View Full Version : Amazon, Amazon Prices & Jeff Bezos
BladesNBarrels
07-21-2021, 15:37
Interesting fact that has not been broadcast widely in the press, Jeff Bezos donated $200 million for charitable distribution on the same day he financed his trip to space.
He called it the Courage and Civility Award
Jeff Bezos planned to award $100 million each to Van Jones and chef Jose Andres.
The award aims to honor those who have "demonstrated courage" and tried to be a unifier in a divisive world.
"We need unifiers and not vilifiers," Bezos said. "We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe.
But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks.
Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case.
But we do have role models."
Bezos said that Jones and Andres were free to do "what they want" with the money.
"They can give it all to their own charity," Bezos said at a press conference after his trip to space. "Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them."
[Coffee]
Aloha_Shooter
07-22-2021, 09:52
Interesting fact that has not been broadcast widely in the press, Jeff Bezos donated $200 million for charitable distribution on the same day he financed his trip to space.
He called it the Courage and Civility Award
Jeff Bezos planned to award $100 million each to Van Jones and chef Jose Andres.
<snip>
Bezos said that Jones and Andres were free to do "what they want" with the money.
"They can give it all to their own charity," Bezos said at a press conference after his trip to space. "Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them."
[Coffee]
So the Left has been doing this decades, mixing up socio-political "non-profit" activities with charities. If you look at non-profit donations for the past 30 years, you'll see the Left elite overwhelmingly "donate" to socio-political activist organizations which have filed for 501(c)3 status (and they don't generate profits as such so they are taking advantage of tax rules legitimately) but in media they talk about this as charitable donations as if they were donating to the equivalent of churches, food banks, etc. The Right has picked up on this and started doing similar things in the last decade or so but seem to be much less successful at this accounting (maybe because their core constituency is more interested in money going to actual charitable work or maybe because the best marketers/PR people tend to be left-wing).
I've never liked Bezos or his political leaning and this "donation" is much the same -- one reason I've cut back on buying anything via Amazon in recent years. Having said that, I will still give him some applause for pushing civilian access to space forward. No one is perfect (not even me!). I've never liked Trump either but he did some good things in restarting the true American economy (as opposed to spiking Wall Street), trying to throttle down on the power of the bureaucracy, opposing the growth of the CCP, etc.
hollohas
07-22-2021, 10:35
... one reason I've cut back on buying anything via Amazon in recent years....
A bit off topic...I have used Amazon a ton over the years because it gave me service I couldn't get elsewhere. But it's is loosing a lot of what attracted my business. And it's not about politics for me.
1) It used to be CHEAP. Not any more. Most prices on Amazon these days are no better than anywhere else or downright inflated. Some household items on Amazon are 1/3rd the price from Target for the exact same (who also has free 2-day shipping but includes it with no annual fee).
2) Amazon used to be the fastest. Not anymore. See above. Also, they've advertised they were moving to next day or even same day shipping. However I rarely get ANYTHING in even 2-days anymore. Even items that say they will arrive in 2 days have been taking 3/4/5+ days to deliver. Their own fleet of vans doesn't appear to be helping their service.
3) It's like eBay now. Or alibaba or something. It takes forever to filter out the obvious (or not so obvious) knock-offs or oriental trading quality offshore junk items being sold by dozens of different "brands". Same crap, dozens of different vendors. It's getting harder and harder to find name brand anything on Amazon anymore and if you do it's MSRP+ and you might as well buy elsewhere. They used to have a better selection of everything, not anymore.
I was looking for some good quality well known name brand trail shoes the other day. Amazon used to be great for shoes. Finding anything in the right size or color is impossible now. They simply don't have anything. Even the dumb colors were unavailable. But if I wanted a $45 pair of knockoff unknown Chinese brand trail shoes, no problem at all. Plenty available.
Amazon has lost a TON of business from me over the last year or two.
A bit off topic...I have used Amazon a ton over the years because it gave me service I couldn't get elsewhere. But it's is loosing a lot of what attracted my business. And it's not about politics for me.
1) It used to be CHEAP. Not any more. Most prices on Amazon these days are no better than anywhere else or downright inflated. Some household items on Amazon are 1/3rd the price from Target for the exact same (who also has free 2-day shipping but includes it with no annual fee).
2) Amazon used to be the fastest. Not anymore. See above. Also, they've advertised they were moving to next day or even same day shipping. However I rarely get ANYTHING in even 2-days anymore. Even items that say they will arrive in 2 days have been taking 3/4/5+ days to deliver. Their own fleet of vans doesn't appear to be helping their service.
3) It's like eBay now. Or alibaba or something. It takes forever to filter out the obvious (or not so obvious) knock-offs or oriental trading quality offshore junk items being sold by dozens of different "brands". Same crap, dozens of different vendors. It's getting harder and harder to find name brand anything on Amazon anymore and if you do it's MSRP+ and you might as well buy elsewhere. They used to have a better selection of everything, not anymore.
I was looking for some good quality well known name brand trail shoes the other day. Amazon used to be great for shoes. Finding anything in the right size or color is impossible now. They simply don't have anything. Even the dumb colors were unavailable. But if I wanted a $45 pair of knockoff unknown Chinese brand trail shoes, no problem at all. Plenty available.
Amazon has lost a TON of business from me over the last year or two.
Pretty much feel the same, especially about the shoes and not being able to find name brand stuff. I once bought a pair of Vibrams, held onto them for over six months before I tried them on, and they fell apart within the first day of wear. Uncharacteristic of Vibram Five Fingers and has me wondering if I bought a knock off. Of course it was too late to return them. Oh yeah, and the price went up after every pair I bought over the years. Recently, as I posted on here, I bought a LUK flywheel for way less on Amazon. Turned out to be fake, no wonder it didn't cost as much.
I don't do Amazon after having disappointing sales experience there.
I love ebay and their service as a buyer (more love) and as a seller (little less ❤).
unfortunately I bought 2 items off of ebay and it was an Amazon listing it on ebay.
my wife recently received 100 Amazon gift code as a bday present and we will be more than happy to trade that 1:1 with ebay, Walmart, or Costco $100 card.
I don't do Amazon any more either. They are obviously including the cost of their "free shipping" in everything you buy.
It's actually satisfying, to walk into a brick and morter, local, store, and buy something for less than Amazon.
let's say this.....
I make MORE $$$$ selling books on Amazon than eBay.
That tells you that Amazon is not cheap.
I still prefer selling it on ebay over FBA FBM on Amazon platform. sick and tired of their bullshit high rate of returns.
I used Amazon Smile twice today for work. Took me 30 seconds to locate and checkout each time….not kidding.
While I hear what y’all are saying, sometimes finding a USB adapter or replacement plantronics ear muffs for less than $10 a piece and shipping them to my colleagues for free is still hard to beat.
Next to nothing I buy anymore is found in a brick an mortar store… not even shooting related stuff.
hollohas
07-22-2021, 21:19
We tried to sell some stuff on Amazon for a while. Stuff you see labeled as "fulfilled by Amazon". All new products. Like things we bought on sale at Costco that would sell on Amazon for much, much more. Amazon charges seller fees for EVERYTHING. Tons of fees. But even after they nickel and dimed us to death, we still calculated that we'd make a decent profit. That was until Amazon wanted us to ship the product to their warehouses all over kingdom come. One by one and we paid for shipping.
Let's say we had 40 of the same item to sell. If we shipped them split between 2 or 3 warehouses, we'd still be in good shape. But oh no, Amazon made us ship them to like 35 warehouses. Something we paid $10 for that would sell on Amazon for $35, we'd end up making like $1 profit. And that's only if it sold quickly. If it didn't and sat in their warehouse for any period of time, the fees would keep coming. Basically it's consignment with a rental fee for shelf space. Way, way, way too much work for 10% or less profit.
And that's the problem Amazon has created. They turned into more of a fulfilment/consignment center than an actual wholesaler like they were when they started. If they still purchased product wholesale like they did originally, they have such huge buying power that their prices would still be lower than everyone. However they are just selling stuff purchased by tens of thousands of smaller sellers with no buying power and who pay a higher cost. All the actual sellers have to mark stuff WAY up to make any money after all of the Amazon fees. It's just a totally different business now than it used to be. And I think people are going to wise up to it.
I finally got my wife to stop clicking "buy now" on Amazon and actually start price checking things again. Once she did she was stunned by how much Amazon was raping us on price.
Bailey Guns
07-22-2021, 21:20
Probably at least 50% or more of ALL of my purchases, including food, is done online now. Amazon isn't what it used to be in terms of pricing, that's for sure. But the service, at least in my experience, is pretty hard to beat. Sometimes I honestly don't know how retailers on Amazon are making money. If you think Amazon is a pain in the ass, try going to WalMart on a Sat. Amazon is still my go-to for now.
hollohas
07-22-2021, 21:33
If you think Amazon is a pain in the ass, try going to WalMart on a Sat. Amazon is still my go-to for now.
Fair point.
On that note, I once bought something on Amazon that shipped to me direct from Walmart. No shit. The Amazon seller simply got my Amazon order, turned around and ordered the item from Walmart and shipped it direct to me. Had I just purchased it myself from Walmart's website I would have paid half the price as Amazon.
What aggravates me about brick and mortar is availability. Across the board... auto parts, computer parts, you name it, it seems like all the retail stores just stock the cheapest lowball crap they can get their hands on. And it's never cheap.
That said I do intentionally shop a lot of brick and mortar. Many of my tools etc are from the local shops, even if I could've saved $2 from online orders. The parts, however, are not.
We tried to sell some stuff on Amazon for a while. Stuff you see labeled as "fulfilled by Amazon". All new products. Like things we bought on sale at Costco that would sell on Amazon for much, much more. Amazon charges seller fees for EVERYTHING. Tons of fees. But even after they nickel and dimed us to death, we still calculated that we'd make a decent profit. That was until Amazon wanted us to ship the product to their warehouses all over kingdom come. One by one and we paid for shipping.
Let's say we had 40 of the same item to sell. If we shipped them split between 2 or 3 warehouses, we'd still be in good shape. But oh no, Amazon made us ship them to like 35 warehouses. Something we paid $10 for that would sell on Amazon for $35, we'd end up making like $1 profit. And that's only if it sold quickly. If it didn't and sat in their warehouse for any period of time, the fees would keep coming. Basically it's consignment with a rental fee for shelf space. Way, way, way too much work for 10% or less profit.
And that's the problem Amazon has created. They turned into more of a fulfilment/consignment center than an actual wholesaler like they were when they started. If they still purchased product wholesale like they did originally, they have such huge buying power that their prices would still be lower than everyone. However they are just selling stuff purchased by tens of thousands of smaller sellers with no buying power and who pay a higher cost. All the actual sellers have to mark stuff WAY up to make any money after all of the Amazon fees. It's just a totally different business now than it used to be. And I think people are going to wise up to it.
I finally got my wife to stop clicking "buy now" on Amazon and actually start price checking things again. Once she did she was stunned by how much Amazon was raping us on price.
Retail/Price arbitrage is extremely saturated market.
I have approx 2 EXTREMELY SLOW MOVERS. They are Disney toys (bought ~$.05each ,retails 13.99), and hand sanitizer (3.99 each retail, but bought it for penny ea). I am selling 3 toys per month, and selling about 40-50 sanitizer per mo.
I ma sitting on so many unpopular Disney toys that I might need to give that away for Halloween present.
Aloha_Shooter
07-23-2021, 10:28
Probably at least 50% or more of ALL of my purchases, including food, is done online now. Amazon isn't what it used to be in terms of pricing, that's for sure. But the service, at least in my experience, is pretty hard to beat. Sometimes I honestly don't know how retailers on Amazon are making money. If you think Amazon is a pain in the ass, try going to WalMart on a Sat. Amazon is still my go-to for now.
Fair point.
On that note, I once bought something on Amazon that shipped to me direct from Walmart. No shit. The Amazon seller simply got my Amazon order, turned around and ordered the item from Walmart and shipped it direct to me. Had I just purchased it myself from Walmart's website I would have paid half the price as Amazon.
I've bought a number of items online at Walmart.com for less than Amazon and had them either shipped directly to my house or to my local store for pickup. Pickup has been painless since they put in a semi-automated kiosk -- rarely have to deal much with the weekend crowds because the kiosk is outside the cash registeres. Just scan or enter your pickup code and wait for the package(s) to be delivered pneumatically or by cart from an employee then take it out to your car. In some cases, you can even arrange for curbside pickup now -- they offer that for my prescriptions.
Bailey Guns
07-23-2021, 10:37
I actually do a fair amount of online shopping at Walmart, Sam's and Costco. I also order most things online for local store pickup when I can do that rather than go inside and have to spend time looking. I like buying at the BX when I can...not always the best prices, but on higher end items the tax savings usually makes things cheaper.
theGinsue
07-23-2021, 17:23
Moved the Amazon/Bezos talk out of the Richard Branson/Blue Origin thread (also edited that thread title since it's now about both Branson's Virgin Galactic & Bezos Blue Origin launches) - these posts deserve their own thread.
This isn't even current -
https://youtu.be/_3VFmmqFCoM
Not financing Amazon or the penis shaped rocket.
A few very unique things i can only get on Amazon really. But otherwise I avoid it all costs. They use a lot of money towards woke agenda. They have a long history of business practice that is pretty unethical. They would have meetings with products, services, companies acting interested then walk away but steal the thing once they knew enough. They do comingled inventory so even if you buy a vendor that should be trusted you still very well can get a knock off. Like 2nd only to Google/FBfor bullshit political machinations.
KevDen2005
07-24-2021, 07:49
What aggravates me about brick and mortar is availability. Across the board... auto parts, computer parts, you name it, it seems like all the retail stores just stock the cheapest lowball crap they can get their hands on. And it's never cheap.
That said I do intentionally shop a lot of brick and mortar. Many of my tools etc are from the local shops, even if I could've saved $2 from online orders. The parts, however, are not.
I like Brick and Mortar places a lot. I kind of went down that road in the firearms world. You could order anything on Gunbroker, PSA, Primary Arms, etc. But I like being able to put my hands on something and support local if I can. For the longest time it seemed those stores didn't have anything in stock so online was the way to go. I think a lot of gun places have wised up to this and are doing better.
I also like instant gratification. I wanted a new office chair and went to Office Depot. I found a chair that I liked and it was $100 more than Amazon. I said, I'll take it. The sales associate said, "We have to order it." Why would I pay an extra $100 to have to wait just as long if not longer than Amazon.
I have noticed Amazon prices going up and less to offer. Also on the shoes. I found a pair of shoes I liked at a great price then bought like four pairs. It was a long time until I needed shoes. I actually had to find a place that sells running shoes yesterday.
Great-Kazoo
07-24-2021, 07:56
amazon has some items i can use for less than making the drive to town and back. Other items i can buy locally, or in town, for less. We try buying locally, when possible, i have noticed prices increasing, while quality does not. OR what they send you is not what you ordered, but a lower priced unit, than purchased.
Had a subscription at amazon for something to be delivered every 3 months. They cancelled that subscription.
Ordered an item, was to be delivered by ***.....they cancelled that order.
Ordered a tool with a couple of different size staples, only one size of staple arrived.
Tried to re-order an item I had already purchased, more than doubled in price.
I shop elsewhere, and price check everything I buy online, when possible.
Thank you Amazon Shoppers! Retail/Price Arbitrager sincerely thanks you!
:D
(This actually is more work and capital investment than Fixed-income arbitrage, but returns are significantly better)
https://youtu.be/ubypnLYb9J0
https://youtu.be/2tGJ1COBdA0
Scanker19
07-24-2021, 13:28
Amazon shipping has turned into a week out here, that’s with prime or without if you spend over $25. I dropped prime when they stopped the two shipping. eBay is my go to, Amazon is my, fine I’ll buy it there. Unless it’s used. I’ve bought emseveral items from Amazon that were “used” from Amazon warehouse. Pretty cheap and most, if not all were unused returns that were opened.
I just picked up 2 large Amazon packages at the post office. USPS was supposed to attempt re-delivery on 6-29. Never happened.
We contacted Amazon and gave them some grief about it. We order for home delivery since the wife and I are both handicapped. So much for that idea. At least the USPS loaned us a cart to get the packages to the truck.
The irony? One of the packages was a garden cart to help me move large things around.
What bugs me now is that Amazon is shipping to us via Smart Post, that is delivering to the post office 20 miles down the canyon, then having USPS deliver the package. Amazon doesn't offer the option to deliver via UPS directly. If the package is of any size our rural route carrier doesn't have room for it and I have to make a 40 mile round trip drive to pick it up at the post office. Also, our post office is now enforcing a policy that carriers cannot back up or use reverse gear so they are refusing to deliver ANY package to our door because we don't have a drive through driveway. Never mind that we have a turn around in our driveway big enough to do a 180 degree turn without having to reverse. Our Lyons post office service has recently gone from excellent to "sucks".
What bugs me now is that Amazon is shipping to us via Smart Post, that is delivering to the post office 20 miles down the canyon, then having USPS deliver the package. Amazon doesn't offer the option to deliver via UPS directly. If the package is of any size our rural route carrier doesn't have room for it and I have to make a 40 mile round trip drive to pick it up at the post office. Also, our post office is now enforcing a policy that carriers cannot back up or use reverse gear so they are refusing to deliver ANY package to our door because we don't have a drive through driveway. Never mind that we have a turn around in our driveway big enough to do a 180 degree turn without having to reverse. Our Lyons post office service has recently gone from excellent to "sucks".
Similar issues here. Often an excuse of "driveway or door obstructed" (lol... never) or "more than 1 mile to front door". I've also seen snow excuses when it's completely dry. What's the post office motto again?
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
I think they need to correct that to "Whether boredom, heat of day, or minor inconvenience, any excuse stays these couriers from the swift obligation of requiring the customer to indentured service of their appointed rounds"
BladesNBarrels
07-25-2021, 09:32
Thanks MrPrena for the Amazon Arbitrage videos.
Got a kick out of his comments about working a 16-hour day, but look at the profits he making.
When I started working in the oil patch, 16 hour days were standard and that was at a fixed hourly rate.
But, the secret is working smarter!
No wonder prices at Amazon are going up.
Thanks MrPrena for the Amazon Arbitrage videos.
Got a kick out of his comments about working a 16-hour day, but look at the profits he making.
When I started working in the oil patch, 16 hour days were standard and that was at a fixed hourly rate.
But, the secret is working smarter!
No wonder prices at Amazon are going up.
The reezyresell guy is just avg, but entertaining at least.
I would recommend watching resale rabbit. He is does very little Retail/online arbi, but he does many return pallets.
He is also accounting smart, how he allocate the revenue and etc into more than 1 companies (consignment with company A to company B, retail store 1 and/or 2).
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