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Amazon Suffers Glitches at the Start of Prime Day (techcrunch.com)
It's not just you. Amazon Prime Day started 15 minutes ago, and so far, it's not going well for Amazon. From a report: The landing page for Prime Day does not work. When most links are clicked, readers are sent to an error page or to a landing page that sends readers back to the main landing page. Direct links to the product pages, either from outside links or the single product placement on the landing page, seem to work fine. This is a huge blow to Amazon and its faux holiday Prime Day. The retailer has been pushing this event for weeks and there are some great deals to be had. It's not a good look for the world's largest retailer. Both the desktop website and mobile app are facing glitches, users said. Prime Day, which began just now, is a 36-hour shopping event. CNBC reports: Some users saw an error page featuring the "dogs of Amazon" and were never able to enter the site. Some got caught in a loop of pages urging them to "Shop all deals." Clicking the entry link for a specific category returned the user to the first page urging them to "Shop all deals." Some users successfully added items to their cart, only to receive an error message when trying to checkout and complete the purchase. Business Insider reports that several customers are threatening Amazon that they would cancel their Prime membership if the company is unable to resolve the glitches soon. Bloomberg offers some context on the significance of the any outrages on Amazon's website today: Trouble on the site spiked when the event began at 3 p.m. Eastern time, according to Downdetector.com, which monitors web trouble. Shoppers were expected to spend $3.4 billion on the site during the event, up more than 40 percent from a year earlier, according to Coresight Research.
Funny, that's exactly how I feel about Walmart and Target. I try to shop mom n' pop where / when possible.
For me Amazon isn't about shopping from home, it's about stock availability.
I used to buy my music at Spec's, until Spec's died.
I used to buy my books at All Books and Records, until they died.
I used to buy used vinyl and CDs at the same place, and a feew others, until they died.
I used to buy my clothes at Pennys and Sears, until they too became a shadow of what they were, with no inventory.
So where, exactly, local, should I buy? I buy from whomever has stock, thank you very much. "Oh, I can order it for you?" Yeah. So can I.
I don't blame Amazon, I blame Walmart. Amazon's just sweeping away the ashes of what Walmart torched 20 years ago.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
Yes, and if the brick and mortar store doesn't stock the item, they'll say they can order it for you. Hell, I can order the damned thing myself!
Some things I buy from Amazon *are* available locally, IF I want to drive 8 or 10 miles to Walmart or Target, hunt for a parking space, and stand in line to give them my money. Call me lazy or impatient, but unless I'm going to be passing by the store on my way to work and back anyway, it's not worth the effort to drive there from home.