Website Review: Amazon.com

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Just about anything you could want at good prices
Cons: Some concerns about how it is shaping America
The Bottom Line:
Looking to buy stuff?
You've come to the right website
Almost everything

I Have Sent a Lot of Money Up This River

Back during the internet boom and bust of the 90's, everyone and their brother had some idea for making money on the internet. While most of those sites faltered or died, Amazon.com has pretty much stayed the course. And I have been an addict of the site for many years.

Products:

So, what can you buy at Amazon? Anything. Think I'm kidding? Well, I'm not.

The site started out as an on-line bookstore. And they still sell books. Then they expanded to CD's and movies (both VHS and DVD, now including Blu-Ray and the defunct HD-DVD). But they didn't stop there, either. Through "content partners," you can buy toys and games, stuff for your home and garden, clothes, sporting equipment, tools, electronics, food, drug store items, even at one time, bumper stickers.

Now Amazon doesn't actually stock and ship all these items. Their content partners do. And just what are the content partners? They are people who specialize in one specific area. If you order something from them, they actually package and ship the item to you, and Amazon gets a commission. But don't worry, Amazon still stands behind the product and you can get refunds or replacements just as if Amazon had fulfilled your order.

Frankly, I don't buy most of what their content partners offer via the web. Instead, I stick with the media categories to buy from Amazon. I love ordering books from them because they discount all their hard covers. I can usually get a book 30% off, more if it is a best seller. Many of the authors I read aren't as well known, so my local chains don't carry them. That's not an issue at Amazon. If it is in print, they have it, which saves me a trip to the out of town specialty store. Unfortunately, they no longer discount their paperback books, but I still order them if I can't find them locally or need to complete my order.

Discounts on CD's seem to be hit and miss. I will occasionally buy a CD from them, but most of the time I don't because I can find better discounts locally.

Most new release movies are discounted pretty heavily, and I will sometimes buy from them. Amazon seems to have frequent sales on their movie titles, so if you are looking for something that has been out for a while, keep an eye on this site. Odds are you can find it cheap.

And I haven't even touched their used catalog. Amazon allows third party sellers to list used items on their site as well. When they sell, Amazon gets a commission. This is wonderful for tracking down out of print titles. In fact, it makes Amazon a new and used bookstore all rolled up in one. You do have to watch some rarer items because the price can be rather steep. But many newer or unknown items sell used for dirt cheap. I've found some bargains on the site. Even though these are third party sellers, Amazon will help work out any issues that arise from the sale. Not that I've ever had any.

Ease of Use:

Amazon is fairly straight forward to use. Easy to spot on the top page is a search bar. You can enter your search terms, and they will bring up anything they think relates. Unless you narrow it down by category, they'll give you stuff from every category on the site. Most of the time, I find what I am looking for in the first few results. About the only time I don't is if I enter an author's name instead of a book title or if the book title is popular. Even then, it is easy to narrow it down to find the results you want. You can even sort your results by best selling, release date, and alphabetically to help narrow things down.

Once you click on the item you want, you are taken to a page that gives you everything you want to know about the item from weight and number of pages (for books) to length and actors involved (for movies) and track titles (for music). You can also read thoughts from customers in their review section. The links to add the item to a personal wish list or your shopping cart and prominently displayed. Once you have added all the items to the cart you want, the site walks you through the easy check out. They even have a service called "One Click" that automatically sends anything you order to you without completely those steps. I don't use it because it is too easy for me to order things and be shocked when the bill comes later.

Shipping:

Shipping can be downright expensive, especially for bigger items. They generally charge a per shipment fee plus a per item fee. And if you order stuff from several different categories, they charge you based on the highest shipment fee, naturally.

They do offer several different options. Standard takes 3 to 5 business days from the date of shipment. They also offer second day service and overnight. Naturally, you pay more for those last two then you do for standard.

Personally, I take advantage of their free shipping. If you order $35 in qualifying purchases (and almost all new books, music, and movies qualify), you can get your items shipped to you for free. They wait until all the items in your order are ready to ship. Then, they wait a few more days. Then they ship it at standard speed.

Yes, I'm being a little factious there. They do wait an extra few days to ship items that you choose to have shipped to you for free, so this isn't an option if you are in a hurry. And they do wait until all items are available, so if you are ordering something that doesn't come out for a couple months, your whole order will wait until then. On the other hand, I have pre-ordered stuff using free shipping and had it arrive the day it was released. Most of the time, using free shipping, I have my order within a week to 10 days. I consider any extra time the items take to get to me my shipping fee. And since I usually don't start using the item the day I get it, I'm fine with an extra few days.

Customer Service:

I have rarely had to use Amazon's customer service. When I have, I have found it hard to find. There are links for it, but they are buried in the small print and you have to search the site to find them.

The people at customer service are helpful and usually take care of any issue right away.

The only time I really remember dealing with them was this Christmas when I learned that returns are expensive. I accidentally ordered two copies of a DVD for someone for Christmas. Not only did I have to pay postage to return it, but I had to pay several dollars in a restocking fee. By the time all was said and done, it cost me half the price of the DVD to get Amazon to take it back. Of course, if the mistake had been their fault, they would have taken it back no questions asked, paid for postage, and given me all my money back.

Conclusion:

Amazon.com has a couple quirks, but they are basically a good site. I spend too much time surfing the site browsing for things to buy and too much money buying them. If you are looking to order something, check them out and at least compare prices before you do.