Amazon... King of E-tailers?
by yusakugo - Written: Jul 28 '01
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The Bottom Line
If it's not the king of etailers, then it's pretty close. The current amazon sells everything the average consumer wants!
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| Full Review |
My oh my... how Amazon.com has grown up since opening its e-doors those few years back. A simple online bookstore grew into one of the biggest e-superstores in such a short period of time.
For the past two years, I've been shopping heavily at Amazon.com.
Products and Selection
Generally, their selection is extremely wide. You can find many different products here... so it may be easier to describe what Amazon doesn't sell. Amazon doesn't sell desktop and notebook computers (instead linking you to "affiliated sites" like IBM and the such), no pens and small office supplies, no cars, no airplane tickets,... ok ok you get the idea.
Amazon sells most of everything that the average consumer is looking for. TVs... no problem. Walkman... no problem. Pots and Pans... no problem. DVDs... no problem. Toys... well, they're partnered with Toys'R'Us.com now or rather they are Toys'R'Us.com now! Printer Cartridges... it's all here! PDAs... there's a large selection. Books... that's where they started. Music... they can compete with the best of them. Auctions... we have them too... just not as good as eBay yet. Clearance centers... they have them! Photo development?... They're linked with Ofoto.com. It really is hard to be disappointed with Amazon in general.
Amazon sells all the stuff from bargain basement items to many high end items and occassionally ultra-high end items. Overall selection of items is exceptional although their stock on popular items can be frustrating. You can often see instead of buy one now... notify me with stock arrives on sale and popular items.
Prices
Most of the products at Amazon sell for a little less than Brick and Mortar store prices. Usually from 5-10% off on most items. Now there are large exceptions however. The toy store charges the same price as the regular Toys'R'Us B&M store. The DVDs and VHS store may beat you local Suncoast and Sam Goody but may be more expensive than Wal-Mart, Best Buy's sale prices, and many online movie e-tailers. Add shipping and handling costs, the DVDs and movies can become rather expensive. However, amazon.com as of late has been offerring coupons every month that can offset the S&H cost as well as some of the products costs. Overall, Amazon.com is a good to fair deal in prices. Another plus is that you don't pay sales tax which is especially helpful for expensive items!
Shipping and Handling
Regular, UPS 2nd day, UPS overnight... it's your pick! Shipping costs overall are reasonable and you get your choice to ship as one big order or as each item becomes available. If you pick as each item becomes available, shipping is calaculated almost at a per item cost instead of bulk shipment! Note that many items, especially Amazon.com advertised items, outlet items, and Friday sale items can come with Free Shipping! Electronic items may carry an additional surcharge for odd size, additional weight, or extra care in sending.
What else does Amazon.com do/offer?
Customers can rate products and leave reviews (Hey, isn't that what epinions.com is for?). Information on items are fairly detailed overall with links to the manufacturer as well. Products have links to the same used item on Amazon auction site as well. You can add some products to your wish list... that is if you have someone who is willing to buy the item for you. E-mail to customers when item come back into stock. E-mail on Amazon.com news. Heck, E-mail on local movie showtimes.
Your orders have emailed confirmations on purchase and on shipment. You can track your orders on your account page including fulfilled and cancelled orders.
Customer service is rather helpful as well. You generally receive a response from Amazon.com within 24 hours and sometimes longer on holidays and weekends. If they ship the wrong item, they'll send the correct item with a prepaid shipping sticker for the wrong item. Customer service is generally very good although it does foul up on occassion (at least in my experience).
Conclusions
Amazon.com is an excellent place to shop for many of your needs. Prices range from acceptable to outstanding and can be further discounted through coupons and particular credit cards (5% off with WingSpanBank.com Visa!). Customer service is very good when you have that rare occassional problem at Amazon.com. I buy something from Amazon once every two weeks because of the selection, customer service, and reasonable price of items. It hard not to recommend Amazon.com to anyone... especially those new to web shopping.
Happy Shopping everyone!
Recommended:
Yes
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