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.
I’ve switched to eBay. The delivery time is often the same and the returns are ok too
A few years ago I mused that we might see the day when eBay becomes a more trustworthy platform to purchase on than Amazon. I’m not sure when exactly the streams crossed but I think we are past it now
Hm, my experiences with e-Bay have been pretty bad (hard to return items or get customer support involved when something is wrong). I’ve had better luck with just random mid-sized buisnesses or directly ordering from the manufacturer.
That happened years ago. Better search and more trustworthy sellers since products aren’t co-mingled. No way is some seller with years of positive reviews going to send you broken junk and not try to make it right.
I agree.
Amazon is difficult to find what you want if you are searching for a specific brand or item. It shows you many options.
To me it seems like Amazon wants to sell you something as long as the make a sale. Whether it is what you actually wanted is a distant second.
I been going to ebay more recently. What I do is try to decipher the Amazon reviews and then go to ebay, even though I have Prime. My headlamp led was less expensive on ebay by 50%!
Just gotta avoid Amazon drop shippers. Thousands of feedback + free expedited shipping + free returns = maybe a drop shipper.
No, avoid alllll of amazon
Correct but eBay is full of shippers who drop ship from Amazon. You don’t want to go on eBay to accidentally end up ordering from Amazon.
Oh sorry I may have misunderstood!
And Amazon is full or drop shippers from AliExpress and Temu.
You have to offer free returns for top rated seller status. It puts you higher up in searches.
Ok but a common indicator of a drop shipper is all of the items I listed not just free returns.
I wish I could do more shopping there, but eBay in Canada is extremely expensive which has lead to it being kind of a ghost town compared to the US. $20-$50 shipping fees, even on tiny items, is common.
So I’ve started to use AliExpress more often. Literally the exact same item on Amazon but without the markup - sometimes even half the price. It’s not a great solution but the online shopping selection here in Canada is awful.
I’ve found that a lot of stuff listed on Amazon is about the price of shipping higher than it is on eBay I guess to account for the free Prime shipping. If you don’t have Prime, there really isn’t much reason to not use eBay since you’d be getting doubly screwed without the free shipping on Amazon.