Theres a rumble in the jungle (amazon.co.uk)

Member Name: Rook252

Product:	amazon.co.uk
Date:	12/11/09 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good prices, easy to compare users experiences of products

Disadvantages: Some items have skant descriptions

Amazon started off as an online book seller. I remember placing my first order nearly 10 years ago, and not realising there was a UK site, so spending a fortune getting it all shipped from the USA. And it was still cheaper than the high street.

Today you can think of Amazon as a sort of department store for luxuries. As well as books you can get CDs, DVDs, clothes, shoes, homewares, baby items, garden equipment, jewellery and so on. It continues to suprise me that Amazon have not expanded into the white goods arena. I am saving my Dooyoo vouchers to buy items for our first house, so far we have some pans and a George Foreman, but I would love if they started stocking larger items.

For their core products, such as the books and CDs the photos are always clear, and on some books there is even the option to search the text inside to see if it what you are looking for. On many of them you can see the pages as printed, although this is usually limited to the first 5-10 pages or so. With CDs most now have a small clip online that you can listen to of each song, to help you decide if it is an album you'd like to hear more of. Again, there is never a full song so you still buy the product.

With the less core items, like the furniture and jewellery I have found the photos to be poorer quality, and often only one view is offered and the description can be skant. With such poor information provided about a product I have never purchased these sort of items from Amazon.

Amazon have their own inbuilt review system, and a star rating system. I relly on this quite heavily when purchasing an item, however if there is less than 5 ratings, or the ratings vary wildly, I'll still come check out Dooyoo for a second opinion.

Amazon also offer items from other sellers through their marketplace system. This means you can choose to buy new or used, safe in the knowledge that you are covered by Amazons guarantee no matter what happens.

Overall I do almost all my shopping online with Amazon, as the prices tend to be heavily discounted compared to the high street, the built in ratings system is great, and the free shipping is a great deal.

Summary: Thumbs up from me