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Comment by dominotw | Hacker News Reader

I buy from amazon for their predictable shipping and insanely awesome customer service.

I buy from amazon for their low prices - sure, they aren't always the lowest, but they're the lowest often enough that I can safely shop at amazon without shopping around. I don't want to price check five different stores before I buy something, the convenience of knowing that amazon almost always is selling something for reasonably close to the lowest price is valuable to me.

I'm curious how often the lowest price is > 90% of Amazon's price. (And for that matter, > 80%, 65%, and 50%.)

There's a certain premium I'm willing to pay to have it all handled by one reliable company, as long as they're not charging too much.

A part of me would pay a certain premium to keep records of all the things I've purchased online in as many different places as possible, rather than providing one company with a fairly good profile of what my interests are.

Same here, of course amazon doesn't always have the lowest price, but I'd be insane to always buy from (and register at) the store that currently does. For me there's much more value in knowing that the item will arrive tomorrow.

And the money you save by buying from randomstore247.com is offset by how much you stand to lose (in either money or time) when randomstore247.com has a breech and your card number had been stored in the clear. It's easier to trust Amazon than to trust 100 other stores.

That's not my main worry. I had my credit card compromised in the Home Depot thing. The bank sent me a new card and auto-canceled my old one. Someone used the number, but they automatically reverted the charge. It cost me approximately zero seconds of time (but seems to have cost the bank quite a bit of money). Credit card fraud is the bank's problem, not the consumer's problem, at least in the US. (God help you if you use a debit card, though.)

My main worry is time wasted from ordering something and having it not show up. You have to email them. You have to listen to how sorry they are. Then they send it again. Maybe it shows up. At some point you cut your losses and just order it from Amazon for $2.13 more. Admittedly I've gone through the order anti-loop with Amazon and got four bicycle tires for free (never getting the ones I actually ordered), but that was one case out of hundreds, and it didn't cost me much money or time. Amazon is predictable: that's why I buy from them.

Agreed. Maybe if this article was written 5 years ago I can understand, but unless you're live somewhere where you don't have access to Amazon; everyone knows it's not just the prices that Amazon has that keeps customers coming back. People trust it. Amazon has the best customer service I've ever experienced. It is amazing. imo it's because unlike most stores, Amazon keeps your full shopping history so they know your worth to the company (as well as your habits and so on).

As a counterpoint: Most people I know go to Amazon 100% for the prices. Often they will actually visit a brick-and-mortar store first to browse in person (page through a book at a bookstore, even try on shoes at a shoe store), and only then order on Amazon, once they've decided what they want. Amazon adds nothing here in convenience or service. The most convenient option would be to just buy the item you already physically have in your hands, which means you'd get it today, and not have to deal with UPS missed-delivery bullshit. But Amazon gets the sale because they win on price. Or at least used to!

counter-counterpoint: I bet a large portion of the people you're talking about are genuinely price conscious consumers trying to make the most educated purchases they possibly can. I doubt these people would be the same type that blindly buy an hdmi cable at a 20% markup... how simple is it to compare prices these days online? If you're traveling to a book store then buying through amazon I would bet money that you're probably going to price check that Amazon branded hdmi cable.

5 years ago amazon launched an explicit software-backed system to stop "leaving money on the table", by raising prices in non-competitive products. Sire it's what HFTs do all the time, but it was a bream from amazon's tradition of being the lowest price for everything and making money in volume (or deferring profitability)

I find that mitigates the not always lowest prices. Come for the savings, stay for the service.

I used to feel that way about Costco, until they changed their "Customer satisfaction warranty"! Change return policy on electronics--fine I get it. Change the return policy on a $2500 grey market watch--underhanded. I was promised verbally if it ever broke, because it's not sold by "an authorized seller"; just bring it back. No so anymore.

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