.59 staples are an Add-On Item, so I can't get the staples shipped with the staple gun without adding additional items to my order.

I agree, and there needs to be a mechanism to automatically save and ship add-on items when the conditions are met for free shipping.

And to your point about attaching them to a prime order, I would have to imagine Amazon is aware of this limitation and I wouldn't be surprised if they add this feature soon.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#84

Post by jebblue »

I tried Prime, found on my first order (as a Prime user) of several small items that none qualified for free shipping so I guess they weren't in the "15 Million items" category, yet those were the ones I needed. So I canceled. If the free shipping worked out, we would go for it and probably drop NetFlix even though they have a better choice of shows and we got hooked on their House of Cards series. We probably would keep both. Until I feel that their Prime membership will support us when we need to buy something we will remain non-members of Prime.

We still spend several hundred to several thousand dollars per year, Amazon makes shopping so easy.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#85

Post by incision »

codegeek wrote: post #17

I am amazed at how amazon remains doing business with so low margins or no profits. We love amazon at my house and being Prime members, we are almost ordering everything under the sun from Amazon that we possibly can. Here is why we love it: - The reviews are actually useful. I just bought a 70 inch TV through amazon and the critical and helpful reviews really helped me get going with settings on the TV that would ha…

>"- Easiest returns if the need arises."

This has actually become the most compelling thing about Amazon for me. I've been a Prime member since the start and Amazon has taken care of me without question even when it's not entirely "their" problem (stolen packages, marketplace sellers, my own mistakes).

Also, a not entirely well known benefit of Prime is the option to share the free 2-day shipping benefit with four family (They call it "household member", but no need to have the same address) members.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#86

Post by blisterpeanuts »

adolgert wrote: post #49

Is there a significant ethical difference between purchasing from a store or from a large online retailer? In one case, shipping to the store is bulk, and employees may make low wages, but they interact with other people. For a retailer Amazon's size, warehouses run on people who read orders from handheld devices and are timed for retrieval speed per box filled. Then shipping is done per parcel. How have you decided…

I suppose the same question could be asked about all those saddle makers and horse breeders when the age of the automobile arrived.

Online retailing is a great innovation; it makes sense, it's convenient, the selection is 1000x better, the service is excellent (at least at Amazon), and it saves people having to drive somewhere. The reviews and comments are useful, the related items and "what people bought" sidebars are handy.

By contrast, retailers have lost their edge. They hire low wage non-specialists, often high school students or other non-professionals who would rather be doing something else for a living.

So when you go to a store to purchase a gadget or article of clothing or book, your chief human interaction experience is distressingly often with a bored, under-motivated person who hates his job and hates you too.

I treasure the exceptions to the above rule, the dedicated doing-it-for-love guy or gal who really knows their stuff, like the extremely knowledgeable handyman guys and gals at the local hardware store--which is why I still patronize my local Ace whenever I can. Except they sometimes have a teenager who doesn't know where anything is, who doesn't scan my frequent buyer card, who can't offer me any advice whatsoever, who screws up the price. That kind of morbidly useless experience drives me (and millions of others) to redirect my money to smart, helpful businesses like Amazon.

The way of the world, I suppose.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#87

Post by chaz »

asdfologist wrote: post #25
gcb1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but their inventory sucks. way too limited. unless you count in the other sellers. i.e. stuff not marked as sold by amazon, then all that you said stop to be true. reviews means little because when bad reviews pile up, they create a new listing. shipping is weird. some stuff may be shipped from china. arduino clones. oh and that, you get arduinos clones being sold as originals. at least the returns are usually still…

Also, a large portion of the reviews are fake.

Honestly, reviews everywhere run the risk of being fake. Amazon, Target, YouTube, App Store, Yelp, Zagat, etc. Caveat emptor.

I do read the negative Amazon reviews, though. I'm also finding myself looking at their customer-submitted photos to get a better sense of size+function, and checking on YouTube for reviews as well. I'd rather get a review of a radiator thermostat from a guy that has reviewed a few of them (and posted videos of them all) than trust a bunch of 50-word reviews anywhere else.

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#89

Post by gcb1 »

therobot24 wrote: post #28
gcb1 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but their inventory sucks. way too limited. unless you count in the other sellers. i.e. stuff not marked as sold by amazon, then all that you said stop to be true. reviews means little because when bad reviews pile up, they create a new listing. shipping is weird. some stuff may be shipped from china. arduino clones. oh and that, you get arduinos clones being sold as originals. at least the returns are usually still…

- inventory is limited? which amazon website are you visiting? - anecdotal, but in the several years of using amazon, never had a problem with any of the 'non-amazon' sellers. There are ratings for a reason. That's like saying you didn't get what you wanted from one ebay listing so all of ebay is bad - reviews don't mean nothing..what's your problem with the current reviews. Like anything you read, take it with a gra…

feel free to buy from any random seller. if you filter by products sold by amazon their inventory diminishes to the point that you cant choose more than one brand

Re: Amazon's minimum order size for free shipping is now $35

#90

Post by marincounty »

VMG wrote: post #51
john61 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reasons not to buy from amazon: https://stallman.org/amazon.html

tl;dr because it's not a commune I specifically find the argument funny that amazon "steals" from me because it doesn't pay "enough" taxes, even though they pass their savings to me more directly than the state ever will

Oh they are passing on most of the tax for now, but what will happen when they really dominate? I saw what happened to Home Depot. They concored the market on prices. Competition folded. They raised their prices. It's now just an expensive big store with unhappy help.
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