laidbacklarkin

its also a state of mind of people that load up for reselling - that are already looking at making a profit even before the order is fulfilled. I knew people that would place an ad on Craigslist when they see an offer that they have barely placed an order for. And when that profit realization goes for a toss with an unfulfilled order, they whine about the merchant. I don't own Amazon stock nor do I work for them - as a person that buys just about everything from household stuff to entertainment to electronics to dog food on Amazon, I am yet to experience something that leaves me with a heartburn. These days, I have stopped price comparing much - the convenience of online ordering and the quickness of Prime shipping saves me time at the aisles of a Costco, gas price for getting there and paying state sales tax (althoguh this is coming to an end in CA)

Artman

Ordered...I've waited long enough.

Burgundy LaRue

I understand priority and e-commerce fine. But thanks for the primer.

All I'm saying is that the person may have valid reasons for not liking Amazon. We may not understand those reasons, but doesn't mean they aren't there.

Manzana

laidbacklarkin, thanks for the info about Prime. I realized they got priority in shipping but I didn't realize that Amazon ever accepted more orders than they have inventory which is why I don't understand why they run OOS for anyone. They should simply cut off orders when they run out and then nobody gets disappointed. Perhaps there's an issue with people who delay at the final submit order button and there can be duplicates. I don't know if they lock a copy for you for a certain amount of time.

I have no problem with Prime people getting priority shipping, but Amazon should still have reserved the copies of the non-Prime people who ordered successfully. What seems to happen is that when Amazon decides something is a price mistake (which seems to be more often than suits my tastes) they punish mostly the non Prime people with cancellations because of this priority shipping (and probably to try to make them buy Prime which I simply won't do on principle). Now I might buy Prime someday if they really expanded their free Prime streaming library, but right now it's too limited for me.

I do have a lot of orders canceled by Amazon... probably because I have this magical ability to find deals that happen to be price mistakes (and I don't know that at the time). If I knew they were price mistakes when ordering, then I'd not spend as much time (as I did with the CD orders) so if they got canceled I wouldn't be so unhappy. Then of course it's annoying to hear the stories of some people getting huge promo credits for their inconvenience and others getting none.

I've said many times that I still buy from Amazon, but lots of people treat them like they are angels and make no mistakes. I'm just saying that they mess up quite a lot in my opinion, and they are not the shining example of online retailing near perfection others have made them out to be. No, to me, they are just a small step up from BB. I still buy from both, but I hate never knowing if I'll actually get what I order from them. I'm still probably successful on 3/4ths of my orders, but it should be much closer to 100%. At times it almost seems like they are watching my orders and say "uhoh, Manzana just ordered X... should we decide to deem it a price mistake and cancel his order? Let me roll the dice and see..."

Shagrath

Wah wah wah.

Sometimes you get a deal and you should be happy, other times you don't and it sucks. Doesn't mean every company out there is the devil.

Burgundy LaRue

Have hope. Maybe things will roll your way soon. I don't have Prime, and just received my confirmation e-mail:

We thought you'd like to know that we shipped your items, and that this completes your order. Your order is being shipped and cannot be changed by you or by our customer service department.

Your estimated delivery date is:
Thursday, June 14, 2012

Your Shipment Details

Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com LLC):

Life / Planet Earth: Special Edition (Both Narrated by David Attenborough) [Blu-ray]
$29.99

laidbacklarkin

Lets just put this in perspective all basing on what you say:

Point# 1: So you aim to take advantage of price mistakes knowingly ? What does that speak of your ethics as a customer ? A business transaction, in an ideal sense, is based on fairness on part of both merchant and customer. I am not trying to wax eloquent here but just think of it it yourself and do some role playing - what if YOU were the merchant ? Would you expect to fulfill an order where you know you will be making a loss on an item ? And then you go to the extent of saying as if you have a Plan B for your intentionally ordering on a price mistake. And that is an expectation to be compensated for by a Gift certificate should the order be canceled. And your justification for both these mistakes is that if someone else can benefit from it, so should you - I laud your sense of entitlement on this. So when both of these don't happen, you blame the merchant for it ? Try running a business of Amazon's scale and you'll know what it takes beyond just whining. I sincerely hope you have not muddied Amazon's ratings by posting negative feedback based on such ordering and transactions. And for your own benefit, please do not admit on a public forum to such unethical practices.

Point# 2: Amazon's a small step away from Bestbuy ? Really ? Here's an example of my recent experience with Amazon.com. I placed an order for Deadwood complete series on Bluray when priced at $73.49. The order shipped the day before Bestbuy priced theirs at $64.99. Since just about any rare issue I've had with Amazon involved no more than an email, I sent them an email asking if they would pricematch Bestbuy's price. They said 'No'. The reason they gave was 'with widely fluctuating retail prices all the time, it would be difficult to do that'. So I left it there - you win some, you lose some. The next day I received an email saying that they were giving me a $10 credit on a future order because they could not pricematch BB's price and that they intended to stay the most competitive pricing. All in a day. Do you expect this service at BB ? Heck you go to that store and none of those blu shirts even pay attention to you. And this is AFTER battling traffic, spending your money on gas driving to a store front to talk to a person face to face. And here you are with Amazon, as impersonal as it can get with email, yet matter resolved amicably to create a level of goodwill that will make you shop with them again. And again.

The above is one of several such good experiences I've had with Amazon since being their customer from 2001. Once someone shipped me a bootleg of 'Blue Planet' and I complained to Amazon - they gave me the option of a complete refund or credit. And guess what !! I didn't take either because its not their fault that someone on their marketplace misrepresents an item and involves in shady practices. I did post negative feedback on the seller warning other prospective customers - but why should I take advantage of Amazon refunding me on it ? And I am not alone with my experiences. I don't scout around for price mistakes to take advantage of. Simply because I can wear that shoe that Amazon's wearing and know what it means if I were to be the merchant and someone was taking advantage of me.

Its not an argument I am attempting to win. Its to let you know that you win some, you lose some - take it in your stride and move on as there's always a next one. And try to be fair in your practices and intent - the world will be a better place for all of us if we are ethical. By laws of probability, you may win today taking advantage of a price mistake but you'll realize its impact when something more valuable is taken from you. Life has a way of teaching you such lessons.

For the rest of this forum's users, am sorry for digressing from the deals themselves but this was something I couldn't digest simply from the perspective of fairness.

clckworang

^ Manzana's comment said he made orders not knowing they were price mistakes. But your points are well taken. I have never heard anyone make buying movies sound more difficult than Manzana, and no offense intended to him.

laidbacklarkin

Sorry, my posts are not meant to offend anyone either. We are all here to share the good deals - all I am saying is it would be great if we could share good practices too. The value of this forum will be multiplied a 1000 fold if the two can be tied all the time.

Jay G.

You do know that if the seller is at fault, Amazon will get that money back from the seller, right? They can debit that seller's account.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...odeId=13832201

Kedrix

Agreed, Half.com works the same way. I sell on Half.com and have had a situation where the buyer claimed the item was never received (which was BS but it was a $3 item so I didn't bother disputing it). It came out of my "pay" for that pay period. Amazon works the same way, it's not their money, they are taking it out of the seller's account.

CapRockBrewingCo.

You're simply stating the obvious. I like Manzana and read all of his long-winded posts, but he has the uncanny knack of finding something negative or a drawback to a deal that doesn't allow him to justify purchasing it, when said deal usually saves the rest of us a lot of money. I am waiting for the glorious day when a deal is posted and he thanks the OP and is happy about his purchase. Some of my favorites in the past that I remember reading!

1) My Fry's is just too far away - 11 miles. How many of us on DVD Talk would love a Fry's to be just within an hour? I have a Fry's about 30 miles from me and it's a little hassle, but I'd rather it be there than not at all. I feel fortunate to have access to one.

2) My Ultimate Electronics discontinued DVDs and Blu-rays. Everyone else's seem to have them. The thing about this statement is I remember him repeating this in several threads over and over. The closest UE to me was 10 hours away in Lubbock (it closed) but the average person wouldn't bother with repeatedly posting such information in every UE bargains thread just to point out how unfair it is.

3) X item at Amazon is for $26 but if it were $23 it would be at my buying threshold. Coupled with... X item at Amazon is $23 and I can't find a filler item to justify paying more just to get free shipping.

4) My favorite....Had I known that X item would be $6 now at Y store I would've never purchased it for $8 at Z store two months ago.

I'm sure there are hundreds more (including his Best Buy's propensity to deny all PMs and coupons, his Target never carrying the items he wants, etc.) but I have better things to do this summer.

I personally am thankful for this forum & thread and super thankful for Lizard, because both have saved me hundreds and hundreds of dollars over the years!

Cardsfan111

I don't know what you're talking about. This forum has cost me hundreds and hundreds of dollars each year.

illennium

I do wonder how someone can find so many annoyances in what is supposed to be a fun hobby. If you're not having fun 99% of the time with a hobby, you're doing it wrong.

b2net

Yeah... Me also.... Gotta mention that I did get a lot for what I've spent.

b2net

Now back to the deals....

Amazon 6/7/12 DOTD - Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection $26.49

Burgundy LaRue

If this is how you show that you like someone, then Heaven help the poor sap you don't like.

davidh777

Internet orders are virtual while inventory is physical. I could sit here and order 1000 copies of something in a second, and their system would need to analyze their on-hand stock in response. You'll see the messaging like "4 left in stock" or "Usually ships in 2-3 days" so their system does monitor inventory, but if they can get more copies from their supplier, there's no need to shut off ordering. Now they do restrict number of discounts in Gold Box and Lightning Deals, but that's something that's been specifically created to allow x number of customers to get the deal. They don't have the same capability to track everything in their catalog through a lot of volatile price changes.

Manzana

I said I didn't know that these Amazon BBC Blu-Ray set deals that I ordered that got canceled were price mistakes. If I had known, then I wouldn't have ranted about it. When I spent hours placing large CD orders earlier this year, it was because I didn't know they were mistakes. Otherwise I would've never put in about 4 hours researching and ordering just to have them canceled. If you are asking: would I order something knowing it's a price mistake... the answer is yes, and so would a majority of people (on SD at least). The difference is if I go in knowing it's a mistake, then if it gets canceled I have no excuse for complaining and I generally (believe it or not) keep my mouth shut. I complain when I thought it was a legitimate sale and it turned out to be a price mistake like this one, especially when my order goes into Shipping Soon and then gets canceled (since Amazon reps have incorrectly told me it can't be canceled at that point). I've never posted negative feedback on any of the retailers. I suppose the reason I post is in the same way that people (like you) get upset and feel the need to defend Amazon if I complain about them, I feel the need to point out not everyone thinks they are as great as many people say. I Sure, Amazon is better than most others, but hardly what I'd call a great experience every time. I've had problems with them (apparently more than many) in several canceled orders. Their reps often give me wrong info, and so far I've never pursued any complaints against them, though I've mentioned the misinfo to other reps when trying to sort things out. I'm annoyed that the reps in India often don't understand English well, and I seem to know some of their policies better than they do. Amazon still does well the majority of the time, but I have a few instances where they were absolutely awful (the large canceled CD orders being the worst).

So, I definitely rant and complain a lot, but I never said Amazon was that bad, but they aren't that great either. Can I rate them a 7 out of 10, BB a 6 out of 10, and Walmart a 5 out of 10? Target would get the best score... 8 out of 10. I try to be fair in my criticism. I stand by my statements that I think it's uncool that they cancel people's orders based on inventory issues when I think any good inventory system should be smart enough not to take more orders than they have items. I think Amazon makes a lot of price mistakes. I don't think I've done anything unethical with or to them. The closest I come to unethical is I will order stuff from any company even if I know it's a price mistake, but as I said if I know it's a mistake in advance (sometimes it's obvious but these Amazon ones were not to me) I don't raise a fuss about it nor ask for credits.
Yes, I stand by that statement. BB B&M stores have been awful to me in accepting coupons over the years, but they are getting better. As a whole (especially with last year's BF/CM deals and these ongoing specials like The Three Stooges set for $45) I think I get some good deals from BB. I have spent a lot more with BB over the last 1-2 years than Amazon because BB had better deals. It's not even close. When BB canceled a couple orders last BF, they automatically sent me $10 digital coupons for each without asking. Amazon has never sent me any coupons for mistakes they made unless I asked, and that's very YMMV.

Your impression of me as a rabble rouser whenever I walk inside a store is very wrong. Only 3 people know me at my local BB store where I've had the most deal "denials", and all 3 of them LIKE me. Maybe the manager with whom I've had a few coupon discussions over the years remembers me and doesn't like me, but I already know the moment he appears any deal with a coupon is dead. Thankfully he's in the back most of the time. BB even gave me free Silver status 2 years in a row though I don't meet their threshold because they say I'm one of their best customers. (That should make you laugh.) I guess only DVD Talkers know how evil I am. I'm treated like any other customer at BB which is YMMV... sometimes I walk out happy, other times disappointed (usually due to them being OOS of what I want or coupon denials). I neither like nor hate BB, just as I don't really like or hate Amazon or Walmart. They are just places with occasional deals but with which I can find many faults to complain about. The only store I actively like right now is Target, and I can find fault with them... mainly such low inventory and selection, such as having so few copies of Disney BDs on Tuesday requiring me to go shortly after they open rather than when it would be more convenient. They only had 4 or 6 copies of some of the Studio Ghibli BDs when they were released!

I'm sorry to everyone for digressing too. When I post my little rants, at first they are partially on topic about that deal or store, and I don't expect that most people are going to respond in detail. Usually it's "there goes Manzana again". I probably wouldn't have said anything here except laidbacklarkin said I was purposefully going out of my to try to rip off places knowing they are price mistakes and complaining when they are canceled. That's not true.

We obviously have had different experiences with Amazon and BB. I apologize to people reading that sometimes I get carried away and disrupt the threads. A little ranting helps me feel better, but too much ranting annoys people. I have trouble knowing where to draw the line. Yes, we all appreciate Lizard's good work. On rare occasion I actually order some stuff from Amazon (though the last 2 items (Camp Nowhere and Licence to Kill BDs) I had planned to order once I had $25 worth of other stuff got jacked back up in price as Amazon so often does, so I didn't order them after all).

Manzana

Thanks for the post. It made me laugh. Too bad I can't give you big gold stars or reps for that post! You've obviously been studying me too closely. It's been a while since I posted those things which you reminded me about. Yes, I tend to find something negative in many situations. Definitely a glass half empty kind of guy. My negative personality seems to come out in financial related stuff (and deals are financial related), but socially I'm OK.. actually pretty boring and quiet unless I know someone well. Be glad you never heard my rants about losses in the stock market or political rants. I have a worry that this country will have a total economic collapse with riots and murder by roving gangs searching for food and supplies if the govt. keeps spending us into oblivion. When the govt. defaults and/or the currency collapses to worthlessness and everyone who has savings (a minority of people) lose everything they had in the banks and the FDIC is broke, commerce will nearly cease, stores will not be stocked, and people (with lower morals) will rob and kill each other for food. Most people can't imagine I can believe this, but a few other well known people hold the same view. I'm not saying when it's going to happen as the can has been kicked down the road for a long time, and it could be reversed, but you can't spend trillions more than you have every year and expect the system to last. Anyway, this should make my Amazon/BB rants look tame. I'm just a cynical guy. What can I say? cwwallace, since you know me so well, what is my world record longest post?

CapRockBrewingCo.

^ LOL. I have no idea what your record post is, but keep posting because I honestly always look forward to reading!

ProfessorEcho

I was VERY disappointed in the obviously underhanded deal Amazon cut for themselves with imposing California tax. I too had near unconditional affection and admiration for Amazon, but this incident showed them to be just as corrupt as any other corporation. Okay, that's capitalism and the way it works, I have to choose not to patronize them or at least modify my patronage. Not so easy when you are nearing monopoly status. They do a lot right, there's no doubt about it, but this was wrong and a disservice to their customers. So my cynicism and disappointment is reinforced and I move on, sadder but wiser as the song goes.

CapRockBrewingCo.

I am upset that they are starting to charge sales tax here in Texas, but they have guaranteed jobs for Texans which makes the deal a little easier to swallow.

Does anyone know if you pre-order something before July 1st (the effective date on Texas sales taxes) do they charge sales tax if the item ships after 7/1?

ProfessorEcho

Here in CA they are creating approx. 1,000 jobs and for that they are being allowed to pocket 75-85% of all the tax revenue they generate. What's wrong with this picture?

lizard

Thanks for attempting to put the thread back on track.

Mr. Wrong $5.99
Before and After $5.99
Duets $5.99

The Wicker Man (2006) (Rated and Unrated) $6.68

Serenity $7.52

U-571 [Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy] $7.54
Doomsday $7.54
Smokin' Aces 2: Assassins' Ball $7.54

Big $7.99
The Illusionist $7.99
Dirty Dancing (20th Anniversary Edition) $7.99
Miami Vice (Unrated Director's Edition) $7.99
The Thing $7.99
Point Break $7.99
Brooklyn's Finest $7.99
Mr & Mrs Smith $7.99
Awakenings $7.99
Orphan $7.99
The Marine 2 $7.99
Sling Blade $7.99
The English Patient $7.99
Robocop $7.99
Red Planet $7.99

The Jackal (Combo Blu-ray and Standard DVD) $8.21

Rocky (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) (1976) $8.29

Roving Mars $8.45

Thomas & Friends: Misty Island Rescue (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) $9.03

Henry's Crime $9.16

Let Me In $9.29

The Brothers Grimm $9.50

Blue Crush 2 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) $9.58

Shall We Dance? $9.69

Flags of Our Fathers $9.93

Spider-Man (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) (Pre-order) $11.99
Spider-Man 2 (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) (Pre-order) $11.99

Buster Keaton Short Films Collection: 1920-1923 (Three-Disc Ultimate Edition) $27.96