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A few disparate items I've ordered from Amazon recently like a ping pong table, 6ft. ladder, storage container all are resellers directly passing your order thr

A few disparate items I've ordered from Amazon recently like a ping pong table, 6ft. ladder, storage container all are resellers directly passing your order through to Walmart. I've started visiting the brick and mortar Walmart store more often. Shopping online (essentially Amazon) used to be cheap and convenient. Now the expectations on quality have gone down to "OK if this works great, but do I really have the time to print the return label, package it again and ship it back?" Basically my level of trust in stuff sold on Amazon is much lower than what it used to be a few years back. For. e.g. 10 yrs. back - Plasma TV on Amazon? No problem. Now its Costco all the way for expensive electronics stuff. On one level, Amazon is just fleecing the sellers on their platform - all sorts of charges for combinations of ad words. A lot of sellers have figured out how to game the system. It's just an awful mess. I have been considering cancelling my prime membership for a couple of years now... inertia keeps me from doing it. I've tried Ali express as well. It was an OK experience. Now I'm browsing Etsy. Haven't really bought anything, but it's looking more attractive for household stuff. In summary, like theossuary, I believe figuring out your niche stores will be beneficial. Watch out for those Asics warehouse sales for workout clothes and shoes etc.

brianbreslin 8y ago
I haven't had a box from walmart yet from amazon, but know a guy who clears 6 figures a year doing this walmart arbitrage. I don't know how long he has in that business model before amazon starts price matching walmart.
- jjeaff 8y ago
  His problem won't be Amazon price matching. It will be the drove of other arbitrage drones moving in on his products.
  - brianbreslin 8y ago
    Or walmart bans him. He already got banned from Target.
    - bootlooped 8y ago
      Then you hire employees to do the shopping. It doesn't take too many sales to get to the point where you need employees to do the shopping and packaging if you're in eCommerce arbitrage.
- minhaz23 8y ago
  How does this work exactly?
  - rhizome 8y ago
    Walmart sells something for $8, you list it for $12.
  - brianwawok 8y ago
    You sell item on amazon for $300 When one sells, you go place an order on Walmart.com for $150 and ship directly to the amazon buyer. No risk of holding inventory. Pretty easy profit if your competition is low.
minhaz23 8y ago
> all are resellers directly passing your order through to Walmart. Can you explain how that works?
bootlooped 8y ago
Can't believe I'm seeing Ali Express compared to Amazon, and apparently in a favorable way. Ali Express is overrun with sellers with identical listings, but the quality may vary greatly between them. You will only know when you receive the item. It's not uncommon to receive something that looks totally different than the listing images. Shipping something back on Ali Express is basically a total no-go. They get killer discounts on shipping to the US. Shipping something back to China is probably going to be more expensive than the product. With Amazon it is cheap or free to return things. Sorting by price on Ali Express is totally broken, because sellers can list a variation with the lowest price that is never available. This impossible-to-get lowest price is taken into consideration by the sort. People complain that sometimes Prime is 3 or 4 day shipping instead of actually 2 days. Ali Express is 2 weeks minimum. Probably 50% of the things I've ordered have taken 1+ month. Some things take 2 months. Some things never arrive at all. All that said, I still use Ali Express. It's great for small, cheap and generic items. I know what I'm getting into, and I accept the risks. There is no way it could replace Amazon. If you knew nothing about Amazon and only learned about it from HN comments you would think it was basically the Mos Eisley Cantina. The real eCommerce Mos Eisley Cantina is Ali Express. Shopping on Amazon is still cheap and convenient. Maybe not if you consistently buy things that are exorbitant to ship like ping pong tables or 6 foot ladders, but most people buy items that could fit in a shoe box.
- fucking_tragedy 8y ago
  > Shipping something back on Ali Express is basically a total no-go. My returns with AliExpress have all been full refunds without having to reship the items back to the supplier. One of my refunds was for a $100+ item, as well. > Ali Express is 2 weeks minimum. I've received items in a week or less. > Shopping on Amazon is still cheap and convenient. As of late, this hasn't been true. AliExpress, Walmart and even Best Buy have had better deals than Amazon.
  - bootlooped 8y ago
    Admittedly it's probably not perfect to compare Amazon returns to Ali Express returns, because I too have received refunds without having to ship the product back. I have had significantly fewer products I've had to dispute through Amazon than Ali Express though. I don't know where you live, but I don't think receiving an item from Ali Express in 1 week or less is normal, unless maybe you live in mainland China. I'm in the US and I really think I've never received something quicker than 2 weeks. You said you have received things in a week or less. What do you think the average is though? I just don't believe that Amazon does not generally provide cheap products conveniently. There are outliers, as with everything, but I think it's the norm that the prices for the majority of products are competitive, and the user experience is convenient.
rsync 8y ago
"In summary, like theossuary, I believe figuring out your niche stores will be beneficial ..." As we figure out our "niche stores", I hope designers and entrepreneurs will study McMaster-Carr[1] - a site I found through the garagejournal forum that is an absolute joy to use. Just drill down into any product category and you'll get a very simple listing, with full descriptions and very helpful diagrams of every single part. If you need pipe fittings or hose clamps or rivets or gas regulators, please vote with your dollars at this site. [1] https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/
- sriram_sun 8y ago
  Wow! Great site. Thanks!
- moltar 8y ago
  A similar one for car parts is rockauto.com. UI from the 90s but simple and does the job.
cordite 8y ago
I’ve received a Walmart originated box when I ordered some poster frames. It was a surprise.

brianbreslin 8y ago

I haven't had a box from walmart yet from amazon, but know a guy who clears 6 figures a year doing this walmart arbitrage. I don't know how long he has in that business model before amazon starts price matching walmart.

jjeaff 8y ago
His problem won't be Amazon price matching. It will be the drove of other arbitrage drones moving in on his products.
- brianbreslin 8y ago
  Or walmart bans him. He already got banned from Target.
  - bootlooped 8y ago
    Then you hire employees to do the shopping. It doesn't take too many sales to get to the point where you need employees to do the shopping and packaging if you're in eCommerce arbitrage.
minhaz23 8y ago
How does this work exactly?
- rhizome 8y ago
  Walmart sells something for $8, you list it for $12.
- brianwawok 8y ago
  You sell item on amazon for $300 When one sells, you go place an order on Walmart.com for $150 and ship directly to the amazon buyer. No risk of holding inventory. Pretty easy profit if your competition is low.

minhaz23 8y ago

> all are resellers directly passing your order through to Walmart. Can you explain how that works?

bootlooped 8y ago

Can't believe I'm seeing Ali Express compared to Amazon, and apparently in a favorable way. Ali Express is overrun with sellers with identical listings, but the quality may vary greatly between them. You will only know when you receive the item. It's not uncommon to receive something that looks totally different than the listing images. Shipping something back on Ali Express is basically a total no-go. They get killer discounts on shipping to the US. Shipping something back to China is probably going to be more expensive than the product. With Amazon it is cheap or free to return things. Sorting by price on Ali Express is totally broken, because sellers can list a variation with the lowest price that is never available. This impossible-to-get lowest price is taken into consideration by the sort. People complain that sometimes Prime is 3 or 4 day shipping instead of actually 2 days. Ali Express is 2 weeks minimum. Probably 50% of the things I've ordered have taken 1+ month. Some things take 2 months. Some things never arrive at all. All that said, I still use Ali Express. It's great for small, cheap and generic items. I know what I'm getting into, and I accept the risks. There is no way it could replace Amazon. If you knew nothing about Amazon and only learned about it from HN comments you would think it was basically the Mos Eisley Cantina. The real eCommerce Mos Eisley Cantina is Ali Express. Shopping on Amazon is still cheap and convenient. Maybe not if you consistently buy things that are exorbitant to ship like ping pong tables or 6 foot ladders, but most people buy items that could fit in a shoe box.

fucking_tragedy 8y ago
> Shipping something back on Ali Express is basically a total no-go. My returns with AliExpress have all been full refunds without having to reship the items back to the supplier. One of my refunds was for a $100+ item, as well. > Ali Express is 2 weeks minimum. I've received items in a week or less. > Shopping on Amazon is still cheap and convenient. As of late, this hasn't been true. AliExpress, Walmart and even Best Buy have had better deals than Amazon.
- bootlooped 8y ago
  Admittedly it's probably not perfect to compare Amazon returns to Ali Express returns, because I too have received refunds without having to ship the product back. I have had significantly fewer products I've had to dispute through Amazon than Ali Express though. I don't know where you live, but I don't think receiving an item from Ali Express in 1 week or less is normal, unless maybe you live in mainland China. I'm in the US and I really think I've never received something quicker than 2 weeks. You said you have received things in a week or less. What do you think the average is though? I just don't believe that Amazon does not generally provide cheap products conveniently. There are outliers, as with everything, but I think it's the norm that the prices for the majority of products are competitive, and the user experience is convenient.

rsync 8y ago

"In summary, like theossuary, I believe figuring out your niche stores will be beneficial ..." As we figure out our "niche stores", I hope designers and entrepreneurs will study McMaster-Carr[1] - a site I found through the garagejournal forum that is an absolute joy to use. Just drill down into any product category and you'll get a very simple listing, with full descriptions and very helpful diagrams of every single part. If you need pipe fittings or hose clamps or rivets or gas regulators, please vote with your dollars at this site. [1] https://www.mcmaster.com/ https://www.mcmaster.com/

sriram_sun 8y ago
Wow! Great site. Thanks!
moltar 8y ago
A similar one for car parts is rockauto.com. UI from the 90s but simple and does the job.

cordite 8y ago

I’ve received a Walmart originated box when I ordered some poster frames. It was a surprise.