I noticed lately, that the products quality has gone down while the prices have gone up. I was looking at wristlet wallets on Amazon, and they were all super expensive! I found some cute ones that were also pretty cheap, but they shipped out of China, so the shipping was nuts. Also, I'm always afraid of getting hit with importing (?) fees. I've heard of people who ordered things for cheap, only to get hit with 30 to 50 dollar importing (??) fees. Also, things that ship from other countries can take MONTHS to get here. Amazon used to be the place to get a good deal. Now all the stuff is crap for insane prices. I get better deals at the local Wal-Mart for god sakes! Have you noticed this lately?
Wow...I hadn't heard the importing fees. That's really unfortunate and bad business, in my opinion, there shouldn't be any fees or taxes that you're surprised about when you've ordered something. I actually haven't ordered as much from Amazon lately, so I can't attest to whether or not the overall quality of a lot of the products has gone down, but it does seem that a lot of the prices have gone up. They're raising their price for Prime, too, without offering enough to justify it.
I think that the quality has decreased because they are operating like Ebay, sort of. They have different sellers. It is no longer just Amazon that you are buying from anymore. I had purchased a tablet and was not aware that I was purchasing it from a seller who was located in Hong Kong. I have always trusted the Amazon brand, and so I just purchased the tablet, believing that it was coming from Amazon. The product took nineteen days to reach me, and the battery drains even when the tablet is turned off, which is ridiculous. Next time I buy anything from Amazon, I am going to be very careful to check who the seller is, if there is one at all.
I am sorry to hear that happened, but that has not been our experience at all. Most of the time when we are out shopping, my wife will take a picture of the UPC code of the item she likes on her phone and then look it up on Amazon. We will often find a big enough discount that it is worth waiting a day or two for it to be delivered as opposed to just buying it in the store. We have not seen any problems with the quality of the items, but I will be on the watch for that now.
Amazon can be hit or miss, I think, but that's definitely the nature of the beast with such a huge corporation and so many options. The thing I like best about Amazon is that you can read the reviews and know exactly what to buy and what to avoid. People even give good tips like "Be careful what else you purchase with this item because it will get squished when shipped." I recently ordered a piano book off Amazon (using Amazon Prime) in the afternoon of a Monday and it was delivered Tuesday morning before lunch. Can't beat that, and it's pretty hard to complain.
I don't like how amazon dosent have a pay through paypal option. I was going to order something through them, and I couldnt because I dont have a card. All I have is PayPal.
I have a PayPal debit card. I use it just like a credit card. The money comes directly from my PayPal account. I rarely order from the Amazon associates or whatever they are called. I much prefer to buy directly from Amazon because I don't have to worry about the quality. I used to buy from the other sellers, but got burned twice. I'm sorry to hear about the import fees, but I don't think Amazon has any control over that.
I buy some things like craft supplies and work supplies from Amazon and haven't noticed this. Maybe it's just the item? Possibly, the materials used to make them have become more expensive, not sure. I have noticed though when I was about to become a seller on Amazon (I create and sell decals) that it absolutely was NOT worth my time. When you calculate in the taxes you have to pay to the government, the shipping and everything else, it's almost pointless to even sell there. I'd have to raise my prices insanely high to even make a dollar of profit.
I have noticed an increase in items ( especially small electrical items) appearing on Amazon without any product details or reviews only a stock photo and title of item. These items are usually cheaper with the same or higher spec than more expensive similar items. Without a review or any details of the product I am more wary of purchasing the item.
