Buying from Amazon better than Chandlery?

[ChromeDome]

I had an interesting experience recently with Amazon returns.

A friend of mine purchased 20 pallets of returns from Amazon . Lots of fun going through them and I've had some good stuff. Although some were clearly genuine returns , a large number were doubtful. Many items were well used and likely had probably been purchased for a specific project or job and then returned. It was all rather depressing.

Tested Amazon Business at work to provide users a way to source small goods like IT accessories et al, by means of a punch out catalog integration to our Click 'n Buy solution.

Amazon Business support is a paid service, yet you have to fix everything yourself in their portal. We wanted to use them globally but Amazon is NOT global - instead they force us do business with each of their marketplaces, putting us in a position to do setup of a quazillion parameters and fix errors in parallel for all sites.
Not even a SPOC to communicate with.

So we trade and Amazon make the money while we are left in the dark when it comes to service. On top they fail to comply with our supplier code of conduct...

 

[CM74]

I'm lucky that my closest chandler's is also a big online operation - so I can see what they have in stock and what it costs before I travel there - if I know I want it I'll "click & collect" online, and if I'm not sure I'll go down and have a look at it first. They're usually pretty decent on price and also have the occasional particularly good offer that's not online.

I've rarely used Amazon for boat related stuff as they aren't always that competitive on price in the first place, and their search is so dreadful for bringing up all sorts of unrelated junk. This is also the case for car and bike stuff as well, it's a real pain.
My partner likes it though as it tells her when it will arrive (or when they think it will at least...) as she always leaves things to the last minute.

eBay is surprisingly good for some things (especially rather odd stuff) and quite often when things have been posted to me the seller's included a flyer with their own website on, which I've used afterwards as it's usually a little cheaper because they aren't paying eBay's fees

 

[DanTribe]

Thats all fine as long as you are not being served in the shop by a non boating person .... sadly when I return to UK and visit chandlers for the bits and bobs I cannot get in Latvia - the level of knowledge shown by average chandlery shop assistant is appalling !

This is true, I have sometimes had to bite ny tongue and remind myself that it's not my business when I hear bad advice given.
On the other hand I overheard a customer trying to buy some mastic. He went into long boring detail about what he was using it for. Salesman recomends one and customer very slowly reads all the label. He thinks it might be too strong, the salesman offers an alternative but that is acrylic, he now wants butyl. A butyl is offered, but that might not be strong enough and might not match the mahogany. And so on. After ages the customer decides he needs more research and leaves.
The salesman should get a reward for patience.

 

[ChromeDome]

This is true, I have sometimes had to bite ny tongue and remind myself that it's not my business when I hear bad advice given.
On the other hand I overheard a customer trying to buy some mastic. He went into long boring detail about what he was using it for. Salesman recomends one and customer very slowly reads all the label. He thinks it might be too strong, the salesman offers an alternative but that is acrylic, he now wants butyl. A butyl is offered, but that might not be strong enough and might not match the mahogany. And so on. After ages the customer decides he needs more research and leaves.
The salesman should get a reward for patience.

Sooo much has been done by marketing to convince everybody that they are capable handymen. "Just buy some tools and materials from us and you'll be able to do anything. To really become a pro you can watch videos on the web".
Sometimes, when assessment of own skills and risk fails, the result is published on Youtube to entertain us all ?

 

[billskip]

How many millions do you think Amazon still hold of those poor souls who hit the 'buy' button for a pair of socks, not realising Amazon had hidden behind that button YOU ARE BUYING PRIME AND WE'RE TAKING YOUR £75 AND WILL NEVER TELL YOU.

I use E-BAY.

I cant agree with that.
I do agree that lack of caution (which shouldn't be necessary) creates an unwittingly agreement with prime, but anyone that complains will be refunded, a friend was debited monthly for 2 years before he noticed, he phoned Amazon and was refunded immediately with no quibbles.

 

[asteven221]

Amazon is a parasitic company, and I refuse to use them.

Their business model is to sell things at a loss in order to put all of the competition out of business. These losses are bank-rolled by investments from the likes of sovereign wealth funds.

If you want your local high street and suppliers to survive, and you want a cohesive community, support them and ditch Amazon.

I would like to agree, but it's a really difficult issue to reconcile. Despite what you say Amazon isn't by any stretch the cheapest, but it offers so much choice and fantastic delivery. I buy everything on Amazon these days as it's so easy and reliable. I am all for the local high street and local shops flourishing, but they have to get their act together and start to stock what people want. They have to start opening when people want. They have to be accessible by car. Yes I am a lazy git, but if I can search a vast array of products easily on Amazon and with one click (literally "buy it now") and it arrives the next morning, then that is what I will do. That is the way it's going to be sadly, unless the high street sorts itself out.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

This is true, I have sometimes had to bite ny tongue and remind myself that it's not my business when I hear bad advice given.
On the other hand I overheard a customer trying to buy some mastic. He went into long boring detail about what he was using it for. Salesman recomends one and customer very slowly reads all the label. He thinks it might be too strong, the salesman offers an alternative but that is acrylic, he now wants butyl. A butyl is offered, but that might not be strong enough and might not match the mahogany. And so on. After ages the customer decides he needs more research and leaves.
The salesman should get a reward for patience.

Every sailor should be made to work in a chandlery for 4 weeks. I would guess that most would last about 4 days. Most chandleries have closed in the last 30 years. It's very difficult to make a profit and obtain knowledgeable staff for not much more than the basic wage. Most chandleries assume that buyers do their homework before knocking on the door. It's so easy now . My local chandlery used to employ a clothing person and an electronics person . Both have gone now because most customers used them for information then bought online for the cheapest price where overheads are low.

 

[westernman]

I cant agree with that.
I do agree that lack of caution (which shouldn't be necessary) creates an unwittingly agreement with prime, but anyone that complains will be refunded, a friend was debited monthly for 2 years before he noticed, he phoned Amazon and was refunded immediately with no quibbles.

I have canceled prime several times with no quibble - despite having benefited from free next day delivery each time.

 

[ChromeDome]

One notable difference between fleaBay and Amazon e-shops is the ability to select on goods location.

It takes a bit Sherlock to get to the facts on Amazon, obviously posing the risk that you happen to by from overseas and incur customs, duties and fees. Plus the hazzle.

Mind you, Amazon Marketplace is good at making money. Actually the world champion. Money that can come from one source only: Buyers.

It is good practice, when you see something on selling portals that you want, to check if the seller is also offering the goods from their own shop/site. A lot of sellers actually add the portal fee to goods ordered there only, so a saving and the direct trade (not feeding middle-men) can be had.