Amazon Tricks guide discussion

Cherry_Hinton_Blue

cazwyn86, chukk, Magenta:
The sites which summarise the material found through the "Popular Hidden Amazon Discount Pages" can also be searched; for example, for "western digital" bargains try:
http://www.discountsorcerer.co.uk/index.php?page=1&nid=0&pid=0&sb=pop&s=western+digital&x=14&y=14&wsearch=d

fnc63:
Again, the bargain aggregator sites seem to ignore the marketplace sellers, who I agree are very annoying, increasingly relying on expensive postage to make their margins. Try Discount Sorcerer (see above) for Amazon UK, or Jangle.net for Amazon US, etc.

MrGumby

superhoop wrote: »

...if you follow the tip, you get thousands of results because cds are general sold off for pennies...if I go to Amazon it's because I want to buy a new cd, not a second hand one. I'll go to ebay for that!

RPearson wrote: »

If you choose to only show items with free super saver delivery it should weed out most of the non Amazon items as I think that only items actually sold by Amazon themselves offer this delivery option.

That isn't always clever. Marketplace sellers are as likely to sell new goods as used, and, even with postage, are often cheaper than Amazon themselves. Amazon generally fixes the delivery charge Marketplace sellers must impose; to compensate for that, sellers often price goods at a few pence, so that the total is still less than Amazon's price.

It doesn't matter whether a seller charges postage, it's the total that counts. If you click the "used & new" link for a product (or just "used" or just "new"), you'll find the cheapest item at the top, ranked by product + postage.

If you're not sure about buying from a Marketplace seller, you can check their feedback, just as you can on eBay.

I speak as an Amazon seller with 100% 5* feedback.

MrGumby

Cherry_Hinton_Blue wrote: »

The site I pointed out in that thread doesn't seem to include Amazon marketplace sellers, which is a relief.

What's so bad about Marketplace sellers? Many of them offer the same goods as Amazon for lower prices and offer at least as good a service.

I received an order for something at 5pm yesterday, got it in the 5:30 post and received a thank-you email from the buyer this morning to say it was delivered at 8:35.

Sure, I charged postage, because Amazon forces me to, but the total was still less than Amazon's. And Free Supersaver Delivery certainly wouldn't have got the item to him this morning!

MrGumby

dotcomdolly wrote: »

Hi everyone, my first post, though a regular reader in Dublin.
Is there any way you can filter the search to items that are supplied directly from Amazon? Most of the 3rd party sellers won't ship to Ireland, very frustrating when you think you've found a great bargain.
Tia

That's a valid point. The reason sellers won't generally post to Ireland is that Amazon fixes the postage charge for sellers, so the extra cost of posting outside the UK is at the seller's expense. It isn't possible, as it is with eBay, to offer multiple postage options.

MrGumby

fnc63 wrote: »

i'm in the UK but that is something i most definitely would like to - if i search for summit and amazon aint got it i dont wanna know - i dont want to deal with marketplace sellers and their extra p+p charges, miniscule wty/gtee periods and shoddy returns policies - if i wanted that kind of headache i'd go find my goods on fleebay

That's kind of libellous. You're obviously dealing with the wrong sellers. All you have to do is check their feedback before buying.

As for P&P, all that matters is the bottom line - item price plus P&P - which is often lower than Amazon's price with free (slow) postage. If you ignore Amazon sellers, you're cutting yourself off from some real bargains.

For example, over Christmas, I sold dozens of DVDs as an Amazon seller, all factory-sealed (Moon, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, etc). My price with postage was lower than Amazon's. All were posted first-class within one business day of order (nearly all of them same day). I have 100% 5* feedback.

Interestingly, I listed them on eBay too, at the same or lower prices. In total, I sold just one DVD on eBay in the time I sold 50 on Amazon, so there are obviously plenty of people around who would rather trust an Amazon seller than an eBay seller. Ignore Amazon sellers and you're likely to lose out.

jenniewb

MrGumby wrote: »

That's kind of libellous. You're obviously dealing with the wrong sellers. All you have to do is check their feedback before buying.

As for P&P, all that matters is the bottom line - item price plus P&P - which is often lower than Amazon's price with free (slow) postage. If you ignore Amazon sellers, you're cutting yourself off from some real bargains.

For example, over Christmas, I sold dozens of DVDs as an Amazon seller, all factory-sealed (Moon, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, etc). My price with postage was lower than Amazon's. All were posted first-class within one business day of order (nearly all of them same day). I have 100% 5* feedback.

Interestingly, I listed them on eBay too, at the same or lower prices. In total, I sold just one DVD on eBay in the time I sold 50 on Amazon, so there are obviously plenty of people around who would rather trust an Amazon seller than an eBay seller. Ignore Amazon sellers and you're likely to lose out.

Agree.

Have found items cheaper then Amazons on the market place, yes stuff says "used" but played by ear, I don't mind a "used" book in "good condition" as I only want to read it, not eat it! I do look through ratings of sellers and also well known companies that sell through Amazon, that way your less likely to get any headaches. Yes it takes some thinking skills but come on, you have managed to understand an internet forum works, how the trains work, how a mobile phone works, ou do have the intelligence, its not so hard to look through a few ratings on Amazon, if its going to save you cash, why not?

Micklemass

Great work on the Amazon article! Warning to the masses that it's worth checking the discount is valid. I've picked out quite a few "bargains" that are the same reduced price elsewhere (sometimes cheaper). It looks as though Amazon's strike-through price's are over-inflated for some of these.

expat_mike

MSE_Jenny wrote: »

If you buy goods from different external sellers, you pay a separate charge for each item, ie, if you bought two books it's 2 x £2.75, so £5.50 in total.

The quickest way to see the total charge is to bung all the items in your basket and go through to checkout, where the total charges will appear. Just don't press 'place your order'.

Couldn't agree more that caution has to be exercised on the P&P scams. There's too many sellers out there offering what seem like very low costs only to find out they scam you on the P&P costs charging many times what the real costs would be. Use that old adage, if it looks too good to be true then it probably is as I've yet to find low cost and P&P being cheaper than a reasonable cost and no P&P.

MrGumby

expat_mike wrote: »

Couldn't agree more that caution has to be exercised on the P&P scams. There's too many sellers out there offering what seem like very low costs only to find out they scam you on the P&P costs charging many times what the real costs would be.

They're not "scams"! Haven't you bothered reading the rest of this thread?

Postage prices charged by Amazon sellers are fixed by Amazon according to product type. See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=3149401

It makes no real difference to the buyer. Sellers set the product price with postage cost in mind. It's the total you need to look at. Don't think of it as postage, just an element of the total price, like vat.

If you click the "used and new" link on a product page, you will see all buying options ordered by price + postage, cheapest at the top. Somewhere among them will be Amazon's price. It may be at the top but will very often be lower down. If it's an item I'm selling, my price including postage will always be lower than Amazon's and usually lower than anyone else's. I deliver faster than Amazon, posting first-class within 1 business day (usually same day). And I have 100% 5* feedback.

You just have to use common sense, when buying, and compare prices with postage included, just as you would on, say, eBay.

MrGumby

expat_mike wrote: »

Use that old adage, if it looks too good to be true then it probably is as I've yet to find low cost and P&P being cheaper than a reasonable cost and no P&P.

Then you haven't tried very hard. Almost every product I've just looked at has at least one "price+P&P" lower than Amazon's price.

Try these: 0330453513 (a book), B002BWOLT6 (Breville iron), B0027FFX4O (Sony Blu-ray player), B002LSI1J6 (Canon camera).

I'm not in any way knocking Amazon. I buy from Amazon all the time and am a great fan. But I also buy from Amazon sellers when they have good feedback and offer lower prices. You shouldn't slander Amazon sellers without checking your facts. One of them might sue you!