Amazon.com Review

Quick View: Amazon.com is striving to take over online shopping as we know it. With their many, many affiliates, price comparison engine, reviews, and huge inventory, it is the biggest shopping outlet on the net. But it's not perfect by any means.

About Amazon.com

Most people know Amazon.com. It's almost as common as the word "google" these days. Amazon.com started out as a media site selling books, CDs and videos. It slowly expanded to become the #1 price comparison site on the web. I won’t go into all the site does and sells but will touch on a few things.

Amazon.com has hundreds, perhaps thousands, of affiliates. That is, they partner with online stores to sell their products on the Amazon.com site. This gets the other sites a lot of exposure and more sales and I am sure Amazon.com makes a commission from the sales. The site has many consumer reviews, ratings, lists, and other things that help people make buying choices. At first, the site seems like the perfect one stop shopping site but there are a few caveats. One is that each site has their own shipping rate. Therefore, if I buy one thing from site A, one from site B, and one from site C, I will be charged three shipping charges which can be eye opening when I look at my shopping cart! Amazon.com sells its own stock and often has free shipping and that is ALL I buy from Amazon.com. I often see where the item I want comes from and go to their site to buy it, bypassing Amazon because of caveat number two.

Getting a hold of Amazon.com for returns is downright painful. I have tried to write them many times and I tried to find a phone number for customer service. Where is it? If you do a LOT of searching you can find it but clearly, they don’t welcome calls. They don’t do a good job of answering emails either. Returns are a hassle. I would rather deal with one website that sells the products I am buying than one website that sells products from five sites that I am buying from. It's easier to make returns and deal with customer service that way.

Amazon.com now has a full grocery area, computer hard drive back up service, and just about anything else a consumer could want. There are good things about Amazon.com. Their prices are usually decent and their own products often ship free over $25.00. You can sign up for Amazon Prime which makes shipping for many orders free (with a lot of exclusions) for a $79.00 yearly payment. It keeps your cart contents saved, you can make a wish list, the site personalizes its picks for you based on your past shopping habits, and almost anyone on the web can be an affiliate and make a few percent of the total of orders made by those who click through the Amazon ads places on their website or blog.

Shopping on the site is easy – if a bit daunting with so many categories and so much stock. I shop on the site often but only for Amazon.com products because I believe in shopping on the actual websites if I am going to buy from them. For instance, Sephora.com has a presence on Amazon. But if I go through Amazon, I don't get my pick of three samples nor can I get specials and the cool packaging that Sephora provides. Plus, many sites have cash back incentives via ebates.com or fatwallet.com and similar sites. Amazon.com does not participate in the cash back programs so you could lose that 5 or 6 percent cash back if you shop through Amazon.com rather than participating cash back websites.

In all, I will and do shop on Amazon.com but I don't do a lot of shopping there that isn't free shipping. Some orders can really have killer shipping I refuse to pay. Still, Amazon.com has many services that I enjoy, like used books and DVDs (Marketplace) and it is a one stop shopping experience for some. Just not me.

My Viewpoint

Most of my Amazon.com orders have arrived as ordered. They take a LONG time to get here but they do get here. I rarely buy anything that charges shipping and I often go right to the affiliate website to purchase items but I do enjoy Amazon's variety and their deals. I am not as much of a fan as many of my friends are but I still can't really complain much. However, returns are a hassle and one I never bother with. I will give this site 3.5 stars rounded down to 3. I have not experienced every aspect of the site so I am basing the rating on just the areas I have experienced.