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For me their killer feature is ease and certainty of returns. If I am buying online I need to option to return items that are not as they appear, and Amazon off

by sgc 5y ago

For me their killer feature is ease and certainty of returns. If I am buying online I need to option to return items that are not as they appear, and Amazon offers that quite readily. So I think the major hurdle for other businesses is getting a reputation for prompt and free return acceptance if they want to sell things sight unseen.

zwaps 5y ago
At least here in Europe, returns are painless in almost all cases. Give it a shot! This is especially true for larger and more expensive items (like electronics) where - I can not stress this enough - it is much, much better to buy directly from the company (I'd say 95% of all companies now have d2c shops on their websites). It used to be the case that Amazon had an advantage in customer support and returns. I feel this is no longer true. I bought an expensive electronic item from Amazon and, when it broke, I send it in under warranty (in the EU, the first six months are essentially no questions asked repairs). Amazon send it to a third-party repair shop that send it back to me without any repair. By contrast, I had to replace an item from a large consumer electronics company, which I had bought directly with them. They sent me a new one __before__ I had sent in my old item, and the new box included the shipping label to send back the damaged one. Much easier! Beyond all this, it's obvious that Amazon is now home to fake and faux products. It is my view that the only product worth ordering there are cheapo China duplicates, for a price where you will be okay if they break after one week of use. Otherwise, go with the supplier. It perhaps takes more than a day to ship, but often it doesn't. You can return any item for any reason within two weeks (in the EU), and damaged items can be returned within warranty anyway - usually with less hassle. So folks, please stop buying stuff from Amazon if you can help it. As this - and countless other instances - has shown, Amazon is no longer worth supporting, for any reason.
greenshackle2 5y ago
I'm in Canada and recently I started getting Prime items shipped from the US, with no indication on the listing or at checkout that it was gonna be shipped internationally. It makes returns much less pain-free. For international returns they don't have labels, you need to pay for shipping, and they supposedly reimburse up to $20 shipping fees but I have found no evidence of an actual process in place to claim it. (I had to return a book because they sent me a hardcover loosely packed in a box, from the US to Canada. Of course it was damaged in transport. For a place that started out as a book store this is really dumb. I re-ordered it from Chapters, who packed it properly.)
ljm 5y ago
I find that I'm more likely to get an item as expected from another store, and will only need to use the return policy if I change my mind or something else happens. Whereas Amazon basically doesn't care about the inventory it ships and your only choice, really, is to use the return policy to actually get what you want. I'm in the UK so I enjoy some solid consumer rights (at least for the time being). Plenty of online retailers ship return labels and packaging with your order, should you need to send something back.

by sgc 5y ago

zwaps 5y ago

At least here in Europe, returns are painless in almost all cases. Give it a shot! This is especially true for larger and more expensive items (like electronics) where - I can not stress this enough - it is much, much better to buy directly from the company (I'd say 95% of all companies now have d2c shops on their websites). It used to be the case that Amazon had an advantage in customer support and returns. I feel this is no longer true. I bought an expensive electronic item from Amazon and, when it broke, I send it in under warranty (in the EU, the first six months are essentially no questions asked repairs). Amazon send it to a third-party repair shop that send it back to me without any repair. By contrast, I had to replace an item from a large consumer electronics company, which I had bought directly with them. They sent me a new one __before__ I had sent in my old item, and the new box included the shipping label to send back the damaged one. Much easier! Beyond all this, it's obvious that Amazon is now home to fake and faux products. It is my view that the only product worth ordering there are cheapo China duplicates, for a price where you will be okay if they break after one week of use. Otherwise, go with the supplier. It perhaps takes more than a day to ship, but often it doesn't. You can return any item for any reason within two weeks (in the EU), and damaged items can be returned within warranty anyway - usually with less hassle. So folks, please stop buying stuff from Amazon if you can help it. As this - and countless other instances - has shown, Amazon is no longer worth supporting, for any reason.

greenshackle2 5y ago

I'm in Canada and recently I started getting Prime items shipped from the US, with no indication on the listing or at checkout that it was gonna be shipped internationally. It makes returns much less pain-free. For international returns they don't have labels, you need to pay for shipping, and they supposedly reimburse up to $20 shipping fees but I have found no evidence of an actual process in place to claim it. (I had to return a book because they sent me a hardcover loosely packed in a box, from the US to Canada. Of course it was damaged in transport. For a place that started out as a book store this is really dumb. I re-ordered it from Chapters, who packed it properly.)

ljm 5y ago

I find that I'm more likely to get an item as expected from another store, and will only need to use the return policy if I change my mind or something else happens. Whereas Amazon basically doesn't care about the inventory it ships and your only choice, really, is to use the return policy to actually get what you want. I'm in the UK so I enjoy some solid consumer rights (at least for the time being). Plenty of online retailers ship return labels and packaging with your order, should you need to send something back.