I've quit amazon prime, but the last four times an item did not arrive on time Amazon has - refunded me the purchase price of the items and still shipped me the items (got them for free); promised 2 day shipping then after purchase emailed it would be 4 days (I called and they overnight shipped the product), and when the last item missed the mark, they refunded the shipping, my prime membership and paid to come pick up the product for return. I finally got fed up, no matter how much money they lost on me. When they say a product will arrive on Monday, March 7th by 8pm and it's not here -- game over. Period. Amazon is a unique case - I hold them to an impossibly high standard because that's the bed they've made for themselves.

Which is why I am impatient now when I order elsewhere and they can't get it to me in 4-5 days? Amazon has me expecting products ASAP - especially car parts when one needs replacing quickly. :-)

 

I agree with the OP. I always check amazon for prime offerings before eBay, then eBay to make sure I'm not paying too much. In the last couple of years it does seem to me that the prime shipping is as fast as ever--I've gotten a few updated Delivery dates from UPS, but not many--but that items are not actually shipped the day they are ordered as often as Rey used to be, making the Amazon automated "order in the next X hours and your item will arrive on Y" a lie.

The best thing about amazon is finding an item at a local store that matches amazon prices.

 

Again, speaking as a "Top Rated Seller" on eBay who had shipped about 15,000 items over the last 10 years, I can offer these reasons why it may take four or five days for you to get an item.

Let's say the item is large and has to be shipped by either UPS or FedEx, instead of USPS Priority Mail. In that case, your beef may not be with the seller, rather the carrier. I know that four or five day shipping times are common for a seller like me who is located in New England. Remote areas or anything located from the Rocky Mountains to the west coast take four to five working days for delivery. Add the 24 hours that eBay allows "Top Rated Sellers" and you have a week or more before the part is in your hands. Even if the seller got the part out the same day it was orders, if it was mid week, you still won't see it until the following week.

Now the response may be that the item should have been shipped by 2nd Day Air. Four to five day shipping is simply unacceptable. To that I respond that most people really don't have a clue how expensive shipping really is. Regularly, I have customers ask, 'can you get it to me any faster?' To which I quote UPS or FedEx next day or 2nd day air costs that cause the customer's jaw to drop. The cost of the upgrade is dramatic and who is to absorb that extra cost?

In this day of Amazon Prime FREE Two Day shipping people have come to believe that shipping costs are a thing of the past. Free shipping is like a free lunch. There is no such thing. Someone pays and it's typically the seller. It has made it so much harder for sellers to maintain a reasonable price for their merchandise, especially when they are put in the situation where "free shipping" is an important feature for remaining competitive.

Another reason why it may take a day longer than expected to get an item comes down to the fact that Priority Mail is no longer two day delivery to a much larger segment of America. As I mentioned in my last post, I have the suspicion that the reason for this is the monopolization of the carrier by Amazon. They carry so much volume, especially for what's called "the last mile" of delivery where they are the ones that actually put the package in your mailbox, not UPS or FedEx, that they have had to direct their attention away from smaller customers such as myself. I may send out 40-50 packages through USPS a week but that's not enough to get special treatment or special pricing (and I shouldn't expect that it is). Nevertheless, what I have seen is a diminishing of the Priority Service so my customers get annoyed that packages that used to take two days to receive, are now taking three.

As I mentioned before, add in the 24 hours eBay allows "Top Rated Sellers" to process the orders and you have a four day wait for your package. Let's say you ordered a part late on a Wednesday (after USPS has already made its daily pickup) and you live in an area that once got USPS 2 day delivery. At one time you could have expected the part, shipped on Thursday, to be delivered Saturday. Now, because the USPS no longer gets Priority Mail to your location in two days, you won't see that box until Monday. As a seller, what should I have done?

I guess the bottom line is that delivery of goods is a system with a number of moving parts and costs, many of which are out of the control of the seller. I don't get to negotiate with the carriers the way Amazon does and I don't have the size to say to UPS or USPS that if you don't give me the prices I want I will build my own delivery system.

It's a shame really because Amazon has helped to foster a combative sense between buyer and seller and this entire thread displays that. What's really sad is it has also enabled that combative sense to grow between buyers and small sellers. A level of unrealistic expectation prevails and it is simply making it harder and harder for small sellers to survive.

 

"The best thing about amazon is finding an item at a local store that matches amazon prices."

Something that, unless you live near a large population center, is getting harder and harder to do everyday.

 

I remember watching, recently, people in shock as their local Walmart closing. I watched one video where people would no longer have a local source for food. Well, they did it to themselves. The local grocer who had been in business for generations was forced to close shortly after the Walmart opened. Now, with Walmart gone, there's nothing left. We make our own bed.

 

Paul, I totally get why it may take 4-5 days for a carrier to deliver. I also understand paying shipping fees.

I know it will take 3-4 days for a package to arrive to Texas from New York or California via truck/train.

But- Knowing an order was placed at 8am Monday morning, the shipping information received Tuesday afternoon, the package picked up Wednesday and FINALLY in the mail Thursday....THAT is my beef. So, in addition to 4 days transit, add 3 days my package was still on the shelf.

Amazon has made me think, if I place an order Monday before noon, company xyz better run, grab my product, label it same day and it better be out their door and on a truck enroute to me the next day. It may take 3-4 days to drive it to me, but not take more than 1 day to get it in the mail.

 

I've been ordering parts for vehicles for years, and I've had great results with Ebay, and other online retailers like AB, Rovers North, and Lucky8 (via Ebay).

However honestly the worse transaction I have ever done was from Lucky8. I placed my order, never got a single confirmation email, an ETA, or a tracking #. When my order did finally show up I didn't even get the correct TF009 (with shackles), instead I got the TF009A (without the shackles). I immediately contacted Erik, and never got a single reply back. I then sent an email to their main sales department and also never got any feedback. I sadly had to just fill out a Paypal dispute.... Something I rarely do, but I'm sorry it was strike 1,2,3, and your out for me.

I've had great results with Lucky8 via Ebay in the past, but this transaction was just pathetic.