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Why I opt for Amazon


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59 minutes ago, Christine said:

 

Many things on Amazon have a notice under the price saying something like "available for less without Prime delivery". Have a search for stuff, Prime and non Prime and compare prices, loads of it is cheaper without

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Not Prime.  Other sellers.  They're simply using the Amazon Marketplace as their storefront.

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Just some background and basis for Amazon's pricing methodology.

When I worked in the jewellery trade, we had a caveat in the terms and conditions that ANY jeweller who wished to pursue sales online must have a High Street presence before we could ship product; this was looked upon as our way of supporting the High Street.  We would not embrace traders who operated a mailorder business out of a spare room or garage.  Towards the end of my time there however, things changed somewhat; it would be fair to say that we had a new managing director and FD who were wholly sales driven and there was a changing marketplace and more competition within our pricing sector.  I'd say a precedent that led to the change in our distribution channels was set by one shop that maintained a tiny store in Reading whilst being the biggest online retailer of wristwatches in the country and as a consequence the lid was off a box that we tried so hard to keep closed, so it became open season.

A couple of years before I left, we jumped into bed with Amazon.  While I'm not wholly aware of the specifics behind the contracts, I figure the management finally caught on that Amazon was becoming a huge player in just about everything, that logistically it saved us a fortune on long-term warehousing and shipping and through them we could control/undermine the businesses we were trying to limit selling online.  I mean, what better way to beat people down than - irrespective if it's good ethically - to side with another business to ultimately drive more small retailers out of business.

Concerning prices, let's not forget that have huge resources at work to track 3rd party marketplace products  and to ensure they are always the cheapest.  We'd just ship into Amazon's warehouse locations and if XYZ Ltd were selling one of our products at £295.00, Amazon would automatically track that product and sell it £10.00 cheaper.  You have to remember that because of agreements and bulk selling, we're selling into Amazon at a) cheaper than we would a High Street retailer, b) the mark up is almost definitely more than 80%, possible double and c) Amazon were rewarded with contributions from us based on sales out numbers.

The long and the short of this is that Amazon will almost certainly always be the cheapest that you will find new product on sale for.  Forget going out and looking at stuff now; people are effectively using stores as showrooms; it doesn't matter whether it's TVs or wristwatches.  If you know what you want, you will not find it cheaper elsewhere.

Edited by NancyJohnson
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12 hours ago, fleabag said:

Large Corps base their headquarters and tax affairs offshore from mainland UK and enjoy/exploit lower tax brackets.  Eire, Luxemberg etc.

Your local builders, bakers, and candlestick makers are just too small to be based offshore

What the rules should change to is that any company that sells goods here, should pay the same standard UK corporation tax as any other UK  based business.

 

Nail on head. Someone has to pay taxes, so it is, as usual, the small business and the ordinary working person that has little or no option.

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1 hour ago, mikel said:

Nail on head. Someone has to pay taxes, so it is, as usual, the small business and the ordinary working person that has little or no option.

Which is put under even more pressure when real people start to be replaced by robot pickers, software algorithms, delivery drones and the like.

Robots don't pay tax so the more that jobs are de-skilled or even replaced altogether, the less income the government has.

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18 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Why cant the small business use the same loopholes as the large corporations? Just asking as i know nothing about all this. 

There are small businesses out there that get paid cash in hand and don't declare tax. 

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On 09/07/2019 at 07:27, bartelby said:

But then you have to pay for delivery, and that's where the seller makes the money back. Unless it's free delivery that takes a few days.

I've never found a non Prime item to have an overall cheaper price. Unless it's used, which doesn't count.

There can be a difference on Same Day delivery items with Amazon charging more if you want it today...I would look for an example but it's after midday so they're not being shown.  But I recall reading an article on it somewhere that showed there were separate listings for the one day delivery options with slightly higher prices, and when I checked it was true

One thing i do like on the marketplace listings is that they are listed in order of total costs, so anybody offering a lower base price but higher shipping will get pushed down the list accordingly.  I also find it slightly amusing that competing retailers will trim a penny off their price to get a boost up the listings

Edited by Monkey Steve
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I know an importer who told me a story he claimed came direct from the seller:

This guy sold a product that was only available from overseas from one supplier and knew he was the only person selling it in the UK.

His modest stock was kept by you-know-who who also dealt with fuilfillment.

He was doing well, but then people were finding people couldn't get his product because it was 'out of stock'.

Turned out YKW's algorithms had detected his stock was selling well, so they undercut him - and fulfilled their orders from his stock while waiting for their own to arrive.

Of course when his stock was replenished, he couldn't sell it at a profit because YKW were undercutting him...

 

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16 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

Different SKU/ASIN.  The more expensive product (Prime) is stocked and shippedby Amazon, the cheaper is not.

I've yet to find a product that's cheaper on Prime than not.

I did the 30 day free trial when I wanted something with expensive shipping, rapidly discovered it was cheaper to buy stuff and pay shipping instead of paying prime prices, so I baled after a week or two.

I hate the tricksy checkout procedures that make multiple attempts to get you to click on prime delivery. As bad as Paypal periodically replacing the next button with one that turns on one-click pay.

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I must admit I do use Amazon Prime quite a bit, the strings above I bought Prime because I wanted them asap despite them being 5% more. I find the whole interface easy (too easy) to use, the buy with one click. I have had quite a few things I've ordered Prime that should have been with me the next day not arrive because the seller did not ship them (I guess) in time to be transferred by the courier to the distribution hub, I suppose they let the delivery people know but too late to be collected.

Given a choice I would prefer to use a high street shop because if we don't one day they'll all be gone and I love shopping

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1 hour ago, Christine said:

No but you do have to pay more for prime delivery seeing as how you've supposedly already paid for it

if you want something quickly then it stands to reason you pay a bit more.

For the causal buyer maybe Prime isnt the way to go, but i make 100-200 orders a year with Amazon, and always use Prime next day delivery. If i was to do that without Prime it would cost a hell of a lot more. 

You also get Prime TV, Amazon music (not the full blown version though), and Prime Now included in the cost. 

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7 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

As opposed to getting it between next Mon-Wed. I think Thats worth paying £1.50 extra for IMO, especially as it will be delivered by courier and not just posted. 

Do you work for or have shares in Amazon? You seem very keen to promote the company.

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9 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I've yet to find a product that's cheaper on Prime than not.

I did the 30 day free trial when I wanted something with expensive shipping, rapidly discovered it was cheaper to buy stuff and pay shipping instead of paying prime prices, so I baled after a week or two.

I hate the tricksy checkout procedures that make multiple attempts to get you to click on prime delivery. As bad as Paypal periodically replacing the next button with one that turns on one-click pay.

I don’t have prime just for shipping, although the amount of stuff we get from amazon means we pay less for shipping...

we use Prime Video, Music and the Kindle library

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I discovered a while back that I was allowed to use my wife's Prime on my account. No big deal but as a photographer the unlimited cloud storage for photos is extremely useful. 

However the real excitement is that since the dissolution of the marriage at the behest of she who used to have to be obeyed and my subsequent relocation to a new domicile I have been able to continue to receive access to the benefits of her Prime account even though my default delivery address now differs from hers. 

 

 

Which is nice. 

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9 hours ago, mikel said:

Do you work for or have shares in Amazon? You seem very keen to promote the company.

If you could possibly understand any of my posts ive already said i work for a small printing company, and use Amazon a lot.

What’s so hard to understand?

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9 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

As opposed to getting it between next Mon-Wed. I think Thats worth paying £1.50 extra for IMO, especially as it will be delivered by courier and not just posted. 

This. You get notifications and sometimes the same day delivery.

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