Amazon.co.uk (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: BlackBoy241

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	29/12/08 (193 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great prices, free postage on Amazon orders over £5, easy to sell

Disadvantages: Marketplace could be better, hard to use both buyer and seller help

have been on Amazon for 6 months now, both buying and selling. It's a brilliant site and I'd recommend it to anyone who buys things over the internet as it's really easy to use and they have some great prices, although postage is quite high for some items. It's also great for selling stuff as it provides sellers with a storefront and gives products plenty of exposure although you have to be a pro merchant in order to take full advantage of the seller account.Here is what I will be reviewing:
Buying stuff on Amazon
Marketplace
Postage costs
MP3 downloads
Selling stuff on Amazon
Help
Buying stuff on Amazon

Finding the right item is really easy. Amazon have an excellent search facility which allows buyers to look for exactly what they want. However, it can be quite hard to find something if you don't know the category it is in. Once you find the right item though, the rest is really simple.I found making a purchase on Amazon really easy. You just pick the item you want, add it to your basket, go to the checkout and enter your debit/credit card details. However, you do need to be a registered member in order to buy anything.
Once you've bought something you can track your order using the "Your Account" feature. I think that "Your Account" is really good although the options could be clearer and most of them could be grouped together as one option instead of 8 or 9 as they are similar.

If an item is bought directly from Amazon then they tell you when an item is dispatched, the delivery method and the approximate arrival times and allows the buyer to edit their order. When buying from most sellers, though, you are only given estimates and there's very little communication between seller and buyer.
Marketplace

The marketplace is, in my opinion, an excellent idea. It allows both businesses and individuals the chance to sell their items on Amazon at very little cost.
As a buyer, I think the marketplace is great but there could be more communication between sellers and buyers. More information should be given in the "Your Account" pages about marketplace seller's dispatch and delivery times. Amazon should give buyers the email addresses of the people they've made purchases from as their contact form isn't that great and some emails don't get sent or the sellers don't reply.

Payment is not made directly to the seller when you buy something. The money you pay on Amazon goes into a special Amazon Payments account. This is good because it means you don't have to worry about sellers chasing you up for not paying plus you don't have to worry about any dodgy sellers just taking your money.
The feedback system is a good aspect of the marketplace. Buyers give a five-star rating to sellers they've purchased from. An average of all the ratings received by a seller is then taken and is shown next to all their items. Buyers can also see the amount of positive (4/5 stars), neutral (3 stars) and negative (1/2 stars) ratings given. The feedback is good because it lets buyers see how reliable a seller is before deciding to make a purchase.

Another good thing is the A-Z Safe Buying Guarantee that you get from Amazon with every purchase made on the marketplace. It means that if a seller doesn't send an item, refuses to give a refund, send a wrong item, etc. the buyer can make a claim against them to Amazon who will then attempt to sort things out. To do this you have to have contacted the seller. When I contacted some sellers I received no reply so I had to use the A-Z Guarantee straight away instead of talking to the seller.Overall, the Amazon marketplace lets people buy items at really reasonable prices (apart from postage - see "Postage costs") and is often very reliable, although there are a few disadvantages to it. I recommend it to everyone as it's easy to use and very safe.
Postage Costs

Postage costs differ all over the site. The postage costs depend on the category the item is in, the seller and, in some cases, the weight.
Amazon


If you buy an item from Amazon there are three delivery types:
Super Saver
First Class
Express

Super Saver delivery is free. It can be used on all orders costing more than £5 (previously £15). It's really good if you're not in a hurry to get your items but if you want things fast then don't use Super Saver as it took an item I purchased more than 1 week to arrive.First Class delivery is just the standard Royal mail 1st class delivery service. It costs just £1.99 for the whole order (unless you're items are shipped separately). This is the delivery method I use most often as items tend to arrive within 2 or 3 days after ordering and the service is really cheap, especially if you buy lots of things at the same time like I do.I don't know anything about Express delivery as I've never used it.
Marketplace


The postage costs on the marketplace are, most of the time, too high. Here is a list of costs when sending items to the UK:
Books: £2.75
CDs: £1.21
Videos: £2.69
DVDs: £1.21
Video Games: £1.94
Electronics and Photo: £3.98 (+£0.48 per kg)
Home & Garden, DIY & Tools, Health & Beauty: £3.91 (+£0.48 per kg)
Software: £3.91
Toys: £2.93 (+£0.48 per kg)

The charges in the categories which are based on weight can get ridiculously high. For example, if your buying a widescreen TV (approx. 16kg) delivery would cost £11.66 which is really expensive just for delivery.Also, delivery is charged per item so if your buying 4 books, delivery itself is £11.00. I am selling seeds on Amazon and the packs only weigh about 10g each so can be posted at the cost of a first class stamp but because they are in the home and garden category delivery will cost £3.91 for each pack, and nobody's going to pay that! I am trying to get Amazon to change the rates for my seeds, though so I may get a few customers.
MP3 Downloads

I DO NOT recommend using Amazon's MP3 download service. I purchased three albums for my mum on her birthday (one of which was 4 discs). Instead of downloading all of the albums automatically the download kept stopping and starting, saying the connection had been lost or that the download was no longer available and then it just completely cancelled the download, so I had to email Amazon about a couple of times. They made the whole albums available for download again but I had to download each of them manually. It was very stressing and time consuming.
Having said this, when downloading singles or individual songs I have never had any troubles. The MP3 downloads are great value (if you can actually download them) and the playback quality is good.

Selling stuff on Amazon

I have been a seller on Amazon since June and have been selling a wide variety of different items, such as books, videos, games, DVDs, computer equipment.
As mainly buyers will be reading this review I will not go in to selling in great detail but for people thinking about selling on Amazon here are some tips:
Think carefully before listing an item for sale on Amazon. You might not earn much. Commission on item prices is taken at 17.25% (plus applicable VAT at 15% on this commission). They also take a fee from postage credit.
Deliver on time with every buyer and always be polite and give the best service you can. I have found from experience people tend to give feedback more often if they are upset than when they are pleased.
Look for the right item on the site very carefully. If the item you list is different from the item you send you can get in trouble.
Factor delivery costs into the item cost as sometimes postage credit won't be enough (you still have to send the item either way.
All items have to be dispatched within 2 days. Any delivery method can be used, though.
If you want to sell a lot of things, upgrade to a pro merchant. It costs £28.50 a month but I think it's worth it!

I hope these tips are useful to anyone wanting to sell.
Help

Amazon have an extensive help database which is brilliant... if you can find the right topic. The help it provides is great but it can be hard finding the right topic that will answer your question.
However, if you can't find an answer in the help section you can call or email Amazon and they'll provide you with help on anything at all.

Conclusion

Amazon is an excellent shopping site and I'd recommend it to anyone who makes purchases over the internet.

Summary: A great online shop