www.amazon.co.uk (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: tomgibbes

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	07/08/08 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free shipping, huge catalog, reliable

Disadvantages: marketplace shipping (not really amazon's fault)

Amazon started in the USA is 1995 as an online bookstore. It soon diversified and over the years added many new products such as DVDs and video games. Amazon is now established in a wide variety of countries.

When you visit "www.amazon.co.uk" you are greeted with their clean and useful homepage. In includes a few of their many great deals available at the current time and featured products. If you have registered with Amazon and already bought some stuff it also recommends products you may be interested in. This feature works well and I have found myself buying things it has recommended on a few occasions. The categories are listed down the left side of the page. You can perform searches of the whole website or specific sections from the homepage as well.

Amazon has many categories and a vast quantity of products listed on their website. The "Books" and "Music, DVDs and Games" sections are the ones most people will frequent the most. The books section contains a huge amount of books and many new releases have a new function called "Search inside". This allows you to view the first few pages of your chosen book to see if it is to your liking. You can also buy many other products like Toys and Sports equipment on Amazon as well. Every category is excellently laid out and browsing the site is easy.

The ordering process is equally painless. Making your wants for birthdays and Christmases is also easy with Amazons pioneering "wish list" feature. This lets you add items, much like to your shopping basket, for you friends and family to see. Because Amazon has such a huge product range you could construct a whole wedding gift wish list on this service.

Amazon Marketplace is another of the great feature Amazon provides. This allows you to sell and buy using the Amazon website. This further increases the amount of products available on Amazon, if Amazon doesn't sell it, it may be on Marketplace. However be careful as shipping prices are often steep.

Delivery of goods bought directly off Amazon is brilliant. They offer free delivery on baskets above £15. This is an easy target considering the amount of products available. Items are also sent through the Royal Mail making collections etc much easier.

Amazon is a great method of buying stuff. You get most things for a few pounds under the high street price and the easily obtainable free shipping band sweetens the deal.

Summary: Amazon is one of the best e-tailers!