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Also have to factor that Amazon's customer service is fantastic. That's the hidden cost in using something else: How is their customer service? How much hassle

Also have to factor that Amazon's customer service is fantastic. That's the hidden cost in using something else: How is their customer service? How much hassle are they going to give me to return an item? How much does it cost me to return an item?

te_chris 5y ago
And they can absorb the higher cost of this customer service via monopoly behaviour, where their competitors can’t.
- katbyte 5y ago
  monopoly? walmart costco canadian tyre london drugs ikea are all huge retailers with billions that are trying to provide online platforms like and none of them come close. bestbuy and wayfair are the only comparable one imho and they still kinda suck compared to amazon
  - bbarnett 5y ago
    I still don't get Walmart. So much fiscal might, so much capability to expand into full, well thought out, competitive online experience, yet they're barely competitive. It's almost like the Walmart family thinks this online thing is a fad, and growth/sales spiraling downward will turn around any day now, just you wait and see! I don't get it.
    - axaxs 5y ago
      I don't want to say too much specifically...but I think whoever is responsible managing their entire 'online thing' is doing a poor job. No offense meant to anyone who works there. I spoke a while informally to someone who worked there. Sounded like a really smart person, and they were describing in detail how their team was writing this 'thing' from scratch, where thing is something numerous rock solid, fast, open source alternatives exist. Didn't seem like a good use of resources -at all- considering the sorry state of their web experience.
      - kortex 5y ago
        Their whole online / app experience is a bit baffling, given the amount of revenue flowing through it. Search is terrible, inventory management is worse. Several times I've scanned a barcode of a pallet of things for a price check, only to get "No inventory in stock." Can't even get a hypothetical in-stock or online price. Other janky stuff I forget. Lowes' website is a trainwreck, just Inspect Page it... for starters there's "todo" comments. Home depot's experience is fantastic. But if you wanna see the reigning champ of "online thing," www.mcmaster.com
        axaxs 5y ago
        Yeah, it's really bad. If an item is out of stock, it lets you get to check out before telling you, right when you place the order. It lets you put things in your cart that sell out. Putting things in your cart means nothing at all, apparently. Not sure if the last line was meant in jest, but I -really- dig that site. All info and pics, clear pricing. Perfect.
        kortex 5y ago
        No jest at all. Depot and McMaster I'm quite happy with. Pardon the pun, McMaster-Carr is a masterclass in UX. I've always been amazed at how well their search works, how responsive and un-glitchy the site is. How you can have a cart while not logged in, then log in without a redirect or even a refresh or rerender. Exact same state, you're just now in a logged-in state. I don't know of many ecommerce sites that do that as seamlessly. It's also been this way for years. They were ahead of the game even back then.
  - dehrmann 5y ago
    Amazon is definitely the dominant online retailer, but there's serious competition from Walmart, some competition from ebay, offline competition, and niche competition. It's not even close to Google search market share.
    - katbyte 5y ago
      But that’s just it, Walmart with all its money and might have a store and experience miles behind Amazon
  - te_chris 5y ago
    Did you even read the article?
- slownews45 5y ago
  Uh, you can purchase from any retailer, walmart, target etc.
BeetleB 5y ago
> Also have to factor that Amazon's customer service is fantastic. I only need their great customer service because of the poor quality products they are shipping. With other retailers, I don't know how good their customer service is because I almost never need to utilize them.
- axaxs 5y ago
  I think for the typical consumer, most time spent on Amazon support are shipping mistakes. I didn't get it, the quantity is wrong, or in some cases, I got too many. Their support is fantastic on all accounts... they've never even hinted or accused me of being dishonest. If I get something later that was already refunded...they just tell you to keep it. That small gesture goes a long way, to me. If you get junk from Amazon, just send it back. No support needed.
  - BeetleB 5y ago
    > Their support is fantastic on all accounts... they've never even hinted or accused me of being dishonest. When I compare this with all major retailers, this is true for everyone else. This isn't "fantastic" - it's standard. Walmart was the one exception, where the employee didn't know Walmart's return policy.
    - axaxs 5y ago
      That's fair to say it's standard, but then I'd say the standard is fantastic. Not long ago I ordered 4 pair of sunglasses from a small outfit online. Only 2 arrived. Support took a few days to get back to me, then asking for pics of what I got, the box, etc. I don't think that was unfair of them to ask and I provided all that, but it's a stark contrast to 'yeah here's your money back' in 5 minutes, no questions asked.
      - dannyw 5y ago
        I once had a seller (site was ran on BigCommerce or something) accuse me of lying about a defective item, and threatening to publish my name and full address on the website as a 'fraudster' unless I took down the 1 star review that I left on Trustpilot. The matter was resolved with a refund when I forwarded the email threat they sent me to a couple relevant blogs/reviewers.
timeinput 5y ago
The customer service of my credit card company accepting a charge back is better than Amazon's. If the customer service of <no name vendor> is terrible the remedy is simple.
rexf 5y ago
This is true. I don't trust Amazon's products to be the best, but their return policy & customer service is miles ahead of any competition. I've tried buying from non-Amazon places recently, but their shipping (and even returns process) is so bad I prefer buying from Amazon. Amazon delivers stuff to my place for "free" and very fast. They also make returning things as painless as possible since I don't even need to re-package my item when dropping off at UPS. It's easy to underestimate the hassle (from other merchants) of re-packaging your items and possibly paying for return shipping.

te_chris 5y ago

And they can absorb the higher cost of this customer service via monopoly behaviour, where their competitors can’t.

katbyte 5y ago
monopoly? walmart costco canadian tyre london drugs ikea are all huge retailers with billions that are trying to provide online platforms like and none of them come close. bestbuy and wayfair are the only comparable one imho and they still kinda suck compared to amazon
- bbarnett 5y ago
  I still don't get Walmart. So much fiscal might, so much capability to expand into full, well thought out, competitive online experience, yet they're barely competitive. It's almost like the Walmart family thinks this online thing is a fad, and growth/sales spiraling downward will turn around any day now, just you wait and see! I don't get it.
  - axaxs 5y ago
    I don't want to say too much specifically...but I think whoever is responsible managing their entire 'online thing' is doing a poor job. No offense meant to anyone who works there. I spoke a while informally to someone who worked there. Sounded like a really smart person, and they were describing in detail how their team was writing this 'thing' from scratch, where thing is something numerous rock solid, fast, open source alternatives exist. Didn't seem like a good use of resources -at all- considering the sorry state of their web experience.
    - kortex 5y ago
      Their whole online / app experience is a bit baffling, given the amount of revenue flowing through it. Search is terrible, inventory management is worse. Several times I've scanned a barcode of a pallet of things for a price check, only to get "No inventory in stock." Can't even get a hypothetical in-stock or online price. Other janky stuff I forget. Lowes' website is a trainwreck, just Inspect Page it... for starters there's "todo" comments. Home depot's experience is fantastic. But if you wanna see the reigning champ of "online thing," www.mcmaster.com
      - axaxs 5y ago
        Yeah, it's really bad. If an item is out of stock, it lets you get to check out before telling you, right when you place the order. It lets you put things in your cart that sell out. Putting things in your cart means nothing at all, apparently. Not sure if the last line was meant in jest, but I -really- dig that site. All info and pics, clear pricing. Perfect.
        kortex 5y ago
        No jest at all. Depot and McMaster I'm quite happy with. Pardon the pun, McMaster-Carr is a masterclass in UX. I've always been amazed at how well their search works, how responsive and un-glitchy the site is. How you can have a cart while not logged in, then log in without a redirect or even a refresh or rerender. Exact same state, you're just now in a logged-in state. I don't know of many ecommerce sites that do that as seamlessly. It's also been this way for years. They were ahead of the game even back then.
- dehrmann 5y ago
  Amazon is definitely the dominant online retailer, but there's serious competition from Walmart, some competition from ebay, offline competition, and niche competition. It's not even close to Google search market share.
  - katbyte 5y ago
    But that’s just it, Walmart with all its money and might have a store and experience miles behind Amazon
- te_chris 5y ago
  Did you even read the article?
slownews45 5y ago
Uh, you can purchase from any retailer, walmart, target etc.

BeetleB 5y ago

> Also have to factor that Amazon's customer service is fantastic. I only need their great customer service because of the poor quality products they are shipping. With other retailers, I don't know how good their customer service is because I almost never need to utilize them.

axaxs 5y ago
I think for the typical consumer, most time spent on Amazon support are shipping mistakes. I didn't get it, the quantity is wrong, or in some cases, I got too many. Their support is fantastic on all accounts... they've never even hinted or accused me of being dishonest. If I get something later that was already refunded...they just tell you to keep it. That small gesture goes a long way, to me. If you get junk from Amazon, just send it back. No support needed.
- BeetleB 5y ago
  > Their support is fantastic on all accounts... they've never even hinted or accused me of being dishonest. When I compare this with all major retailers, this is true for everyone else. This isn't "fantastic" - it's standard. Walmart was the one exception, where the employee didn't know Walmart's return policy.
  - axaxs 5y ago
    That's fair to say it's standard, but then I'd say the standard is fantastic. Not long ago I ordered 4 pair of sunglasses from a small outfit online. Only 2 arrived. Support took a few days to get back to me, then asking for pics of what I got, the box, etc. I don't think that was unfair of them to ask and I provided all that, but it's a stark contrast to 'yeah here's your money back' in 5 minutes, no questions asked.
    - dannyw 5y ago
      I once had a seller (site was ran on BigCommerce or something) accuse me of lying about a defective item, and threatening to publish my name and full address on the website as a 'fraudster' unless I took down the 1 star review that I left on Trustpilot. The matter was resolved with a refund when I forwarded the email threat they sent me to a couple relevant blogs/reviewers.

timeinput 5y ago

The customer service of my credit card company accepting a charge back is better than Amazon's. If the customer service of <no name vendor> is terrible the remedy is simple.

rexf 5y ago

This is true. I don't trust Amazon's products to be the best, but their return policy & customer service is miles ahead of any competition. I've tried buying from non-Amazon places recently, but their shipping (and even returns process) is so bad I prefer buying from Amazon. Amazon delivers stuff to my place for "free" and very fast. They also make returning things as painless as possible since I don't even need to re-package my item when dropping off at UPS. It's easy to underestimate the hassle (from other merchants) of re-packaging your items and possibly paying for return shipping.