Amazon Prime Day is coming!

[debbie.jean.bro]

Amazon Prime Day is July 16 (afternoon)-July 17 (all day). If you're thinking of buying any electronics (or anything), I'd advise waiting for Prime Day. If you don't have Prime, this would be a good time to sign up for a free trial.

Two years ago I got a Fitbit for my daughter at half price. I've also gotten a refurbished TV, a Dell refurbished laptop, HDMI cables, and other electronics at a fraction of the regular price on Prime Day. Some deals go really fast (Fitbits), so look early!

Because of my arthritis, I'm a heavy Amazon user. Why haul a 40 lb box of cat litter out to my car, then take it out of my car and lug it up the steps when Amazon will bring it right to my doorstep for cheaper? I also buy paper products and cleaning products 3 times a year with Prime Pantry, where you fill up a huge box for $5 shipping, which more than pays for itself with the super cheap prices available only on Prime Pantry items. As a scholar, I buy tons of books, almost always used, for next to nothing. LOL, my mail carrier hates me. The other day when he was lugging a fairly heavy shelving unit I bought and 4 40 lb boxes of cat litter (will last 6 months) up the steps, he told my daughter, "Tell your mom there's help for Amazon addiction!"

ANYWAY...my point is, if you're considering some electronics purchases, wait for Prime Day!

[GabeU]

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@Reggie wrote:

Online shopping is fine if you don't care for quality.

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That's a pretty bold statement, and it presupposes that all of us who shop online are too stupid to research a product that we haven't purchased before in order to know what we're buying.      

I support my local stores, but my local stores don't always have what I need or want, nor are the prices of items always acceptable.  I needed a battery for my cordless phone two months ago.  I added it to an order I was already placing on Amazon.  It cost me $6.  My local Radio Shack had one for $19.99.  The choice was simple.  

[debbie.jean.bro]

I agree, Gabe! Amazon has low, medium, and high quality, name brand merchandise. The customer can choose. Take dinnerware, for example. You can buy a cheap set that's barely better than plastic picnic sets and you can buy real silverware that's over $1,000 or even $2,000. I have a Cuisinart pattern that I love that costs around $75 for a set for four. It's quality and will last the rest of my life. I'm not wealthy and that purchase of two sets was at the top of what I could afford (and probably a bot more). But what difference did it make if I got it on Amazon or at Macy's or at Williams & Sonoma? Cuisinart is a nationally known brand and is quality. The only difference is I paid less and they delivered it to my house for free. Last summer I paid $499 for a window air conditioner, GE, that was $549 at HD and $679 at Lowes. I suppose you could argue about GE quality, but it was 100+ degrees here yesterday and we were nice and cool. 😀 You probably can't buy a $10,000 tailored Italian suit on Amazon, but most of us aren't in that market range. At least I'm not.

[maratsade]

"I suppose you could argue about GE quality"

Please don't.... 🙂 I just had to buy a GE refrigerator.  I hope it will not die in 2 years like its Whirlpool predecessor did. 

[debbie.jean.bro]

Agreed, @GabeU and @maratsade! I don't live in a big city and selection out here is lacking. I hate nothing more than driving all over the place, going from store to store, trying to find one stupid thing.

[maratsade]

It wastes a lot of time and it can be frustrating if what I need is not available anywhere in the city.  

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@debbie.jean.bro wrote:
 I don't live in a big city and selection out here is lacking. I hate nothing more than driving all over the place, going from store to store, trying to find one stupid thing.

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[debbie.jean.bro]

@Reggie, none taken. I'm sure that's true for some people. In my case, however, I shop on Amazon because a) I have a mobilty disability and arthritis that makes conventional shopping difficult; b) I buy a lot of books and I can get almost any book ever published from this one site, usually in two days, but always much faster than B&N can get them, plus B&N usually can't get out of print books; c) as Maratsade said, it saves me a tremendous amount of time, gas, and money.

But I do sometimes mourn the death of the small, independent, locally owned bookstore.

[debbie.jean.bro]

@CORROSIVE, I feel your pain! I worked for Macy's for many years and dreaded Black Friday, the day after Christmas, and pretty much October- January, lol! I also remember when I was little, my dad, who was a teacher, took a night job with UPS to help make ends meet. Even back then (1960's), the holiday season about killed him.

[GabeU]

Counting down the minutes.  🙂 

[maratsade]

Got your eye on some good stuff?

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@GabeU wrote:

Counting down the minutes.  🙂 

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[GabeU]

Well, I sort of did, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to how it works, and I can't find any definitive info.  

What I mean is, are the "sales" dynamic, or does anything and everything that's going to go on sale do so all at once?  And, are those items on sale for the full 36 hours?  Or, is it the type of sale that you'll have something pop up on the app that says "all such and such is 40% off for the next three hours!"?  

If it's dynamic, forget it.  I'm not wasting my time.  Nor am I going to sit there, on the wait, with my phone glued to me.  Heck, I've never shopped on Black Friday, either.  If not dynamic, I'd look through what they have on sale at my leisure.  

But, as it stands, I only wanted to get a couple of things, anyway, and only one of the items might have been included in the sale (Sandisk micro sd cards).  I decided to not take the chance of them running out of stock, and I wanted to beat the rush, so I placed my order shortly after midnight on Monday.  And, as it turns out, the cards were reduced in price, anyway, so I got lucky.  🙂   Due to Prime's two day shipping it shows that I should receive my order on Wednesday.  It's now Tuesday morning and my order still hasn't shipped.  Unless they're going to ship it overnight I'm not going to receive it tomorrow.  😞  If that happens I'm really going to question the value of Prime, as the two day shipping is the ONLY reason I decided to get it.     

[maratsade]

From what I've seen, it's dynamic.  Things go on sale and remain so for a few hours, and customers have to place a claim on them.  Once an item is 100% claimed, you can't get it at the discount.  

I personally don't join in the festivities. 🙂   Edit:  I actually have spent some minutes watching the animations at the top of the page. Those are cool. 

As for Prime, did the item you buy say it was 2-day shipping? Occasionally, some Prime items are listed are taking longer to ship.   If it was a 2-day and it didn't arrive in the two days, I'd contact customer service. 

[GabeU]

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@maratsade wrote: 

As for Prime, did the item you buy say it was 2-day shipping? Occasionally, some Prime items are listed are taking longer to ship.   If it was a 2-day and it didn't arrive in the two days, I'd contact customer service. 

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Yep.  All three of the items I ordered said 2 day shipping, and each item showed, before ordering, that I could expect it to arrive on Wednesday, July 18th if I ordered within the next 12 hours and some odd minutes, which I did.  And in the confirmation email it shows Wednesday as the arrival date.  

Again, it could still get here by the end of tomorrow, but they'd have to next day or overnight the order.  

It was actually around 12:15AM Monday morning, though the order shows Sunday.

From the site...

From the confirmation email...

Edit:  All three items are still showing as in stock.  

[maratsade]

I'd contact Customer Service if it doesn't arrive.  But it still might!  Maybe they will teleport it. 🙂

I've used Prime a few years and overall it's worked very well for me, and my interactions with Amazon customer service reps have been very positive. 

[MarkJFine]

I ordered some things on 01 Jul with free shipping. All were in stock. The estimated delivery was 09 - 12 Jul.

It didn't even register as shipped until the 11th and was received with regular mail on the 12th.

Pretty poor by their standards.

[maratsade]

Free shipping (non-Prime) is usually 8 days.

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@MarkJFine wrote:

I ordered some things on 01 Jul with free shipping. All were in stock. The estimated delivery was 09 - 12 Jul.

It didn't even register as shipped until the 11th and was received with regular mail on the 12th.

Pretty poor by their standards.

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[MarkJFine]

That's about right for me. This time it was closer to two weeks than one.

[maratsade]

Maybe Flash is managing the shipping department now....

https://youtu.be/XyUBTq0amb8

[GabeU]

Yippee!!!  It shipped!  🙂 🙂 🙂  

And, if all is correct...

[GabeU]

And to think that my first payment for Prime was automatically charged this morning.  What am I paying for?  Waiting until the last second to ship so that there's no room for error?  Had it shipped when it should have (Monday) this wouldn't have happened.  

I realize Amazon can't control UPS, but if I wait until the very last second to do something and something then happens to cause a delay, whose fault is it?  Myself and my procrastination. 

I'm so disgusted with Amazon right now.    

[BirdDog]

Our First World problems get so aggravating some times! 

[maratsade]

I'd rather have First World problems than 2nd or 3rd. 🙂