Comments on: Why Amazon is the world's best tech retailer

Don Reisinger likes Amazon and believes it's the best tech retailer in the world. But perhaps the real question is whether or not Amazon is great based on its own merits or by default.

[shaynemack]

Have you ever heard of Newegg? I shop there all the time. Their prices compare well with Amazon and they ship product as fast if not faster then Amazon.

[thatchman1]

I too am very satisfied with Amazon. Only twice in my thousands-of-dollars history of purchases with Amazon have I had to return something. One was a $900 HD cam corner. Not a blink, my refunds and replacements came quickly and without pause.

For me, Amazon is great at what it does because of the things you mention in the blog posting, PLUS the integrated customer ratings that are more extensive, orderly and often more used than those at other sites.

Going back to print invoices is easy, so I use it for unexpected work purchases as well. With Amazon Prime, I can make up for someone else's lack of planning at work and not waste much time or money doing it.

[bgavinw]

I've just got two words :
AMAZON PRIME
Money, baby.. money. Best $79 you'll ever spend and it keeps your local UPS (wo)man with full-time employment. One click and Amazon prime make buying almost sinfully easy.
Smartest thing a company can do is make buying things as easy as that. Since I purchased Amazon prime, I've probably spent 10 times as much, including buying a new HD Camcorder and a new iMac, Xbox 360, all my video games.. the list goes on.

[AXG]

This article is totally wrong.

Most of the items on Amazon are sold by third party merchants and hence are not eligible for Amazon Prime. The items sold by third party merchants are not even eligible for free shipping with $25 purchase. It is hard to find anything sold directly by Amazon.

The prices on Amazon are no longer the lowest. I can often find cheaper prices on tech products on buy.com, newegg.com or overstock.com. Recently, I was looking for Sony Bravia KDL52XBR4. On Amazon, the price and availability of this TV fluctuated everyday. One day it was available from Onecall.com, next day it was someone else. Till couple of years ago, Amazon.com had a "Found it cheaper elsewhere" link where you could enter a link to any merchant where a product was available cheaper than Amazon and they would match the price, Now that link has gone missing.

Amazon's return policies at one time used to be good. Now they do not take anything back easily unless it is defective. Read their return policy carefully. "You may return new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com within 30 days of delivery for a full refund." They accept only unopened items.

Till 2005, Amazon was good. Now I do not even look on Amazon.com for anything.

[ecyph]

newegg's interface/user experience BLOWS amazon's away. ESPECIALLY if we're talking "tech" products: Routers, Motherboards, Cooling, Monitors, Keyboards, etc. Maybe even Digital Camera's, but... it's a toss up really.

For Consumer Electronics and other items, Amazon is still the king.

[shadowagent]

Amazon.com is really a joke these days. There are so many 3rd party vendors on this site it is outrageous. Trying to deal with these people through Amazon can be a real nightmare. I ordered from one vendor who never sent the items; wouldn't respond to inquiries; and when Amazon finally stepped in they claimed they only sold Wholesale...then what the [blank] are you doing on Amazon.com?!

You have to be really careful who you do business with on Amazon.com if it isn't Amazon directly. You get ripped off on shipping (I paid extra shipping on an item the guy claimed was 4 pounds and it was less than 1). Damaged items, you're going into customer service hell. And if you buy an item that has an expiration date...you often get the item with a date that expires in a month or less.

You can often find better deals at other sites and sometimes even the vendor directly. Also check out if you have any corporate discounts...my company has a discount deal with Phillips and I could pay $1800 less on a large plasma tv compared to all other sales at any retail store or online.