Amazon fees
 

first, let me say I love Amazon.com. I buy lots of stuff from there--thousands of dollars over the years. But -- it's pissing me off today. The issue is the handling fees.

Okay, you can elect "free super shipper savings" if the stuff comes from Amazon and you're buying enough. Great. But --- I notice that there are still handling fees. I just went to buy a bunch of stuff, and I noticed my shipping and handling was $50! Even when I pared it down to only stuff eligible for free shipping--there was still a fee.

Yet -- NOWHERE can I find an explanation or listing of those handling fees. WTF?

grrrrrrr . . .

ETA: I sent them an email asking for that info. Maybe they'll respond.

My Suggestion: Sign up for Amazon Prime.

I second Drax's suggestion. I forget how much it is a year, but it quickly pays for itself if you're even a moderately regular buyer. Also, it extends to everyone in your immediate family (which is actually the only reason I benefit: because my mother pays for it.)

I'm not eligible.

Why not? :confused: I didn't realize there were eligibility requirements.

Me neither.

It's like a credit card--I was turned down. They should still have their fees posted.

Maybe you buy too much? It would be a jerky thing to do, but if it's obvious that it would be a great deal for a buyer like you, then maybe they've decided they're not interested in giving it to you, whereas they will glady accept people who have a good chance of not actually buying enough to break even on the membership costs.

I don't buy that much. long time ago, when they first came up with it, I was "invited" to apply, but was rejected. I'm better now with money than I ever was, but for a long time I was crappy with it, and poor, and that's kind of dogged me. Maybe I'll try to reapply, but I don't fancy rejection much.

$79. That's $6.58 per month.

hmmm, well maybe I was thinking of something else--maybe the Amazon credit card? Because now that I look at it, Amazon Prime is a yearly membership thingy which you pay for.

So I signed up. We'll see what happens. Thanks guys!

Hope they let me know about the fees thing though.

:lol: A few minutes ago, I sent them an email on your behalf asking why your CC was turned down.

Anyway, the shipping and handling on "Prime" eligible items is free for two day delivery, and $3.99 for overnight.

Just wonderin'. You got 1-Click turned on?

yes, but a lot of times I don't use it.

I signed up for Prime, but the catch is that it doesn't cover the thousands of third party vendors that have their products on the site. Be very sure that the specific item you click on has the Prime logo displayed on it (i.e. it's directly from Amazon.com) before you buy!

yeah, that's the same with the free super shipping stuff. We'll see if I think it's worth it.

Make sure to get all your children added to your account if that option's still available. Like an early Christmas present for them!

you can actually call amazon for help, and select for them to call you right back, and they actually do!

It makes buying a lot quicker, and Amazon even recommends it if your on Prime.

they emailed me back, but the response didn't answer my question.

Sounds like eBay!

it says "household members" though, and my kids don't live with me.

Or Bellsouth's DSL support.

I would assume that the fee is for the handling part of shipping and handling. They still have to pack it all up in the warehouse.

Correct.

right, but they don't say that anywhere, or give info on how they calculate it.

It's calculated when you actually buy something. For example, 3 weeks ago, I bought 5 DVDs. The cost of each DVD + one day shipping @ $1.99 for each totaled $76.95. My shipping & handling total was $9.95. Total Cost: $86.90.

Now, if I had chosen two day shipping, which is free on Prime, my cost would've been $76.95 since my s&h charge would've been $0.00.

I've essentially been shopping with amazon.com since they started. I recently saw something on their site that shows my date of first purchase as either 1995 or 1996.

I haven't paid any shipping or handling fees (outside of amazon marketplace purchases, which come from third-party vendors) since they started the free shipping on orders over $x ... 25 or 30 bucks, which is not a difficult target to hit. I don't get why you're being charged handling on some items. because of my proximity to the amazon.com East Coast warehouses, I've yet to have anything take the "up to two weeks" for delivery. Most stuff I get within two days after I place my Super-Saver Shipping Orders.

Ah, I didn't realize that. It would appear you are more honest than my mother. :)

Honesty has little to do with it -- they look a the billing address on the credit card you use. ;)

Not very closely, apparently. I've been on my mom's Amazon Prime "household members" account for about three years now, through two different billing addresses (neither of which were ever hers.) *shrug* I dunno, maybe they started checking it later but didn't want to bother kicking existing people off.

"Household" does not necessarily mean one place of residence.

e.g. A housekeeper for the Queen might be considered a member of her household, but not necessarily live with the Queen.

I just stumbled across this site which links to several other pages including this one which gives Amazon's customer service number: 1-800-201-7575.

This link tells you the six steps to getting customer service from iTunes.

Huh? have you seen anything about iTunes in this thread. No one's talkin' 'bout that overbloated, overpriced piece of shit.

iTunes was free last time I checked. iPods and audio files from the iTunes Music Store cost money, but they aren't overpriced or "bloated."

Nitpicker. What'd you think I meant? Individual songs in the store are too much IMO. So are music videos, especially since the video quality is crap on most of 'em. The quality of their TV shows isn't much better. Can't speak for their movies...never bought any.

I prefer Amazon Unbox. Most of their purchasable movies & TV shows are the same price as movies & shows on iTunes, but most of AUs content is also available for rent. Also, any player that will play protected WMVs (like my Zoom Player) can be used, but the AU player is still required to download videos.

Now, if Apple replaced all their iTunes store content with lossless versions and without any price increases, then it might be worth something to me.