Cheap for DVD, CD and boxed sets. No authenticity problems.
by wrldtravler - Written: Aug 29 '08
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Amazon.com is a good site to purchase books and DVDs/CDs. I find the selection to be great ... you can find most of what you are looking for here. If there is a product that you cannot find on Amazon, you can usually get some suggestions of other things that are like it to try. I have bought on Amazon and EBay and feel more comfortable buying DVDs and CDs on Amazon because of their guarentee. I feel less likely to get a fake or bootleg product than on EBay. The prices are certainly low on Amazon. Many times I have saved a lot of money by buying boxed sets and TV Series on Amazon.
I like Amazon if I am buying new items because you can save a lot of money on there. For example, right around Christmas time, the James Bond Monster Box Set (which contains all of the James Bond movies in one set) was only around $120 from an Amazon 'partner seller'. I was unable to find this for under $150 anywhere else. At Borders books, it was $239. After reading through the return process and the Amazon.com guarentee (even for partner sellers), it seemed like the best way. When the set was received, it was genuine and a lot cheaper than anywhere else.
When it comes to books, I find Half.com (which is an EBay company) is a lot cheaper. Not only for used books, but for new ones as well. I think a lot of people sell on Amazon and Half.com for books, but I have always found books cheaper on Half.com than on Amazon. However, if you are looking for brand new books, Amazon may be the way to go because a lot of the books on Half.com have problems, even if they are new. The return process isn't as easy on Half.com or EBay either. In fact, most times the return process on EBay of Half.com is not working or will result in paying a good amount of shipping fees back and forth.
Honestly, I have not tried buying anything on Amazon outside of electronics, DVDs, CDs or books. I saw a listing for sneakers and clothes but don't know too much about that area of Amazon. Honestly, if I am looking for a good deal on used clothing, I go to EBay. If I am looking for new clothing, I go to the store. Maybe I will have to try Amazon for these categories, but from what I have seen, they do not offer the same detailed descriptions as a Zappos or EBay would with pictures.
I am very interested in selling items on Amazon as EBay's fees have started to deter me, but it seems so complicated to figure out. I tried to set up a merchant account but was overwhelmed by the amount of rules and instructions I had to figure out first. Even setting up my buyer account was difficult with all the signing in and out and updating credit cards, etc. I think the site interface other than browsing could be made easier. Especially for non-technical people like myself.
One feature I like on Amazon is the package deal feature ... another is the recommendations page. If you buy series one of a DVD ... they will let you know that you can buy series one and two as a package for a certain price in some cases. I have used this feature a couple times because the price looked good. The recommendations page is good because it tells you 'people who bought the item you are buying also bought these items ... '
I used this feature when I was browsing through CDs of Italian Music. I wanted something like the music I heard in the restaurants in Italy but did not really know where to look as I couldn't find any on EBay. I wanted something with accordians. Once I found it on Amazon, I was able to look and see other discs and compare them. There is even a way on some CDs, you can preview the tracks. This saved me from buying some CDs that sounded like what I was looking for but in actuality were very much not what I wanted.
Reviews on Amazon are kind of tricky. I haven't really had great luck with reviews ... especially on DVDs. Most of the people who rate the products on Amazon are people who are fans of the DVD or CD ahead of time. It is hard to find a bad review on Amazon for a DVD. I will say that I am currently looking to buy some of the Italian Rosetta Stone Language Learning programs and Amazon is by far the cheapest place I have found them. They even have the older editions for much cheaper. However, the reviews of these are very negative for the most part. So I am not sure. If I do end up buying them, it will be from Amazon because they do save you a lot of money when compared to other sellers.
Overall, I will continue to use Amazon.com for select products. They tend to be cheaper for big, new boxed sets or items than a lot of other sites. Especially if you want a brand new item, instead of a used one. Half.com seems to always be cheaper for books but DVDs and CDs are inexpensive on Amazon and you can preview the tracks of CDs. I will review the Rosetta Stone discs and update my Amazon experience if I do decide to buy them off Amazon.com.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Boxed DVD sets, CDs.
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