With our buying so much online and the the choices so broad, here’s some steps to follow to be sure you’re getting the best value for your money.
Ignore Amazon “regular” prices – If you shop at Amazon, you’d be wise to ignore their former or original prices shown aside the current selling prices. I’m not sure how Amazon gets away with it, but often these “regular prices” are greater than they’re regular selling price. A better way to know if you’re getting a deal or not is to copy the URL for the item you are considering (from the browser window) and paste it into the window on the site www.camelcamelcamel.com. It will provide a graph showing the item’s price for the past year or so.
Check reviews – Good reviews are valued like gold by most merchants, but all good reviews are not the same. More and more sites have reviews that are filled with fakes, often posted by people that have been paid to post or given the product at no cost in exchange for a five-star review. As a result, it’s becoming less common to see reviews on Amazon that are lower than 4 to 4.5 stars.
Instead of relying just on this number, I look at reviews that are 2, 3 and 4 stars to find out what’s not just right. 5 star reviews can be useful, but only if they provide enough detail that shows the reviewer actually used the product. Very often when I buy an item, the manufacturer will insert a card asking me to give them a good review and offer to compensate me with another one of their products in return. Typically, they’ll ask you to order it from Amazon, send them a copy of the order, and they will refund the amount via PayPal or Venmo. That way you are listed as a verified buyer.
How do you select from similar items? – Many products on Amazon look exactly the same, so how do you select the one to buy? When I went to purchase a small countertop icemaker, I came across dozens of them, all priced within about ten percent of one another, and many looking exactly the same. I generally look for the ones with the highest number of reviews, making it more likely that the product has been on sale longer, and the company being larger and more responsible. I also pay attention to the reviews with user submitted images and videos. Even with that effort, if many of the products appear to be manufactured by the same company, I’ll go for the lowest price, unless delivery time is much longer.
When delivery time is longer and is coming from a company other than Amazon, sometimes you’ll need to go through more hoops to return it and wait longer for the refund to show up.
Buying directly from a compay – When I’m buying an item on Amazon, I can often find more information about the product from the company’s own website. I prefer to purchase from a small business, and I may check where the company is located to be sure it’s a real company. That’s not always easy because some manufacturers’ websites don’t include their physical locations, a negative for me. In a few cases when they do list a physical address, I’ll view it on Google Maps (satelllite view) to see if it’s a large facility or a tiny office or home.
On occasion I find a company’s prices to be lower than Amazon, only to have a shipping charge that negates that advantage. Recently I placed an order directly with the merchant offering free shipping by FedEx, but the shipment took ten days. I probably should have used Amazon. I don’t know why companies fulfilling by mail don’t assume customers will check Amazon.
Company’s Rating – I’ll often check a company’s rating on TrustPilot, an extensive review site of thousands of companies. I do this when I’m buying a complex product that may require me to deal with the company for service or repair or comparing two different suppliers against each other. Of course, it’s filled with more complaints than praises, but it often gives you a preview of what you might expect before you buy.
Price Matching – Some stores will match Amazon prices. For example BestBuy will match their prices, assuming the seller is Amazon and not a third party. Staples has an interesting policy. It will match their in-store prices with their on-line prices. When I was looking at a printer cable for $22 and I question its high price, the sales person said they will honor their own online price. I then looked it up on my phone and found the same product with the same number at just $4!
I encountered a similar but different policy from Michaels, the hobby store retailer. The instore price for a picture frame I selected was $59.95, but only $29.95 online. The sales person told me to order it on line for in store pickup and wait about 5 minutes until the order came through. I didjust that and walked out with it at the lower price.
What about returns? – One of the great attractions of Amazon is how easy it is to make a return. Options include an ever-expanding number of retail locations, including Kohl’s, Staples, and their own Whole Foods stores, in addition to UPS stores. Not every product has the option to be returned at each of these locations; it depends on a number of factors such as the product’s value, size and weight.
Be aware that Amazon tracks returns by customer and inspects every returned item, checking its condition and comparing it to what was included in the original package. There is a point at which some customers are informed that their account will be suspended for too many returns. Amazon doesn’t provide their criteria, but some online discussionsconjecture it might be around 20%, as well as the reasons provided for the return, its and its value.