Yeah, it's back to buying blind. I don't even see the option you mentioned for See all answered questions, I can only ask a specific question by email. The reviews are useless because they combine all versions of a product. The Q&A was where I could see the answer to a question I didn't even know I needed to ask.

I need a microwave so I guess I'll have to buy and return a few until I get one I like.

Well... at least you don't have to wade through those "answers" of "I don't know - I haven't purchased this." type replies which are more worthless than the vast majority of "reviews."

I don't get how Amazon will accept your order if you don't have a balance or funds on your credit card and they give you the shipping date estimate.

Most retailers will not let you process a order if that happens.

hmmm, I don’t quite understand this statement.

1. Amazon shouldn’t have access to someone’s 3rd party credit card balance. And credit cards don’t have funds. They have limits, but still Amazon wouldn’t know that amount for your credit card.

2. The shipping/delivery date is an estimate, assuming no pending payment gets rejected on the buyers end. If the pending charge fails, then of course the buyer should expect a shipping delay and likely order cancellation. The buyer is responsible for maintaining an active and valid credit card if using one.

Amazon doesn't charge your card until the item ships. I have one or two pending pre-orders for November and there wasn't even a temporary charge that hit my card.

In the event Amazon ships the item and payment is declined they can always withhold delivery.

This exactly. Amazon doesn't charge until the item enters the shipping phase. If the payment method is declined they send an email to let you know and you have a good 12 hours to get it fixed before they'll hit the card again and then cancel the order. I really appreciate that as I've had orders with other vendors flat out cancelled if the first charge doesn't go through - no option/time to fix any issues. I used to use "one time use" virtual cards that would be OK when an order was placed but if it took too long to get out the door that "hold" charge would fall off and the vendor would hit it again causing it to fail. I lost lots of deals before I figured out what was going on and changed to "multi use with a single vendor" type virtual cards.

I just placed an order for a CD and it said that if I placed the order within the next 42 minutes it would be delivered today. Sure, not going to fall for that Bezos. I expect it to be here on Monday.

I guess depends on your location because I get same day delivery a lot. Order in the morning and get it delivered late afternoon/early evening.

I got the "sorry, your order is late and if it isn't delivered in two days you can come back here for a refund" email around 8PM last night.

Not a complaint. Just, like, whatever. But one wonders what happened to these 9V batteries in that 6 minutes...

Something similar happened to me a few years ago. I ordered a few BDs and it said the package was out for delivery. But later I got an apology email saying the package was damaged and the BDs had to be returned and you will be refunded.

The same thing that happened to a 6 pack of CR3023 batteries I ordered.

For product pages with different versions listed, scroll to the bottom of the reviews on the item's main page and click on "See more reviews" then on that page look immediately under the "top positive review" and "top critical review" and you'll see some drop-down selection boxes. Click on the one that says "All formats" and you should see the option for just the version that you were looking at on the main page. Choose that and the page will only show you reviews for that version of the product. Kind of a hassle, but it usually works and is very helpful when the main page has versions that are quite different from each other--sometimes even totally different products.

Yeah, the Q&A is often very useful. I wish they hadn't made it harder to find, but at least it's still accessible for now.

Actually, it looks like they have eliminated this work-around also. The only way I've found to access the full list of Q&A's now is to manually construct the URL. It's of this form:

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/NNNNNNNNNN

Replace NNNNNNN with the ASIN of the product.

Edit: It looks like this ^^^ is limited to displaying 50 results. And using the search box to display Q&A matches is limited to 20 results. So, as of now, it appears there is no way to show a complete list of all the Q&A's if there are more than 50 of them.

I kind of wonder if the delivery drivers aren't so under the gun that it's easier for them to say something was damaged than deliver something late and mess up their metrics.

Ordered something today, Tuesday, I need for Sunday. Default delivery was Thursday, I set to Friday to consolidate packages. Will arrive Sunday.

I've been on the "Amazon delivery is fine for me" train a long while. But that's two orders messed up in a few days, not impressed.

Why would you ever check the box to deliver later "in fewer boxes"? You're paying for Prime (I assume). Let them deliver in as many boxes as needed to get you things as quick as possible. Consolidation of boxes isn't our issue when we're paying for the service.

I don't worry about number of boxes as opposed to delivery day. Just pretend it's an early Christmas.

I use to think less deliveries means a smaller cabon footprint. And maybe that's still true. But there's a better chance I'd have less carbon footprint if I went to Target. But maybe a drive is a drive is a drive. Ugh. There is no way to win.

Eh, if it's something I don't need right away then I'm fine with the 'deliver later in fewer boxes' option. And especially if they offer digital music/video credits for choosing the later delivery.

I also have this complaint! It's happened multiple times: I'm out of town, maybe visiting my parents for a few days. I check Amazon and notice something on my wishlist has dropped in price, or someone posts a good bargain in the 'deals' thread here, so I purchase the item and choose the longest delivery option so that I can be back home when it arrives. Like, say, I make the purchase on a Friday and Amazon says it will be delivered on Tuesday, and I'll be getting home Monday, so, all good. Then Saturday afternoon I get a notification from Amazon that my package has been delivered. Now it's going to sit on my front porch for two days until I get home. Fortunately I haven't had any problems with porch pirates in my neighborhood, but it still gives me anxiety to have something out there for that long.

I struggle with that “combine deliveries” option too. I tend to wait for those free digital credits as an incentive to do so. They used to be almost automatic, but seem fairly rare now.

I think the main application of that feature is that some people may only want boxes delivered when they're home. So, if they're off from work on Tuesday, they can designate Tuesdays as their weekly "Amazon Day".

Edit: Sorry, I was talking about , not exactly the same thing you were talking about. For consolidating shipments for a single order, I dunno, maybe the customer wants to be more environmentally-conscious with regard to the number of packages/amount of packaging used? Maybe they only want to to worry about one package showing up at their door instead of 3 or whatever?

In that case, maybe try choosing an Amazon Locker or Whole Foods Pickup as your delivery option, and then you can pick it up safely when you get back to town.

What was this CD that you couldn't listen to on-line?

Every time I get the "consolidate orders" option it gives my "Amazon Day" as the delivery date. Even then, they don't always show up on "Amazon Day" but will come the day before up to 2-3 days after, frequently in multiple boxes in spite of me saying "Sure - 1 box is OK". And, yes, all the items could easily/safely ship in a single box. There seems to be no logic at all behind how they ship/package those deliveries.