Amazon gives non-Prime members free shipping at $35 or more of eligible items. Instead of simply letting users get the product with free shipping, they’ve added a discount that prices it exactly one cent below the $35 limit, while only subsidizing the price with $3.38, which is about half of what they’ll then charge you for shipping.
I wanted to order something, but half a year of waiting seemed like a bit long. Refunded, got money back and ordered again. I still have half a year to wait, but I have mine money too. profit?
Just by something costing .01
Like what?
Half cent piece
Digital items, but Amazon intentionally makes them impossible to find. There’s a ton of e-books and Audiobooks that are $0.01 - $0.05, but Amazon intentionally buries them under the “free with Kindle subscription” crap, so that people can’t milk this without really putting in the effort
What annoys me is the price fixing
Temu or aliexpress
Those a worse
I rather have price fixing than slavery
But Amazon just resells from the same places So u get both - slavery. And funding Jeff bezos.
Amazon can not legally use slavery. The Chinese government on the other hand is a totally different beast.
Amazon does not care. Never have.
They force people to pee in the bottles, watch eye movement with cameras and support Trump.
Everything sold on Amazon is from china
Very Amazon of them.
Buy iFixIt stuff directly from them on their website. Or is that somehow more expensive?
It’s $5 more expensive, and then shipping.
But the real price of the amazon one is either 34.99 plus shipping or 38.37 without shipping
Worth not buying from Amazon. Who knows if it’s a legit iFixit kit.
I don’t know if this is possible on Amazon, but on our local alternative (bol.com for the Dutchies) it is possible to buy e-books for one cent, which will get you free shipping. I have quite a selection of e-books I’ll probably never read, but which were just the right amount to get free shipping.
I don’t know if this is possible on Amazon
It’s certainly possible to get e-books for free, with only a very small amount of piracy.
Yes there are tons of free ebooks on amazon. Mostly classic literature that’s past copyright.
Not very helpful when you need that extra cent to get free shipping though, is it?
People didn’t know this? I mean Amazon is evil shit. But companies have been doing stuff like this for 30 years…
its a strategy, theyre not even being deceitful here, just pricing to their interests. theres so much evil stuff they do, but this example isn’t properly evil.
No, this is just an example of a lesser evil that we’ve grown accustomed to.
I’d just never seen this specific flavor of bullshittery from them before. Encouraging sellers to keep prices below the shipping limit is one thing, but adding discounts artificially no matter what the actual seller prices their product at is a whole new level of making things worse for everyone involved.
Sellers have a lower likelihood of a non-Prime member buying their item, users don’t get free shipping.
They likely have an algo running to do this just like how they offer random coupons to entice you to buy items in your cart, and all the other tricks around shipping manipulation.
lmao jesus
protip: Amazon charges to vendors increase above certain price points. $35 triggers free shipping, so they charge the seller a larger amount, which … wait for it … is why the SELLER prices it at $34.99. close but no cigar champ.
The image clearly shows that the discount is provided by Amazon and not the third party seller.
you’re absolutely right, and as I’ve no explanation better than OP’s I’ve deleted
I’ve learned about this in church. The bible calls that a “cunt”, from “the book of dick moves”.
There are ebooks listed for exactly 1 cent.
just order the same from temu/aliexpress - skip Jeff Bezos pockets
I don’t want to deal with their abysmal costumer service, and I’m not giving my address and phone number to some Chinese data center if I can help it.
Your local oligarch will do more damage to you than remote Chinese person can ever do
Remote in what sense? I’m in China.
So use taobao or small or whatever u guys have in China. Why touch amazon
You have to select “prime eligible” items. Are these penny ebooks included in the minimum purchase total?
I am going to publish a bunch of 1c, 2c and 5c ebooks now 🙏
In a battle against the honorless you are a warrior of great wisdom.
I’ve actually added very low cost items to my cart, made sure free returns from Amazon only, and returned it. Two can play that game Amazon!
If you return ‘too many’ items they may suspend or even ban your account. I’m not sure what the threshold is.
When I did this (I actually ended up not needing the item), they refunded the item minus the shipping cost, so…
Almost everything on Amazon you can also fine on eBay. Sometimes it is a couple of bucks more expensive, but it’s usually due to shit like this. Haven’t bought on Amazon for 4 years now.
I’m joining that club too, managed to avoid Amazon for Black Friday and Christmas and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be
And the cheap stuff you can find for half the price on AliExpress. That’s where they source their shit anyway
Unless they lose your stuff. Then you’ll see that consumer protection on all orders guaranteed involves you fighting with a wall that keeps denying your claims with no recourse. Aliexpress is much cheaper… As long as things work out. If they don’t, it really sucks.
That’s true, yeah. Returns are basically not a thing for me either being in Sweden.
Still, on balance I believe I’ve made it out ahead.
Sadly, Americans learned to use Amazon as a grocery/hardware store and relying on fast delivery. Something something all ages in a single basket…
I usually just… go to the store.
I always try to buy in the store, but most of the time the store either doesn’t have the item I need or it costs 200%.
Now see, I wouldn’t know because I don’t check prices on the Internet. I just go, buy some shit if it’s there, if it’s not, I get annoyed & maybe try somewhere else if it’s important enough for me at that moment.
I guess I just don’t like online shopping, it feels like a chore to me.
That said, I am privileged enough to live somewhere where there are multiple options for shopping close by, so, easy for me to say.
Wish we had more none American stores in my country.
2nd eBay. Sometimes it’s even cheaper.
Usually for used stuff eBay is way cheaper. And for many things, it doesn’t matter whether it is new or used.
Yeah and anything of value I would not get from Amazon due to the risk of counterfeits. Amazon pools its stock for an item with that provided by 3rd party sellers in its warehouse - either can be delivered to a customer based on which is closest not who you think you’re buying from.
So you can easily receive dodgy goods from 3rd party sellers that may he counterfeit or refurbished rather than new, when it says “sold and dispatched by amazon”.
Get your expensive items from other retailers that dont have 3rd party sellers. Get your cheap random Chinese manufactured crap from EBay or Aliexpress. Get your digital content from other stores like ebooks.com where you can legally remove the DRM and keep your content forever.
Fuck Amazon.
This must be very different in the US because over here eBay would be like just lighting your money on fire (since you have 0 recourse or reimburse options while Amazon’s primary upside is how trivial replacement and reimbursements are). I mean de-amazon sure, but not for a place that’s as anti-consumer as can be, which of course makes sense for actual second-hand purchases where you have no legal liabilities by the seller anyways.
I’m based in Europe so that night be true.
Amazon are getting bad about refunds and replacements plus have a major problem with counterfeit goods due to how they mix 3rd party and Amazon sourced goods in their warehouses.
They can’t refund your house if it burns down because Amazon sold you fake electronics.
EBay is fine for the smaller cheap Chinese tat that you can find on amazon, and PayPal provides consumer protection. Go to other retailers for electronics - any site or shop that does not use third party sellers.
This is such a tired trope. eBay has improved well beyond when it was just the wild west of third party sellers. I’ve not had a single issue on eBay in the last 3-4 years of purchases. Ive actually had extraordinary customer service through eBay. Recently purchased a used $50 coffee grinder and it arrived with cosmetic damage from shipping. Contacted the seller and they refunded the entire purchase while also letting me keep the item.
Hey just the last 2 weeks I had two separate friends be ripped off on ebay. Yeah it has improved, but it’s still a ton of scummy shit.
Are your 2 separate friends not checking ebay’s seller ratings and buying scummy shit from scummy sellers without using PayPal’s buyer protections?
If you’re buying on ebay and use PayPal, PayPal provides the consumer protection. That’s been my experience anyway.
10000% This. Using Paypal for buying on sites like Ebay is the way to go in terms of consumer protection. If a seller doesn’t take PP then fuck 'em
where are you? Im in Ireland and use eBay all the time, and when there’s been a problem it’s always been rectified
I am confused by this thread, do you only have Amazon and eBay in US?
weird place to cast shade
It’s not shade. Consume from a more ethical company.
Like…?
One that doesn’t fund Nazis?
Eating ass is the only ethical consumption under capitalism
Wrong. It’s also morally correct to eat the rich. 🥰
You used to be able to buy digital Amazon gift cards for a dollar. You would use the credit on your next purchase anyway. But they’ve raised the minimum to $5.