Everything You Want and More, All at Amazon.com
Written: Dec 31 '01
| On-Time Delivery: |
 |
|
| Selection: |
|
|
|
| Full Review |
The only time I ever ordered from Amazon.com was when I received a $50 gift certificate for my participation at www.AskMe.com. Since I live in Canada, buying from Amazon isn’t really feasible; by the time the exchange rate and shipping charges are factored in, it would actually cost me more to buy from Amazon. That’s why when I order books online, I order from www.Chapters.ca.
Even still, I made that $50 gift certificate from Amazon last me for two separate orders. The first order I made, I received quickly and had to pay an $8 charge at the post office when it came time to pick it up (I have no idea what it was for), but $8 for a couple of hardcover books wasn’t that big of a deal, so I didn’t think much of it. The second order came through quickly as well, and this time there was no charge when I went to pick it up. Maybe the first package was too heavy? If anybody knows why, let me know!
www.Amazon.com, the website
When you are first taken to Amazon, you are presented with a page listing many different products. Chances are you’re not interested in all of them, so you will want to narrow it down a bit.
The website is very easy to navigate. If you know what product you are looking for, you can do a search in the search box in the upper left hand corner. It also helps to narrow down the search if you use the drop down menu to change the search category from “All Products” to the specific area you want to look in (e.g. “Computers”).
If you aren’t quite sure what you are looking for, you can browse the website. At the top of the page, there are several tabs listing different areas of the web site: “Welcome” (the home page), “Your Store”, “Books”, “Electronics”, “Toys and Games”, “Tools and Hardware”, “Kitchen and Housewares”, and “Cars”. There is also a more complete list on the left hand side that lists more categories to choose from.
Once you select a category, you are taken to that area of the website. One little thing I like about the different categories are the different color schemes in each category. Not that big of a deal, but it sure keeps things from getting too boring.
One thing I really like about Amazon is when you are browsing books (I haven’t seen this in any other area), you can see lists that were made by other Amazon members, stating their favorite books. This is a really great way to find new books to read. Find someone with similar interests as you, and see what else they recommend. Chances are if you liked the other books they recommended, you will also like the ones they have listed that you have not read.
There is also a little paragraph under each product description that lists products similar to those you are looking at. This is a list of products that the people who bought the current product also bought.
You can also write reviews of products on Amazon! It is very similar to the way it is done here (though reviews tend to be much shorter on Amazon) – you rate the item one to five stars and then write about what you liked or didn’t like about it. People who read the reviews can then vote on whether the review was helpful or not. I think it would be a great idea for Amazon and Epinions to make some kind of business partnership. There could be a link on Amazon under the product that says “Read more reviews on this product at Epinions.com”. Epinions already has a link leading to Amazon – why not have one at Amazon leading back to Epinions?
Ordering
If you have never set up an account with Amazon before, you will have to do so before placing an order. You will also need to register a credit card with them, so have your credit card nearby if you are ordering. If you are not placing an order, you don’t need a credit card to sign up.
Once you have an account set up, you are ready to order. If you have not already done so, you will need to find the item(s) you are ordering. Once you have chosen all the items you want to order, you will need to checkout. It’s all quite easy, and all of the instructions are there for you to follow.
Once you have ordered something, there will be recommendations on the welcome page the next time you sign in. This is based on what you ordered; it is compared to other people who ordered the product you did, and other items they bought as well. If the recommendations are off, you can click on “Improve your recommendations” to tell Amazon more about your interests so that they can tailor recommendations for you.
The Bottom Line
Amazon has a wide selection of products to buy, and they are all presented in an easy to navigate site that is user-friendly. Finding items and placing orders is all very easy, and the shipment is fast and is delivered on time. Overall, my experience with Amazon was a good one, and if I lived in the US rather than Canada, I would do the bulk of my online ordering at Amazon.
Thanks for reading!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
About the Author
Member: Mandy
Reviews written: 90
Trusted by: 78 members
About Me: Doubt everything. Find your own light.
-- Buddha
|
