Why My Garage is Full of Amazon Boxes
I spent several hours Christmas weekend breaking down Amazon boxes in my garage that had built up from my online holiday shopping. My town picks up cardboard and newspapers every other week on even months unless there is a full moon, and then it is every 3rd week on odd months. Love the suburbs!. Anyway, I usually do most of my holiday shopping online. I cant seem to find any reason to leave the comforts of my home to deal with the headaches of the Garden State Plaza.
This year, ALL of my holiday shopping was done online and a majority of it was done at Amazon. Obviously I try to search around for the best deals on a product. But looking for the best price is not always the best deal. There are other factors you should be looking at: shipping, tax, convenience and confidence.
PRICE:
Amazon rarely offers general discount coupons on their merchandise. So, you probably wont have any luck in trying to get a 15% off $100 code. But I have found that they do sometimes have special coupon codes or offers on specific products or categories. I have also found that they have very competitive prices. So even though you might not find a coupon code to use, you probably will be able to find an item at a comparable, if not better, starting price. ( Ex. as of this post, a WALL-E DVD is going for $13.99 at Amazon and $19.99 at Best Buy and $20.29 at Borders )
SHIPPING:
This holiday season we saw alot of discounts and promotions. The big one was free shipping on minimum order amounts. Almost all merchants offered some kind of free or discounted standard shipping offer at some point.
Amazon has always (or for at least the last 3 or 4 years) offered FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders of $25 or more. This offer usually applies to most items that are sold by Amazon ( Amazon also sell products from 3rd party vendors which are not included in this offer, Target is an example of a 3rd party merchant that sells through Amazon ). Amazon also offers ‘Amazon Prime’. This is basically a yearly subscription service that allows you to get free 2 day shipping on any order amount sold by Amazon for $79 a year. I subscribed to this service last March because I needed several items delivered quickly and figured I pay a couple extra bucks and sign up for the yearly service rather than pay for the one time shipping fee’s.
Let me tell you, I found this offer is fantastic. Especially if you are a procrastinator like myself. I cant help but think that Amazon is losing money by offering me this service. Most of my holiday shopping was not well planned. I knew basic categories of items that I would get my wife, sons and family but not too many specific items. I never had a ’shopping list’ ready at any particular time. With my Amazon Prime subscription, I was able to shop in drips and drabs without worrying about shipping costs adding up since there was no minimum requirement. - WALL-E DVD… Done - Top Chef cookbook….Sent. ( This is where the garage full of Amazon boxes comes into play, I would rarely buy more than 1 item at a time ). Plus the added bonus of 2 day shipping, which was sometimes 1 day if I ordered early enough. Seriously, I think I may have gotten an item the same day ( not sure if that is possible but could have sworn it happened). Anyway, I got to know my UPS driver on a first name basis. What’s up Bill!
TAX:
Amazon only adds sales tax to items shipped to the following states: Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington. This is like getting a 6% - 8% coupon if you live in the other 45 states. Note: Whenever you shop around, keep note of the sites that dont charge sales tax. Sometimes you have to go through most of the checkout process to see which is a pain but I am pretty sure that if they dont charge sales take, they will advertise it.
CONVENIENCE:
Those of you unfamiliar with browsing and purchasing items through Amazon should know that they make it as simple as possible to get you from searching for an item to checkout. Let’s face it, Amazon is one of the most visited sites in the world and they have the resources to give the user everything they need to complete a purchase ( obviously this is in their best interest ). From user reviews ( which are usually very extensive depending on the popularity of an item ) to category breakdowns to similar items that other users have purchased ( This is cool feature ). All the tools are there to help you make an informed decision. Once you create an account, you can literally place an order in a matter of seconds.
After your order is placed, Amazon provides you with a sort of command center that allows you to easily track you shipments and find status updates on your order. This proved useful during the holidays since I had multiple single orders going at any given time.
CONFIDENCE:
Let’s face it, some people are still reluctant to shop online. It may be due to security concerns, technology (slow and annoying internet connections) or because they are just more comfortable with offline shopping (what if I don’t receive my item, returns, exchanges, etc). I can agree with the fact that returning an item can sometimes be a hassle when purchased online ( gotta lug your item to the post office at lunch time, track your item to make sure it gets returned, sometimes there is a restocking fee, etc ).
The best way to alleviate some of these concerns is to shop at a trusted site. You can be confident that the name brand retailers and online superstores have your interest in mind regarding security and customer satisfaction. I did contact Amazon’s customer service once regarding a price drop on a product I had just purchased. They refunded me the difference and all it took was an email. I have also had friends who tell me that they love the responsiveness of Amazon’s customer service.
SUMMARY
So, is Amazon the only place where you should online shop? Absolutely not, there are alot of great deals out there that are available at any given time from top name merchants. I just found Amazon a great choice this holiday season with the combination of price, free 2 day shipping, no tax and assurance that I would find an Amazon box on my porch when I was expecting it.
My advice is to shop around for the best deals. Don’t just look at the sales price of an item since other factors will weigh in on your final cost. Always check to see if there is a promotion code. I think we are going to see alot more discounts and coupon codes more frequently in 2009. Retailers are hurting right now and if you do your research, you will be able to get some really great deals. Happy Shopping