Amazon

[startail]

Am I being unreasonable to shop somewhere else. They have just removed the black Friday discount because it took so long to check out.
Their system having a massive strop about my re-entering my address which was already correct.

YANBU to shop somewhere else, but may I recommend not shopping at Zara Home if you live in the UK as it took me half an hour and a phonecall to Spain this morning to register on the site only to find after getting to the last stage of checkout that to ship a pair of (to die for ) slippers was going to cost £14.50.

Always been impressed with Amazon but avoid black friday deals as I have managed to get 1.

That's never

Black Friday deals are great. I got loads last year and i have a few bargains already this year.

It's unfortunate you lost the deal but the time limit is there for a reason.

If you have (or your dp has for example) another amazon account you could try and grab the deal that way if it's still available.

Amazon is shit anyway.
bastard charlatans making it impossible for independent retailers to sell anything

(am quite grumpy because I didn't "meet their selling guidelines" (ie sell enough stuff through them) to qualify as a christmas toys and games seller this year - which last year earned me about £300 in November and December.
Revenue I can't afford to lose.)

I bloody love Amazon. Got a lovely new wet/dry epilator today for silly money, can't wait for rest of the stuff I have my beady little eye on, to come up.

I love amazon. As evident by the bulging wardrobe hiding Xmas 'bargains'
Well they were bargains individually. Altogether I look like I'm buying the kids love!

I got a DVD that DP wanted for £7.55 instead of £12.99. Not that great, but cost less than it would usually, so, meh. Will keep an eye on the offers but I'm not massively impressed so far.

Oh dear nickelbabe

Amazon is shit anyway.
bastard charlatans making it impossible for independent retailers to sell anything

You don't like competition much do you?

I use Amazon a lot; mainly .com, .de, .fr to get books I cannot get here. But also .uk to get things cheaper than in the shops and without having to go looking for them.

I don't mind competition - what I mind is unfair competition.
they bought out the only other internet bookseller that was worth note, but because it didn't raise their market share by more than about 3% (it was about 80% anyway!) the competition commission decided it was fair.
but the book depository was selling through amazon marketplace anyway, so really.....
and on top of that - Marketplace sellers aren't allowed under Amazon's t&Cs to sell their own goods on their own websites at better prices than on amazon - even though, that includes the price that you have to charge for postage, and it's before amazon take their commission
EG: if an item normally sells at £12.99 on your own website, where you get all of it (before postage and paying for the item), you have to sell it for £12.98 or cheaper on amazon, who will then take £4.something commission.
so, instead of getting £12.99 (before postage) you get £8.something (before postage).
that's why it's not fair.

oh, that £12.98 i quoted also includes the price that Amazon force you to charge per item for postage, which on toys is usually around £4.60, no matter how much the item costs to post - so in actual fact, a £12.98 item should be listed at about £8.38

nickelbabe My concern is as end-buyer and time and time again I have found things cheaper on Amazon than anywhere else, especially the bricks-and-mortar shops. As for this:

I don't mind competition - what I mind is unfair competition

people who admit that they mind fair competition are as common as hens' teeth. The competition which is hurting your business will always seem unfair to you.

Andrew - you don't like people to disagree with you, do you?
amazon is unfair competition.
whatever you say, and it's shops like them that are making sure that things are more and more expensive over time.
it's about value over price.

I'm happy to be disagreed with, but I'm having difficulty seeing how things are being made more expensive when I'm paying less for them. I know that Amazon are not in it for my health or yours, but I am getting some of the benefit from the massive saving in overheads which an operation like theirs can make over bricks-and-mortar.

The fact is that no form of business has a right to exist. I have mentioned on another thread that the digital camera has destroyed the business of the mass-production photo-processing labs and the jobs of the people who worked in them. The railways about which people get sentimental destroyed the canals and the coaching inns. That's life.

So you think it's fair that Amazon won't let you compete with them on price?
so that, as I said in my last post - you can't sell stuff on your own website cheaper than on Amazon?
(when in actual fact, by doing so, you might be able to offer your customer a better deal, because you don't have to pay amazon's commission?)
(see my example about £8.something - If I were Allowed to sell that at the same price that I would receive for it on my own website, my customer would get a better deal - ie, after amazon commission, I would receive £8.something - if i sold it on my website at £8.something instead of the £12.98 that amazon insist, then I would still receive the same amount form the customer, but not have to have paid amazon commission - how is that fair competition?)

niclkebabe, you have a point but.. sadly at the end of the day people will go where it is cheaper.
I used to go to HMV/Virgin for dvd's or cd's, but now used Amazon..
it is cheaper. there is more choice and I can do it in the comfort of my own home.

sevenfold Why sadly?

Why would you or I not buy where we can buy most cheaply?

well I got the boots so i'm happy!

Well you pay a commission and agree to the terms so you can benefit from the amazon brand.

You don't have to list on amazon, you choose to. Do you purchase everything direct from suppliers, or do you use money comparison sites, booking.com etc??

sevenfold - disagree with you when you say that people will shop where it is cheaper.

Amazon has its place. If you know what you want, then, yes, price will be a factor. However, how will you discover something new? By looking at Amazon's recommendations? By buying what other people who bought that item have bought? There's a danger we could lose our individuality if online bookshops replace bricks and mortar.

Nothing beats a good browse in a bookshop and I mean a bookshop, not a supermarket. Chat to the booksellers, pick something different off the shelf just for the sake of it, read the blurb, put it back, pick something else up, but, ultimately, make up your own mind.

Andrewofgg "sadly" because the shops shut.
but once you have added in petrol(or in my case diesel) parking and Time, real shops are too expensinve

Squidgy - the way that it has become, often we don't get a choice but to list on amazon - you only have to look around MN when people are looking for something in particular- almost everybody will do a link to the item on amazon rather than anywhere else. it's almost like it's become the default (like Google as a search engine). If you don't list on amazon, you're very unlikely to get the sales (unless you're one of the few suppliers who've got the item left and the person does a google search in desperation)
The rule about not being able to list your items on your own website cheaper than on amazon only came in last year - so lots of us who were already trading through amazon (and therefore knew how powerful a tool it is), were kind of stuck with it.

madame - so true. :)
I just had a lady in here who bought 4 books on my recommendation - she said (because I'm opening a bit later at the moment on MW's orders), she'd looked in WHSmith while she was waiting for me to open, but no one was willing to help her.
She came in here, asked for the type of book she wanted and left happy.
It's lovely to be able to ask someone their opinion, and to browse.