Adding up those purchases makes me sad. At least I can tell myself half of it is for work, which I can’t do with steam order history!
Biggest loser for me has been Newegg. Prices are the same, but it’s so much easier to put all my orders in one place so 10 years later I can look up what model number that air filter is so I can find a replacement part.
That’s only if you already know what to buy thought, particularly with computer stuff.
Amazon prime uses my preferred UPS vs Fedex, and I can put 4 people under my membership.
It depends. I get toilet paper through them, for example. $20 buys me months and months of toilet paper and it saves me lugging around big bulky packages on the bus. I also get a few other hygiene type things through them because it’s easier to buy in bulk and reorder when I’m getting low than to make sure I remember when I’m out. And I sometimes order food from them but it’s generally stuff the local stores don’t stock because even at bulk rates they’re usually not super competitive with the cheaper stores around here and obviously don’t do anything perishable unless you live in an AmazonFresh city. The sheer convenience would be nice but since it’s all bulk and I’m one guy with limited space I can’t really justify it on most stuff. Even a lot of the stuff I do use in bulk I don’t get through Amazon because they just don’t stock it. Like they only seem to have 2 oz bags of any Frito-Lay product, and that’s a lot of packaging waste as far as I’m concerned.
Yeah, I find shopping for computer parts on Amazon really frustrating so I still use Newegg. It helps that I got a free ShopRunner account so I still get free 2 day shipping there on almost everything.
Yes, newegg’s browsing UI is far superior to amazon’s for computer hardware. I still use newegg for browsing, although often I’ll turn around and actually purchase on amazon for the prime shipping. Amazon charges tax and newegg doesn’t, so it can flip either way.
What does Amazon Prime do? Just guarantee delivery within 2 days, or is there some other benefit? Doesn’t seem to be, at least in Canada (we also don’t have that cool download reports function). That delivery speed is useless to me, since it never takes that long to get shipments even with the free shipping option.
It always amazes me the things they’ll ship prime. Newest thing I’ve discovered is dog food. Same price as local store, no tax, and I don’t have to cart 40 pounds around, dropped at my door!
You’re forgetting the “free” part. Prime shipping costs nothing, beyond the Prime membership. I don’t necessarily need things by two days. I do not, however, want to pay $2-5 of shipping for a $10 item.
Not quite true anymore thanks to the growing prevalence of Add-On items which won’t ship with non-add-on items unless the total ends up being higher than X (currently $25, I think).
In the US (maybe not available in other territories) it also grants access to their large catalog of free streaming shows and, I recently learned, nets Kindle users one free pre-release book per month.
Yeah, that’s not offered in Canada. It seems like a terrible deal here. Shipping is free anyway, for anything over $25, and barely anything sold costs less than that anyway (unless you want to buy a single DVD or something), and delivery is usually received within a day or two at most even with the free option. Several times I’ve ordered in the morning and received actual delivery by the end of the day (!). Their logistics system is incredible.
At this point, I fully expect they’ve let the $40 hike leak and take root so when they hike it by $20, people will go “Oh, only $20! No big deal then.”
Realistically, even $40 isn’t a big deal for the value prime provides these days (what with the free streaming alongside the free shipping, and additional values in free books if you’re a Kindle owner).
You can also get overnight shipping for about $4 more, which is huge and has saved my bacon a few times. If you’ve shipped anything overnight, you know it can cost $$$$$$$.
Buddy of mine got like a 400 lb gun safe via Prime. Something that Dick’s or Cabela’s charges ~$150 to ship/deliver. I bought a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain once, overnight when Prime charged $3.99 for that. I think its $7.99 now.
A % of almost every order you place will go to YOUR favorite charity (pick the charity the first time you visit the site.) Completely legit and there’s absolutely no downside…it’s through Amazon so it just uses your regular account.