2016 Amazon free crap thread

[Howard_Casto]

Honestly most of the stuff I buy from them is from the Chinese vendors and they offer free shipping anyway.  Everything else is over-priced like you mentioned so I end up getting it on eBay, which also usually has free shipping. 

[dkersten]

I'm just spoiled by the speed of the delivery with free 2nd day air.  Of course, I live in Montana where standard shipping from almost anywhere is 3-10 business days.  It ruins shopping anywhere else though because now waiting 10 days to get something sucks.  I will sometimes just not buy something online if I can't get it in 2 business days.

Yes, Prime items are more expensive, but not nearly as expensive as two day shipping would cost.  For small items there is simply no comparison... either I can pay $20-40 for 2 day shipping on a $5 item or I can pay $6 with Prime. 

Don't get me wrong, I am not happy with a lot of what Amazon does, including the ever increasing cost of next day air (one of the reasons I signed up for Prime to start), and the "guarantee" for 2 day and next day items being stretched out until 8pm, which for a business that runs normal business hours, that makes the "guarantee" more of a "We hope you get it but if you don't, there is fine print that says we are not responsible." 

As much as I never wanted to get tied down to one company, the fact is I am pretty tied down to Amazon, not just because I have a lot of their devices or because I prefer to shop with them, but also because I use them to publish my books.  It is kind of a "no brainer" to take those last few steps and use things like Prime to help integrate so many parts of my lifestyle.  I am still holding off of using the Echo, but soon I might change my mind and use it to pull more things together on the home automation front. 

[pbj]

If Amazon doesn't make their guaranteed ship time, it's a free month of Prime.    It's not an automatic thing, but they'll give it to you if you squawk about it in chat.

Anyway, did first Ebay purchase in a couple of years on Saturday.  Sent payment.  Ebay then deletes the auction a day later and says, "don't make payment if you haven't, but if you have, don't worry!"  Sigh.  ---fudgesicle--- ebay.

[dkersten]

If Amazon doesn't make their guaranteed ship time, it's a free month of Prime.   

Which is why they extended the delivery time to late evening, well after most businesses are closed.. that way if it doesn't arrive they can just say "They tried to deliver it at 8 pm but the business was closed."  Funny thing is, the delivery people who service our area know we close at 5, so if they know they aren't going to make it they don't even try... so waiting around until 8pm doesn't work either, they just flag it as "business closed" and put it on the next day's truck. 

Oh, and like 4 times now they have changed the guaranteed delivery date after shipping, citing all sorts of reasons, which then nullifies the guarantee.

I imagine you wouldn't take that as an excuse though, and end up getting your free month, lol.

[pbj]

Original guaranteed delivery date is on your invoice.

[ChadTower]

I save more just on Xmas shopping shipping costs than Amazon Prime costs.  It's biggest advantage for us is probably time saving.  All of the local stores other than the huge box stores are gone.  It's really hard to find anything locally unless they carry it at Target/Walmart/Lowes and even then if they carry it it's not in stock.  Prime makes it a lot easier to actually find things and get them within a couple of days.  A lot of times if I order early enough in the day we get it overnight.  Not thinking about the shipping cost makes it a no brainer to do.

And we use the video service as our primary TV source at home.  It works really well, we got Fire Sticks at $20 each, and with a sideloaded Kodi those things will play anything local as well.  I use the music streaming at work too.  I consider Amazon Prime as good of a purchase as AAA.

[monkeybomb]

I do same day fairly regularly and I've only had one thing arrive the next day.  I have most things delivered to the house, but every now and then I use an amazon locker that is 5 minutes from my house.  I'm a big fan of "free" same day shipping.  The quotes are because some of the items are available for slightly less if you go with an alternate listing that has regular prime shipping. a.k.a. charging for the free shipping.

[pbj]

Waddled my way to Gauntlet Slayer Edition this week. 

Also took a nutrition course that consisted of, "hungry?  Have you considered salmon?" 

 

[pbj]

Latest trick - use gift cards to buy prime eligible items one at a time.  Select no rush shipping for $1 digital credit on each order.  Roll digital credits into PSN wallet cards.  Spend those funds during flash sales.  Right now, the digital credits don't expire until May so you can hold them for awhile in case Amazon sells digital games cheaper.


Unfortunately you can only buy the wallet cards in $10 increments but you can keep churning free stuff into more free or heavily subsidized stuff.  You also have to spend at least $1 to have an order eligible for the $1 credit.   

[dkersten]

Latest trick - use gift cards to buy prime eligible items one at a time.  Select no rush shipping for $1 digital credit on each order.  Roll digital credits into PSN wallet cards.  Spend those funds during flash sales.  Right now, the digital credits don't expire until May so you can hold them for awhile in case Amazon sells digital games cheaper.


Unfortunately you can only buy the wallet cards in $10 increments but you can keep churning free stuff into more free or heavily subsidized stuff.  You also have to spend at least $1 to have an order eligible for the $1 credit.   

lol, but the prime stuff costs $2-$10 more than the non-prime, so you are usually paying MORE this way.  Plus why have Prime if you want slow shipping?  For $100 for Prime, it takes a lot of slow shipped items to get your $100 back (if you don't count spending several hundred more in the process for inflated pricing). 

There is a line where frugality crosses into just being cheap.  This might be it...  or maybe you crossed that line a LONG time ago, lol!

[pbj]

1 - Don't try to school me on being cheap.
2 - The price is the same for the stuff I'm buying. 
3 - If you're paying $100 a year for Prime it's only because you're too stupid to mooch a .edu address off a community college. 

[Token]

3 - If you're paying $100 a year for Prime it's only because you're too stupid to mooch a .edu address off a community college.

It's getting harder to pull this off without using your (or someone else's) social security #.

You can also get someone on Fiverr to do the legwork for you for $5.

[Howard_Casto]

1 - Don't try to school me on being cheap.
2 - The price is the same for the stuff I'm buying. 
3 - If you're paying $100 a year for Prime it's only because you're too stupid to mooch a .edu address off a community college.

And this is why you are my cheap bastard hero.  The only person I know cheaper than me, and that's a compliment. 

[dkersten]

1 - Don't try to school me on being cheap.

I am far from cheap, so I would never even dream of trying to school you on being cheap.  Frugal, yes, cheap, no.  I will gladly pay what something is worth, but I will take the extra time to make sure I am getting the best price for my needs.  If I can save a pile of money with a coupon, then it is worth the effort, but I realized a long time ago that sweating the pennies would make me lose sight of the dollars.. To each their own.

2 - The price is the same for the stuff I'm buying.

I'm not disputing that you are buying stuff that isn't inflated for inclusion in Prime, just pointing out that it is becoming exceedingly rare.  Even when there isn't a vendor that sells it cheaper without Prime on Amazon, usually it means you can find it elsewhere for less and still have free shipping.  If you can do this for products you actually need AND make sure the stuff you are buying is not available anywhere else for cheaper, then kudos.

3 - If you're paying $100 a year for Prime it's only because you're too stupid to mooch a .edu address off a community college.

OR, I happen to also be doing business with them, so lying to save $100 when it can cost me tens of thousands is probably a really dumb idea.  I have five accounts with Amazon, all different sites, all the same login and username (kdp, amazon, ams, authorcentral, createspace).  Amazon knows when someone I am acquainted with posts a review of my books and removes it.  They know if the person is a facebook friend, if they are posting from my IP address, or if they have ever received any kind of order from me, gift or otherwise.  I am pretty sure they can figure out that I am using an .edu account just to pirate a free year of Prime.  The only question is when they will act on it and what they do when they act on it.

But hey, you figured out how to bilk the company of more money, so again, kudos.    I get entertainment reading about the creative ways you use loopholes...

The best loophole I ever saw was already closed up last July.. but dozens of legit authors took advantage, and hundreds of scammers milked hundreds of thousands of dollars from the other authors before it was closed up.  See, you could publish a "book" that was only a few pages of crap you scraped off the internet and put a title like "How to get cheap crap from Amazon" and place it in the Select program where anyone in Kindle Unlimited or Prime could borrow it for free.  By simply opening it, the "author" got $1.40.  Even without automating it, you could scrape together (from blogs and the such) several dozen "books" (or "scamphlets" as we called them) of unique non-copyright content in a matter of a few hours, and if each got 20 borrows in the month you could make hundreds of dollars per day.  Or if you chose to be legit, break up a full story into 50 sections, publish two "episodes" per week, and once you hooked a few dozen readers, you could make hundreds per month.  The better authors would do this and get a few thousand readers and make tens of thousands per month.  The program changed to pay based on pages actually read though, so now those scammers can't make money and the legit authors make about $200 per month on what they would make $10,000 per month on before.  This scam was available for nearly 3 years before it was closed up.  There were some unhappy authors when it changed, but since I never got on that gravy train, I am happy (my payout for a borrow went up from $1.40 to $4.75 once the scammers weren't milking the pool.)

[jennifer]

   Using the system against itself is not a crime, Your wall of troll doesn't address legitimate piracy issues/concerns, Nor does your views of self destructive behavior and conflict of interests.   It only serves as a platform in which creative resolution cannot stand.

[pbj]

Meh its a hobby and I derive entertainment from it.  Technology these days makes it easier than ever.

Other day I'm in the shower buzz cutting my nuts and I've got the iPad on the windowsill. One tab has a redhead pretending she still feels while getting plugged in the butt, the other tab is an Amazon chat because my price alert dinged that I needed an adjustment on a Christmas present.

Five minutes later, I've got $11 back and my swing bag and shaft are like a baby seal.

 

[Slippyblade]

Five minutes later, I've got $11 back and my swing bag and shaft are like a baby seal.

Oh god, the image...  it BURNS!!!

[pbj]

Sup?

[yotsuya]

Dave's Gotta Dave, of course, but when PBJ PBJ's, it's much more entertaining.

[Howard_Casto]

Meh its a hobby and I derive entertainment from it.  Technology these days makes it easier than ever.

Other day I'm in the shower buzz cutting my nuts and I've got the iPad on the windowsill. One tab has a redhead pretending she still feels while getting plugged in the butt, the other tab is an Amazon chat because my price alert dinged that I needed an adjustment on a Christmas present.

Five minutes later, I've got $11 back and my swing bag and shaft are like a baby seal.

 

Can I take back that whole hero thing now?  TMI dude.. TMI. 

[jennifer]

Meh its a hobby and I derive entertainment from it.  Technology these days makes it easier than ever.

Other day I'm in the shower buzz cutting my nuts and I've got the iPad on the windowsill. One tab has a redhead pretending she still feels while getting plugged in the butt, the other tab is an Amazon chat because my price alert dinged that I needed an adjustment on a Christmas present.

Five minutes later, I've got $11 back and my swing bag and shaft are like a baby seal.

 

  PICS OR IT DIDDNT HAPPEN! 

[pbj]

Meh, I miss 1993, too, but times change and this is part of the package now.

[yotsuya]

Meh, I miss 1993, too, but times change and this is part of the package now.

I couldn't bring myself to go full baldy. Manscape, sure, the pubes need trimming, but zap it all off? Ugh.

[thomas_surles]

this thread just got so relateable.

[dkersten]

   Using the system against itself is not a crime, Your wall of troll doesn't address legitimate piracy issues/concerns, Nor does your views of self destructive behavior and conflict of interests.   It only serves as a platform in which creative resolution cannot stand.

uh... what?

I don't think bilking the system is a crime.  Whether exploiting loopholes is ethical or not, well....  show me a member here who never downloaded a Rom and we can start pointing fingers.  There's something about casting stones or glass houses or... you know.

I get just as much amusement from PBJ finding ways to turn 98 cents into a dollar as anyone else.  I just thought it was ironic that just a few posts after a discussion about how Prime items are several dollars more than their non-Prime counterparts that still have free shipping, he is buying Prime items just to make $1.  Boy, I got put in my place though... Imagine how dumb I feel for not putting my book income at risk by pretending I am in college so I can save $100.

[Howard_Casto]

Meh, I miss 1993, too, but times change and this is part of the package now.

I find it fascinating that you thought I was weirded out by your man-scaping and not the fact that you brought your ipad in the shower to look at porn and browse amazon while you are doing it. 

Don't ever change man.

[jennifer]

   

   Using the system against itself is not a crime, Your wall of troll doesn't address legitimate piracy issues/concerns, Nor does your views of self destructive behavior and conflict of interests.   It only serves as a platform in which creative resolution cannot stand.

uh... what?

I don't think bilking the system is a crime.  Whether exploiting loopholes is ethical or not, well....  show me a member here who never downloaded a Rom and we can start pointing fingers.  There's something about casting stones or glass houses or... you know.

I get just as much amusement from PBJ finding ways to turn 98 cents into a dollar as anyone else.  I just thought it was ironic that just a few posts after a discussion about how Prime items are several dollars more than their non-Prime counterparts that still have free shipping, he is buying Prime items just to make $1.  Boy, I got put in my place though... Imagine how dumb I feel for not putting my book income at risk by pretending I am in college so I can save $100.

Consider this is your lucky day friend, Jennifer is in a really good mood and doesn't feel like talking social convention with you.

[pbj]

I understand that Dave is trying to help but his points are self evident.  Don't buy stuff you don't need and don't spend more than market in pursuit of digital credits. 

My butt will be wiped with greater satisfaction knowng that toilet paper subsidized Gauntlet.

 

[jennifer]

   **Jenn laughs**.... Dude you are horrible, 

[BadMouth]

Placed my first order on Saturday after letting prime expire.
Order didn't ship until Thursday (today).
Man this is a different experience. 

[pbj]

Preorder video games along with <$35 orders to get free shipping.  Cancel preorder after other item ships.

 

[Howard_Casto]

Preorder video games along with <$35 orders to get free shipping.  Cancel preorder after other item ships.

 

That's pretty brilliant.  Is this something you do regularly or is it something they only let you do once or twice?

[pbj]

I haven't done it since I got Prime, but I did it pretty regularly.  Amazon doesn't charge your credit card until the item ships, so you don't even get a hold for the game.  They do sit on the other items for about a week, though.

Another good site is Amazon Filler if you're trying to get to that $35....

[BadMouth]

Another site to mention is http://camelcamelcamel.com/


If buying something over 60 or 70 bucks, I look at the price history before buying.
It would be stupid to pay $80 for something that is listed at $60 80% of the time.

You can also set up price alerts for things you want, but aren't worried about buying right away.

[pbj]

Yes, I've mentioned that site before.  It's particularly helpful around Christmas time.  Anything purchased Nov 1 or later can be returned up to Jan 31.  For everything you buy, set up a price alert on three camels to notify you if the price drops by even a cent.  Every time it drops, get the price adjusted.  That's how I got Amazon to pay me for holding onto Shadow Warrior for two months later year.  It's how I got $11 back the other day while in the shower.

[vwalbridge]

Yet another reason to be a Prime member:

Amazon's Free Shipping Minimum Is Now $49

[BadMouth]

Yet another reason to be a Prime member:

Amazon's Free Shipping Minimum Is Now $49

Maybe a bit egocentric, but I hope this is a response to people dropping Prime because of the increase in price and diminishing shipping benefits.
I hope it backfires.  It's definitely not making me want to sign back up for prime.  It's making me want to escape from their ecosystem entirely.

I just ordered a $130 item last night.  Normally I'd just buy it through amazon, mostly because I'd get it fast with prime shipping.
Without prime though, shipping isn't any better than any other online retailer, so I shopped around. 
I ended up buying it from Wayfair because it was $7 cheaper.  I wasn't figuring it into my decision, but upon checkout they didn't charge me sales tax so that saved me another $8. 
Amazon always charges sales tax.

[Howard_Casto]

Agreed.  You don't reward a company with bad business practices by giving them more money.  This is the second time they have upped the minimum price in 5 years.  The first time it was understandable because gas prices were way up, but now that they are down and have been steadily low for quite some time, what is their excuse?

I've got gift cards for them that I need to get rid of, but after that I think I'm back to eBay and other retailers.

[pbj]

Ebay isn't much better these days.  Won an auction, paid for item.  Ebay later retroactively cancels the auction but doesn't notify me. 

I check on the status on the website, "if you haven't already paid, don't pay.  If you have, work it out with the seller."

Luckily the seller just refunded the money without too much fuss, but Ebay now requires that you "wait a week to work it out" and I was about 5 seconds away from summoning Captain Chargeback but I am at a loss for way they couldn't simply e-mail everyone that the auction was null and void and return the money.  Used to be you filed a complaint and then could immediately 'escalate' to get Ebay involved, which was still a ridiculous system but at least it didn't give the seller a chance to pull all of their money out of Paypal.

[Howard_Casto]

Maybe we are just buying different things.  I haven't had much issue with eBay sellers, but then again there are only specific things I buy from them.... usually it's a inexpensive widget I need for an electronics project that I now have to purchase online because all the local Radio Shacks went out of business. 

I'm still a big fan of brick and mortar for day-to-day stuff because I get to actually take a close look at what I'm buying.  If I don't like the price I can always go home and order the exact same thing online.

I used to use Amazon for holiday shopping... they sell darn near everything after all, but this xmas as well as last there were a lot of things I had to return because they were damaged when I got them.  This time some of the stuff was dented, but the shipping box they came in wasn't.... so they sent out defective goods.  This wasn't an Amazon seller either, this was stuff directly from Amazon.