Amazon gives non-Prime members free shipping at $35 or more of eligible items. Instead of simply letting users get the product with free shipping, they’ve added a discount that prices it exactly one cent below the $35 limit, while only subsidizing the price with $3.38, which is about half of what they’ll then charge you for shipping.
Almost everything on Amazon you can also find on eBay. Sometimes it is a couple of bucks more expensive, but it’s usually due to shit like this. Haven’t bought on Amazon for 4 years now.
This must be very different in the US because over here eBay would be like just lighting your money on fire (since you have 0 recourse or reimburse options while Amazon’s primary upside is how trivial replacement and reimbursements are). I mean de-amazon sure, but not for a place that’s as anti-consumer as can be, which of course makes sense for actual second-hand purchases where you have no legal liabilities by the seller anyways.
If you’re buying on ebay and use PayPal, PayPal provides the consumer protection. That’s been my experience anyway.
Amazon are getting bad about refunds and replacements plus have a major problem with counterfeit goods due to how they mix 3rd party and Amazon sourced goods in their warehouses.
They can’t refund your house if it burns down because Amazon sold you fake electronics.
EBay is fine for the smaller cheap Chinese tat that you can find on amazon, and PayPal provides consumer protection. Go to other retailers for electronics - any site or shop that does not use third party sellers.
This is such a tired trope. eBay has improved well beyond when it was just the wild west of third party sellers. I’ve not had a single issue on eBay in the last 3-4 years of purchases. Ive actually had extraordinary customer service through eBay. Recently purchased a used $50 coffee grinder and it arrived with cosmetic damage from shipping. Contacted the seller and they refunded the entire purchase while also letting me keep the item.
Hey just the last 2 weeks I had two separate friends be ripped off on ebay. Yeah it has improved, but it’s still a ton of scummy shit.
And the cheap stuff you can find for half the price on AliExpress. That’s where they source their shit anyway
Unless they lose your stuff. Then you’ll see that consumer protection on all orders guaranteed involves you fighting with a wall that keeps denying your claims with no recourse. Aliexpress is much cheaper… As long as things work out. If they don’t, it really sucks.
Yeah and anything of value I would not get from Amazon due to the risk of counterfeits. Amazon pools its stock for an item with that provided by 3rd party sellers in its warehouse - either can be delivered to a customer based on which is closest not who you think you’re buying from.
So you can easily receive dodgy goods from 3rd party sellers that may he counterfeit or refurbished rather than new, when it says “sold and dispatched by amazon”.
Get your expensive items from other retailers that dont have 3rd party sellers. Get your cheap random Chinese manufactured crap from EBay or Aliexpress. Get your digital content from other stores like ebooks.com where you can legally remove the DRM and keep your content forever.
Fuck Amazon.
I always try to buy in the store, but most of the time the store either doesn’t have the item I need or it costs 200%.
Now see, I wouldn’t know because I don’t check prices on the Internet. I just go, buy some shit if it’s there, if it’s not, I get annoyed & maybe try somewhere else if it’s important enough for me at that moment.
I guess I just don’t like online shopping, it feels like a chore to me.
That said, I am privileged enough to live somewhere where there are multiple options for shopping close by, so, easy for me to say.
