OK I confess, Amazon

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Timmy59

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Nov 30, 2015
Messages
5,991
Reaction score
7,694
Location
Oklahoma
1 stoplight town, maybe 18 places to spend $. So some amazon, e bay, etsy and online retailers. We don't like giving our $ to some of them but it's more or less dictated. Animal feeds are local bought and much is local produced. People feeds may come from Beachlers or dollar general. A lot we produce ourselves but we can't grow pineapples or bananas. Just recently I needed a 100 amp power panel, it was on e bay and a small store in NY.
 

OK Corgi Rancher

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
May 14, 2020
Messages
7,284
Reaction score
22,879
Location
Greater Francis, OK metropolitan area
My wife has a Prime account so she "doesn't pay shipping". I have a regular Amazon account and pay shipping....when I log in to her account everything costs more than it does when I log in to my account. Always $5-6 more for any normal item.
Just checked 5 different items in 5 different categories between my Prime account and my GF's non-Prime account. Pricing was exactly the same.

Keep in mind there could be multiple vendors offering the same item. Perhaps you're looking at pricing from different vendors for the same item.

I have no problem buying locally when the item I want is available. I also have no problem avoiding huge crowds, lousy service and higher prices to shop for an item on Amazon. Or Walmart.com or any number of other websites.

And, for the life of me, I don't know where you guys that complain about return difficulties with Amazon are coming from. That certainly hasn't been my experience. Oftentimes if it's a product sold by Amazon they don't even ask for it back. A few years ago I shopped for a Sealy mattress. Found the best price I could locally...around $1189. Amazon had it for $899. I got it and it developed a problem after just a few days. I used the "Have Amazon call you" feature and someone called me within a minute and had my refund started instantly. And, they didn't have anyone available to come to my home to pack the mattress so they told me dispose of it how I saw fit.

Yes, there's a return window with Amazon. But that doesn't necessarily coincide with the manufacturer's warranty time frame. That's usually an option if you have a problem with something.

If there's one thing I hate it's lousy customer service. I don't care what business it's from. If their service is lousy, I won't use them. I almost always at least "try" to buy American. It's not possible all the time. Sometimes I can't find an American made item locally but I can find the product I need that's American made on Amazon. Sometimes it works the other way.

And lots of small business owners are using Amazon to sell their products. Yes, Amazon takes a cut. But that business owner is also getting exposure he/she might not get otherwise.

I don't like a lot of things about Amazon. But I don't like a lot of things locally, either. So I compromise. Sometimes I just do without. It's how life works.
 

Newbie

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
309
Reaction score
424
Location
Edmond
Hate me if you will but I do allot of shopping on Amazon. Have a Prime account with an Amazon CC. It's just too easy and usually one or two day delivery. Just ordered packing tape and glue sticks without putting my shoes on and it will be here tomorrow. I could have waited till morning, got dressed, drove into Tulsa to an office supply and had what I needed in about the same time frame.

Wife has a kindle which she loves and we watch allot of Prime movies. Hanging my head in shame but for now Amazon gets it done.
Same, but ONLY due to the 1 or 2 day delivery. With walmart doing the same thing for several items now I've been using them more instead because I'd rather my money went to Arkansas than California
 

Aku

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Messages
1,399
Reaction score
2,399
Location
Del City
Can you name one store, that You used to do business with, that is no longer in business because of Amazon (or Walmart for that matter)?

I can't...
This was a big thing when Walmart was taking over small towns. Most of Kingfisher's downtown stores dried up when Walmart went in. Logan & Ames, Lawerences, TG&Y, and many others went bust.
 

DavidMcmillan

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Apr 14, 2010
Messages
9,393
Reaction score
13,610
Location
Oklahoma City
And why was that? Those local stores did not adapt to what their customers wanted. Service, choice, convenience, and so on. No store deserves to stay in business just because they are "local". Customer is king.
 

Newbie

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
309
Reaction score
424
Location
Edmond
I remember family grocery stores that were small and cramped, had only a few things on the shelves, and then "Supermarkets" came in and gave people 5 different types of tomatoes, pineapples out of season, and so much more. I think Walmart is a great thing to have in a town. I'm sorry, very sorry, for "Uncle Jerry" and all his six employees - I truly am, but in the end Walmart was better for everyone, including the workers in the town.
 

John6185

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Oct 27, 2012
Messages
9,309
Reaction score
9,607
Location
OKC
I'll give you only one example of why people use online stores. Last night I needed a thumb drive to work on my Macbook. I priced them on Ebay and Amazon. I'd venture to say they all came from China and the prices were comparable at around $4.75 with "free shipping." but...Amazon can have it here Monday and I don't have to drive 14 miles round trip for a $4.75 item. You know what I did.
 

Forgalspop

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Dec 12, 2020
Messages
829
Reaction score
2,064
Location
Guthrie, OK
Just checked 5 different items in 5 different categories between my Prime account and my GF's non-Prime account. Pricing was exactly the same.

Keep in mind there could be multiple vendors offering the same item. Perhaps you're looking at pricing from different vendors for the same item.

I have no problem buying locally when the item I want is available. I also have no problem avoiding huge crowds, lousy service and higher prices to shop for an item on Amazon. Or Walmart.com or any number of other websites.

And, for the life of me, I don't know where you guys that complain about return difficulties with Amazon are coming from. That certainly hasn't been my experience. Oftentimes if it's a product sold by Amazon they don't even ask for it back. A few years ago I shopped for a Sealy mattress. Found the best price I could locally...around $1189. Amazon had it for $899. I got it and it developed a problem after just a few days. I used the "Have Amazon call you" feature and someone called me within a minute and had my refund started instantly. And, they didn't have anyone available to come to my home to pack the mattress so they told me dispose of it how I saw fit.

Yes, there's a return window with Amazon. But that doesn't necessarily coincide with the manufacturer's warranty time frame. That's usually an option if you have a problem with something.

If there's one thing I hate it's lousy customer service. I don't care what business it's from. If their service is lousy, I won't use them. I almost always at least "try" to buy American. It's not possible all the time. Sometimes I can't find an American made item locally but I can find the product I need that's American made on Amazon. Sometimes it works the other way.

And lots of small business owners are using Amazon to sell their products. Yes, Amazon takes a cut. But that business owner is also getting exposure he/she might not get otherwise.

I don't like a lot of things about Amazon. But I don't like a lot of things locally, either. So I compromise. Sometimes I just do without. It's how life works.
I had a similar experience with Amazon. Back 4 or 6 years ago I ordered 2 Champion Inverter/Generators from Amazon plus a parallel kit to tie the 2 generators together. This was right after Porta Rica and Florida, etc had the massive hurricane and generators could not be found. They showed having these 2 in stock.

One generator and parallel kit showed up, but not the other. I called Amazon and they could not locate the second generator. After several days and phone calls they still could not locate the other generator. I told Amazon I wanted to send back the one generator since I needed two for my RV. They told me since it was a product that would take gas & oil it could not be returned. I asked what was I to do with a generator that was of no use to me if I didn't have both. They told me to keep it or give it to charity.

I searched the internet and found a matching generator in Wisconsin being sold on sale at a place similar to Tractor Supply for $50.00 less than Amazon. I purchased the other generator from that store and had it in a few days. I then headed to our place in New Mexico with both new generators. Two weeks later my wife calls me in New Mexico and says, "Guess what showed up on our front porch?" Yep, the second generator from Amazon showed up. So I call Amazon and tell them I don't want the generator and would like to ship it back. Nope! Can't ship it back since it is a product that gas and oil can be put in. Mind you, this is an unopened box. They tell me to keep it or donate it. Amazon cancelled the charge on our credit card for the 2 generators.

So the long and short of it, is I now have 3 inverter/generators for less than the price of one. How many local stores would do the same.

I've only returned a few items to Amazon and never had an issue doing so. If local stores had the same available products and service I would gladly purchase locally and do when I can, such as at our local Ace Hardware. Often times when I go to Ace for hardware or building supplies I end up going to Lowe's or Home Depot because they don't have what I'm looking for. The same applies to our local Walmart, so I end up using Amazon and have it the next day or two.
 

JD8

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
Messages
32,828
Reaction score
45,806
Location
Tulsa
It's interesting reading this thread and others where people talk about price gouging, high prices, etc....
 

grady31

Marksman
Special Hen
Joined
Nov 5, 2015
Messages
10
Reaction score
4
Location
Tuttle
You could use a phone…. Easier isn’t better….. the supply chain leads to the rich ,like I said JMO they maybe one of the only business in the game if it plays out the way they want. Let’s lock out the small fry and only let the NWO companies compete.

Its easy for you to mow my lawn, is it better? Of course I can complain about the results like most. Lord what’s coming makes me worried.
Please give me a list of "Local Businesses " that use TTY/TTL .
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom