Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Quietly Lowered Its Free Shipping Minimum to $35 (fortune.com)
Retailers have been busy over the weekend with Presidents Day promotions and sales, but Amazon had a significant surprise discount of its own. From a report: In a blink-and-miss-it move, the online retail giant quietly reduced its free shipping minimum rate to $35. The change was picked up and reported by a number of news outlets over the weekend, and was spotted by Fortune as well during the online checkout process. Amazon confirmed the change on its shipping guidelines and options page, designating which items and regions for delivery are eligible for free shipping. Amazon's free shipping rate, arguably one of the promotions on the site that has been the most popular and vaulted it to its e-commerce throne in years past, has gone up and down over the years. The free shipping minimum has been as low as $25 in the past and was most recently as high as $49.
I wouldn't buy from a Chinese site if they paid me.
It's not that I don't trust them... No, wait, that's exactly it. I don't trust them. I rank them just about equal in trust level to no-rep randos on eBay. And honestly, I don't see any way China (and by that, I mean both their government and their businesses) could fix that.
Every perception I have of China is that they'll cut a corner to make a buck, give in to corruption and/or coercion, and generally trade their name for a cheeseburger. They make Walmart look scrupulous and decent. And I respect the toilet paper on sale there more than I respect Walmart.