Amazon dropped the non-Prime free shipping minimum to $35.

[GagHalfrunt]

Happened yesterday, no announcement at all. Thank You Wal-Mart.

 

[Craig234]

Lot of reasons to shop at Amazon, but a lot to not shop there. They're skynet and jerks to customers in some areas.

 

[purbeast0]

I hear paypal is now starting to take fees out of credit card payments too.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Hot dam, this is welcome.
I rarely order directly from Amazon due to the $50 min., plus the fact that they'll wait 4-5 days to ship half the time - maybe because they want to bundle and have to shuffle stuff, or another order from you appears imminent and they know they can combine the two orders - or maybe it's purely because you aren't paying for shipping.

 

[desura]

It used to be $25. And then $35. And then $50. But now back to $35. I stopped getting stuff there too.

 

[Imp]

I got fucked recently by Amazon raising the free shipping limit from $25 to $35... Ended up spending almost $50 for that one extra item to push it past $35, decided that I didn't really need any of those things right now. Would have spent about $30. I could return them but I may need them later and mailing stuff is annoying -- especially because my printer is only hooked up to my laptop that I rarely use.

 

[SaltyNuts]

Amazon is the best. Love Wal-Mart, and always will, but Amazon is AWESOME SAUCE.

 

[Crono]

Amazon is the best. Love Wal-Mart, and always will, but Amazon is AWESOME SAUCE.

Not without competition it isn't.

 

[Craig234]

Amazon is the best. Love Wal-Mart, and always will, but Amazon is AWESOME SAUCE.

Stay away from the forums, or you'll find with no warning you can never post to product reviews again.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Amazon recently took it upon themselves to start charging tax in a number of states that they don't have warehouses in. Even less reason to shop there now. I go for price, not who can get it to me faster. Granted good to see they dropped the price down, but they have and more stuff behind the Prime paywall - so if you order 1 item, they won't actually ship it to you until you order other things....

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've virtually stopped using Amazon, too, since dropping Prime and they began collecting sales tax in my state.

Good place to do product research. Then buy it locally, because it's just as easy and usually cheaper. Ironic, huh?

 

[SaltyNuts]

Stay away from the forums, or you'll find with no warning you can never post to product reviews again.

Whoa, stay away from what forums? What's the deal here?

 

[SaltyNuts]

Not without competition it isn't.

I'm not telling you where to buy your stuff, how about you don't tell me where to buy mine, and let's let competition have its merry way?

 

[ponyo]

Amazon recently took it upon themselves to start charging tax in a number of states that they don't have warehouses in. Even less reason to shop there now. I go for price, not who can get it to me faster. Granted good to see they dropped the price down, but they have and more stuff behind the Prime paywall - so if you order 1 item, they won't actually ship it to you until you order other things....

Initially, Amazon business model was built on tax avoidance but they've scaled enough that collecting taxes won't have much impact on their current business.

 

[allisolm]

I got fucked recently by Amazon raising the free shipping limit from $25 to $35...

Thought for a moment this was a necro'd thread since they upped the limit to $35 from $25 in 2013.

 

[Imp]

Thought for a moment this was a necro'd thread since they upped the limit to $35 from $25 in 2013.

I be in Canada. They only raised it from $25 to $35 a few months ago, IIRC.

 

[allisolm]

I be in Canada. They only raised it from $25 to $35 a few months ago, IIRC.

So sorry. My mental telepathy wasn't working.

 

[Imp]

So sorry. My mental telepathy wasn't working.

I know a guy who can help you with that... He meets in alleys at 3am.

 

[Sonikku]

Seems like it had been $25 forever then they upped it to $35 then before you could blink they did it again. Bastards.

 

[Craig234]

Amazon recently took it upon themselves to start charging tax in a number of states that they don't have warehouses in. Even less reason to shop there now. I go for price, not who can get it to me faster. Granted good to see they dropped the price down, but they have and more stuff behind the Prime paywall - so if you order 1 item, they won't actually ship it to you until you order other things....

Sales taxes are right to pay in every way. Why should some company shipping from out of state get a competitive advantage over another company that has stores in your state, employing people in your state, paying property taxes in your state, generating income taxes from those employees in your state, etc.?

Answer: there is no reason. It's a historical aberration from 'let's help the internet get off the ground' and the practical difficulties collecting the tax.

Those taxes go for extremely helpful and needed things. They pay for the medical care for the less fortunate. They pay for the state services that do a lot for the public. They pay for a lot of good programs. I think it's basically short-sighted, destructive selfishness that leads people to say "no way I'm paying sales tax on my new big screen tv". Pay it and be proud as a citizen.

 

[MrSquished]

I still don't see the advantage of leaving Amazon's ecosystem. Their breadth of selection is unparalleled. Even if I didn't order 4 things online and had to go do 4 different stores to get the stuff, even if I could save a few bucks, it's not worth the time. Just drop and click on Amazon and it's there in 2 days, easy peasy. It's a no brainer.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Amazon and Ebay is my goto for weird items that you can't really buy anywhere else. Otherwise I go to whatever site/store that sells that type of item. When I do an order on Amazon I try to get to $200 or whatever the minimum is so that I get free shipping. I do the same with Digikey. I'll use those extra components one day.

 

[disappoint]

I know a guy who can help you with that... He meets in alleys at 3am.

I thought I told Derren Brown to stop meeting people in dark alleys at 3am.

 

[Newbian]

Thank you for this thread as I rarely order from them anymore so it's not worth a prime account as I don't mind waiting a few days longer for shipping and the $50 requirement was annoying at times.

This is very nice for the random purchases.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

When does my student $50 a year prime membership end? 'cause... i'm not... who do I tell so they charge me more?

Also, watch "just add magic" with your kids, great show!

Even better, Annedroids; where kids learn about hypothesis testing.