A Good online retailer... (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: Daniel K

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	21/05/06 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good choice of stock, most items cheaper than in shops, convenient

Disadvantages: Some items can take a while to arrive, not the cheapest online retailer

Buying online these days seems to be one of the most popular ways of buying stuff, and there are a large number of websites that offer this now, including Ebay, Play, Amazon, and also many well-known shops/supermarkets have their own websites you can buy their products from. But Amazon is the one I have used the most.

Although I did not buy anything from Amazon until this year, I have browsed for things on there for a long time, and have been impressed by the amount of items available in stock, and the range they offer; this includes mainly CD's, DVD's, Videos, Books, Computer Games, as well as some electrical and electronic items. Amazon is also quite a well-established site, and has been running for quite a few years now.

The website itself has a fairly simple and neat design, and is easy to navigate; a link for each section of products can be found at th top of each page, but if you can't find what you want under each individual section, using the search engine on here can usually find what you're looking for. As I said before, the range of stuff is vast, and I think you'd be hard-pressed not to find what you want, especially with CD's or DVD's.

My experience of purchasing items from Amazon has generally been good so far, and I have bought a few CD's and the odd DVD. When you're ready to buy an item, you can either add it to your 'shopping basket' and continue browsing, or buy right now if it's the only item your looking for. Obviously, you need an account set up in order to purchase anything from Amazon.

Setting this up is fairly straightforward, and after filling in your personal details and supplying an e-mail address you need to select the method of payment, which for me is my debit card. At first, I was a bit nervous giving my card details, as you hear lots of stuff about fraud and people stealing your card details, but everything has been fine so far. Once you have set this up, there is no need to enter all your details to buy things in the future.

Then you are taken to a page that asks you to confirm your order, and once this is done, Amazon will send you an e-mail to the address you have provided in your account telling you what you've ordered and when it is expected to arrive. Generally this is within 3-4 working days, but it can sometimes be longer, depending on what you buy and if it's readily in stock - for some stuff, especially CD's, if it's only available on import, it will take longer to arrive.

Also, elsewhere on Amazon, they have auctions, used items, and another section called 'z shops', which are similar to Ebay, where you can buy stuff from other people/users; I have bought from here once, for a hard to find CD, but the CD did take about two weeks to arrive, longer than what I was expecting but roughly what was estimated, so I would check items like this before purchasing, especially if you need it in a hurry.

All the stuff I've bought, including the aforementioned CD, has arrived in good condition, so I haven't had to return items for this reason, and overall I have been satisfied with the service I have received on Amazon. Many of the items on here are reasonably priced, often much less than in shops, but there is the odd thing I've seen that is about the same price or sometimes more expensive than elsewhere.

Overall, I am very satisfied with shopping on Amazon, although I was skeptical at first, I had heard plenty of good things about the site from other people who agree it is a good place to buy stuff. It may not be the best, or cheapest place to buy what you want online, but I would give Amazon the thumbs up and recommend it for other online shoppers to use.

Thanks for Reading! :-)

Summary: A good site for buying stuff like CD's or DVD's, worth checking out