Looking to shop online? Amazon's your site! (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: Ghostkov

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	12/09/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge selection, great service, good prices, marketplace

Disadvantages: May not always have the cheapest price

Amazon.co.uk is probably one of the best online shopping sites I have come across and along with ebay the only ones I still use besides cashback sites.

Firstly, the selection of goods available at amazon is simply amazing. There's almsot nothing they don't have, and even if that is the case, you can often find it on one of their sister sites from another country's domain. However, this doesn't mean that with the large variety available on amazon, you shouldn't google some cheaper products of the same or higher quality.
Case in point was when I was looking to buy an external harddrive / USB storage ~60gigs. Looking on amazon, I certainly found several, but the price was rather exorbitant and I didn't really want to buy a second-hand one due to data sensitivity and what-not. By googling removable hard drives, I ended up coming across a small manufacturer's website and got a 80gig storage for 2/3 of the 60gig price at amazon, so that's certainly something to consider.

Secondly, amazon's prices for goods which have more limited manufacturers, i.e. books and games are very competititve in price. The only place where I managed to buy cheaper was on ebay, though only via auctions, and if a product was greatly reduced/on offer directly with the manufacturer/publisher. For instance I managed to snatch a 2 year old video game in brand new condition for a mere 6 pounds via the amazon marketplace, which is just as useful, if not more-so than the amazon-proper offers.

Marketplace sellers are generally trustworthy and willing to go through loops to get their product to you. Case example: I ordered a book and then a few days later realized I'd be travelling to visit my parents abroad during the delivery dates. Asked the manufacturer to delay or maybe send to my parents' address at additonal cost and the seller actually sent it to my parents' place at no additional cost even though it would have cost them some 8 pounds under amazon price tables, with the item itself being sold at only 0.99 + 1.49 shipping. The rating system there also helps a lot in helping other buyers determine who is a good person to buy from, kind of like dooyoo in that regard, though of course not as detailed.

And finally, amazon's customer support is simply stellar. Raise a question and they get back to you very quickly and don't tend to give you silly generic replies. They are also very efficient at sorting things out, including fixing up my account to link my email addresses differently when doing it via the website didn't quite work out.

All in all, if you are looking to shop online, never forget to check amazon first.

Summary: Amazon has just about all you need and very low risk.