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Do competitors usually give that shipping for free though? I thought the point of super saver shipping was you don't have to pay for the shipping but the trade

Do competitors usually give that shipping for free though? I thought the point of super saver shipping was you don't have to pay for the shipping but the tradeoff is you have to wait however long it takes to get your package. If the competitors are somewhat faster but you still have to pay then the scenarios can't really be compared (I am a prime member so I have paid less than $1 per delivery for guaranteed two day shipping so I have never even considered alternatives).

rogerbinns 13y ago
> Do competitors usually give that shipping for free though? It isn't free - the cost of the shipping is baked in the product prices. Walmart's threshold is $45 for no additional charge, shipping to one of their stores is no additional charge, and below the threshold shipping is usually 97c. In any event this isn't about "can you pay more for faster shipping" which is the case virtually everywhere, but that it seems like Amazon is holding back on their lowest tier before the actual shipping which none of their competitors seem to do. There is an obvious benefit to them in Prime upsells. Actual logistical reasons seem at odds with the story about huge spending on warehouses.
continuations 13y ago
Pretty much everyone offers some "free" shipping these days, which is just a marketing scheme anyway. Free shippoing or not, the only number that matters is the total, all-inclusive price. It's not uncommon for me to find a lower total price at a seller that charges for shipping than the Amazon's "free" shipping price. WSJ actually just published an article on how Amazon is frequently underpriced by other sellers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424127887323423804579023280029907354.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142412788732342380457902... There's no one seller that is consistently the lowest price. But Amazon is consistently the slowest in shipping.

rogerbinns 13y ago

> Do competitors usually give that shipping for free though? It isn't free - the cost of the shipping is baked in the product prices. Walmart's threshold is $45 for no additional charge, shipping to one of their stores is no additional charge, and below the threshold shipping is usually 97c. In any event this isn't about "can you pay more for faster shipping" which is the case virtually everywhere, but that it seems like Amazon is holding back on their lowest tier before the actual shipping which none of their competitors seem to do. There is an obvious benefit to them in Prime upsells. Actual logistical reasons seem at odds with the story about huge spending on warehouses.

continuations 13y ago

Pretty much everyone offers some "free" shipping these days, which is just a marketing scheme anyway. Free shippoing or not, the only number that matters is the total, all-inclusive price. It's not uncommon for me to find a lower total price at a seller that charges for shipping than the Amazon's "free" shipping price. WSJ actually just published an article on how Amazon is frequently underpriced by other sellers: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424127887323423804579023280029907354.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142412788732342380457902... There's no one seller that is consistently the lowest price. But Amazon is consistently the slowest in shipping.