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Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

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Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#41

Post by shawn-furyan »

solson wrote: post #16

I think the obvious answer is that this isn't FREE shipping. Nothing is FREE. "Free" shipping is nothing but marketing speak, and if this is illegal so is "Buy one get one Free" or "Buy one get one half price" since the discount is built into the business model. My wife is an Amazon seller and yes when she ships prime she must pay for shipping which would force her to lose money on each shipment so she builds the cos…

Regardless of whether a customer should credulously take the offer at face value, it does strike me as a clearly deceptive practice to charge an annual fee up front for free shipping, and then to instead of offering free shipping, roll it into the item price specifically for customers of the "free shipping" service. If it were advertised as a "complete price summary" service or something that conveyed how the service actually worked, then it would not be deceptive, but who would pay $80 per year for that service? So Amazon apparently have only been able to sell the Prime service in such high numbers due to the deceptive presentation of the service in advertising.

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#42

Post by jrs235 »

_ea1k wrote: post #37
josephlord wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No this is about it being available from the same seller for a lower price not on Amazon Prime. This means that Amazon Prime is getting you no benefit on this purchase. Amazon are saying it gives you free shipping and charging you money for the that service therefore IF true Amazon is defrauding customers.

So are you saying that there are cases where you have a choice like this? 1. Buy the item from Vendor X for $19.99 with Prime "free" shipping (fulfilled by Amazon) 2. Buy the item from Vendor X for $14.99 with $4.99 shipping (not fulfilled by Amazon) If so, then I would still choose the Prime option. Items that are fulfilled by Amazon fall under Amazon's support and return policies, which are excellent. Third-party s…

Great points about customer service and return policies. Also that third party probably isn't shipping is 2 Day either.

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#43

Post by pbreit »

solson wrote: post #20
GrantS wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think anyone doubts that the shipping costs money to someone, but the assumption many people might have is that Amazon themselves would be the ones paying the shipping costs to your wife behind the scenes because the customer already paid Amazon in advance when they paid for a Prime membership. It is news to me that this is not the way things work.

eBay is doing the same thing. They are pushing sellers to offer free shipping which simply means don't line item your shipping costs. The sellers still need to pay for shipping. Amazon still needs to pay for shipping too. It is built into their model. I mean really people, I hate to sound condescending, but... when you do a "buy one get one free" do you really think you got something for free? Maybe one day we'll all…

Yep, you're condescending. Because "buy 1 get free" may be temporary in which case the buyer is certainly benefitting by the timing of a purchase. I don't really get the Amazon complaint but when I pay $79 per year I get free 2 day shipping that I would not otherwise get. On Ebay, "free shipping" incents sellers into minimizing shipping & handling costs (and buyers strongly prefer it).

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#44

Post by smackfu »

xacaxulu wrote: post #29

I'm cancelling my Prime membership when it's up but not because of the price. Over the last six months I've received exactly ZERO orders within 2 days. Start calling it 'free 5-14 day shipping'.

Did you complain to Amazon? They are pretty good at making it up to you, given that it is guaranteed 2-day shipping, and them not delivering on that is essentially fraud.

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#45

Post by smackfu »

twinwing wrote: post #13
admiraltbags wrote: post #3

This is interesting. I'd like to hear what HN's take is on this. I noticed that about 30% of the time products take 3 days, not the advertised 2 to get to me. I live in SF so they really have no excuse. Didn't bother me to much but never the less annoying when paying for the feature. Another slightly off-topic gripe about prime I haven't seen much flak regarding is shipping things like a roll of duck tape in a 12x16"…

If their delivery time is off from their stated delivery time (what you get in your email), you can get an extra month of Prime out of that[1]. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

Thanks, I didn't realize they had this policy in writing, as opposed to just being something the customer service could give out when you complain.

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#47

Post by jrs235 »

munger wrote: post #38
jrs235 wrote: post #30

So it appears the real benefit of Prime isn't FREE SHIPPING, it's 2-day shipping (rather than standard shipping) at no additional cost.

Pretty much, except for the whole $79 additional cost of prime membership. =)

Yes. I forgot the upfront premium you pay for the opportunity to buy things and get 2 day over standard shipping at no additional cost (at the time of purchase).

The other thing we all are forgetting is that prime membership is more than just "free" 2 day shipping, it includes Instant Prime Video streaming. something many people don't seem to care about. Perhaps Amazon needs to break the two offerings out? Prime Shipping ~ $59 / year, Prime Videos ~ $59 / year, Prime Both ~ $99 / year?

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#48

Post by saosebastiao »

alphakappa wrote: post #5

Anecdotal, but lately, I've noticed that items I purchase do not ship immediately from Amazon, so while the shipping time itself may be 2 days, I get the product several days later which kinda defeats the purpose of Prime. Not to mention that several of the items that I purchase are 'add-on' items, which means that I need to accumulate $25 worth of items to ship them (which is pretty much what every non-prime member…

If you are a prime customer, you get a delivery date promised to you when you add the item to your cart, and it is confirmed when you check out. If Amazon takes longer to ship, they upgrade your shipping to Next Day so that it will arrive on time. And if they miss the promised delivery, you can call up their customer support. I don't know if it is official policy, but I've heard people claim that they got a month of free prime membership.

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#49

Post by hackinthebochs »

jrs235 wrote: post #36
epaladin wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also anecdotal, but I've noticed that when I pay for shipping, the time it takes for items to leave the warehouse appears to be less compared to selecting "free" super saver for order totals > $X.

Yes, your order is assigned lower priority when using free super saver shipping.

Is it really "lower priority", or are they artificially holding it back as a way to bring value to their paid shipping options?

Re: Amazon Accused of Cheating Customers Through Shipping Costs

#50

Post by aroch »

smackfu wrote: post #44
xacaxulu wrote: post #29

I'm cancelling my Prime membership when it's up but not because of the price. Over the last six months I've received exactly ZERO orders within 2 days. Start calling it 'free 5-14 day shipping'.

Did you complain to Amazon? They are pretty good at making it up to you, given that it is guaranteed 2-day shipping, and them not delivering on that is essentially fraud.

Well, no...It's "2-day" shipping not "guaranteed 2-day" shipping -- the theoretically maximum time in transit, assuming no issues, is 2days.
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