Amazon shopping

Off topic
#1

Anyone else been kicking the backside out of purchasing from Amazon during lockdown?

I’m a Prime customer and I’ve bought quite a bit of stuff over the last 3 weeks from Amazon. Some of the items I’ve bought, would have been difficult to source elsewhere at short notice.

I know Amazon drivers and staff aren’t considered as ‘essential workers’, but I’d like to express my thanks to any Amazon drivers and warehouse staff who might come across this thread. Every delivery I’ve had has been on time and packages carefully placed at the door. I’ve made a point of expressing thanks to them once they’ve walked a safe distance from the door before driving off to their next drop.

This thread has reminded me however, that my annual subscription is due at the end of this month :laughing: I will be renewing!

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#2

I canceled prime and have only bought two things in the last month and a half from amazon.

Prime isn’t worth it anymore for me, items are more expensive and you pay for prime. Non prime delivery is just as good.

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#3

To be fair, I think it depends very much on what you want to buy. There are some things I just couldn’t source outside of Amazon unless I went through a bit of palava looking all over the place. I’ve bought stuff for home networking that has been the same price as other major suppliers but they don’t have the delivery service that Amazon has. And, I’ve had some great bargains from Amazon Warehouse.

I also make use of Amazon Prime video. So whilst I agree £79 a year may not be cheap in some folks eyes, I’ve bought more than enough stuff over the last 14 months that justifies it on the delivery charge alone. I mention 14 months, because Amazon sometimes do make mistakes and I’ve complained a couple of times and they’ve extended my subcription at no further cost for 4 months, so I’ve not done too badly I think.

#4

Prime is not just a next day delivery…
Free cartoons for my kids - prime video
Discount for Amazon kids tablets subscription…

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#5

The vast majority of networking and computer suppliers I get for the same price or cheaper elsewhere theses days. In some cases significantly cheaper from the same supplier as theres and amazon tax hit on the suppliers on amazon for listing with prime. (You pay for shopping twice basically)

Yes, not everything. Amazon is occasionally cheaper, but that’s rarer and rarer these days depending on item type.

I’ve just found it’s no longer in my interest to continue to make Amazon my primary place for items. Prime incentivises that so I got rid of it. I now look at more specialist businesses for items, there’s a lot of there and at good prices.

On a side note. Finding books online that isn’t from amazon isn’t simple (There’s a couple of good ones). Almost the entire first page of google are just amazon book companies under a different brand.

#6

Amazon has that immediate gratification that only Argos can really beat though, tbh. One day delivery is only topped by same day delivery :slight_smile: I’m a fan of Amazon (their CS standard, their delivery speed. It’s all top-notch) but I can’t find myself paying for Prime even on the Student plan, because it’s simply just not worth the money with how little I order these days. I do normally get for a month it when ordering a few items that comes under the £20 free delivery cap though to avoid paying 2-3 delivery fees.

#7

I love prime, especially 2 hour grocery deliveries. People forget prime is so much more than just quick delivery, you get food, Kindle books, music, films and TV all included. The value is there even if you only use some bits.

Morrisons charge for every grocery delivery, you get the same food at the same price delivered the same day without a delivery charge.

They also own whole foods market which for fresh meat etc is often cheaper than the supermarkets.

And prime video has some great films and TV shows.

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#8

Ah, Argos, the big book of dreams.

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#9

And the anachronism that is the pallet of catalogues stacked up in-store :flushed:

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#10

I guess that’s part of the difference. I don’t get the option for groceries or pantry here. Even so I’m not sure I’d want Amazon to take over yet another aspect of life in that regard. Nor do I use its music feature or kindle.

I have been likening Argos more recently. Good prices, good stock, excellent delivery options,

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#11

Same-day delivery is king

#12

I’ve been stuck in Italy all through this pandemic, and Amazon is great, they don’t offer same day delivery, but its still very quick, next day or two day as standard.

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#13

Hope you’re well

#14

Proper lockdown here, so nothing like in the UK, it’s a nightmare really, but it’s fine, I refuse to go anywhere, order everything online, mainly Amazon and no need to be in contact with anyone.

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#15

The last couple of days, I’ve bought two items from Amazon that weren’t Amazon stock, but obviously being sold via marketplace from UK based sellers. This led me to look at the websites of both sellers and I discovered on both occasions, the items were coincidentally, £5 cheaper direct from each seller (one had an end of year sale promotion) and on both occasions, delivery was also free. Indeed the first item, a chisel set, Amazon had given me a delivery date of after Christmas. By ordering direct from the seller, the item arrived via Hermes on Christmas Eve, the day after it had been ordered and posted, at no extra charge. The other item has a lead time of 2nd January, whether that be via Amazon or the seller, but saving a fiver by not ordering through Amazon, makes the wait sweeter anyway.

Anyone else have a similar experience? Do you always check the sellers’ website first, or do you just go ahead and buy anyway?

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#16

Yes, that’s one of the primary reasons I stopped using Amazon around February this year and haven’t looked back since.

There’s essentially a double tax like equivalent on prime. You pay for it and the shop pays for it and passes on the costs to you. There seems to be a not insignificant cost to people img with prime and of course Amazon doesn’t disclose this to the customer.

In some cases I’ve found it cheaper on the companies website direct even if I include 1 day shipping.

I’ve also found that actually Amazon’s service isn’t necessarily as good as it suggests. I’ve used Argos for example and had deliveries the same day despite living in a village, and John Lewis has excellent next day delivery to their stores (inc Waitrose) plus the extra years warranty.

Frankly I haven’t missed Amazon and deliberately looking elsewhere has lead me to a number of Independent UK shops.

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#17

I would say though, there’s still a vast amount of stuff I buy from Amazon that I can’t realistically buy within the timeframe I require it or at the price I’m willing to pay. And on that note, I bought a medical item from Amazon yesterday evening I could well have bought easily from any nearby pharmacy, independent or supermaket based, but Amazon are selling it £2 cheaper than anywhere else. It’s out for delivery for me today, I don’t even have to leave the house. Fact is, Amazon can be cheaper for so many things and of course a lot of it is next day delivery if you are a Prime customer.

Independent shops I agree should be supported and I will purchase from them when or where I can. Sadly, Covid will have had a massive impact on so many businesses this year, some of which have become unrecoverable and have folded. Many smaller businesses have moved a lot of sales online, which to be honest, is now pretty much the future for many people.

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#18

Yeah that’s not to say they don’t have cheap things but I just decided it wasn’t worth it, and as soon as you stop paying prime service suddenly drops in quality (despite the double tax on prime), the best delivery options are locked behind prime and the 2-5 day delivery options are upwards of £5 which I don’t mind paying but is actually not good value compared to elsewhere they do delivery for a few pound same or next day.

This is why so far I’ve had no issues just going elsewhere. A lot of companies are online if your willing to look beyond Amazon.

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#19

And for those businesses who won’t offer online sales, it could very well spell the end of their business.

One change that has happened this year for me personally, is I’m using Ebay even less than I used to.

Screwfix and Toolstation have been my most frequently visited stores this year, mostly because of work. Only pain with Screwfix is, availability of goods in certain stores. I was working in the South of England a couple of weeks ago and I had to visit 4 separate Screwfix stores all within a 12 mile radius of each other just to be able to purchase all of the items I needed to complete one job! The biggest problem was availability full stop, and price, I had little option but to do the tour.

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#20

I’ve been impressed with bookshop.org as an Amazon replacement for books. Very simple to use although they deliberately don’t try to discount as much as Amazon (so more of the price goes back to retailers). Otherwise I’ve also been going direct to sellers. Bit of a pain for those that insist on setting up accounts, but I do like those that use Apple Pay online, almost seamless (shout out to beershophq.uk).

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