Amazon problem
 

I don't order often but when I do, I don't like surprises and I don't want a free 3 month membership to Prime that I have to cancel so they don't start dinging my card.

They've always had free shipping if the order was above $25 or $35. Now it's $35. No problem.

Last time I ordered, they forced the free 3 months of Prime thing on me. Looked all around and couldn't find a way to do it otherwise. So I cancelled about a week after the order arrived. No problem.

Two days ago I got an order together for 3 items. $46 and something, so free shipping.

When I went to check out, they tried to force me into a 3 month Prime membership at 50% off. It's $7.50 a month, so between that and my inability to check the free shipping box, now I was gonna have to pay $56 and something.

There was no way to get around it and have my order be $46. I looked and looked in all the crooks and crannies.

I cancelled and they emailed that my cancel order went through.

If that's the way it is now, they've changed and they've lost my business until they change back.

If they had an 800 number or a help email, I could find out.

I'm not stressing over it. I can buy everything I need locally. Some of it at a better price. I was just using them for convenience.

Can any of you shed some light on this?

https://media.giphy.com/media/xFmABn...JSj3/giphy.gif

Profit$ ;)

I always use this number if I want to talk to a person...1-888-280-4331
Might have to go through a menu or two...but when in the right one just keep saying "speak to an agent"

I've noted that Prime video is charging for more and more and fewer shows / movies are included.

The new norm
Corporate monopoly.
Any other choices out there??? No
I guess Walmart, /staples, Grainger .......never ending.

Amazon will slowly suck the life out of local small businesses.

You know…

Small businesses need to evolve to keep up with Amazon, Walmart, ********, and other market forces. I’m not going to pay more and wait longer to order something in that it would cost to get it online - sorry, not doing it.

I try to buy local but my time isn’t free. When I go to a local small business and they either don’t have what I need so I need to buy elsewhere or online, or I have to deal with some clueless idiot to get what I need, it turns me onto online suppliers. What small business and local suppliers can do to differentiate themselves is awesome customer service and knowledge- when they don’t do this, I spend my money online.

Let’s face it, we are all here because Wayne figured this out 25 years ago and at the time set up the BEST online Porsche parts supplier in the world.

What is funny though is that we got an Amazon Wish Catalogue in the mail yesterday… it harks back to the days of the Sears wish catalogue that had toys in it before Christmas…

New dog, old tricks…

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+1000
So far this month I've gone to the local HARDWARE store twice and come back empty handed.

No line cleats - in a hardware store!

I looked for, and finally asked about, a 3/8 slip hook. Nobody in the store even knew what it was. They had a display of chain hooks with the hooks hanging from long pegboard hooks. There were two rows of every size. It looks to me like the display had space for both kinds, but someone stocked it all with grab hooks because they didn't know what a slip hook was.
I can go on line and find what I need in less time than it takes to drive into town and not find it.

Buddy of mine years ago turned me on to the VALUE of an Amazon Prime annual membership.

Getting a delivery the next day - no extra charge. No charge for shipping.

That was quite a few years ago and I haven't looked back.

It's going to be different for everyone, as is almost everything other thing.

I always compare Amazon's cost vs local and then factor in delivery vs. my time spent fetching it myself before making my decision.

How many times have you went to pick something up locally and even though it shows "in stock" it's not. Wasted time and energy.

Last night I ordered some products directly from Eastwood that were 1/3 less in cost than what Amazon charges. Even after paying the UPS shipping I'm still ahead.

I also purchase from eBay regularly. Just purchased some carb. clamps for my '87 Interceptor that turned out to be a bit too large (my mistake) so sending back for credit and re-ordered the right size. I've returned stuff from Amazon occasionally too - painless and very easy.

Once you settle into the process it's all very straight forward. Once in a while a wrinkle. Like the typewriter that didn't work and somehow I got stuck with the shipping cost back to the seller. But I made up for that one with so many other scores.....I'm way ahead....

I could tell you stories......

A few weeks ago when I was working on the van I somehow got signed up for Prime when ordering parts. I ordered enough small stuff that it was not a bad deal. I also ordered parts for the ex's car. Then cancelled. Now I am working on a different vehicle and somehow got signed up again.A guy has to really be trying to not get signed up.

Sister onto an account. It's free. A neighbor, sibling, parent, child, coworker, mistress, etc. Just have them add you as a user on the acct. They don't care about being in the same house or even the same state like some other big companies do (no names mentioned, Netflix...). Even better if you know a college student because a student Prime acct is half the price. For $35 a year I get all the benefits of Prime. It's their game. Play it.

I never checked any 'Prime' sign-up box but that happened anyway. $13/mo.
I had to cancel three times and then call. Log into my account and it's still there.
That was the last time I bought on Amazon.

Bought three little items (1/4 of a shoe box) from Hammacher Schlemmer and they charged $55 shipping for slightly faster shipping.
Wasn't too happy about that one either.

I'm ahead too. And I don't get much value out of Prime TV. Used to, but it's changed. I think A up their game on the music, but I stopped listening to music. It saps my attention. I listen to music when I'm done for the day and having a beer.

Beware of 3rd party sellers. I usually check but sometimes miss that. Mostly good, but if there is going to be a problem, especially a delay, it will be a 3PS.

Hard to imagine Eastwood was that much cheaper, but all that means is they don't like selling on Amazon. OK, we understand. I use eBay stores too. I'm buy new. I wouldn't buy anything used on the flea. It's just been one pain after another, It was better way back when.

You will be assimilated.

Between this and free Office365 and a .edu email address and oneDrive and some VM time in Azure we have 80k "active" students, but only 15k or so warm bodies actually registering for classes, etc. Guess that is what being an Open Access institution with no application fee gets ya.....

Used to be anything I ordered was shipped in a day or two (sometimes next day).
So I wanted one of those fold up wagons. Searched all over Amazon for the features I wanted and narrowed it down to one and clicked on the box... And waited... And waited... Checked back after a week and it was being drop shipped from China and hadn't shipped yet so I cancelled the order no problem (I suspect Amazon knows they messed up.)

On a plus note eBay seems to be improving 😋

FTR....products I ordered from Eastwood:

16060Z Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Black Aerosol 15 ounce $19.97
16080Z Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Aerosol Spray Paint Silver 15oz $18.97
14824Z Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Aerosol White 15oz $22.97

Amazon's price (Black Matte finish) - same size can - $34.99.

AMAZON

I ordered 6 cans and the shipping was around $20 and is supposed to be delivered tomorrow (UPS) so I'm good with that.

I already have this product in Qt size can (Black) but have some things I'd like to spray so hoping the aerosol version does the job.

One day I'll share the story of the 3 cars I bought on eBay - all 3 sight unseen in person - which turned out to ALL be fantastic purchases. One was my 356 on a BIN and the other 2 went the full length of the auction (both stick shift Volvo wagons)....

That can is being sold on Amazon by The Eastwood Company. Eastwood is setting the price. You can check to see who is selling and fulfilling an item by looking under the price. In this case, Eastwood is listing on Amazon, adding the listing fee, Amazon marketing cost (paying to get higher placement, or ad locations on a page), and the shipping cost for one can.

Thanks - yes - I saw that.

I used up 1 can already spraying a rusty Havaheart trap plus some landscape lighting fixtures......

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The last pic are the bodies pre-painting. I actually used regular Rustoleum on those because they are old stock Malibu powder coated aluminum units - that I was lucky enough to salvage off a job I did. Lot of life left in those....

Many thanks, Steve... I will give that number a try next time I'm in the mood to get the runaround. :)

I don't think it's possible for small businesses to offer Amazon prices, literally, not possible without losing money on every sale. If you're a small business, and you buy item X wholesale for $10 and sell for $11. Amazon can go to the manufacturer and say "I want to buy 100 pallets of item X, but I'll only do it if you sell it to me for $7.50. And then Amazon sells that item for $8.50.

Then there's the issue of small businesses stocking EVERYTHING. They would have to put out millions of dollars to have every item in stock on the shelf which is not feasible for those businesses.

If I can pick up an item local for only a little more than Amazon, I am willing to do that. If the price difference is huge, $50 local - $30 Amazon, then I'm ordering from Amazon. Its funny though, sometimes Amazon is more expensive than local which I always find a little odd.

(fwiw, I used the Eastwood rust encapsulater direct on lightly rusted undercarriage and rust peeked through a year later. A little disappointed and not the cheapest of products. Maybe I didn't top coat well enough. Something more concentrated like a brush-on followed by zinc primer might last longer.)

Amazon isn’t always cheaper - usually they aren’t on much of what I buy. For me it comes down to convenience and don’t forget, Amazon still pays a courier to deliver… it’s weird because Amazon trucks go next door but have never come to my place… not one time.

For me, Prime is a necessity. Shipping to Hawaii is costly and Prime saves me tons of money. For this year, I have placed 136 orders and haven't had to pay a dime in shipping costs. I also think there is some weird algorithm on Amazon that raises the price if you keep checking a certain item without ordering.

Traffic, time, gas cost, selection, in-stock, and free same-day or next-day delivery, have driven me to making 70% or more of my purchases (other than food) online.

I got Amazoned yesterday. I ordered some cat food, the same as I have been buying for at least 2 years. It was delivered poorly, IOW not according to my instructions. I have a short wall around my front porch with locked gates. Just lay the package behind the wall next to the gate so it can't be seen from the street. The gate is just an iron gate with bars. You can see through it.

So, sometime during the night the driver dumped the box dead in front of the gate. I get it in the morning and notice it's been opened and retaped shut. Out of 48 servings there were only 38 and the top row was jumbled, not stacked neatly in the little plastic trays.

I'd already nicked them for the poor delivery when I discovered the shortage. I "chatted" with their AI after being turned down for a return because this is food. They accepted my description of the opened box and the missing servings. I got credit for the whole order and don't send it back. Again, food.

So here's my conclusion: IDT Amazon would send out a box that was tampered with. IDT they would have any inventory that was damaged as they don't take back food. I have seen many Amazon drivers in their own cars likely picking up work like an Uber.

These are not the pros that follow instructions and take pics of the delivery. I'd wager this dirtbag driver cut the box open after taking it from the distribution center and stole some food for their cat. Or worse.

That's just a WTF. Chances are they are not working for Amazon today.