You never know what agenda their are having when giving out search results. It's similar on Google and YouTube. There is much more going on than just matching the correct spelling.
And Amazon is notorious for changing things around for no obvious reasons. Even the prices of things. I guess they want to give the impression, that everything is in motion all the time, so that its always worth to return and look up things again, that you already looked at previously.
RE: Lost in the Amazon
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Lost in the Amazon
Maybe that is the reason Amazon does the strange things it does--just to keep curious people coming back. But it makes the rest of us crazy! It would help explain why someone's trying to sell a used copy of my book "Storm Chaser" for two hundred dollars.
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Yes, they try to avoid by any means that people start thinking that its always the same on Amazon. Although - it is, more or less. But that's the case in nearly all shops, really. In supermarkets they do it by putting palettes of something in the corridors with neon colored signs, giving the impressin this is the first and last time in history that this stuff is selling for that super low price. But in fact they always have it on sale for more or less the same price. And yet - it seems to work, again and again.
Well, those offerings on Amazon Marketplace, that ask such preposterous prices for things are really strange. I can't figure out what that would be good for. Another variant is, to ask a reasonable price, but then demand $100 for p&p. Do they really think someone will fall for that? Especially since Amazon guarantees that you can get your money back inside the first 30 days.
But the Amazon Marketplace is the modern version of the Wild West somehow. A lot of people get ripped of there - with more sophisticated methods - and face nasty suprises. I just watched a program on that. A lot of people for example buy stuff in China for very "cheap" prices. In particular, luxury brand items like Gucci sunglasses or Addidas sneakers or D&G handbags and such stuff. Which are all fake, of course. If the customs here find out, you can be happy if they only stuff you good into a bin - if you're unlucky you end up in court with a copyright infringement case, which can cost you thousands.
But something else that many people don't considere is, that VAT has to be paid for goods that were purchased outside the EU (in our case). Thats 19% in Germany - which makes many bargains end up not so cheap anymore. That happened to me once as well, with a watch from Japan.
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That's what I love about my wife: She double, triple, quadruple checks everything--she knows if it's really a bargain, she understands "every day low price", she gets all the little tricks. When it comes to shopping, you can't get anything past her no matter what's being sold. It's amazing. If there's something I need, I just tell her what and she finds the best quality at the lowest price.
If only I was like that! I'm one of those guys who walks in, finds what I want at the first place I go, and walks out again while the retailers rub their hands in glee.
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Well, that's great to have your personal "price scout". :)
It is, however, much easier today with the internet. Especially in a rural area like yours. To compare prices "on foot" is often a waste of time - you run around for hours and spend $5 on fuel, to finally save $2 on the goods.
I know people who do this still. They study all the flyers for special offers, and then spend half the saturday to go from one supermarket to the next. At the end they have saved 3 bucks with luck. Or they have spend money on a "bargain" good, which else they wouldn't have bought at all.
I have all my food related shopping delivered to my house, after ordering via the internet, since about a year now. It doesn't cost much more than going to the supermarket myself. And I don't like supermarkets, plus I don't have a car, so delivery is really convenient.
I think this system will still grow in the future. Many people don't know about it yet, but once they try it, they will think twice about wasting their time pushing shopping trolleys again. And also, its more environmental friendly and efficient, than thousands of people driving around in their cars. And it creates jobs, too.
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Oh, I didn't mean she physically went around comparing prices--she's all prepared before we every leave the house. After all, there's no point in burning two dollars of gas to save a dollar on groceries! We don't have grocery delivery available here just yet, but I'm sure it'll come around ... it's especially useful for people like us who don't really like to go out into crowds. It might be a good way to limit the spread of illnesses, too.
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Yes, it has a lot of advantages, for the relatively small price. I pay 50 Euro for 6 month delivery service, that goes monday to saturday from 9am to 10pm (you can pick a 2 hour window inside this time frame). Usually I order once a week, so its 2 Euro per delivery, give or take. Which is about $2 .20 - that is the best deal ever, as it saves me at least an hour of time, searching around in the supermarket, standing in a queue at the till among coughing and sneezing people, and then hauling the stuff home somehow.
But I can see why they hesitate to implement such a service in your area. Its of course much more economic to do this in a densely populated area. I mean, even here I wonder how they make this work. Even a poorly paid delivery driver here gets about 12 to 14 Euro per hour, plus the cost for the vehicle (a small truck with a refrigerated box body). So he would have to do at least 8 or 9 deliveries per hour just to break even - incuding the driving time and all. That seems hardly possible, unless there is a customer in every second house or so. And no - the goods are not more expensive than in an average supermarket.
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I wonder if they're using it as a loss leader--taking a loss on the delivery costs in return for getting more customers, and making up for it in bulk sales. Honestly, I don't know much about how that works.
They do have a pickup service at our local Wal-Mart, where you can place your order and they'll bring it out for you. Personally, I'd still rather walk around and look at the stuff, but you're right about standing in a queue.
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Its possible they use the delivery service to bind customers to the brand. In Germany, there are 2 major players in the supermarket business, that is REWE and EDEKA. And then there are the discounters ALDI and LIDL, but they serve a different customership, since they dont sell fresh stuff like meat or vegetables or dairy products.
In the supermarkets EDEKA is slightly in the lead - but in the delivery service they are way behind the curve. REWE instead has build up this service nicely and they seem to orientate on the Amazon principle: the customer always comes first. I was also a bit reluctant at first, as you say I also like to see first what I get. I was a bit worried they might put the stuff that soon runs out on the "best before date" in the deliveries or tricks like that. But thats not the case at all. And if something is not the way you expected, they refund you at once. The other day the driver forgot to book in the empty bottles I returned, so I didn't get my deposit back for them. So I called them a few days after, and they just refunded the 6 Euro no questions asked.
Perhaps they have spotted a way to conquer a complete new market before their nemesis EDEKA can take that over as well. And every customer who orders at REWE wont go shopping anywhere else anymore.
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