Amazon Quietly Lowered Its Free Shipping Minimum to $35 (fortune.com)

Nice. by NMBob · 2017-02-20 09:12 · Score: 1, Insightful

Would be nicer if they rolled back the shipping on used CDs/DVDs. Used to be $2.99 (or lower), but went up to $3.99 a few or couple of years ago.

Re:Nice. by ShanghaiBill · 2017-02-20 10:59 · Score: 1

Supply & demand might be the cause.
More likely it is lack of competition. I used to buy used books and DVDs on eBay, but now Amazon has a way better selection, a better search interface, and better seller feedback. Many big e-sellers, like Goodwill, aren't even on eBay anymore. Most brick-and-mortar used bookstores and music stores are gone. So Amazon can jack up the price with few repercussions.
Re:Nice. by daver!west!fmc · 2017-02-20 11:16 · Score: 2

A big chunk of the shipping price for used items is passed along to the seller as a "shipping allowance" that may cover the cost of shipping the product. For CDs and DVDs sent as Media Mail within the US, it probably does. For books, it's less certain. Anyway, reduce that price, Amazon will reduce the shipping allowance, and sellers will remove a lot of their low-priced inventory from Amazon.
Re:Nice. by justthinkit · 2017-02-20 11:18 · Score: 1

Right. Amazon is the king of A/B testing.

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I come here for the love
Re: Nice. by corychristison · 2017-02-20 12:01 · Score: 2

There is way less fraud on Amazon. Don't get me wrong, it's still there, but much less prevalent compared to eBay.
Personally I pay for Prime and it's well worth it for me. If you stick to Prime eligible products, you don't have to deal with the fraud as you're dealing with Amazon and not a third party.
Re: Nice. by corychristison · 2017-02-20 15:31 · Score: 3, Interesting

I live in a smallish town in Saskatchewan, Canada. All of the small shops closed up shortly after Walmart moved in 17ish years ago. I find Amazon to be the lesser of the two evils in this situation. Plus Amazon has a much bigger selection than the local Walmart, and I'm not really willing to drive an hour away to buy stuff in the next town over unless I desperately need something that day.
With that said, I do my best to support the local businesses I can. I buy meat from the local butcher, eggs and other produce from local farmers market, go to the smaller independent grocery store over the big box chain, pet food and supplies from the local pet store, etc.
Re:Nice. by djinn6 · 2017-02-20 18:19 · Score: 1

he'll pay you 2.99 for each item you box/wrap, print and stick on an address label, and take to post office and put on postage
Well he's a hipster who doesn't understand economies of scale. I'll bet he ships 3 CD's a week, max.

I've actually did something like this as an intern and I earned $20 an hour (mainly because the things I shipped cost thousands). I packed 2 boxes a minute. Filling out the UPS shipping form takes no time at all once I set up AutoHotkey. The label printer was slow, maybe 10 labels a minute, but I can stick them on as soon as each page was printed. The drive to UPS is 5 minutes, then add a few minutes to move the boxes between the car and the buildings etc., I can ship about 75 boxes an hour.

At $3 a box? Hell yes! I'll take $225 / hour any day.
Re: Nice. by BenFranske · 2017-02-20 19:51 · Score: 3, Informative

If you stick to Prime eligible products, you don't have to deal with the fraud as you're dealing with Amazon and not a third party.
Depends how you define "dealing with" Amazon is not always the seller, they are increasingly a logistics/fulfillment company and not the seller. While it being Prime does mean they have the product in one of their warehouses it absolutely does not mean you are buying it from Amazon. In many cases they are just warehousing products for someone else and they send you the product which has been barcoded by the actual seller when you purchase it. If you have a problem with the product you might soon learn that it isn't Amazon you bought it from, prime or not.
Re: Nice. by nitehawk214 · 2017-02-21 01:38 · Score: 1

Walmart isn't a local business, lol.

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I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Re: Nice. by JackieBrown · 2017-02-21 02:11 · Score: 1

But it does employee local people.
The Wal-Marts in San Antonio pay the same as the other grocery stores here - in some cases more.
Re: Nice. by mjwx · 2017-02-21 02:24 · Score: 1

I live in a smallish town in Saskatchewan, Canada. All of the small shops closed up shortly after Walmart moved in 17ish years ago. I find Amazon to be the lesser of the two evils in this situation. Plus Amazon has a much bigger selection than the local Walmart, and I'm not really willing to drive an hour away to buy stuff in the next town over unless I desperately need something that day.
Not sure aboot sunny Canada, but here in cold and dreary England you can get a fair few things delivered from Amazon in 4 hours (for a delivery fee of course). I live in a smallish town about an hour outside of London and I've been able to get things delivered at 22:00 on a weeknight. Of course you don't get the full Amazon selection, but it's actually better than the 2-3 brands Tesco would have.

With that said, I do my best to support the local businesses I can. I buy meat from the local butcher, eggs and other produce from local farmers market, go to the smaller independent grocery store over the big box chain, pet food and supplies from the local pet store, etc.
I by and large agree with this.

But that doesn't mean that local vendors should get lazy. If you make it difficult to find and obtain services (I.E. no online presence, no Sunday trading, close at 12:00 sharp on a Saturday) then of course I'm going to go to Morrisons instead.

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Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Re:Nice. by Shirley+Marquez · 2017-02-21 06:34 · Score: 1

Postal rates went up. So has the cost of packaging. It's true that the cost of sending a used book or disc is probably closer to $3 than $4 even after the increases, but there is also the weird phenomenon of selling things for $0.01 plus shipping. That would obviously be an unsustainable business model if the cost of shipping and packaging equaled the charge for those things. If Amazon were to lower the shipping rate on those items, the sellers would just have to increase their prices to compensate.
Re: Nice. by Shirley+Marquez · 2017-02-21 06:39 · Score: 1

You can also get same day delivery of some things from Amazon if you live in or near one of the cities where they offer that service. It's only available in places where Amazon has its own delivery workers, not in places that only get deliveries from the USPS or the big private delivery companies.
When Amazon first started offering same day delivery here in Boston, there was controversy because the map of the areas where they offered it had a big hole in the middle of the city - that was Roxbury, which is a relatively poor neighborhood that is populated primarily by people of color. Amazon relented and offered the service city-wide, probably because of the bad publicity they were getting.
Re: Nice. by Shirley+Marquez · 2017-02-21 06:44 · Score: 1

The key phrase is "fulfilled by Amazon". If you see that, Amazon isn't the company that is selling you the goods. Amazon's friendly return policies may not apply.
However, Amazon does have some buyer protections in place for anything that is bought through their site, even if it is actually sold by a third party. (The exact protections vary depending on the type of merchandise; they're weakest for software and digital goods.) That makes the site safer overall than eBay. eBay's buyer protection applies to fewer purchases and their protection policies are weaker than Amazon's.
Re:Nice. by Shirley+Marquez · 2017-02-21 06:48 · Score: 1

They do care if you are happy. Unhappy customers don't generate much repeat business.
Amazon is all about getting you to buy things from them regularly, even offering things like subscriptions to get regular shipments of household supplies and special electronic buttons that they give away to make it easier to order things. Yes, they charge you $4.99 for the button but it comes with a $4.99 credit that you get the first time you use it. And they sometimes have sales where they sell the buttons for $0.99... but you still get the $4.99 credit when you use it, which means they are PAYING you $4 to take the button.
Re:Nice. by Shirley+Marquez · 2017-02-21 07:05 · Score: 1

You're not getting to keep $3/box. The current price for sending Media Mail is $2.63 for retail packages, or $2.51 for commercial shipment of packages with basic presort. It comes down to $1.82 if you can do 5-digit presort but you have to be sending a LOT of packages to qualify for that rate. Books are a bit cheaper to ship commercially because they qualify for the bound printed matter rate, which varies from $1.40 to $1.75 depending on where it is going. (That's the presorted rate; carrier route is a bit cheaper but no bookseller is likely to be shipping enough books to qualify for that rate, it's pretty much just for magazines.)
Those numbers don't include packaging; they're just the amount you pay the Postal Service. To that you have to add the cost of the envelope or box, the cost of the address label and the tape, and pay yourself or somebody for their time.
Re: Nice. by corychristison · 2017-02-21 09:09 · Score: 1

No, because my local Walmart is a terrible company. Walmart as a whole is a terrible company.
Their profits get siphoned out of the country, and they treat their employee's poorly. A person can not live on two 4 hour shifts a week. They do not offer full time employment.
Re: Nice. by corychristison · 2017-02-21 09:18 · Score: 1

In some cases, yes. Here in Canada they are much more few and far between. The vast majority of the Prime Eligible products are sold directly by Amazon.ca.
I would hope Amazon would punish sellers doing anything fraudulent, or not treating their customers well. After all, Amazon is the one advertising the products, and fulfilling the orders. They will receive the backlash if a customer is unhappy.
Re:Nice. by djinn6 · 2017-02-21 16:35 · Score: 1

GP said he's paying for just the work:

he'll pay you 2.99 for each item you box/wrap, print and stick on an address label, and take to post office and put on postage
But let's assume I'm paying for the shipping too: I can ship CD's in large envelopes for $0.98 each. The envelope itself is $0.20. Labels cost $0.40 per sheet, each of which fits about 10 labels, so $0.04 per envelope. Ink is maybe 1 cent. Or I can just write the address with a pen instead. And since I'm using envelopes that come with an adhesive strip, I don't need packing tape.

After subtracting the costs, I'm still making $1.70 each, for a total of $128 per hour.

And, I might start buying more from them again. by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-02-20 09:15 · Score: 5, Informative

When free shipping went up to $49, I stopped buying as much from them. I might use them more again now, $35 was easy to pad a purchase to reach- $49 isn't.

Good call Amazon!

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"That's the way to do it" - Punch

Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by XxtraLarGe · 2017-02-20 09:34 · Score: 1

When free shipping went up to $49, I stopped buying as much from them. I might use them more again now, $35 was easy to pad a purchase to reach- $49 isn't.
Amazon's goal is to get you to buy more stuff than you need. What really irritates me is that I paid $119 for a prime account, and then a lot of things you look at are "Add-on Items", meaning that they only qualify for free prime shipping on orders over $25--but you can't buy them alone even if you'd be willing to pay for shipping. I needed to get some over-sized U-Bolts for my camper. Nobody locally carried them--Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, or the local hardware stores. Amazon had them for $8, but I had to add an additional $17 worth of stuff I didn't really want or need at them time before they would ship them to me.

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Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Anubis+IV · 2017-02-20 09:38 · Score: 1

Agreed. As I'd imagine is the case with most people, I didn't know what to get some people for the holidays until closer to Christmas, so I wasn't able to make a single, bulk purchase. As a result, I never had a single cart that was anywhere close to the $49 minimum. It ended up being cheaper to buy individual items directly from the manufacturers than to purchase them a few at a time from Amazon. In the end, Amazon only sold me one item this last Christmas, whereas in prior years I've done the bulk of my shopping on the site.
We stopped using Prime because we were getting less value out of the service than what it cost (YMMV), then our shopping on Amazon dropped off a cliff when they jacked the minimum up to $49. I was beginning to suspect that I'd barely use the site any more, but with the minimum dropping back down again, they may actually attract some of our business again.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by olsmeister · 2017-02-20 09:47 · Score: 1

Just return the rest of the stuff. They'll eventually learn.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by afaiktoit · 2017-02-20 10:07 · Score: 1

I stopped buying from them also, I imagine a lot of people did and thus the change back
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by wbr1 · 2017-02-20 10:15 · Score: 2

Do you drive 20 miles to go pick up a $3 jug of milk? Probably not, but if you have a larger list, it may be worthwhile to drive to a more distant store. Most add-on items are similar. Under $10 (most under $5). It is just not feasible to ship that for free by it self. The handling costs and even the deeply discounted shipping costs Amazon recieves would eat mor than the profit on an item that small.
It is not that hard to add items like that to your cart or a wishlist, then buy them all at once or on a larger order. All it takes is a little planning. Otherwise, local stores are good for impulse buys.
Caveat - I run an amazon 3rd party seller business.

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Silence is a state of mime.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-20 10:27 · Score: 1

I think the problem is they don't even give you the option to pay the shipping if you just wanted to receive that add on item. I've been in the same boat as well with their add on item shenanigans. Another retailer made that sale as I wasn't going to pad my cart to be able to purchase it when it was couple bucks shipping elsewhere.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by msauve · 2017-02-20 11:32 · Score: 1

"they don't even give you the option to pay the shipping if you just wanted to receive that add on item."

There's often a "buy from other sellers" choice, where you pay more but it's not Prime shipping.

Myself, I try to keep some things in a "future purchases" list, stuff I will be buying, but don't need soon. Like, right now I've got some stuff to buy related to camping next summer. So, if something comes up as an add-on, there's usually something I'd be buying anyway which I can add to the cart to make it work.

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"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by John.Banister · 2017-02-20 12:03 · Score: 1

This would make a lot of sense to me, if the add-on item shipped free when I purchased any regular prime item that came from the same warehouse, but instead they tie it to a dollar amount purchased, which feels exactly like they're forcing me to play by rules I already bought a membership to avoid. What it makes me want to do is think of any add-on items I might want whenever I buy something like a TV that I know will ship in a separate box, or something like a micro-sd card that I know would ship in a little mailer if it wasn't for the 5 jars of spices that were all add-on items.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by John.Banister · 2017-02-20 12:11 · Score: 2

I buy power tools almost exclusively from Amazon. I don't expect amazing discounts, but I like the German ones, and Amazon is my only reliable source for them.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by demonlapin · 2017-02-20 12:43 · Score: 5, Insightful

I don't shop at Amazon because it's cheaper - it's usually not much, if any. But it's much less work for me. Get online, check inventory, make sure it's in stock, drive twenty minutes each way, hunt for the item while in the store, wait in checkout line... if I don't need it right now, I can get online, click "place order", and it appears on my doorstep two days later. Huge time-saver for me, as my work is intermittent - I have lots of three-to-five-minute idle periods, which means I can get personal stuff done during the day, instead of wasting that time and having to invest even more after work.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by demonlapin · 2017-02-20 12:50 · Score: 1

Have your stuff delivered to a private mailbox facility (like a UPS Store), or to your place of work, if it's valuable. Every electronic item more complicated than an SD card that I order goes to the office. There's always someone to sign for it, it isn't accessible to thieves, and it's always climate-controlled.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Slashdot+Junky · 2017-02-20 13:59 · Score: 1

I think Amazon has enough people defaulting now to them as their only [online] retailer and looking no where else for better deals. They can sell for higher pricing to people not looking elsewhere. This has come from the major shift to online shopping and their sheer dominance in the space. I certainly check their site first. It has also been helped along by the belief that so many have that they are getting free two day shipping through Prime. For those not utilizing the other features of Prime such as streaming TV programming, shipping has been prepaid and is, thus, not actually free until enough purchases have been made over the membership year. In my experience, Prime pricing often is enough higher that the so-called free is even less so. They've exposed their pricing pseudo-scam by showing all of the other sellers along side their pricing.

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Landfill Mining Co.
Managing the (Un)natural Resources of Tomorrow
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Slashdot+Junky · 2017-02-20 14:03 · Score: 1

Plus, you have that $119 per year Prime membership that you want to take advantage of.

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Landfill Mining Co.
Managing the (Un)natural Resources of Tomorrow
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by hairyfeet · 2017-02-20 15:15 · Score: 1

That is the same reason the wife and I have been using Walmart for our online shopping, as it often has prices the same or less than Amazon, cheaper shipping and as a nice bonus a full 2/3rds of the items we purchased last holiday had a "free ship to store" option with many having same day or next day pickup.
Maybe now that Amazon have lowered the shipping we might do more shopping there...then again Walmart recently lowered their free shipping minimum to $25 and most small items we can get free shipping to our local Walmart so I don't have to come up with a bunch of stuff to put in the cart when I just need a flash stick or MicroSD card.

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ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by AmiMoJo · 2017-02-20 22:00 · Score: 1

If Amazon carried more stuff then I'd get Prime and do this all the time, even though their prices are not very competitive with physical shops on many items.
The problem is they don't carry a lot of the things I need, especially food. Heavy stuff is often excluded from free delivery too. You have to order a hell of a lot of stuff to make Prime worthwhile.
Supermarkets are often better in that sense, although I've found that the tend to give you the stuff that is out about to go out of date or don't tell you that they ran out of and item and substitute something stupid. If Amazon could just partner with a quality supermarket I think they could cover 90% of my shopping needs.

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const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by mjwx · 2017-02-21 02:29 · Score: 1

I don't shop at Amazon because it's cheaper - it's usually not much, if any. But it's much less work for me. Get online, check inventory, make sure it's in stock, drive twenty minutes each way, hunt for the item while in the store, wait in checkout line... if I don't need it right now, I can get online, click "place order", and it appears on my doorstep two days later. Huge time-saver for me, as my work is intermittent - I have lots of three-to-five-minute idle periods, which means I can get personal stuff done during the day, instead of wasting that time and having to invest even more after work.
I tend to use Amazon because they actually have the products I'm after.

I needed bags for a vacuum cleaner, not a single supermarket or homewares store in 10 miles had them, but Amazon prime had them for less than 6 quid. I'm not even sure if a store beyond 10 miles had them. Prime delivery is 1 day and they delivered on a Sunday... but seriously, being a member of the 20 MPG club means that driving 10 miles there and back is 6 quid on it's own.

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Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by XxtraLarGe · 2017-02-21 02:51 · Score: 1

Under $10 (most under $5). It is just not feasible to ship that for free by it self.
Yeah, but you're ignoring 2 points: 1) I already paid $119 for a Prime membership, which is supposed to give you free 2-day shipping and 2) I'd be willing to pay shipping for a low cost item, but that is not an option with "Add-on Items".

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Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by tlhIngan · 2017-02-21 04:15 · Score: 1

Do you drive 20 miles to go pick up a $3 jug of milk? Probably not, but if you have a larger list, it may be worthwhile to drive to a more distant store. Most add-on items are similar. Under $10 (most under $5). It is just not feasible to ship that for free by it self. The handling costs and even the deeply discounted shipping costs Amazon recieves would eat mor than the profit on an item that small.
It is not that hard to add items like that to your cart or a wishlist, then buy them all at once or on a larger order. All it takes is a little planning. Otherwise, local stores are good for impulse buys.
Does amazon not let you do the pre-order trick?
Pre-order something - preferably something far out in the future (or no specified release date). Then add all those items to your cart. Check out. Once you get all the addons, cancel the preorder.
Heck, I've done the "order something that will no longer be available" or "order something already cancelled" which works as well. Given Nintendo recently cancelled a lot of Wii U stuff, there's a lot ow Wii U games that are NEVER coming out. Order those and you'll get your addon items without paying for something extra.
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by raremediumwelldone · 2017-02-21 06:26 · Score: 1

Not to mention if you buy from the Walmart site you're going to get the actual thing you ordered. Not a "maybe it's real maybe it's a cheap knockoff that they allowed into their warehouse".
If you bought, oh let's say a 128 GB usb flash drive. If you bought it and got one of those "4 GB of real storage and then it overwrites itself over and over" fakies, Walmart would apologize and give you a proper one (and then investigate to figure out how the hell that happened).
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Reziac · 2017-02-21 07:25 · Score: 1

Same here. In fact what happened is that if Amazon was going to ding me for shipping, I promptly went off to eBay, located the same item (usually from the same seller!!) offered with free shipping, and after a few iterations stopped bothering with Amazon entirely.
So yeah... stop trying to make your profit on shipping, make the threshold realistic for smaller purchases, and you'll get me back.

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~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by Obfiscator · 2017-02-22 01:55 · Score: 1

It's free when you never carry a balance (automatic payment every month in full) or take a cash advance. Might not work for everyone, but maybe the GP is one of them.

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"Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist." -Indiana Jones
Re:And, I might start buying more from them again. by atrex · 2017-02-22 04:12 · Score: 1

Google Shopping is often enough just as easy to find the lowest price for a product and do so efficiently, though it will depend somewhat on the site that has the lowest price. Most sites seem to accept paypal these days, which is a good way to keep from plugging in your credit card information on sites that you don't trust.

what a coincidence! by Thud457 · 2017-02-20 09:24 · Score: 4, Informative

Walmart's started advertising free two-day shipping with no membership required.

Not that you should be buying cheap crap from China from Walmart. For that, go to Harbor Freight.

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the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Re:what a coincidence! by ColdWetDog · 2017-02-20 09:29 · Score: 1

Harbor Freight doesn't sell dog food. Or, if it did, I wouldn't buy it from them.
Walmart just recently dropped it's $49 'Shipping Pass' program. And finally figured out that shipping dog food to Alaska via Fed Ex didn't make a ton of sense. Unfortunately.
Was pretty cool while it lasted.

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Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Re:what a coincidence! by rmdingler · 2017-02-20 09:38 · Score: 1

Walmart recently ditched its Prime competitor, shipping pass, that offered free two day shipping for $49... half the cost of a Prime membership.
They also recently purchased online retailer Jet (for $3 billion cash and $300 million in stock) to compete with the Amazon juggernaut.
Amazon has fended off the other giant retailer very effectively, thus far.

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Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Re:what a coincidence! by Nethead · 2017-02-20 09:39 · Score: 1

My wife found 30 lb buckets of kitty litter for $9.99 shipped from Jet one day. We ordered 6 of them. They put the buckets in boxes with padding. Now my mailman isn't speaking to me.

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-- I have a private email server in my basement.
Re:what a coincidence! by ShanghaiBill · 2017-02-20 11:03 · Score: 1

Walmart recently ditched its Prime competitor, shipping pass, that offered free two day shipping for $49... half the cost of a Prime membership.
But Amazon Prime gives you a lot more than just free shipping. You also get free movies, ebooks, etc. Even if you just get Prime for the movies, it is cheaper than Netflix.
Re:what a coincidence! by Woldscum · 2017-02-20 12:42 · Score: 1

But I don't care about or use the Music and Movie crap. Prime is $99 a year. Why not offer the old $49 a year shipping only option again? I started my prime account in the beginning 1998.
Re:what a coincidence! by phantomfive · 2017-02-20 13:59 · Score: 1

I've never found a free movie I wanted to watch on Amazon Prime. YMMV.

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Re:what a coincidence! by phantomfive · 2017-02-20 14:01 · Score: 1

Prime is $99 a year. Why not offer the old $49 a year shipping only option again?
IF you really want to know, it's because at its original price, Prime wasn't cost effective.

I started my prime account in the beginning 1998.
Prime wasn't around until ~2005, you must have been thinking of something different.

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"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Re:what a coincidence! by ArylAkamov · 2017-02-20 16:05 · Score: 1

Not that you should be buying cheap crap from China from Walmart. For that, go to Harbor Freight.

For that, go to Harbor Freight.

go to Harbor Freight.

Harbor Freight.

NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN NEIN!
Re:what a coincidence! by drinkypoo · 2017-02-21 01:27 · Score: 1

service workers you take advantage of
What? They should be glad they have a job, especially as poorly as the USPS performs.

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"

Ridiculous Slashdot story by Bryan+Ischo · 2017-02-20 09:36 · Score: 2, Insightful

This is one of the lamest Slashdot articles I have ever seen. In what way is this at all news for nerds? And in what way is this any more news worthy than 10,000 other random news items of day? What about if Walmart has a one-day sale on Nintendo games. Should we get a Slashdot headline article for that?

msmash is not a competent Slashdot editor. I'm going to give Slashdot some feedback here.

Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by downright · 2017-02-20 09:40 · Score: 2

Amazon Quietly Lowered Its Free Shipping Minimum (for Star Trek shit) to $35
problem solved. :-)
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 10:31 · Score: 1

Amazon Quietly Lowered Its Free Shipping Minimum (for Star Trek shit) to $35
problem solved. :-)
Can we get it on that for the good stuff (Star Wars shit)?

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This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by Aighearach · 2017-02-20 11:42 · Score: 1

How much feedback do we have to leave to get free shipping?
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by rsmith-mac · 2017-02-20 12:01 · Score: 1

It's a holiday in the US today. There's not a heck of a lot going on otherwise...
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by Raenex · 2017-02-20 12:22 · Score: 1

This is one of the lamest Slashdot articles I have ever seen.
You must be new here.
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by taustin · 2017-02-20 12:29 · Score: 1

Yeah, but Doctor Who is still full price.
Re: Ridiculous Slashdot story by Type44Q · 2017-02-20 13:12 · Score: 1

Don't be stupid; Musk doesn't need to pay for PR.
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by Patent+Lover · 2017-02-20 13:39 · Score: 1

Correct. We should instead be posting articles about douchebags like this: https://www.washingtonpost.com...
Re:Ridiculous Slashdot story by AmiMoJo · 2017-02-20 23:34 · Score: 1

Stories like this are a Slashdot tradition, an opportunity to moan about a big company and suggest impractical alternatives.
Personally I do all my shopping on the Dark Web via TOR, only using GNU certified Free Software (primarily the Lynx plug-in for EMACS) on PC-BSD. On an Amstrad CPC-464.
I ordered a lemon from Amazon once, but when I squeezed it only a few millilitres of juice came out and it tasted terrible so I tried to return it. Turned out it was some kind of lemon shaped sex toy and the "juice" was a mixture of battery acid and anal lubricant designed to produce large volumes of santorum.
No way I'm ordering anything from them again.

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Except Canada by phorm · 2017-02-20 09:39 · Score: 1

Here they were initially $25, then went up to $35 (not higher). They haven't gone back down to $25 thus far.

I also can't seem to do anything without being bombarded with "Have you tried Prime" messages constantly.

The decline in online stores by MobyDisk · 2017-02-20 09:41 · Score: 5, Interesting

I see a bit of a decline in online stores coming soon, not limited just to Amazon, because they have pushed the consumer too far. Here is why:

1. They are selling too much low-quality crud:
There are classes of items I can no longer buy online, because I have a 50/50 chance of getting a product other than what I actually ordered. Many e-commerce sites are copying the Amazon model of putting items on their sites, even if they aren't products the company sells directly. I can't buy USB cables, batteries, flash memory cards, or really any OEM parts online any longer. Even if the Amazon or Newegg store says it is an actual Samsung product, odds are good that I will actually get is a rip-off. I bought a rustproof aluminum part from Lowes, only to find it was actually iron so it rusted out. Now I find the same phony part at Sears.com. But it isn't actually a Sears product and it isn't in their stores.

2. They are no longer the cheapest deal in town
Several years ago I just went to Amazon for anything and everything, and just assumed it was the cheapest. That's no longer true. Even without shipping, I can usually find the item cheaper somewhere else. I'm even finding retail stores are competing positively on price. Now, this isn't true for electronics by any means, but see point #1 above. I'd rather pay $50 for 4000mAh a OEM battery at BestBuy than $10 for a clone that's 2500mAh but says 4000mAh on the case.

3. No longer tax-free
The tax-free days are over.

4. Shipping costs
Shipping costs are increasing.

Re:The decline in online stores by Your.Master · 2017-02-20 21:16 · Score: 1

These online stores were popular in regions that collected the tax. That tax is now being collected per the law that was always there but was previously applied in an impossible way, won't change that.
Low-quality ripoff stuff is something that will damage them, I agree with that and have run into some of that BS lately. However, shipping affects non-online too, and "cheapest deal in town" is just market competition at work.
Re:The decline in online stores by mjwx · 2017-02-21 02:44 · Score: 1

With Amazon, its not about the cost but the selection and convenience.

I live in the UK.

If I need something but don't need it right away (I.E. 90% of non-food items), it isn't necessarily much more expensive for the item at a store. The problem is that stores will only stock one or two brands and it takes time for me to get it. Not to mention the fuel I use going to the shop, every mile is another 30p to the price. However it's not even that.

The left low beam bulb went pop on my car yesterday. The selection at Halfords was limited to Halfords brand bulbs at Â£5 each, Amazon had OSRAM bulbs for Â£15 a pair with Prime. Even Euro Car Parts only had Chinese brand for Â£8 a pair or Phillips for Â£30. So I ordered the As it stands I've got the bulbs sitting on my desk as I type.

I got a better quality bulb than Halfords even offered and I didn't have to drive to the nearest ECP (which is a 3 mile detour though heavy traffic on my way home). OTOH, I needed a Molex to SATA power adaptor the other week, It was faster to drive to the nearest Currys and pay Â£4 for it (although parking was so shocking there, I may as well have walked).

Amazon isn't for cheap chinese crap any more (you've got Ebay and Alibaba for that), Amazon is for products you used to find in B&Q and Halfords before they all decided selling Chinese crap with UK pricetags. That being said, if I want 20 SATA cables, Amazon is as good a place as any.

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Re:The decline in online stores by MobyDisk · 2017-02-22 10:37 · Score: 1

Not always. But being made in the same factory doesn't mean it is the same product.
Here are some differences between the "real" product and the "after hours" product made in the same factory:
* May have lower capacity. Sometimes it labeled as such, but other times it is labeled as having the same capacity.
* May have skipped QA testing.
* Will not have a warranty. Sometimes they have no serial number, or they all have the same serial number.
Also, I can return a poor quality product to Best Buy more easily than some random Amazon or Newegg seller. And I can rate it poorly on Best Buy, thus discouraging future sales. But making a poor rating on Amazon against FlyByNightCompany74 won't discourage anyone. Once they rack-up enough bad reviews they drop the product and start a new listing for what is essentially the same item, or start a whole new seller.

I don't want free shipping by The+Cisco+Kid · 2017-02-20 09:56 · Score: 2, Insightful

Its not really free, you're still paying for it - The cost is just built into the product prices.

I want to PAY the market cost, for MY CHOICE of shipping method and carrier.

And I want to be able to specify that choice, and verify the pricing, BEFORE I enter a credit card number or any other financial info, and even without having to "log in" first. And I definitely don't want my card number stored from one purchase to the next, partly because I use disposable numbers, but also because for EACH PURCHASE I want positive control over the transaction. Its the same reason I keep my wallet in my pocket until the cashier has rung up my total at a brick&mortar.

When Amazon offers that, then it will be news worth reading.

Re:I don't want free shipping by Obfuscant · 2017-02-20 13:49 · Score: 1

Its the same reason I keep my wallet in my pocket until the cashier has rung up my total at a brick&mortar.
Then don't go to a gas station in the US. Almost all of them in this area have gone to a "pre-pay" mode, where they think you must be a criminal who will drive away without paying unless they make you pay first. Of course, when you want to fill up, you have to guess how much it will take. If you guess low, you don't get a fill. If you pay too much, you have to trust them to give you the excess back.
I stopped at one such station the other day (because the Shell in town that doesn't pull this crap was closed already) and walked inside, expecting that they would realize I wasn't going to drive off if I was inside the store. Nope. After about five minutes of waiting for gas, and telling the checkout girl I was waiting on pump 2, the attendant walks back in and tells me he isn't going to pump anything until I pay.
A pox on such people.
Re:I don't want free shipping by BradleyUffner · 2017-02-20 15:03 · Score: 1

Then don't go to a gas station in the US.
Almost all of them in this area have gone to a "pre-pay" mode, where they think you must be a criminal who will drive away without paying unless they make you pay first.
What US are you talking about? I haven't had to pre-pay for gas in PA, MD, NY, or VA in over 15 years.
Re:I don't want free shipping by Obfuscant · 2017-02-20 15:23 · Score: 1

What US are you talking about? I haven't had to pre-pay for gas in PA, MD, NY, or VA in over 15 years.
Oregon. Are you paying in cash or credit?
Re:I don't want free shipping by sgunhouse · 2017-02-20 16:40 · Score: 1

Here in OH, you only have to pre-pay on pumps that are farther from the booth/store. Or if you drive one of those big dually pickups with two tanks that hold 50 gallons between them. Otherwise, you press the Pay inside button, fill it up, and go inside to pay - some people even drive from the pump to the store before paying.
Re:I don't want free shipping by lgw · 2017-02-20 17:13 · Score: 1

Oregon, land of mandatory full service, where they don't even trust you to pump your own gas?

--
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Re:I don't want free shipping by Obfuscant · 2017-02-21 07:41 · Score: 1

Oregon, land of mandatory full service,
ROTFL. You don't know anything about Oregon.
Re:I don't want free shipping by lgw · 2017-02-21 10:57 · Score: 1

Oh, my mistake - as of last summer you can pump your own gas in rural counties, at night. Freedom!

--
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.

Not so hot for international shipping by ukoda · 2017-02-20 10:25 · Score: 4, Interesting

Sounds like good news if you live in the USA but Amazon are still at a disadvantage for international shipping. I can get stuff shipped from China to New Zealand for free, even stuff costing a couple of dollars but anything I get shipped from Amazon is really expensive, if they will even ship outside the USA, most don't. As a result I usually try to buy from China first and only try Amazon if what I want can't be source from China.

From what I have heard the Chinese government is effectively subsidising the shipping costs in many cases and that is probably the core reason US suppliers can not compete. From a consumer point of view the only downside is that it is very slow to arrive, but then again Amazon's cheapest shipping options are just as slow.

Re:Not so hot for international shipping by LostInTaiwan · 2017-02-20 22:53 · Score: 4, Informative

Sorry to break the news to you. US tax payers, like you and me, are subsidizing the packages shipped via the postal service from China :(
http://fortune.com/2015/07/03/...
One of the core reasons why US manufacturer's can't complete is that our tax policy favors gains from the speculative market, ie real estate and stock market, over the actual manufacturing of products. Another core reason is that the American consumers simply wants cheap products made in an authoritarian country that is actively competing with us militarily and economically, with the goal of becoming the dominate power in the world.
At the end, we only have ourselves to blame. We voted for the politicians who set fiscal policies that decimated our manufacturing base, and we simply like to buy cheap crap from China.
Keep this up, and China will bankrupt us in the coming arms/space race, much like how we did it to the USSR.
Re:Not so hot for international shipping by ukoda · 2017-02-20 23:18 · Score: 1

Thanks for the link, your post needs voted up as informative. It does explain why you are at a shipping cost disadvantage. If that was fixed you still need to fix the attitude of most USA based sellers who only ship inside the USA. I assume the logic is the local USA market is big enough and international customer are too much hassle or risk.

Does home Internet in Seattle really still suck? by tepples · 2017-02-20 10:37 · Score: 1

I have a dial-up modem at home that only connects at 26.4k since there a universal SLIC between me and the CO

I know Seattle has had serious problems with home Internet speeds in the past due to some "director's rule" about rights of way that was unfriendly to tenants and neighbors of absentee landlords and neighbors of vacant lots. But I thought the rule was changed at the end of 2014, opening the door for CenturyLink to deploy gigabit fiber. Did it not reach your home?

Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 10:48 · Score: 1, Informative

I'm a Prime subscriber (for now), so I get free shipping on lots of stuff already, with no $35 minimum. But am I the only one whose "guaranteed" 2-day shipping often takes 3-4 days? I can't figure out how they guarantee their "guaranteed" delivery dates, since they miss the mark so often then do nothing for me in return. This didn't used to be the case.

Am I being scammed if I subscribe for the 2-day shipping but barely ever use any other Prime features? I asked a chat rep recently about all their failed 2-day deliveries, and after about 30 minutes of me whining all he would do is say "Sorry, I'll have the shipping department look into it." Right. I finally got pissed off and told him a friend got a free month of Prime after complaining about the same thing, and only then did he offer me the same thing.

Am I missing something about their guarantee, or do I have to bitch and moan every time a late package costs me money? Will they limit this, and do they compensate you in some other way? Last time they sent my package out a day late and the chat rep blamed the carrier for the delay, which I knew was bogus. I can usually wait for personal stuff, but an extra day or two for work-related items can cost me money and be a genuine problem.

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Re:Prime is starting to suck by denbesten · 2017-02-20 11:44 · Score: 1

Am I missing something about their guarantee, or do I have to bitch and moan every time a late package costs me money? Will they limit this, and do they compensate you in some other way?
Yes, No, Yes and No. These and other questions can be answered on their help pages. Open a chat with them and say "Order # xxxx was due xx/xx/xxxx, but has not yet arrived. The shipper is now estimating the due date as xx/xx/xxxx . Would you please issue me a prime extension for the missed guarantee? Thanks so much." Takes about 5 minutes and "earns" me a tax-free $8.25 off of a bill I would otherwise pay.
Re:Prime is starting to suck by dgatwood · 2017-02-20 12:07 · Score: 1

Actually, what I would do is check with the carrier, and if it claims to be delivered but isn't, contact Amazon and ask them to overnight a replacement. They'll usually overnight products at no charge if you're annoyed enough to write them to complain about shipping delays even if you're not a Prime member.

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Re: Prime is starting to suck by taustin · 2017-02-20 12:32 · Score: 1

In these cases, you should be entitled to some sort of credit.
Yeah, but from the carrier, not Amazon (who can't control it). Unfortunately, you're not the carrier's customer.
Good luck with that.
Re:Prime is starting to suck by Obfuscant · 2017-02-20 13:57 · Score: 1

They'll usually overnight products at no charge if you're annoyed enough to write them
I went through that process for a $25 item that they said would arrive Monday but didn't. I would have preferred some money back on the order, but I wound up having the hassle of returning one of the original when it finally did show up. "Keep it to make up for the inconvenience" would have been nice.
As to the original question: Amazon has two big outs they use when promising "second day" delivery. First, if the delivery is via USPS, they consider the item delivered when it arrives at the local post office, not at your house. And they often promise "second day by EIGHT PM", which means that any delivery to a commercial address where the receiving dept. goes home at 5PM is actually at least three day. And they know when an address is commercial.
Re: Prime is starting to suck by Obfuscant · 2017-02-20 14:05 · Score: 1

Yeah, but from the carrier, not Amazon (who can't control it).

Amazon knows very well it cannot make the delivery promise in many cases using the delivery method they choose, so yes, they do control it. You know they control it because they will often mark the shipment as "delivered" when you track it, even though it doesn't arrive until the next day.
Re: Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 14:28 · Score: 1

All your mom to take care if it, little snowflake.
All your English to make sense, bloated pancake.

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Re: Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 14:32 · Score: 1

In these cases, you should be entitled to some sort of credit.
Yeah, but from the carrier, not Amazon (who can't control it). Unfortunately, you're not the carrier's customer.
Good luck with that.
In the one incident I alluded to specifically, Amazon took over a full day to ship the item out, then incorrectly blamed the carrier. And I am indeed a USPS customer, though they are not to blame when Amazon takes too long to get things out of the warehouse. And perhaps they shouldn't offer a guarantee that they have no intention of backing.

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Re:Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 14:33 · Score: 1

Yes, No, Yes and No. These and other questions can be answered on their help pages. Open a chat with them and say "Order # xxxx was due xx/xx/xxxx, but has not yet arrived. The shipper is now estimating the due date as xx/xx/xxxx . Would you please issue me a prime extension for the missed guarantee? Thanks so much." Takes about 5 minutes and "earns" me a tax-free $8.25 off of a bill I would otherwise pay.
Thank you, but as I said, they seem very reluctant to issue any refund or extension, in my experience.

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Re:Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 14:41 · Score: 1

Actually, what I would do is check with the carrier, and if it claims to be delivered but isn't, contact Amazon and ask them to overnight a replacement. They'll usually overnight products at no charge if you're annoyed enough to write them to complain about shipping delays even if you're not a Prime member.
Thanks, but of all the times an Amazon delivery has been late, I've never had a case of them claiming it was delivered on time. They usually just say something like, "Sorry, the carrier was delayed," or, "Sorry, we'll look into it." The last time, they ended up issuing a one-month Prime extension, but only after too much whining. I did ask for a refund last time, since it was something I needed before a work deadline and had to scramble and buy a replacement locally, and they told me just to use the normal return process.

Online chat helpfulness seems spotty, with various reps much more reluctant than others to do anything that costs them money. Loosing subscribers and shoppers would cost them more, of course. Just my own experience here, which used to be excellent but has been much different over the last year or so.

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Re:Prime is starting to suck by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 14:52 · Score: 1

First, if the delivery is via USPS, they consider the item delivered when it arrives at the local post office, not at your house. And they often promise "second day by EIGHT PM", which means that any delivery to a commercial address where the receiving dept. goes home at 5PM is actually at least three day. And they know when an address is commercial.
If they consider my post office my house, they're going to lose me for sure. I get the commercial address thing, since if they've delivered it to the address they really shouldn't be responsible for another company's internal package handling. But I don't have access to the back room of the post office, and they do not deliver to residential addresses after 5:00, unlike UPS. Hell, when they tried to blame USPS the last time, my package was still at a post office in another county on the night it was originally supposed to be delivered, because they took over 24 hours to send it out. I've ordered numerous times from Amazon over the past 5 or 6 years, and they used to always get things to me on time, but now it's become hit and miss.

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Re: Prime is starting to suck by taustin · 2017-02-20 15:33 · Score: 1

What I replied to was about the carrier losing the package. Which is clearly beyond Amazon's control. Try to pay attention.
Re: Prime is starting to suck by taustin · 2017-02-20 15:34 · Score: 1

What I replied to was about UPS losing the package. Try to pay attention.
Re:Prime is starting to suck by SvnLyrBrto · 2017-02-20 15:44 · Score: 1

What I've noticed is that about two years ago the reliability and consistency of Amazon's 2-Day "Guaranteed" shipping dropped dramatically. I used to have maybe one order a year arrive late. (And I shop on Amazon a lot... I probably average an order a week.) But in the last couple of years, I've been given so many of those "complimentary one-month prime membership extensions" that I'm not even sure when or, indeed, if I'll be billed again. And I've had more lost shipments replaced than I remember.
I think they must have renegotiated their contracts with the shippers for lower rates, but also with lower quality of service. Maybe it's cheaper for them to give out all those free months and replacement packages than it was to pay for better shipping in the first place? I'm not sure what els could have changed, anyway.
One thing that I have noticed though, is that shipping to business addresses is a LOT more reliable now than residential. And I have significantly fewer issues having switched to having most of my stuff to my office instead of home. I guess UPS, Fedex, Et al, are less inclined to fuck around wth businesses than with plebes.

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Re:Prime is starting to suck by AmiMoJo · 2017-02-21 00:45 · Score: 1

I found that I could keep a free trial of Prime going for months just by complaining every time and item look longer than guaranteed to arrive. In the UK it's next day delivery on Prime, and every time you complain about a late delivery they give you an extra month free.
I've done 5 month free stints that way, and when they expire if you just wait a few more months without buying anything they offer you another free trial.

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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Re:Prime is starting to suck by dgatwood · 2017-02-21 07:47 · Score: 1

Usually in my neighborhood, if it says it is delivered (with the exception of "delivered to post office"), it means it got delivered to the wrong address. This usually results in it getting returned to sender after days or weeks, if at all. But your mileage may vary.

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Economics 101 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-20 10:53 · Score: 1

They can afford to do this because Bezos is one of the richest men in the world and a true friend of all mankind.

Jet.com is gunning for them by rsilvergun · 2017-02-20 11:42 · Score: 2

they're an eCommerce outfit formed by an ex-amazon guy. Got a lot of capital so they can spend a few years trying to beat Amazon at it's own game of loss leading and .0001% profit margins. It'd be nice if somebody managed to compete with Amazon. I'm not looking forward to a time when they're literally the only retailer in the world.

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Re:Jet.com is gunning for them by blindseer · 2017-02-20 14:34 · Score: 2

I'm seeing more and more competition from Amazon every day from brick and mortar stores improving their on-line presence. Amazon is great but in many cases I either want to see what I'm buying before I get it (think clothing and other items where how it looks is just as important as function) or, more likely, I want something right away and I can order something on-line to pick it up at a local store.
What I can do is shop online for something at home and then if I decide to buy then I can drive to the store to pick it up. If I decide I need to see how it looks in real life first before I buy then I can see if the item I want is in stock before I drive out to the store.
What is interesting is that even a local grocery chain is getting in on this. They offer home delivery on purchases now. If you buy over a certain amount they'll deliver for free. Amazon has been in on this market for a while, selling things like diapers and laundry detergent. What I see now is the grocery store getting in on this while also offering perishables for delivery. People might buy laundry detergent from Amazon but they aren't going to get ice cream from them any time soon.
I like Amazon and I'd buy from them again. What I find myself doing though is shopping on many other websites to compare prices, see who has something in stock, etc. Around here Best Buy had something of a captive market on electronics and their prices reflected that. Recently though they've had to compete with the likes of Amazon and, again, their pricing shows this. I've actually avoided Best Buy for a long time knowing I'd likely get ripped off. I've found myself shopping there again now that I can order on-line and pick up in the store. I will sometimes see a small premium in price for this convenience and I'll pay it if the convenience matches the price difference.
I guess one could say the price premium at Best Buy was always the cost of convenience since the nearest competition in a brick and mortar store meant an hour of driving. Calling someone on the phone to buy something and having it delivered in a couple days existed since there were telephones. What has changed though is that phones now fit in a pocket, and delivery times got shorter. This meant that brick and mortar stores have had to improve their online presence or go out of business, and online stores have to find a way to leverage this new speed in delivery to keep up.
If you aren't seeing this competition against Amazon then I suspect you are looking in the wrong places for it.

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Re:Jet.com is gunning for them by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 15:00 · Score: 1

they're an eCommerce outfit formed by an ex-amazon guy. Got a lot of capital so they can spend a few years trying to beat Amazon at it's own game of loss leading and .0001% profit margins. It'd be nice if somebody managed to compete with Amazon. I'm not looking forward to a time when they're literally the only retailer in the world.
I've had a lot of luck with eBay, though I won't buy through them when I know I need something quick. I've never bought from Jet, nor do I know anyone who has, and they're owned by Walmart now, IIRC.

Not a Walmart fan, can't stand their website, and have never ordered from them for home delivery, admittedly. I did order online for store pickup three orfour times, and each time was a pain because the employees seemed clueless as to how to find my order and took a surprisingly long time. I wonder whether Newegg will continue to try to diversify their online sales, now that they've changed ownership, too. They've always been quick and reliable for me, though I've only ever ordered computer stuff.

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There is no such thing as free shipping. by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-20 11:50 · Score: 1

Its all just word play and mind games.

Re:There is no such thing as free shipping. by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 15:05 · Score: 1

Its all just word play and mind games.
I suppose so, but when an online retailer offers an item at the same price as another retailer but offers included shipping, it does benefit you. And one of the big draws with Amazon is that they offer so many items with free/included/low-cost 2-day guaranteed shipping, which no one else does on the same scale. So call it a game if you like, but interpret it correctly rather than oversimplifying it and you'll see that not all "free" shipping is equal, or equally non-free.

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Shipping charges on Amazon by Kernel+Kurtz · 2017-02-20 13:49 · Score: 1

or any other site are just part of the e-commerce shopping game.

Many things that say free shipping are not really so when you go to check out. And what is with $20 items with $150 shipping costs? Why even show that, do suckers really fall for it?

Caveat emptor applies to delivery too.

Re:Shipping charges on Amazon by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 15:13 · Score: 1

$20 items with $150 shipping charges, and non-free shipping advertised as free? I've had plenty of issues with them missing "guaranteed" delivery dates, but I've never seen what you're talking about. Are those through third-party sellers? I pretty much only use them for items they sell and ship themselves, or at least ones they handle the fulfillment on, and never run into that sort of problem.

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Re:Response to Walmart.com by Crashmarik · 2017-02-20 14:36 · Score: 1

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Walmart offering free 2-day shipping on orders greater than $35, no membership required.... Under $35, no worries, $5.99.

Walmart also has a reputation for shipping things out promptly unlike Amazon. Amazon is fine if you have prime, but if you choose free shipping, there are times you may wait a week for your item to even ship.

Bingo. Walmart also has the best customer service you will find.

Re:Response to Walmart.com by uvajed_ekil · 2017-02-20 15:10 · Score: 1

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Walmart offering free 2-day shipping on orders greater than $35, no membership required.... Under $35, no worries, $5.99.

Walmart also has a reputation for shipping things out promptly unlike Amazon. Amazon is fine if you have prime, but if you choose free shipping, there are times you may wait a week for your item to even ship.

I can't speak to Walmart's rep for shipping promptly, but Amazon has been letting me down on that front way too often lately. I just can't stand Walmart's website, though I'll admit that when you search for something very specific they don't show you as much unrelated garbage as Amazon. I wish you could refine Amazon searches as tightly as eBay searches, since eBay doesn't seem so determined to advertize what they want you to see rather than just what you tell them you're looking for.

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Blink and miss it? by ayesnymous · 2017-02-20 15:20 · Score: 1

You mean this was a temporary thing? Because it's still at $35 for me.

Counterpoint by mentil · 2017-02-20 19:13 · Score: 1

I made an Amazon.co.jp account just to preorder a Nintendo Switch (for some reason they're abundant in Japan). After (shipping (from Japan to USA) + duties/customs/export taxes, currency conversion fees etc.) ~= $18 the total was a few bucks less than if I'd bought one at a store down the street (if they weren't all sold out of preorders, that is.) I imagine the weak Yen is responsible for this. Oh and I get it 3 days after it's released. And I pay no sales tax (although my state does have a Use Tax so I pay a bit regardless.)

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Indeed by nospam007 · 2017-02-20 19:41 · Score: 1

That's why I order lots of small stuff on Aliexpress, they even ship a single piece of underwear for free.

Re:santorum by amalcolm · 2017-02-21 00:35 · Score: 1

Had too look that one up .. wish I hadn't :(

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Re:Response to Walmart.com by drinkypoo · 2017-02-21 02:10 · Score: 1

Bingo. Walmart also has the best customer service you will find.

Did you just type that with a straight face? Wal-mart employees know fuck about shit. They're fucking useless. This does not differentiate them from the average retail employee in any way, but it's still true.

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"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"

Nice by r1348 · 2017-02-21 02:26 · Score: 1

Last year here in Italy they raised the limit from 19€ to 29€.

Re:Response to Walmart.com by LunaticTippy · 2017-02-21 08:44 · Score: 1

I've been using Walmart online lately as I become more wary about Amazon's size. Their customer service is excellent. When I do in store pickup there is rarely a wait, returns are hassle free, heck even their extended warranty paid for a new bicycle when I wore the old one out.

I wouldn't dream of trying to get an employee to answer any questions beyond where a department is. However for my limited use they are doing a good job. It sure feels weird to have Walmart be the underdog, but up against Amazon I guess they are.

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Man, you really need that seminar!

Re:Response to Walmart.com by Crashmarik · 2017-02-21 13:15 · Score: 1

Sure they don't know crap about tech, that isn't their job. Their customer service job is resolving any problems you had with the purchase or goods shipped.

Slightly less assholy by coinreturn · 2017-02-22 03:12 · Score: 1

When it was $25, I liked it. When it went to $35, I was peeved. When it went to $49, I thought, "What a bunch of assholes, just trying to get us to buy more Xmas shit!" Back down to $35 is the right direction. If they put it back at $25, I will buy a lot more from them.

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Amazon Quietly Lowered Its Free Shipping Minimum to $35 (fortune.com)

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