Amazon - still the best place to buy books and music online !
by borghese - Written: Dec 24 '02 (Updated Dec 24 '02)
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I have been shopping at Amazon.com since about 1996....
I have found that they have the absolute best selection in the world for books and CD's.
Way back in the late 90's, and the hey day of the Internet I, like many others felt that Bezos and Amazon.com was going to revolutionize the world with Online Shopping.... well almost 6 years later it looks like the revolution has hit a speed bump. Don't get me wrong, I still order books and music online through Amazon, but the whole concept of ordering anything and everything online has not come to pass. Why you ask ? Well, I think it's because you can find larger items at a lower price at your local Wal Mart and Home Depot. Yes you have to pay taxes, but if the product malfunctions it's much less hassle to hop in the car and truck the thing across town than it is to repack and send back to the Amazon. Dealing with the Postal Service is a nightmare in itself.
So, if Amazon decides to stick with it's original concept of "the World's biggest book (and music) store" it will do fine, and so will most of it's customers.
In all of the 100 or so books and CD's I have ordered, Amazon has never once shipped the wrong item or charged the wrong price. On a large order of 5-6 CD's however, it can be frustrating, waiting as they ship items one at a time... I have no idea how they can make money this way. I will often select the option to send the whole order once (when all the items are in stock) yet Amazon insists on shipping each item as it is available - "to keep the customer happy" .. Ok this is great but I'm not sure the shareholder would approve.
I find Amazon's site very easy to navigate, and build a wish list. I am confused sometimes when my wish list disappears - this may happen when other family members log on and wipe out my list.
I also like how they build a profile of the shopper and based on your order history are able to suggest other books and music you may like. I have actually purchased a few items through their recommendations. This is very smart technology at work.
I also really like their new policy of Free shipping with orders over $25. Again, not sure how they can afford to do this, but hey, as a customer I'll take it. Again, this only applies to smaller items.. you have to really read the small print.....
"Free Super Saver Shipping excludes toys, apparel, video games and accessories, baby products, certain oversize items, Target products, Marshall Field's products, e-books and e-documents, software downloads, music downloads, gift certificates, Target GiftCards, Marshall Field's GiftCards, items from the Toys & Games store, Baby store, Marketplace (primarily used and refurbished items), Auctions, zShops, Circuit City, J&R Music and Computer World, Office Depot, and other third-party merchants (such as drugstore.com, Expedia.com, and Ofoto), and those products that do not include this icon:
Applies to U.S. delivery addresses in the 50 states only, including Alaska and Hawaii, but is subject to other geographic shipping restrictions that may apply to particular products.
Applies to APO/FPO addresses when using a United States ZIP Code only.
Please note: Some special product, order, or handling fees may still apply."
One other thing I really like about Amazon is their offer for customers to become Associates and earn 5% of the sales from books linked from their own web sites. I have been an associate since 1998 and have noticed a steady increase of Amazon item sales from my web site .... This past December I sold about $400 worth of books from my site and earned an easy $20. I'll probably turn around and spend this on books at Amazon. Again, very clever marketing from Amazon.
With ideas like this, along with their superior customer service I think we'll see Amazon make it through this rough economy. Hopefully they will scale back on the larger items and stick with "easy to ship" stuff.
Delivery Speed: Fast 2-3 days (however, will deliver items separately if not all in stock)
Order Accuracy: 100%
Customer Service: Excellent, 10 out of 10
Overall Satisfaction: High, 9 out of 10
Recommended:
Yes
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