I compare Amazon with local stores and other online resellers a lot. Sometimes another seller is a few $$ cheaper but 95% of the time Amazon Prime is both lower price and faster service. It has value to me but is not the only game in town. Caveat emptor.

I just ordered some stuff from Amazon, I actually don't use them very much. I'm a big ebay user for everything under the sun, just easier and faster shopping format IMO. One thing about Amazon I will say, merchandise shows up FAST. It's like they have a warehouse a mile from my home.

I rarely buy from Amazon but if I do It's because of the convenience, not the price. Amazon is becoming and wants to become the Wallmart of the internet and I NEVER buy anything from Wallmart, EVER. Wallmart wants to put every other retailer out of business. You won't find that written in any corporate handbook but it's there non the less. By the way, Amazon is buying it's own airplanes and I expect they will have their own airline certificate in the future. (For any aspiring pilots out there). SmileWavy

I try like hell to buy and support my local vendors. Its usually a phone call away and they deliver to my job site, so its a piece of cake. Sure they are more but the thought of not having to sit in traffic just to get there and hash it out with the counter salesman is worth its weight in gold. I needed 60 recess lights, spec'd out by some bright eyed kid in some drawings, so I can get final inspection done tomorrow. I called my electrical house last week and they had to locate it somewhere in town. One week out, usually means 10+ days sometimes. We are done with the job so they can have their Thanksgiving there. Off to Amazon I go. All 60 of the lights arrived at my door step within two days. We put em' on yesterday. At 53 bucks a piece, they were $2.80 more then my vendor. I am just happy to have them. Amazon isn't so bad after all. I am more then happy to pay more for this type of service.

Lower overhead.

One warehouse and a few employees to do pick n pull.

I bought a SMOVE mobile 2 video gimbal from “the vendor” for $159 and it arrived broken. I sent it back and asked for a full refund and it was a little bit of a challenge to get them to accept it at all; took lots of follow up and crappy communication to get it done.

Because they knew that in the course of my return I had found out that SMOVE is actually a $89 FeiyuTech Vimbal 2 with a fancy sticker on it.

So there’s definitely good vendor stories and bad; the thing about “sold and shipped from amazon” and prime is that it’s a reliable story.

It's 5 euros here, i did it once , but mostly to view some video stuff.. (Le Mans doc from Posche).

I subscribed and instantly cancelled to let it expire.. So i had a month.


The shipping or prime advantage for shopping, quite frankly, i didn't notice any quicker shipping or cheaper shipping then without. I ordered 3 things and they all got here same speed as before.

I've returned loads of stuff without prime, and that went just as well.

Yeah you do need to watch that.

The Alibaba white labels.

See them all the time.

If multiple "brands" pop up that look identical or use nearly identical marketing copy that's a red flag.

What worries me is that within 5 years it might the only game in town. Amazon has no competitors, and they are killing local businesses for sure. Then, when they have all that power, what happens? Who keeps them competitive ?

I'm as guilty as anyone, I shop there a lot for convenience (my big caveat is recycling all those cardboard boxes).. The other day I ever tried to use amazon fresh for groceries, because my local supermarket has lines 6 people deep, and I don't want to scan my own groceries thank you very much... *Thankfully* it's not available in my area apparently...

One of the best features of Amazon, I can find products there that the local stores don't want to carry. I can buy the Reebok Classic 10 EEE and get it delivered in a couple of days. The last time I went to local stores I had to spend 1/2 day to find a store with them in stock.

My wife uses a deodorant that the local stores don't carry. She will break out in a rash with the common brands. Amazon has it, and easy to get.

I bought a pair of Levis "on line" using my Commodore 64 and Compuserve back in 1983. The jeans arrived and fit, and I did not have to go to the mall. Then a month later I got my Compuserve bill. They charged by the minute for connect time, and at 300 baud, it was SLOW. Text only, no graphics of any sort. I could read the text as fast as it downloaded, or as slow is more accurate. Way too expensive for the connect speed.

I guess I have been shopping "on-line" for 35 years. :eek:

1,000BC (or BCE for political correctness) there became into existence the bazaar where a shopper could find everything.
Then the dark ages of trotting and driving needlessly all across town and the world.
In the early twentieth century, the mega mall were introduced.
In the late 1970's, the specialty tools and/or grocery box stores were introduced.
In the 1990's online shopping and the virtual bazaar reappeared. This time around the box stores are no longer limited to space available.

100 years from now, the USPS semi snake train will be custom delivering to secure personal neighborhood lock stations everything you will ever need.

Always check the seller.

The same item could be cheaper through other sellers, not through Amazon or "Fulfilled by Amazon", but returns could be a PITA.

If it's Prime Eligible, usually the shipping is baked into the price.

While Amazon dominates the ecomm space they actually only account for <5% of all retail.

If you mean in store, you download an app for amazon - give it your prime logon, and it displays one of those picture-codes that you scan and get a discount at whole foods..

Being able to buy something in less than a minute and have it delivered to my door in a day or two. Priceless. If I have to return it, another minute and I'm done. Amazing. Everything always in stock. Fantastic. And I can split it with my whole family.

The good deal I signed up for on Prime has been watered down......Price went up. Used to be free 2-day shipping on everything. Now, not all items qualify. Just bought a latch for my dishwasher.....Needed it fast as dishwasher was out of service w/o it......Prime claimed it would be here Sunday. Crickets. Monday (Veteran holiday) crickets.....It showed up Tuesday afternoon.......

I have buddy that calls in to complain when that happens to him....They say, "SORRY", we'll extend your Prime renewal by 2 months........He now gets free Prime as it hasn't expired....

We find Prime easily pays for itself with the free shipping.

However I always check prices at least on eBay before buying.

I'm a Prime customer and I use it quite a bit with very few problems. Last night I purchased an item that was not Prime, from a vendor. A small item, about 3 oz. $14.99. Clicked the 'buy with one click', checked the order and the charge was $49.98!!! WTF! They had charged $34.99 for 2-day shipping. Promptly cancelled and reordered with standard shipping for $4.99.

You gotta watch'em!

Vendors also don't always honor the free return policy (won't email you a free return label minutes after you request it like Amazon).

Motive Brake Bleeder? I was just there today visiting with one of the owners. The two owners are car guys just like many of us.

And they are capitalists just like many of us.

Amazon is, in some ways, still in the long tail game. I can imagine a future where computers dynamically manage their pricing (if we aren't there already), and order picking, pulling and shipping is done by robots (if we are not there already).

Things are changing really, really fast.

I like to use Amazon for a growing number of things, especially in an era and area (the SF Bay Area/Silicon Valley) where it is an increasing PITA to get in the car (traffic from population explosion due to current mega-extended greed cycle) and go to the brick and mortar place that may no longer stock what I am looking for because of.... Amazon.

Anyway, I can vouch for the guys at Motive. One of the owners is an expert on many things, including drones and Naval aviation.

Mike, the pricing adjustment is already happening.
Everybody price matches their products to amazon and vice versa.
I was shopping for a bunch of toyota parts on amazon and rock auto a while back. When shipping was figured in, amazon was exactly $1.00 cheaper on every single part.

What really bugs me these days is that the amazon catalog is so crappy for a lot of stuff like car parts. Photos are inaccurate, car fitments are incomplete or inaccurate, and descriptions are minimal or nonexistent. Or there will be several different listings for the same part, due to vendors inputting the data differently.
Very frustrating.

FWIW, in my experience, using the OEM part number is the easiest way to verify you have the correct part.

Sometimes I use a parts diagram to get the part number, then plug that number in for my search.

Saves a lot of time....

Works ok when you have the OEM part number... not some makes are kind of a bother to get parts diagrams for the cars.

Only shop at Whole Foods for the meat. Nothing over-priced about it. And you get all those free cheese samples. OK, get cheese too if you don't have a proper cheese shop close to you.

We sometimes shop at Whole Foods.

Stacy picked up some roast beast and prosciutto last trip.

Their deli is pretty not good around here.

The roast beast was dry and flavorless, the prosciutto was even worse, fatty, chewy, no taste.

Not a fan of their deli.

I did manage to salvage the prosciutto, did you know you can cook it up and it's almost like bacon?

^^^ you live in TX, what do you expect? :D

I should qualify by saying that I only buy fresh meat at Whole Foods (now that I think of it, I shop at 5 stores for all of my food). Steaks, whole untrimmed briskets, chicken though they make their own real Merguez sausage for making Cassoulet, have to get some soon.

Try some pancetta. Make a nice carbonara and use grilled pancetta instead of bacon.

Target has good prices on Stoneyfield and Horizon organic milk. Go through over a gallon a week. It seems expensive at first but it’s 10 cents on a dollar to so many other things you never think about paying a few dollars for. And it’s so silky smooth, goodness defined. Can’t drink any other milk now.

Something about cow milk gives me an ugly aftertaste.

Blue Diamond Chocolate Almond milk is where it is at.

I do find that long term no one grocery store around here maintains being the go to for quality fresh produce.

Seems to be an overall downward shift, I frequently want to get some veggie or fruit but nothing in the produce section suffices.

Been this way for at least two years, not sure what is up.

Shipping to Hawaii is always expensive, so Prime comes in handy. Earlier this year I ordered a pair of tires and shipping was free with Prime. If I got it from Tire Rack, shipping would have been $120. The other week I ordered those roll towels like you have in commercial bathrooms for my touchless dispenser in the garage. I don't need a dozen towels, but a single roll was $16, or $21 for a case of 12. Ordered the case and it didn't come. Amazon reordered and it arrived on Monday, along with the original order. Now I have 24 rolls and one dispenser. lol

One thing I have noticed about Amazon, is that prices change. I ordered some nice pens and wanted to buy some more and the price went up. This was in a period of 1 hour.

Amazon Go just went in next to my office. Use the app to get in, then grab what you want and literally walk out. A receipt will show up in a half hour or so via email.