Turns out you can only sell stuff under cost for so long before you have to start cutting corners.
I buy things from Amazon because they have killed the local stores that used to stock stuff... I know I'm a creature of the past, but I try to buy stuff from people who pay their taxes locally.
Javelin said:BoxheadTim said:Re knock-offs, that seems to have been a problem for quite some time now. Microsoft used to have a very small foldable mouse that I've tried to order via the 'zon and promptly received a knockoff.
They really have become a clearing house of knock offs and returns.
Unfortunately. Including returns sent out as new items from time to time.
Due to our location I pretty much have to travel or shop online for anything over and above normal food stuff and we still do a lot of Amazon orders because of that. But for car parts and the like and other more special items I'm either trying to find a local-ish shop or order from a dedicated specialist. Who funnily enough tend to not be any more expensive than Amazon even when you have to *shudder* pay shipping.
Case in point - I recently needed a couple of 8TB external drives as I'm cycling out some backup drives. They were actually cheaper at Costco and I could pick them up at the local warehouse.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
ah, 2008/9. I have found them to be cheaper but then I searched a Nissan tuner book by Sarah Forst. Way more expensive. 
Appleseed said:yupididit said:Floating Doc said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:Last week my gf was craving these particular spicy pickles,
Congrats on the pregnancy!
Nope! Team Vasectomy.
Sorry to hear you're not the father!!
I had shared this with my wife, who is beyond getting pregnant, and she said, Well, you don't have to worry about that."
We had discussed vasectomy before the arrival of menopause. My reply, "Yeah, girlfriend."
My gf is from middle of nowhere Louisiana. Their taste in food is beyond the cravings of a pregnant woman. Pickled beats are a snack for her at work. Gross!
Just quoting this to see how far we can push it.
Where abouts in Louisiana? Its a great food destination. Just gotta sometimes not ask where the meat came from..
TJL said:Appleseed said:yupididit said:Floating Doc said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:Last week my gf was craving these particular spicy pickles,
Congrats on the pregnancy!
Nope! Team Vasectomy.
Sorry to hear you're not the father!!
I had shared this with my wife, who is beyond getting pregnant, and she said, Well, you don't have to worry about that."
We had discussed vasectomy before the arrival of menopause. My reply, "Yeah, girlfriend."
My gf is from middle of nowhere Louisiana. Their taste in food is beyond the cravings of a pregnant woman. Pickled beats are a snack for her at work. Gross!
Just quoting this to see how far we can push it.
Where abouts in Louisiana? Its a great food destination. Just gotta sometimes not ask where the meat came from..
I don't think you can get a bad meal in the whole state.
I lived there for a year and a half, and traveled up and down the river on tankers for years. If I ever go back, just shoot me.
We've had some problems with Amazon, but the vast majority of the things we've ordered have bene on time and correct.
Apparently they are delivering five billion packages a year or something like that.
If one in a thousand deliveries had something wrong, that's still 5,000,000 problems a year. I'm sure they are looking to get all Six Sigma on it, but it's highly unlikely that will happen, since there are so many humans involved along in the process.
The problem you've had on auto parts is explained mostly by:
Moog part in Delco box: It's a where a distributor or store changes brand. Let's just say they had the Moog product line and changed to Delco. They don't send all the stuff back to Moog. They just get a shipment of new boxes and put all the old parts in new boxes. Pretty standard stuff (good or bad...it IS how it works).
Used/Defective item in a presentable box. This is when a shop sent an item back as a defect but somewhere along the line it got put back on the shelf as new. Since the auto jobbers all employ regular folks...there are a lot of places in the system for this to happen.
Since I'm sure they are buying "closeout" type stuff (older, low-demand, and "we have a pallet of this stuff we can't send back to the manufacturer because we don't sell their brand anymore) from wholesalers...you're naturally going to see more and more of this.
I'm just going to say...when you're buying auto parts and the deal is too good. It's going to bite you every now and then. It has me. It's a risk we have to accept to save some bucks here and there. The alternative is to just buy the parts you know you need down the street from folks who are happy to sell them to you and make a little bit of money in the process.
Brett_Murphy said:We've had some problems with Amazon, but the vast majority of the things we've ordered have bene on time and correct.
Apparently they are delivering five billion packages a year or something like that.
If one in a thousand deliveries had something wrong, that's still 5,000,000 problems a year. I'm sure they are looking to get all Six Sigma on it, but it's highly unlikely that will happen, since there are so many humans involved along in the process.
My experience is more like 50%. Four of my last five orders have exceptions. Either I'm a huge statistical outlier, or something is broken.
They’re struggling with next day for prime. It’s breaking the system and most do the people who knew how to run everything have turned over.
They'll fix fix it but I doubt service levels will be the same.
ClemSparks said:The problem you've had on auto parts is explained mostly by:
Moog part in Delco box: It's a where a distributor or store changes brand. Let's just say they had the Moog product line and changed to Delco. They don't send all the stuff back to Moog. They just get a shipment of new boxes and put all the old parts in new boxes. Pretty standard stuff (good or bad...it IS how it works).
Used/Defective item in a presentable box. This is when a shop sent an item back as a defect but somewhere along the line it got put back on the shelf as new. Since the auto jobbers all employ regular folks...there are a lot of places in the system for this to happen.
Since I'm sure they are buying "closeout" type stuff (older, low-demand, and "we have a pallet of this stuff we can't send back to the manufacturer because we don't sell their brand anymore) from wholesalers...you're naturally going to see more and more of this.
I'm just going to say...when you're buying auto parts and the deal is too good. It's going to bite you every now and then. It has me. It's a risk we have to accept to save some bucks here and there. The alternative is to just buy the parts you know you need down the street from folks who are happy to sell them to you and make a little bit of money in the process.
I am all too aware of how the auto parts industry works. I spent 3 years working for NAPA and 2 for a FLAPS. I'm such of paying the premium for a quality part only to get garbage in the box. That's why I parts shop online from the sources.
Amazon is having a really hard time with returns getting resold across the board in every category.
Javelin said:Amazon is having a really hard time with returns getting resold across the board in every category.
yes... this is a big problem. The same low wage workers that stow and pack items also process returns. They have no product knowledge, nor should they.. but if you return something similar to what is supposed to be in the box and it looks new.. They'll accept it back. You should see what they do to reconditon shoes to "as new" once they are returned..
I'm with you except on the Tau, Imperial Guard for life.. Also what's wrong with eating pickled beats for a snack?
Fueled by .....yes... this is a big problem. The same low wage workers that stow and pack items also process returns. They have no product knowledge, nor should they.. but if you return something similar to what is supposed to be in the box and it looks new.. They'll accept it back. You should see what they do to reconditon shoes to "as new" once they are returned..
..................................
I Just got that , ordered a left front turn signal for my van , got a right hand one but in the correct left box,
someone had returned it and put it in the wrong box ,
no Amazon worker would ever notice that one.....
dclafleur said:I'm with you except on the Tau, Imperial Guard for life.. Also what's wrong with eating pickled beats for a snack?
I started playing in 2nd edition in 95ish. Took a break in 12 and sold it all off. Just jumped back into 8th with Primaris, Aeldari, Tau, and Orks. Orkses are still da best.
dclafleur said:Also what's wrong with eating pickled beats for a snack?
I don't know, but I love beets.
Amazon is not typically competitive on either price or delivery for me so I've ordered only a few times, including 3 items last week that arrived very quickly, though I did notice one thing that will bite them in the ass. On an order that should have had $10 tax on it, I was only charged $3.
I hear their ads every day. $15/hr, no experience necessary, no interview. Imagine how difficult it is to run a business when it's so hard to find people you're advertising that on the radio, all day, every day for months.
Just want to reinforce the concept that Amazon is not quite yet the ONLY option. As noted, they many times do not have great prices. Walmart has a pretty robust online store, and the only reason shipping is still free at $25+ at Amazon (Amazon wanted to go up to $50, but Walmart kept it at $25). They of course will also sell from secondary sellers, so knock offs an all those issues are still there. Costco is also trying hard in the online market (much smaller selection of course).
Amazon seems to be becoming the answer to question no one is asking: "so, why is it monopolies are bad?"
I've had good luck with Amazon over the years, and I still use them all the time, but lately there have been a few hiccups.
-For work, I ordered 5 laptops, all with decent specs. All 5 died within a couple months! And I didn't read the fine print: they were MODDED by the seller (they added RAM), and when you do that, buh-bye goes the factory warranty. And the seller vanished, of course. Amazon took one of them back that died within the return period, but that was it. Most of that was on me, so yeah, read the fine print!
-I ordered some Bluetooth headphones recently on a deal. They shipped them, and then they disappeared. "Shipper returned the item because customer was not home" was the excuse, which is total BS, because I'm rarely home when they deliver anything else. Although annoying, I got my money back without issue. My guess is that the seller never had them to begin with.
-Just today, I tried ordering two shocks for my Mazda. "8 left in stock, order soon" said the message on the item. No problem, I was only ordering two. I get to the checkout, and it says they are out of stock, and will ship with an estimated delivery date of 10/30 at the earliest. Huh? I cleared my cart (and browser cache) and tried again. Still "8 left in stock, order soon" but they are out of stock at checkout. RockAuto had them (for more money) so I ordered from there.
They are getting fat at the top of the heap, and need some real competition to open their eyes.
I've had the delivery date change on me at check out before, but that's the only issue I've had so far. and when the date changes I just return using 'did not arrive in time' button. No hassle.
Dr. Hess said:TJL said:Appleseed said:yupididit said:Floating Doc said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:John Welsh said:yupididit said:Last week my gf was craving these particular spicy pickles,
Congrats on the pregnancy!
Nope! Team Vasectomy.
Sorry to hear you're not the father!!
I had shared this with my wife, who is beyond getting pregnant, and she said, Well, you don't have to worry about that."
We had discussed vasectomy before the arrival of menopause. My reply, "Yeah, girlfriend."
My gf is from middle of nowhere Louisiana. Their taste in food is beyond the cravings of a pregnant woman. Pickled beats are a snack for her at work. Gross!
Just quoting this to see how far we can push it.
Where abouts in Louisiana? Its a great food destination. Just gotta sometimes not ask where the meat came from..
I don't think you can get a bad meal in the whole state.
I lived there for a year and a half, and traveled up and down the river on tankers for years. If I ever go back, just shoot me.
Wait, pickled beets are awesome and not only a Louisiana thing, we had them growing up in the UK, and you can get them here in Mi, although making them is better as you can do it without adding sugar. Oh wait, you said pickled beats. They're new to me!
Pickled beets taste like graveyard dirt.
Now, put some peeled hard-boiled eggs in with the beets and wait until the eggs are nice and purple - those are a tasty treat.
But after you eat the eggs, throw the nasty beets out.
Amazon makes a decent chunk on their marketplace, but it basically serves as the company's public face. It is extremely low margin considering the volume that they do.
AWS and advertising are quite a bit more profitable (AWS generated $7.3 billion in net operating income barely edging out the marketplace.) Last year international sales on the marketplace actually cost Amazon money to the tune of $2.1 billion (though they had a net operating income of $7.2 billion in North America.)
The danger is of course that Amazon does finally kill off their smaller competitors, thus becoming a modern Standard Oil, and flips the switch to generate lots of money from the market.
Also: Have you ever seen how their warehouse pick system works? It's practically the definition of an after thought. It's no wonder they have problems with picking accurately and their employee turnover is so high.
This won't make Javelin feel any better but: 34 Amazon orders in the last 6 months and maybe one came a day or two late. No other problems. Just last week I ordered a wheel bearing puller kit for about 1/2 the Harbor Freight price for the equivalent.
That said, FCPEuro for all my automotive parts needs. They are amazing, especially if you're close. Last week, I placed an order at 7:30AM for an E30 rear wheel bearing and a few other bits. Tracking info by 10, in my hands Friday afternoon, cursing at it Saturday morning. They are in CT, I'm in NJ.
In reply to mfennell :
72 for me in the last 6 months, zero complaints.
Duke said:Pickled beets taste like graveyard dirt.
Now, put some peeled hard-boiled eggs in with the beets and wait until the eggs are nice and purple - those are a tasty treat.
But after you eat the eggs, throw the nasty beets out.
Ugh, we used to have friends in PA (York/New Freedom area) who would always have the eggs in pickled beets and something about that shade of purple and that shade of yellow together would make me nauseous just looking at them.
As for Amazon, rarely use them because their delivery times always seemed to be absurd for me
Slippery said:In reply to mfennell :
72 for me in the last 6 months, zero complaints.
This was me until 6 weeks ago. It's a very recent and dramatic down turn.
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