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I love to save money, and I also love convenience. Who doesn`t? Amazon.com is the easiest place I can think of to ever buy anything. Especially if you`ve set up "one-click" to purchase without even thinking about it -- bam. Amazon knows that. Amazon used to be about low prices. Now, though, it`s about convenience. So others are starting to play in Amazon's game, but using price as the way to compete.
My complaints of Amazon summed up:
- Bad customer service
- Prime orders do not arrive on time
- 1-day shipping never arrives on time
- Amazon`s review policy
My problem with Amazon is how bad their customer service has gotten over the years; in particular this year. More than half of the time I get extremely rude and unhelpful employees when all I want is a credit to an order they messed up or credit for my prime order which did not arrive on time. Some take forever to respond to you through the chat and others have horrible attitudes while others will simply disconnect from you when they don`t want to talk to you. As an Amazon Prime member, I expect my orders to arrive by the promised delivery date. While I do understand things do happen from time to time, the fact that this is happening ALL the time lately is certainly not acceptable; especially if I am paying $99 per year for this service. If it were a free service I honestly would have no right to complain.
An example of their shipping that really got to me was an item I specifically paid 1-day shipping for. The item did not ship until the day before it was promised to arrive. When it did ship out it was sent via FedEx where I went to check the tracking to see where it was even coming from to ensure it`d be here on time. Well AMAZON shipped it out via FedEx Standard Home Delivery - knowing I PAID for a 1-day service. For those not familiar, that shipping option means 2-7 business days before your item will arrive. In the end it took a week to get the order for the IN STOCK item which I paid for 1-day. All that trouble I could have went elsewhere or bought it locally. I`ve had this issue a few times during different periods of the year. Enough is enough.
And finally, the last reason that was the "icing on the cake" so to speak for me, was when Amazon cut me off from reviewing on their site. I was a top reviewer, in the top 300, with around 5,000 reviews I had done over the years. I mean I was reviewing my own purchases before it became a trend. While I do understand this is Amazon`s business and they can remove whoever, I do feel they owe me a full explanation as I had requested. I followed their guidelines, disclosed and was honest with my reviews. Out of no where Amazon completely removed ALL of my reviews for "manipulation" and no further explanation. When I asked for an example and details of what I did for this so-called manipulation of reviews that they are claiming, they refused to give a response. I even sent an email to their CEO, Jeff Bezos, and got the same generic response. My issue is, if I am honestly in the wrong, why can I not know what I specifically did and why is there no discussion of it? If I ever questioned anything I always reached out to Amazon and made any necessary changes. Now my hard work is gone; even for my own personal purchases which I clearly paid money for - not a $0 amount. I feel if I am unable to leave reviews when I did not "scam" or do anything dishonest, or at the very least get an explanation, Amazon does not value me and they do not need my business.
My point is, I have quite a few reasons behind leaving Amazon behind. It wasn`t just one or the other, but everything combined. With that being said, I started seeking out alternative places to shop so I could move away from Amazon. Here`s what I`ve found:
Walmart offers tons of deals in multiple categories and you can get FREE shipping on orders of $50 or more.
Established in 2005, DX is one of China's original direct business to consumer e-commerce retailers and continues to be a leading retailer today with over 1 million customers and 400 suppliers. DX has one of the largest and most diverse catalogs in the industry with over 4000 categories, 200,000 items, and 150 daily additions. They offer worldwide FREE shipping!
Buy.com joined the Rakuten family in 2010, making the joint businesses combined into one of the world`s largest online retail marketplaces. They offer consumers more than 90 million products from 38,500 merchants around the globe. If you see an item out there for less than what you paid on their site, contact them and they will be glad to see if they can match their price. Even if it is for a penny!
AliExpress is a growing retailer that delivers millions of different products worldwide with high-quality support, buyer protection, and great deals on delivery rates. With the huge range of products, it`s easy to spend hours hunting for bargains and sales. Thankfully, the low prices will stop you from going broke as you stock up on everything from electronics to clothes, hair products, and items for around the home.
With more than 10.5 million products and an award-winning website, Newegg proudly earns the loyalty of tech-enthusiasts and mainstream e-shoppers alike. They offer all sorts of computer stuff and electronics at low/affordable prices.
DHGate is another one of the big online shopping sites like Amazon that has been expanding rapidly in recent years to offer a vast number of products from a number of categories. DHGate`s combination of large selection and numerous bargains (often backed with a price guarantee) makes it a definite win for shoppers. DHGate also offers competitive shipping on a number of products and a reward system and combines this with deal-of-the-day specials. DHGate is a great website for getting quality products at good prices thanks to their focus on protecting the buyer.
Light in the Box is another online shopping website; it focuses on selling popular brands at bargain prices. Light in the Box offers a wide selection of brand name products in clothing, sunglasses, watches, bags, shoes, jewelry, kitchen, furniture, and much more. Just by visiting the home page, you can see the latest deals and sales or browse the new product arrivals. Light in the Box allows you to still buy the brands you love without having to empty your bank account. If you use Amazon to buy brand-name items, then Light In The Box is your best alternative.
Tidebuy is another low priced online retailer selling multiple product types from clothing to electronics. Literally, they have something for everyone at a low affordable price.
