Do you check online retailers out for complaints before ordering from them?

Thanks for the information. ebay is about as far as i go online. on ebay, you can ask other customers about their purchases from ebayers.

I will mark this in my tab.

I only do business with reputable companies that I have checked out.

I only shop with Amazon.com and always look at the companies reviews/ratings.

I just purchased an item on Friday that had multiple 5 star ratings and tons of rave reviews for the company and it’s great customer service.

So far I have never had an issue.

I like to look up ‘name of website + review’ before I buy from a new online store. Most are just small businesspeople trying to make a little money off of their expertise. But there are a few, like www.harborcountrybike.com, that are total scammers. It’s always worth checking.

Unlike @john65pennington I will not shop on eBay. I’ve had a few bad experiences. I also work in wholesale and we spend all day long dealing with customers upset when our items show up on eBay. So as a matter of principle (and because I know it gives other manufacturers headaches), I won’t shop on eBay. Most manufacturers across a wide variety of industries explicitly state that they won’t honor warranties on purchases from online auction sites, since these are almost never authorized retailers. So it could be a great way to get a bargain, but to me it’s not worth the cost.

@john65pennington eBay has its weaknesses, as @Mamradpivo correctly notes.

@marinelife Good policy.

@Coloma Amazon is pretty brutal to their retailers. They demand a huge cut of each sale and they have a history of watching what a retailer is selling and, if they build up any volume in an item, negotiating a direct deal with the manufacturer then cutting the little guy out of the picture. He gets canceled by his manufacturer even for his own store or stores, because the manufacturer is drawn away by the big money they hope to make from Amazon. Being a Yahoo! Store developer, I know multiple store owners it has happened to.

Truth told, you can almost always beat Amazon pricing and get great service by buying direct from reputable Internet retailers. The operative word is reputable, though.

@ETpro

I am not a big online shopper, just go with the companies, experiences that have been positive for me.

Reputable is key, of course, and research goes into that.

I know nothing of Amazon cutting the little guy out of the picture. It’s free agency, retailers can list their merchandise with Amazon or not, pretty simple if you ask me.

I am thrilled with the savings I received on my latest purchase.

Total purchase cost of $259
No tax, no shipping on a 67 lb. item.

Amazon had this item with the best prices and reviews I found on similar items, sooo, there ya go. lol

I’m a happy camper. :-)

@Coloma If Amazon’s got the best price, then go for it. Just warning that it often pays to check. In many instances, you can get it cheaper shopping elsewhere. Just search the retailer first to make sure they treat customers well.

I always check out the store or seller before I give them my business. I notice a number of people dissing Amazon. I buy a lot of things from them, including books. I would rather spend a tiny bit more than deal with a company I don’t trust.

Re Amazon’s pricing, I just ran across this today on a forum for Yahoo! Store owners and contractors.

Screenstylejoe wrote: “Unless one can offer a noticeable point of difference between your store and Amazon, Amazon will win. Amazon now uses pretty sophisticated bots that search the web and if these bots see an item cheaper than Amazon, they drop the price. I know one instance where Amazon was selling a software program for $50. One of their bots found an online reseller selling the same program for $20; so Amazon immediately matched the price even though they were paying $35 to buy it.”

“Here’s the funny thing. I know the manufacturer and he actually was paying $25 to manufacture the product. So he ended up just buying the products from Amazon for $20, reselling them to Amazon for $35, and then buying them all over again for $20. He thinks he cycled the same inventory at least 30 times before Amazon finally raised its price again. It’s nuts but that’s Amazon.”

From a consumer point of view, low prices on Amazon may be great. But companies use dumping to kill all competition so they can then jack prices sky high once they own the market. It appears Amazon wants to own Internet retailing.