Amazon has it all (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: song_of_calliope

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	06/11/09 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great selection, very reliable, good prices

Disadvantages: Some people complain about the reliability of the courier they use for larger items

This review is not about the rainforest in Brazil but about the giant mega-bookstore and more internet shop. I have ordered from Amazon on a regular basis for over 10 years now from their site in the US when I lived there, to their site in France (where everything is shipped from the UK anyway) to now the site in the UK. I have been delighted with Amazon and find their service is second to none, particularly when buying directly from Amazon rather than from the Marketplace Sellers (more about that later!).

Amazon sells all manner of things nowadays. They used to specialise in books and they still have an incredible selection of books, both new and used, bestsellers and rare. They also sell CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with other items you might not expect. For example, I have bought a potato peeler from Amazon, a nice pair of boots, some hair conditioner and a universal remote for the TV just to name a few things you might not think of shopping for there!

Generally when buying books or DVDs there is no problem with delivery as they fit through the mail slot. In case you order several items all at once they will come in a bigger box and if you work during the week like most people you'll end up having to go down to the post office to collect your stuff.

For larger items, Amazon has been using the Home Delivery Network to deliver things. This is a courier service but the contract Amazon has with them means that you don't have to sign for your goods. Whether this is a good or bad thing is certainly debatable. I just got an item I ordered left on my inside porch door (I leave my front door open and just lock the porch door which leads into the house and the driver was smart enough to figure out what to do - yay!). However there are reports all over the internet of problems with the Home Delivery Network leaving things out in the rain to get ruined, leaving them with neighbours the purchaser didn't know, and claiming to leave cards stating they had tried to deliver when they haven't. For more details regarding these allegations just google "home delivery network amazon." But I repeat, I personally haven't had any trouble with them.

When it comes to finding the best prices on Amazon, there are two techniques to this that might be helpful. The first is to shop on Amazon after having deleted your browser cookies and without being signed in to your account. The reason for this is that some shoppers have said that Amazon charges some people more than others depending on their purchasing history. I don't know whether this is true and I haven't personally found any instances where this worked for me, but it has been fairly widely reported on the internet so it might be worth a shot.

The second method for finding the best prices definitely works. Sign up for ZeeZaw which is a service for alerting you of price drops on Amazon for the items you choose. Basically, you add the items to your Amazon wishlist and then sign up for ZeeZaw. They send you alerts when the price of the item drops below a certain threshold. I tried this for a Nintendo Wii and was amazed at how frequently the price changed - it was changing every single day for quite a few days in a row! You can find out more about ZeeZaw here http://www.zeezaw.co.uk/index.jsp This doesn't work for Market Place Sellers, by the way, just for Amazon itself.

Now, a word about Market Place Sellers. In general, I have had positive experiences from buying from them. The key here is to look at feedback ratings. I personally don't buy from any sellers with a feedback score of less than 98%. You might think that 95% is very good but the way Amazon works it really isn't and it indicates that this might be a problem seller. This is because feedback percentages tend to be quite inflated. For example, I myself sold hundreds of books on Amazon and always maintained a 100% feedback score. I was certainly far from perfect but I always made sure my customers got their books on time and I always listed the condition fairly. That is all it takes to score extremely high feedback so if a seller has anything less, you should read the comments made with the negative feedback and be wary.

About selling on Amazon - you can actually make a decent amount of money if you are selling in enough volume to make it worth paying a monthly fee to become a pro merchant. The monthly fee is £28.50 and this means Amazon takes less of a commission off your sales. If you are an individual merchant rather than a pro-merchant, Amazon takes 86p from every book sale you make and another chunk out of your postage fees. This really adds up if you are selling cheap books. You can read plenty more about selling on Amazon on their seller discussion boards (but be warned they're not necessarily the friendliest bunch!). http://forums.prosperotechnologies.com/am-UKsllcon nect?redirCnt=1

I have never had any problems with Amazon purchases. The only time something went wrong was when a Marketplace Seller failed to ship an item to me that I had ordered. Amazon refunded my money with absolutely no hassles.

I recommend Amazon highly and, as I live in a remote corner of the UK, I have come to depend on it more than ever. I don't know where I'd be without them!

Summary: An excellent online shop for almost everything you need