Ordering from (and selling on) Amazon

Amazon's inventory and sales paradigm, not surprisingly, is very complex.
You must be aware that Amazon only stocks a limited number of items, sources
many items from other wholesalers and relies on outside vendors to fulfill
other orders. This is a complex mosaic incumbent with delays that are
inherent to the book publishing model most especially. Amazon tries to be
all things to all people, a nigh impossible if not implausible task.

And yes, their shipping is not cheap and they hide behind the web so as not
to incur customer call-in (though you can actually call them,) costs. The
trick for consumers seems to be buy only what is ready to ship if they truly
need it ASAP or order and have patience.
--
James Connolly
form&funktion
Oakland, CA 94611
james.connollysbcglobal.net

> Amazon's inventory and sales paradigm, not surprisingly, is very
> complex.
> You must be aware that Amazon only stocks a limited number of
> items, sources
> many items from other wholesalers and relies on outside vendors to
> fulfill
> other orders. This is a complex mosaic incumbent with delays that are
> inherent to the book publishing model most especially. Amazon tries
> to be
> all things to all people, a nigh impossible if not implausible task.
>
> And yes, their shipping is not cheap and they hide behind the web
> so as not
> to incur customer call-in (though you can actually call them,)
> costs. The
> trick for consumers seems to be buy only what is ready to ship if
> they truly
> need it ASAP or order and have patience.
>

I agree, but I don't think it helps Amazon's business (and the
sellers that depend on it) to involve their customers in their
inventory and warehousing issues. They could just as easily indicate
that a given item is on backorder, and let folks decide on the basis
of "the wait" rather than throw at them all that extra information
when it's time to cash out.

Even when I place an order of items that are all "in stock" it
usually arrives in more than one package, and it doesn't cost extra
because it's something that *they* elected to do, so I'm sure they
could come up with a formula that would allow for this in all cases
and still be cost effective for them.

They could also do better with their confirmation letters and drop
the distinction between shipping and delivery dates. If I order
something that "usually ships in 3-5 days" and they send me
confirmation that it will ship in 8 days, then it makes me wonder if
they need 3 extra days to pack the item. If they just gave me the
estimated delivery date I wouldn't think twice about it.

At Christmas I ordered some books to send to my daughter in China, I
think it was around 10-14 days by standard shipping, but the letter
of confirmation for part of the order that had shipped gave a date 35
days later. That's the one time I got them on the phone, I wanted to
ask them if they were shipping the books by boat... Once on the
phone, they said that it would get there within the original
estimate, and so it did. So, like... what was that about? Since I
didn't know what to believe, I canceled the part of the order that
hadn't shipped yet.

I am not even saying that other companies do a better job of
shipping, some do and some don't, but most don't make you work at it
the way Amazon does.

Very true, it is a guessing game when push comes to shove. Shipping vs.
delivery is an ongoing mystery. As a former supplier to them, I can tell you
its equally frustrating getting and processing PO's out of them. Due to the
rather "instantaneous" product demand, i.e., 20% of the products make for
80% of the sales, they tend to focus on those products. They also
merchandise their core service and ancillary programs extensively. They are
simply not really a catalog house, as one would know it. Is Home Depot a
hardware store?

And having worked with them since they started in a garage years ago, I can
tell you that there is also a culture of secrecy that has been and is still
very much cultivated within the organization. This tends to permeate
everything they do.
--
James Connolly
form&funktion
Oakland, CA 94611
james.connollysbcglobal.net

There is also the issue of their "Standard Shipping" versus their "Free Super Saver Shipping". In-stock items ordered from Amazon using Standard shipping (which the customer pays for) usually are shipped the day after ordering. But with the free shipping, you wait...and wait...and wait... I always wonder "What are they waiting for???" Do they intentionally wait with the items so people don't use the free shipping? For comparision, books ordered from Buy.com using their free shipping usually ship in a day or two after ordering. Anyone know why it's so slow with Amazon?

On Jan 31, 2007, at 7:23 AM, DanK wrote:

> There is also the issue of their "Standard Shipping" versus their
> "Free Super Saver Shipping". In-stock items ordered from Amazon
> using Standard shipping (which the customer pays for) usually are
> shipped the day after ordering. But with the free shipping, you
> wait...and wait...and wait... I always wonder "What are they
> waiting for???" Do they intentionally wait with the items so people
> don't use the free shipping? For comparision, books ordered from
> Buy.com using their free shipping usually ship in a day or two
> after ordering. Anyone know why it's so slow with Amazon?

In my experience, free shipping items arrive quickly (a day or three
before Amazon's guestimate), if they were claimed to be in stock, and
pretty much regardless of where Amazon sends them from. But I'm not
nearly as busy an Amazon shopper as I suspect Jeff B would like me to
be.

   --John

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On Jan 31, 2007, at 8:23 AM, DanK wrote:

> There is also the issue of their "Standard Shipping" versus their
> "Free Super Saver Shipping". In-stock items ordered from Amazon
> using Standard shipping (which the customer pays for) usually are
> shipped the day after ordering. But with the free shipping, you
> wait...and wait...and wait...

My experience with their Free Shipping is:

- When I select it, the Web page tells me there may be a 3-5 day
delay (or some such) before the item is shipped

- When I get the order confirmation, I get a "far-future" ship date
prediction

- However, the item seems to arrive in a reasonable amount of time,
all of the above notwithstanding. Perhaps not as quickly as if I'd
paid for shipping(?), but invariably lots sooner then the
"threatened" ship date.

I guess it's reasonable to expect that they're trying to scare/entice
the instant-gratification crowd to pay for shipping...

YMMV
-Dave
--
War doesn't determine who is right -- only who is left.
      - Bertrand Russell


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On 1/31/07 10:23 AM, "DanK" wrote:

> There is also the issue of their "Standard Shipping" versus their "Free Super
> Saver Shipping". In-stock items ordered from Amazon using Standard shipping
> (which the customer pays for)

In my experience, if I qualify for "super saver shipping" the onus is on ME
to check that method of shipping at checkout time. The default has always
been "standard shipping". I find that practice to be dubious.

I've never had the experience of waiting extraordinary amounts for delivery
though. (possibly right before this past Christmas but I can't blame Amazon
for a few extra days that time of year.)

Adam

DanK wrote:
> There is also the issue of their "Standard Shipping" versus their
> "Free Super Saver Shipping". In-stock items ordered from Amazon using
> Standard shipping (which the customer pays for) usually are shipped
> the day after ordering. But with the free shipping, you wait...and
> wait...and wait... I always wonder "What are they waiting for???" Do
> they intentionally wait with the items so people don't use the free
> shipping? For comparision, books ordered from Buy.com using their
> free shipping usually ship in a day or two after ordering. Anyone
> know why it's so slow with Amazon?

I think they're waiting for a full load for the wagon. Them they call up
the livery stable and let them know to send over a driver and team. At
least it appears that way.

But I do bet they have a deal with a low cost freight company where they
fill up some standard sized container for particular range of zip codes,
ship the contain to there and they get dumped into the mail. At least
that's how it appeared to happen with one of the mail order computer
companies a year or so ago.

At 9:42 AM +0200 2/1/07, David Emme wrote:
>My experience with their Free Shipping is:

        Up here in the "Great White North" I seem to be very nicely
situated close to one of their (only?) Canadian warehouses. I have
occasionally ordered something early in the morning one day and with the
free shipping received it the very next day in the mail. I am about 100 km
NE of Toronto - I suspect that their shipping centre in in the Toronto
region somewhere.


--
* Johann Beda - contact link: <http://xri.net/=j-beda> *
* Johann's MostlyMac Computer Consulting - <http://mmcc.beda.ca/> *

I am a computer novice and eager to learn whatever I can. I noticed the comments on Amazon free shipping. I've ordered from them quite a bit and was always amazed at how quickly I got the items....I once got it the next day but always faster that their estimated time. I usually don't post on this group since everyone seems to know so much more than I do.

There were a couple of times when an item was back ordered, but I was always notified and had the option of cancelling.