On-line Shopping

Discussion in 'Online Retailers' started by Ted Richards, Oct 1, 2017.

  1. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    They still do, for example here:
    https://www.amazon.com/MIXIN-Casual-Outdoor-Moccasin-Slippers/dp/B01JOO01YW
    As you can see, its "FREE Shipping on orders over $25—". The problem is actually getting it. Click on free shipping and you get a popup that says "learn more about free shipping", click on that and you get this:

    Order with Free Shipping by Amazon
    All orders of $25 or more of eligible items across any product category qualify for FREE Shipping. Some items may have additional options for qualifying for FREE Shipping. These will be shown at checkout.

    With free shipping, your order will be delivered 5-8 business days after all your items are available to ship, including pre-order items.

    To place an order online, do the following:
    1. Add at least $25 of eligible items to your Shopping Cart. Any item with "FREE Shipping" messaging on the product detail page that is fulfilled and shipped by Amazon is eligible and contributes to your free shipping order minimum.
    2. Do one of the following:
      • To place the order using the shopping cart:
        1. Proceed to checkout.
        2. Ship your items to a single U.S. address in one of the 50 states.
        3. Select Group my items into as few shipments as possible as your shipping preference.
        4. Select FREE Shipping as your shipping speed.
      • To place an order using 1-Click®:
        1. Click Review or edit your 1-Click orders on the 1-Click® confirmation page.
        2. Click Change next to Shipping Speed.
        3. Select FREE Shipping as your shipping speed.
    For more information on how to qualify, go to About Free Shipping by Amazon. You can get unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping on eligible items with Amazon Prime. No minimum spend is required to qualify.

    Now this seems easy enough in theory, but doing it is a bit harder, plus after going through all this, Amazon has a nasty habit of undoing it right as you are ready to seal the deal...sometimes the free shipping just disappears, and you get stuck with shipping charges. You have to watch the entire process like a hawk, up until you actually do the last click.

    I buy books from Amazon, but only real books. That electronic junk I've heard too many complaints on. Turns out you are not really buying the book, you are just renting it, and Amazon can send a signal into your gizmo to erase the book anytime. I don't rent books. That's what the library, ILL, and Link+ is for.
     
    #31
  2. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    Wow, that's a shame! Buying groceries from Walmart saves me a lot of money. Once you make their minimum order (I think its $50), shipping is free.
     
    #32
  3. Adam Thunder

    Adam Thunder Very Well-Known Member
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    Hey guys, did you ever search product on Google, Bing or Yahoo to find the one you want? Or just search it on Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, Walmart such platforms? Sometimes prices of the same product can vary a lot, and there are many brands selling similar product, it's really hard to choose..:confused:
     
    #33
  4. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I have searched a lot, and I almost always go with Amazon because of the shipping. Even if the product is priced a little higher, it ends up better for me because of the shipping expense...and I NEVER buy from anyone who doesn't use the USPS. I did go away from Amazon to buy some veneer banding a couple days ago since Amazon doesn't have what I need, but the company I bought from offered shipping options: USPS was $8.00, UPS was $56.00 in shipping for the very same item.
     
    #34
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  5. Adam Thunder

    Adam Thunder Very Well-Known Member
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    Yes, the shipping expense does matter. I like buying things of Free Shipping, some places' shipping expense is so expensive that I'd rather not buy. And I sometimes search a kind of product I wanna buy on Google to see which brands are good and also look at the lists, I think it can help to some degree.
     
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  6. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have abandoned several online shopping carts because the shipping was just more than I was willing to pay. That's why I rarely shop outside of Amazon.
     
    #36
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  7. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I have noticed one thing about Amazon over the past six months or more, though. While I used to receive everything within a couple of days, nearly always on time, pretty much every order that I make now is longer than the two-day shipping they promise for Prime members. After placing the order, it will show an anticipated arrival date in two days. Then the following day, or later that same day, if I look at my orders again, it will show a later date, and it further indicates that it hasn't even been shipped, so the delay is not on the part of the carrier. Sometimes, the two-day anticipated delivery date will extend to three or four, and then it will show a range of possible dates, as long as a month. It never takes anywhere near that long, but I rarely receive anything in two days anymore.

    It's still usually a quicker delivery than I would get by ordering from anyone else, but that free two-day shipping thing is not true. On the other hand, when I have ordered stuff directly from Petco or some other online shopping places, by the time it arrives I have forgotten that I had ordered it. Amazon is a lot quicker than the others, but that two-day thing is no longer true.

    On orders that I placed two days ago, I am getting the following notice:

    However, tracking shows that they haven't even shipped yet so I have to wonder what weather conditions they are referring to. Don't they have a roof on their warehouse?
     
    #37
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2018
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  8. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    My last Amazon order of books took much longer than any order I had previously received. I don't worry too much though. I like shopping with venders I'm familiar with and really don't like to try a lot of new companies. I'm usually a little hesitant with a new company. So if the service was good, I'll probably be a repeat buyer. Like I am with Chewy and Lucky Vitamin.
     
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  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    It's probably also a good idea to have your credit card information in as few databases as possible, given that they get hacked from time to time.
     
    #39
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  10. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    Ken I 100% agree with this. Lucky Vitamin takes Paypal and I don't think Chewy does. I use Paypal for Etsy shopping and of coarse the varied venders on Amazon never get your information. They are paid by Amazon.
     
    #40
  11. Neville Telen

    Neville Telen Veteran Member
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    I go to Google. First to research which is the best brand and model number; secondly to track it down, and find out who has the best price. For example, I am looking for an all-format DVD player to run French (SECAM) DVDs. After researching on Google I decided on a specific item to buy. I go to Google, type in 'LG DP132H Multi-System DVD Player' in the search box, and hit 'enter'. That takes me to the first page of links, and at the top is:
    'all' - 'shopping' - 'images' - 'videos' - 'news' - 'more'
    click on 'shopping'. That takes you to another page of better results. Click on the entry for 'LG DP132H' in blue. That takes you to a larger entry. Near the bottom it says 'compare prices from 5 stores. Click on it and you get a entry comparing prices from each store at the far right (you are looking for the 'total price' column). Today the best price is from B&H Photo at $49.99...I ignore the cheapest price of $42.99 as its a refurbished model. So now I click on the shop button, go to B&H site, bookmark it, and write down the postpaid price. Next I compare that price to those at Amazon, NewEgg, Tiger Direct, etc. Whoever has the lowest price I will buy from.
     
    #41
  12. Adam Thunder

    Adam Thunder Very Well-Known Member
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    Yeah, I think it's an effective way, but it may take a lot of time. Sometimes I just don't have enough patience to do like this.:D
     
    #42
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  13. Adam Thunder

    Adam Thunder Very Well-Known Member
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    I like shopping online for clothes sometimes, especially for some different styles. But I just don't like those luxury brands like LV, Gucci, and so on, they are too expensive! Would you like to pay a lot for clothes, guys?
     
    #43
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  14. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Amazon all the way for me!

    I don't like ebay because it's an auction site, which means you pay more than what the item is worth because you're fighting other bidders who drive up the price. Even when you "buy it now", you still have to use their PayPal which I don't like either.
    Hal
     
    #44
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  15. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I almost always do comparison shopping on both Amazon and eBay. Some things I can find cheaper one place or the other, and you never know until you look and see, which one will have the best bargains.
    I also like the “make an offer” feature on ebay, so if I want to negotiate price, often we can do that.
    I buy almost all of my gardening seeds and plant starts from ebay.
    You just can’t find the kind of selection anywhere else that you can find on ebay, especially for some of the heirloom varieties, and the price is usually better than at a garden store.

    Another reason that I like shopping on ebay is that most of the sellers there are either small businesses, or just every-day folks trying to make a living. Many of the sellers are our military veterans, and the information will say that the business belongs to a veteran .
    Anytime I can buy something that helps out one of our veterans, I am all for that, and think this is much better than spending the money with some giant corporation.
     
    #45
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