How do folks feel about Amazon.com? - Page 2

[Marsupialmom]

Originally Posted by MaterBum

I've read quite a few threads over the years here on MDC about why people won't shop at certain stores for pricing policies that hurt other companies, poor treatment of employees, and/or only offering mainstream made-in-China merchandise.

So my question is this: why is Amazon.com okay? Here's why I ask.

1. Price gouging. If you look at the holiday's top selling items (like Zhu Zhu pets and the Crayola Crayon maker, they are asking outrageous prices. Z Z's retail is around $9 each, but on there, they were asking 50 and 60. The CCM is normally 29.99, they have it for 59.99.) Why is this okay? At least other big chain stores have honored the actual price when they have them in. Am I the only one this price differentiation bothers?

I think you were seeing personal sellers, not Amazon. You saw the same rates at Ebay from personal sellers. Also they do not always offer free shipping. Some times you have to spend so much money.

Originally Posted by MaterBum

2. My niece is the manager of a bookstore. Her biggest competition isn't the local Borders or B and N, it's Amazon. They charge a buck or two less, give people free shipping, and so our local book store is closing. Now, I get the temptation for saving money. BUT, this means fewer options to shop will exist and it means no local dollars getting spent and circulated. It means the quaint shop with comfy chairs to browse the books and special events for the kids will be gone.

I make large book orders due to homeschooling. I want everything at once and with out waiting. Our last small book store did not carry any anima or many basic books for homeschooling. We use Borders, B&N, and B.A.M because they can at least order a book in, in a matter of days not weeks. Our Borders, B&N, and B.A.M. all do speciality advents.

I think you are your sister are also forgetting about another one of her competitions the library--they undercut her sales and they carry more book that my kids want that the local book store.

If your sister's store is that small she might not have a functional data base for my needs or kids wants. I don't have time to go from book store to book store. I have had issues with an air of snoobery in a smaller book store -- you allow your children to read THAT! Inferior writing. HUMP!........We have a book resale shop, I hate to go into because the owner smokes and the place smelled of it. She had tons of romance, science fiction, and history books. She really didn't have anima until the anima shop open up and she finanly saw profitablity in it. Her granddaughter is helping her resale hard to find items on ebay and through amazon...this little whole in the wall resale book store was collapsing until the internet. They don't have enough to open an online store but enough to utilize these other sources. Plus to add the granddaughter has shown how much more a book is worth when it doesn't smell of smoke.

Originally Posted by MaterBum

3. The nature of the online store is that they can employ fewer people than a local brick and mortar store has to do. Plus, much of their merchandise is shipped from folks who are paying the costs in their community for their brick and mortar stores while Amazon profits from it.

It is changing who is getting paid. My dh worked for a medical type book supplier on a part time bases. Their sales has increased greatly because more people know about their product thanks to Amazon and the online communities. They have hired more people locally for production and shipping.

Originally Posted by MaterBum

I understand the idea of capitalism and free markets. I understand that some folks believe that if Amazon can get the price they ask, they are allowed to do so. I understand the idea that Amazon has done an impressive job from a business perspective. Etc. Etc.

But I guess I'm just curious to see why some stores are so bashed (just for the record, I don't shop there either) but this online powerhouse seems a-okay to so many? Am I the only one who is feeling uncomfortable with how large and all-encompassing Amazon is becoming?

I think you need to understand somethings bigger data bases can be better. libraries are better now because they can assess more books and other media, easier and cheaper. Book stores and music stores are the same way. The internet allows for a "new" type of business to immerge, that allows more people than ever to access to books and music they may never had been able to obtain before.

Your sister wants to hold on to the idea of the book store and atmosphere they use to have. Yes, that atmosphere is nice but I can also get it at the library, tea shop, and coffee house (all employing locally). The book store isn't only about the atmosphere it is also about the books and other media.

15-20 years ago I could not find any books on Buddhism. The smaller book stores didn't have the data base. Their cost made the books I wanted unobtainable. Now with Amazon I can get these books. I can also find out of print books, at a price of course. When I lived in Minot, ND do you think there were many small book shops that had a varity of books? How about now?

[Annie Mac]

This Christmas, I was looking for a particular book. I went to the bookstore downtown (yes, a big one, not a small independent). I couldn't find what I wanted so I asked an employee. I had to explain who the author was and what type of book it was (but it was a specialty topic, and not everyone is going to be an expert on everything). Meanwhile, another woman came up and asked him where she could find a particular book. I can't remember what it was, but it was a famous, well known book. The employee looked puzzled. I named the author, and he asked me was it fiction. When I said yes he just pointed up the escalator and said it's in the Fiction section. OK, back to MY book. We finally found it. Price? Full cover, $48.50. I called home on the cell phone, asked my husband to check Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Com had it for $9.74 and Ca had it for $16.50. That's a huge price difference, even when you factor in delivery, and it's not like I received any great service in the mortar and brick store. Granted, a small independent might have been better for general knowledgeability, but they probably wouldn't have had the book.

I'm definitely an Amazon fan. The only complaint I have is the disparity between the American and Canadian prices, and the fact that in Canada you are limited to buying only books and videos.

[NettleTea]

Originally Posted by April Dawn

I won't buy from Amazon (...)
However, I never liked Amazon even before that. They just see books as one more moneymaker IMO. As a librarian and bibliophile, I prefer to go to the library or to a small mom and pop bookstore - places where the people who work there live and breathe books, and really CARE about books.

I love locally owned/used bookstores. When I cannot find certain books there I occasionally buy books from ebay or obtain books from PaperbackSwap. But there really isn't a replacement for an actual used bookstore. I love the surprise finds that I have happened upon so many times. And the variety. Just to name a few reasons.

I also really like browsing used CD stores, but those are disappearing because of the supposed ease of buying tracks online.

*sigh*

I sit at home on the internet enough as it is. Purchasing something in person is much more preferable than to live yet another area of my life in isolation.

[pampered_mom]

Originally Posted by Annie Mac

Meanwhile, another woman came up and asked him where she could find a particular book. I can't remember what it was, but it was a famous, well known book. The employee looked puzzled. I named the author, and he asked me was it fiction. When I said yes he just pointed up the escalator and said it's in the Fiction section.

Totally OT, but this reminds me of a scene in "You've Got Mail".

As other posters have mentioned, I shop at Amazon because it's literally the only place I can find the books I'm looking for without driving 45 minutes one way - and even then the selection is limited. It seems most of the local bookstores sell the bestsellers and that's about it. Of course, we don't buy very many books. Most often I get them from the library or through ILL.

[Arduinna]

I love Amazon. I save a lot more than a buck or two on books and they have a 10000% better book selection than any bookstore we have locally. I buy a lot more than books there. I get my monies worth out of my prime membership.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by April Dawn

However, I never liked Amazon even before that. They just see books as one more moneymaker IMO. As a librarian and bibliophile, I prefer to go to the library or to a small mom and pop bookstore - places where the people who work there live and breathe books, and really CARE about books.

The mom and pop stores don't have the selection though. I buy a lot of non fiction, much of it university press publications. The history section in independent and national chain bookstores is frankly pathetic ( as is every other section of local stores except the NY Times bestellers) . Sure, if I know the title they will order it for me but I can usually view the table of contents and read samples on Amazon so I know if the book really meets my needs, I can't do that at the local store.

[HeliMom]

One of the things I like about amazon is that portion of everything purchased goes as a donation to my sister's chorus when i browse amazon through the chorus's website. I think that's awesome.