Same here. I think the reason was the amazing customer service at Amazon, and mostly the effective price on Amazon was always lower.
I may be incorrect, but my understanding is that while Amazon pays a discounted rate, this is the same as any other bulk shipper for USPS, and in fact, without Amazon, many routes would not be profitable for USPS without Amazon.
> [Amazons] rates are kept under wraps. That said, we do know the Amazon deal is at least a break-even venture.
> That’s because the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act made it illegal for USPS to price parcel delivery below its cost.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/apr/...
I live three blocks from the post office, my grandma lives 25 miles and down a dirt road from her nearest post office. It's hard to argue that my deliveries cost the same as hers, yet we pay the same price for postage.
--edit: I hold no opinion either way on the subject, just clarifying based on what I understood from reading it.
I just can't believe that Flipkart still doesn't have filter and sort by ratings. There can be arguments about how effective ratings are but this is one feature I definitely need for buying or booking anything - from my stationary to hotels and buses.
PS. I just logged in to Flipkart to check whether they have added that feature yet. I guess my last login was a year ago or more. Last purchase was on July 29, 2015.
So many things are out of stock, or not available for purchase.
The few things that are available for purchase are sometimes only offered by third-parties, who jack up the price by an exorbitant amount.
In India, Amazon is so good its hard to imagine how it will be sustainable. I paid $8/year for prime (yes a year) and they're now selling it at $16/year for free 24 hours delivery.
However, I can foresee how it may not be as good in the near future. Try buying a pair of Apple Airpods and one soon figures AMZN is not best place to make the purchase, it's so hard to tell which seller / product is genuine!
Amazon is quite often not the lowest price. And, while they do still seem to be quite liberal with "send it back and we'll refund plus <mumble>", that doesn't matter if you can't get a genuine product because of all the counterfeits.
I'm pretty sure most of these comments are about Amazon India since that's what this discussion is about.
I buy everything on Amazon, and I've never had this problem. Do you have any data to back up this claim?
If you buy something used, or something with a lot of knockoffs (Xiaomi) or old tech (GameCube Controllers) there is a chance you will get a counterfeit.
I switched to buying all that stuff from eBay and it's much better. Untrusted-by-default makes eBay a very healthy marketplace to buy and sell in.
From a quick search (says “Apple Computer”, but tell me if that’s really made by Apple or not): https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0787CFNRQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=...
Another example from another quick search: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B075CTVSVB/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?ie...
Then within the last year I've started receiving probably one out of five products being very blatant fakes. I only order Prime items and only sold from the manufacturer and only brand name, but I still get counterfeit items. It's actually driven me back to retail stores for items where I 100% need to get the real thing.