Anti-Hot Deal: Amazon's minimum free shipping now $49 for everything except books!

[BarkingGhostar]

Correct. 148 orders in 2015. But I don't know how many of those were put into the same box after I placed the order. So it could be more "Per shipment". Still a good deal for my use. I don't have the convenience of most major retailers. We have a Target and a Wal-Mart here, that's it for consumer goods.

Just trying to distinguish between orders and items. What was the item count on those 148 orders?

 

[FeuerFrei]

Just noticed Amazon's latest little bit of "cuteness"... they seem to have changed the "usefulness" ratings of individual reviews to remove the helpful/unhelpful ratio - all I'm seeing is the net number of "helpful" ratings...

Ugh ... you are right. Shame on Amazon. They still have a button for "not helpful" at least - wonder what it does now?

Coupled with the absolute explosion in the number of "free/discounted product for 'honest & unbiased' review" reviews over the past couple of years, the utility of the site's ratings is heading rapidly toward the "truly pitiful" end of the spectrum... Next I suppose they'll decide that's it's really not terribly "helpful" for reviewers to even note that they got the product they're reviewing for free at all...

Not helpful for selling, but definitely helpful for us buyers. :sneaky::thumbsup:

 

[TwiceOver]

Just trying to distinguish between orders and items. What was the item count on those 148 orders?

Including multiples of the same item on the same order 224 items. Looks like actually 146 shipments. So while some orders were combined, some may have been split up due to qty/size in the order. Pretty much a wash when it comes to QTY of Orders/QTY of Shipments. Amazon actually does a really good job combining your orders. Often times if I do an overnight item, they'll throw in any other orders I do that day and I get everything overnight for just that initial $4.

Sounds about right. I usually get 2 packages a week, but 3-5 happens at times also.

So if you go strictly by item count $0.44/item for shipping. Which both seems like a lot, and seems like very little at the same time.

EDIT: As of this morning I have 46 orders this year, so next year might end up even better price/item.

 

[Rudee]

Still $25 for free shipping here in Canada.

 

[slag]

Meh... Prime customer.

Do people realize that Prime customers also often receive a discount on the item? For example an item may be $15 for non prime customers and $10 for prime customers?

If you order from them more than once a month the membership makes sense.

Amazon is the Costco of the Internet. You pay to play.

Negative. Prime members almost ALWAYS pay more for an item since shipping is "built in" to the price. At least, that is my experience with prime vs non prime orders.

 

[pcslookout]

So people who have prime and used the app Prime Now app how is the selection of items to pick from to get with free 2 hour delivery or paid 1 hour delivery ?

 

[Mike64]

Ugh ... you are right. Shame on Amazon. They still have a button for "not helpful" at least - wonder what it does now?

Well, (for time being, anyway:whisteit presumably still "counts" towards the net "helpfulness rating"...

 

[Mike64]

Negative. Prime members almost ALWAYS pay more for an item since shipping is "built in" to the price. At least, that is my experience with prime vs non prime orders.

You seem to have had very strange experiences with Prime. Are you talking regular stuff, or something like "Prime Pantry"? Which indeed, as far as I've been able to tell, does pretty much seem like a ripoff (or to put it nicer terms, "paying a high price for convenience"), (maybe) unless you live literally out in the middle of the cornfields somewhere a hundred miles from the nearest supermarket...

 

[Capt Caveman]

Negative. Prime members almost ALWAYS pay more for an item since shipping is "built in" to the price. At least, that is my experience with prime vs non prime orders.

So, when someone posts in the Hot Deals forum, Slickdeals or at FatWallet an Amazon deal that price is going to be higher if you're a Prime member compared to a non-Prime member? Sure...

 

[Homerboy]

Hmmm.... apparently you've all jinxed my Amazon shipping juju...

Placed order on the 1st.
Items initially said "Thursday delivery".
Now its due tomorrow before 8pm.

That's more than 2 days prime shipping I think.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Seriously, I think they are altering ZIP codes in their logistics system. Before with Two-day I always got it in two days or less and weekends were never an issue or obstacle. Then it changed at the end of February. I complained to hell about it and a week later it got 'fixed'. Of course I had to use the jeff@amazon.com email, which garnered a different kind of response.

Now wife orders LP for me Sunday night at 10PM and I got it lunch on Tuesday. And it didn't come out of the nearest fulfillment center, but one across the state line.

 

[Mike64]

Of course I had to use the jeff@amazon.com email, which garnered a different kind of response.

Hmm, I just tucked that away, together with the 800 number I once managed to dig up after many clicks through many links on their website (866-216-1072, fwiw) which pretty much invariably gets me better results, certainly much quicker, than sending "messages" via the website...

Do I assume correctly that address is the digital equivalent of sending snail mail to the attention of a company's president or chairman of their board of directors? (Of course, those people never see them in the first instance much less personally read them at any point, but some sort of "assistant" in the "executive suite" does and once forwarded to the people who actually resolve things, they do often get closer attention and better results than sending letters to "customer service" at large, at least for things more complicated or problematic than run-of-the-mill questions/concerns/issues ...)

 

[slag]

You seem to have had very strange experiences with Prime. Are you talking regular stuff, or something like "Prime Pantry"? Which indeed, as far as I've been able to tell, does pretty much seem like a ripoff (or to put it nicer terms, "paying a high price for convenience"), (maybe) unless you live literally out in the middle of the cornfields somewhere a hundred miles from the nearest supermarket...

Regular items. These are just two items from recent orders:

I've paid my $100 prime fee which allows for free 2 day shipping of any prime item. With that in mind, why do prime items cost more than identical items offered by other sellers?

For example,

The prime price is $19.09. New from other sellers is $12.90. Prime's price should be at least as low as the next in line since I've already paid for the shipping with the yearly fee. Why is it so much more than the next sellers price? Because they are trying to recoup some of the shipping cost that we've already paid with the yearly membership fee. That's wrong.

Second item:

$17.97 through prime, $15.99 at the cheapest seller. Prime's price should be at least $15.99.

This is true on most items you find on prime. You find the prime selling price, and there are much cheaper sellers who want you to pay a high shipping cost. Since the shipping cost is already paid with prime, the cost of their items should be lower than they are.

 

[rh71]

Before I got in on the sale for Prime back in Sept, I was a big proponent of using a wish list and just put in an order when you had $35. With it being $49, it's just getting way too hard.

I signed up for that BoA Better Balance Rewards Card (thanks Rossman) that nets you $100/year just for paying every month on time and just put my nominal Netflix charge on it. So logically, that cancels out my Prime annual membership cost.
https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/better-balance-rewards.go

 

[stlc8tr]

$17.97 through prime, $15.99 at the cheapest seller. Prime's price should be at least $15.99.

This is true on most items you find on prime. You find the prime selling price, and there are much cheaper sellers who want you to pay a high shipping cost. Since the shipping cost is already paid with prime, the cost of their items should be lower than they are.

That's not the way that you should compare Prime vs non-Prime. You can't compare buying directly from Amazon to a 3rd party reseller.

If you want to compare Prime to non-Prime, logout from Amazon and then clear your browser data before looking at the item again. The price should be the same.

 

[Mike64]

You find the prime selling price, and there are much cheaper sellers who want you to pay a high shipping cost. Since the shipping cost is already paid with prime, the cost of their items should be lower than they are.

Oh, that's what you meant?? That's just ridiculous. You might as well complain that you can buy stuff for low prices from HK or mainland China more cheaply than you can buy them from any US reseller. (More cheaply being relative of course, in this case assuming a lesser likelihood of a getting counterfeit or gray market goods, getting them sooner than 3-5 weeks after you order them, and being able to make practical use of any available warranty have no economically quantifiable "value" for you...)

Amazon's prices have nothing to do with third-party sellers', whether or not the seller uses Amazon for shipping fulfillment (obviously the only way it could qualify for Prime.) Nor do you get the (usually not inconsequential) benefits of dealing directly with Amazon including, among others, a more or less reliable track record as a "seller", easy, liberal returns, and, with Prime, last but not always least, expedited shipping.

I do occasionally buy from 3rd parties on Amazon (especially the ones that don't have to collect NY sales taxes:whiste, but only the ones with reasonably good ratings and when you factor that in, I often do not consider that the best option, even if the price is a $1-2 cheaper than a highly-rated seller.

 

[Mike64]

If you want to compare Prime to non-Prime, logout from Amazon and then clear your browser data before looking at the item again.

Or even more conveniently, just bring up Amazon in a "Private Browsing" window, or whatever your browser-of-choice calls the equivalent...

 

[Carson Dyle]

They really suck on returns; didn't like an item I ordered, requested return, here's what they said:

We are processing your refund. You don't need to return the item back to us!

Those Bastards!

What was it? I want a free one, too. Whatever it is.

 

[13Gigatons]

Before I got in on the sale for Prime back in Sept, I was a big proponent of using a wish list and just put in an order when you had $35. With it being $49, it's just getting way too hard.

This. I will save money by not bothering to reach the free shipping level.

Just place the order for the one or two items I actually want and pay the shipping fee. Of course this is only if I can't find it locally since Amazon chargers sales tax and I get the item right away.

 

[Mike64]

Before I got in on the sale for Prime back in Sept, I was a big proponent of using a wish list and just put in an order when you had $35. With it being $49, it's just getting way too hard.

Ditto that.

BoA

Offhand, I don't know what they call my version of their Visa card, but it gives me a once-per-month mailorder "shipping rebate" of $6 for using it to pay for the order (regardless of course of whether I'm actually charged a discrete shipping fee or not.) Even though I have another Visa card too, and frequently forget the benefit exists until I see it on my statement, I use the card enough in the ordinary course to always get the rebate and while that alone doesn't quite cover Prime at the normal price, it's close enough for me...

 

[Carson Dyle]

This. I will save money by not bothering to reach the free shipping level.

Just place the order for the one or two items I actually want and pay the shipping fee. Of course this is only if I can't find it locally since Amazon chargers sales tax and I get the item right away.

There's pretty much always a ton of things I could use. I don't use a wish list, though. The 'Saved for later' that appears below the shopping cart is a lot more convenient. I have about 60 items there right now.

 

[Zee]

Regular items. These are just two items from recent orders:

I've paid my $100 prime fee which allows for free 2 day shipping of any prime item. With that in mind, why do prime items cost more than identical items offered by other sellers?

For example,

The prime price is $19.09. New from other sellers is $12.90. Prime's price should be at least as low as the next in line since I've already paid for the shipping with the yearly fee. Why is it so much more than the next sellers price? Because they are trying to recoup some of the shipping cost that we've already paid with the yearly membership fee. That's wrong.

Second item:

$17.97 through prime, $15.99 at the cheapest seller. Prime's price should be at least $15.99.

This is true on most items you find on prime. You find the prime selling price, and there are much cheaper sellers who want you to pay a high shipping cost. Since the shipping cost is already paid with prime, the cost of their items should be lower than they are.

wtf. prime has nothing to do with who the seller is. you arent even comparing it correctly

 

[Mike64]

There's pretty much always a ton of things I could use. I don't use a wish list, though. The 'Saved for later' that appears below the shopping cart is a lot more convenient. I have about 60 items there right now.

I have way (wa-a-ay) too many things saved on myriad wishlists to do that. (I basically use them like browser bookmarks - not just for things I'm actively interested in buying, but also for related things for comparison purposes, and for that matter, pretty much whenever I see anything that strikes my fancy for whatever the reason, even if I have no interest in actually owning it.)

Since Amazon doesn't have "price alert" notifications, though, "saving for later" does have the benefit of showing price changes for those things as well as the ones in the "active" part of the cart at the top of the page. By keeping things I have even a slight "current interest" in buying there and then checking the cart frequently, I've been able grab things that that have dropped, however briefly, to dramatically low prices...

 

[Mike64]

Ugh ... you are right. Shame on Amazon. They still have a button for "not helpful" at least - wonder what it does now?

It would appear that Amazon is doing behaviorial psych experiments on its users (though less covert/sophisticated than Facebook's), or maybe "it" just had some sort of collective psychiatric "episode"...:hmm: In any event, the previous format showing the ratio of unhelpful to helpful ratings is back...

 

[Craig234]

wtf. prime has nothing to do with who the seller is. you arent even comparing it correctly

I have sometimes notice a book will be like:

Seller 1 $15.00 + $3.99 shipping
Seller 2 $15.04 + $3.99 shipping
Seller 3 $15.08 + $3.99 shipping
Amazon Prime $18.99 Free shipping

Just a coincidence!