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Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

mattmaroon.com

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Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#61

Post by loco5niner »

themetrician wrote: post #29
gjreda wrote: post #12

Conspiracy theory: Amazon's sorting is intentionally bad so that you have to look through other items you might purchase, much like grocery stores organize so that you have to work your way through them. I don't actually believe that, but I do find myself thinking of other things I've needed/wanted when browsing Amazon.

In your "conspiracy theory", who is Amazon conspiring with? Themselves? Do you know what "conspiracy" means? Do you think a "conspiracy" can be achieved by fewer than two different parties?

Conspiring among themselves would be sufficient for this usage.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#62

Post by xlm1717 »

"I think it has something to do with the fact that one item can be sold by multiple vendors at multiple prices."

It might be confusing but this will help you get lower prices often. Amazon also often lists used among the multiple vendors and you can save even more.

Search is half the battle, and admittedly searching for stuff like iPad can turn up a lot of crap iPad accessories, but after that you can shop around just on Amazon to get a really good price.

I will share one gripe though. Ever since book publishers forced Amazon to start charging more for books, it's become a lot more expensive to buy even eBooks, with a markup "violating the Geneva Convention." I very rarely buy books now. The good thing is a lot of the books I would like let you try a sample and if a book is truly outstanding I will buy it. If it's included in Kindle Unlimited I will read it too. If neither of these options are available, forget it.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#63

Post by xenihn »

encoderer wrote: post #18

My wife and I moved all of our non-grocery shopping to Amazon 2 years ago. With the Barclay's "Sallie Mae Rewards" card you earn 5% cashback on Amazon purchases. This, stacked with their subscribe and save, has saved us money (that we can see in Mint) but also immeasurable time. We have our virtual quartermaster keeping us stocked and I couldn't be happier that my wife never asks me to stop at Target anymore.

I wish I could get that card, seems the offer is no longer available :(

Next best thing I found for my shopping habits was the Citibank one with 2% flat on everything

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#64

Post by encoderer »

xenihn wrote: post #63
encoderer wrote: post #18

My wife and I moved all of our non-grocery shopping to Amazon 2 years ago. With the Barclay's "Sallie Mae Rewards" card you earn 5% cashback on Amazon purchases. This, stacked with their subscribe and save, has saved us money (that we can see in Mint) but also immeasurable time. We have our virtual quartermaster keeping us stocked and I couldn't be happier that my wife never asks me to stop at Target anymore.

I wish I could get that card, seems the offer is no longer available :( Next best thing I found for my shopping habits was the Citibank one with 2% flat on everything

Woah, you're right. That must have happened recently.

Amazon does offer a store card with 5% cashback. I've received targeted offers for it. Possibly you can research it and get yourself into the target group.

Chase Freedom is a 5% cashback rotating-categories card and it includes Amazon in the current quarter. That combined with a Sapphire Preferred is a lucrative way to earn chase reward points that are best used on travel purchases.

Discover also has an online shopping category. Both the Discover and the Freedom have no AF so I would consider getting both of them. Discover used to be better before they changed ShopDiscover. It was like a private FatWallet that often had the highest payouts.

Finally, the Amex Blue Cash offers 3% cashback on a variety of department stores. This is a great card to have for the 6% grocery discount and the department store rebate is a bonus.

Goodluck, and sorry I advertised a card offer that's no longer available.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#65

Post by kaybe »

peckrob wrote: post #14
lincolnq wrote: post #3

Yes. I actually do accept this, and it's OK with me. Prime has saved me so much time -- and, arguably more valuable, attention -- obtaining objects I need. I literally do not care about the price difference between a $1 and a $5 roll of tape: as long as I don't need it sooner than 2 days from now, it's comin' on amazon, because the alternative is either searching online and actually thinking about it, or leaving my h…

Exactly. My time has a value and it is most definitely worth more than $4. If I need something but I don't need it right now , Amazon is the answer. Need a pack of sharpies? Yeah, they might be a few bucks cheaper at Walmart, but then I'd have to go to Walmart. That's an hour of my time wasted driving to the store, walking all over the place to get the sharpies, waiting in line for 15 minutes or struggling with the a…

What happened to putting it on the shopping list? Or do you never go to the store?

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#66

Post by xenihn »

encoderer wrote: post #64
xenihn wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could get that card, seems the offer is no longer available :( Next best thing I found for my shopping habits was the Citibank one with 2% flat on everything

Woah, you're right. That must have happened recently. Amazon does offer a store card with 5% cashback. I've received targeted offers for it. Possibly you can research it and get yourself into the target group. Chase Freedom is a 5% cashback rotating-categories card and it includes Amazon in the current quarter. That combined with a Sapphire Preferred is a lucrative way to earn chase reward points that are best used o…

Oh no problem, I actually tried to get that card a month ago, which is when I found out it wasn't available anymore. It's definitely the best general-usage cashback card out there, I think.

I don't like the idea of rotating rewards because it seems like I'll be driven to spend more than I usually would on each category while it's in-season.

Didn't know about the Amex Blue Cash, 6% grocery discount is pretty big. I might pick one up, although I need to look at how my credit could be affected, since I JUST got the Citi Double Cash last month.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#67

Post by tmaly »

I have been a Prime member since 2012. Since having a kid, my free time has decreased, so I value being able to order something late at night and having it show up one or two days later. Time is money. I also like their return system. Its one system that works for everything I buy on Amazon. I don't have to learn a whole new return system for 10 different sites or call someone up on the phone and spend 20 minutes trying to figure out how to return something.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#68

Post by ricksplat »

As somebody with big feet, who used to have to stomp from store to store Amazon was and still is a life-saver. Filter by size and click and all available shoes are displayed before you; no questions asked upon return if it's not quite right. E-Bay was always that little bit more precarious. For anybody whose ever on the long tail of anything Amazon has saved the day.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#69

Post by ssharp »

peckrob wrote: post #14
lincolnq wrote: post #3

Yes. I actually do accept this, and it's OK with me. Prime has saved me so much time -- and, arguably more valuable, attention -- obtaining objects I need. I literally do not care about the price difference between a $1 and a $5 roll of tape: as long as I don't need it sooner than 2 days from now, it's comin' on amazon, because the alternative is either searching online and actually thinking about it, or leaving my h…

Exactly. My time has a value and it is most definitely worth more than $4. If I need something but I don't need it right now , Amazon is the answer. Need a pack of sharpies? Yeah, they might be a few bucks cheaper at Walmart, but then I'd have to go to Walmart. That's an hour of my time wasted driving to the store, walking all over the place to get the sharpies, waiting in line for 15 minutes or struggling with the a…

The option isn't really between getting it from Amazon or getting it from Walmart. Realistically guessing, there are a fair number of places within a short driving distance where you don't need to walk far to find the Sharpies and don't need to wait in line for 15 minutes.

I'm a Prime subscriber and use it all the time for a lot of stuff. The nearest Walmart is 20 minutes away from me, so a trip there and back for something small actually would take close to an hour. However, I have local options that suffice. So if I need a Sharpie right now, I can drive a half a mile down the road to the dollar store and buy one. There is no line and the store is small enough to quickly navigate.

If I don't need the Sharpies right now, I mark it down on my list and get it the next time I do make a trip to Walmart or some other larger retail store/grocer.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#70

Post by Pigo »

I still remember the day I typed in cdnow.com and it took me to amazon.com, sometime around 2002 I believe. That was when I started to take amazon seriously. I wonder if they are making so much from their cloud computing services that the retailing will become less of a concern for them.
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