Amazon is not always the best

[disneysteve]

We love Amazon and hardly a week goes by that we don't place an order for something. We have Prime and love the fast, free shipping. We also use Prime Video regularly so we get our money's worth for sure.

But you still need to pay attention to prices. My daughter uses a lip balm that's a little hard to find. She put one in the cart yesterday. I was doing some other shopping today and noticed that the lip balm was $7.50 which seemed ridiculously high for a lip balm. I checked Target and they don't sell it. Then I did a Google search and Walgreens.com has it for $2.79 plus they're running a buy one get one half off deal right now. Shipping to home isn't free unless you have a $35 order but they will ship to one of their stores for free. So I ordered 2 shipped to our local Walgreens. Total price for 2 was $4.18 instead of $7.50 for one at Amazon.

[riverwed070707]

I find that to be common with items that are so small it doesn't make sense to ship them separate. I do think amazon's add on program is starting to tackle that issue where some things just weren't worth the cost of shipping. For example the dog treats I buy are now an "add on only" item so I just add them to my cart when I'm running low and then they get ordered whenever the next time I make a purchase over $25.

[disneysteve]

I find that to be common with items that are so small it doesn't make sense to ship them separate. I do think amazon's add on program is starting to tackle that issue where some things just weren't worth the cost of shipping. For example the dog treats I buy are now an "add on only" item so I just add them to my cart when I'm running low and then they get ordered whenever the next time I make a purchase over $25.

We do that with my daughter's vitamins. She knows to add them to the cart when she's running low.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I only bought a couple of items from amazon online this year. Mostly things have been cheaper from walmart or other stores online. I bought shoes from dicks and foot locker not amazon. I bought dog stuff from chewy. Other stuff from costco and walmart and target. When you aren't careful like my DH and don't bother shopping around you pay a lot more at amazon. He bought some melatonin which right after he told me I looked at costco and it was $16.99 for 250 gummies instead of $14.99 for 150 gummies from amazon. We returned it to amazon. He got a wake up call. I've told him for months now. It's pretty much what sold him on cancelling prime.

[scfr]

Out of curiosity I checked and in 2018 I placed 6 orders with Amazon for a grand total of $261 (don't expect to place any more orders this year). Very often I find that the Amazon price is NOT the most competitive. Sometimes you can get a better price with Amazon if you can buy in bulk. It's also handy for items that are hard to find in stores, and they offer a much wider assortment of kind of obscure items.

[Smallsteps]

I think basically that was the idea at first they seemed to be cheaper the others, then slowly as they SOLD the convenience of just a click or now just telling a device ( alexa) to order.

It is the basic loss leader ads retailers have used for years.
Bring them in with low price or special offers then slowly raise the prices and then the DEALS have more and more strings attached.

Sooner or later the "free" shipping will be changed or adjusted as well, but they hope people are so addicted they would not consider comparing.

[disneysteve]

Out of curiosity I checked and in 2018 I placed 6 orders with Amazon for a grand total of $261 (don't expect to place any more orders this year). Very often I find that the Amazon price is NOT the most competitive.

I just looked. We've placed 70 orders in 2018. I don't know how to see the total spent (other than manually adding them all up).

I don't know what all of you are buying but I almost always find Amazon to have the best price, or at least an equivalent price, to other options. And even when their price is a tad higher, the free shipping puts it ahead. Sure, there are also some times when we pay for the convenience of having the item in a day or two because their shipping is amazing. In fact, we are even able to get free same day shipping on some items and it does work as we've tried it.

And then there are items that Amazon just can't compete on, like this lip balm, and we go elsewhere. There are certain things I'll only buy on ebay, for example, as I have yet to find a cheaper source. But overall, Amazon almost always wins the price comparisons in our experience.

[~bs]

amazon is more about convenience for me than anything else, especially if buying an item that's not as common locally. they might not have the best prices, but at least i know they're reasonably competitive. And unless the item is expensive or a recurring purchase, i wont spend the time to source it elsewhere.

Its kinda like walmart - their daily prices are definitely not the best. but it's reasonable, and it's a one stop shop (i dont like walmart fyi)

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

This made me curious about how much I had bought from Amazon this year. Nothing! Nada! Zero! I had no idea. I guess I am buying at other than Amazon.

[bjl584]

I'll buy some things on there, but often it will be cheaper or around the same price at the store. It all depends what you are getting.

[disneysteve]

I'll buy some things on there, but often it will be cheaper or around the same price at the store.

That definitely has not been our experience. We often check prices while we're in a store and virtually always, Amazon wins. The one exception is groceries, and even then, Amazon is better for certain items. I just ordered 2 boxes of protein bars on Amazon after checking prices at Wegman's, Target, and Walmart. For one flavor, Amazon was within pennies of Target but on the other flavor, Amazon won by a few dollars, so I ordered both. Saves me a few dollars and saves me the trouble of going to the store.

I know stores hate when customers do it, but we don't hesitate to check the online prices while we're in the store. If it's cheaper online, I'll often place the order right then from my phone. We've saved a ton of money that way.

[moneybags]

Speaking of Amazon...we have prime, since our college student gets it for half off. I usually choose not to have the order shipped in 2 days if I don't urgently need it. It's better for the environment and they give you credits to use on movie rentals, etc. if you pick this option. Last week I placed an order for 3 items and choose the slow delivery. The order arrived yesterday in 3 separate packages and 3 separate trucks delivered them.

Amazon is killing the environment with that type of delivery. I'm also starting to wonder where all the bubble envelopes and boxes are going to end up.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

It's cheaper often I've found to buy it from other stores. I also check online quickly at amazon while shopping but for the most part if they are cheaper than there are other cheaper options better than amazon.

[riverwed070707]

That definitely has not been our experience. We often check prices while we're in a store and virtually always, Amazon wins. The one exception is groceries, and even then, Amazon is better for certain items. I just ordered 2 boxes of protein bars on Amazon after checking prices at Wegman's, Target, and Walmart. For one flavor, Amazon was within pennies of Target but on the other flavor, Amazon won by a few dollars, so I ordered both. Saves me a few dollars and saves me the trouble of going to the store.

I know stores hate when customers do it, but we don't hesitate to check the online prices while we're in the store. If it's cheaper online, I'll often place the order right then from my phone. We've saved a ton of money that way.

Same. lately I've been really loving the subscribe and save for things I need regularly. I can get a 50 lb bag of dog food for $10 less than what I'd pay for 40 lbs at the local store :O Also do cat food, cat litter, dishwasher detergent, trash bags, laundry soap... and some others I'm forgetting I'm sure. I get most delivered quarterly with dog food being monthly and I save a boat load. I spent a lot of time researching it before committing - its convenient and cheaper. Can't beat that. Also loving it for xmas shopping. Worth it just to not have to deal with stores and lines and people and christmas music.

[disneysteve]

Same. lately I've been really loving the subscribe and save for things I need regularly.

I just did the subscribe thing for the first time for the protein bars. It’s the third or fourth time I’ve ordered them so I looked back to see how often I’m getting them and subscribed for every 2 months. It’s convenient, cheaper, and I can cancel any time.