Check camel camel.
U can probably order that for temu or aliexpress. Skip bezos pockets, comes from the same source and is not gonna be price gauged
Comment on Amazon Artificially Discounting Items $0.01 Below the Free Shipping Limit
rumba@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
That set is normally 39.95 off iFixit’s site.
They knocked off $3.38 i’d just go add a pack of duracels 2032’s and get them for almost nothing, free shipping.
TBF, I usually have something sitting in my cart that I didn’t feel like ordering yet anyway.
humble_pete_digger@lemm.ee 3 days ago
underisk@lemmy.ml 4 days ago
So they’re getting you to buy more than you wanted or pull the trigger on something you were waiting on. Sounds like this is still a win for Amazon.
rumba@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Saved me $4, I’m fine with it.
We need another amazon to beat the existing amazon up, retail sales are just bloated and dead.
OR, how about we start getting mom and pop shops to do local ecommerse with delivery.
DicJacobus@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I dont think you understand how “Amazon” exists as we know it.
Amazon, the store. the store that sells stuff at “unbeatable” prices and has convenient fast shipping options. exists because Amazon, the corporation, makes most of its money through platforms that are NOT the store.
for example the AWS division, which handles web hosting, Makes money hand over fist compared to the store. so they can afford to sell stuff at either a loss, or breaking even. (and they’re still somehow making money off the ordeal. dont ask me where)
ricecake@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
I’m not sure that’s entirely true.
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Most of their money comes from retail, either the site, subscriptions, or the seller services they provide. AWS, while massive, isn’t what’s keeping them afloat.
You’re entirely correct though that competition with Amazon is difficult because of those additional sources of revenue. Having additional stable sources of income gives them the ability to accept lower margins in retail with less risk.
The way they make money selling things with no profit or at a loss is to ensure that someone else is always paying the difference. “Free shipping” with a paid subscription means that rather than providing shipping for a loss, they just need to do it for less than the subscription. Turns out “guy with a van” can deliver a lot of packages for quite cheap. So many that he’ll be out delivering from 3am to 9pm, and for $5 they’ll drop your package off first and call it overnight.
In some cases they can get the seller to pay for shipping as a promotional incentive, since Amazons conditioned people to look for free shipping as a precondition to considering a product.
Only give away for free what you got someone else to pay for.
dan@upvote.au 3 days ago
They were also famously unprofitable for a very long time, longer than most businesses would consider reasonable. They were founded in 1994 and it took until 2001 to make a profit.
rumba@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Walmart and Target already do it. Just get rid of the public facing store part and send it to me as cheap as retail.
There are companies in china already doing this.
underisk@lemmy.ml 4 days ago
How have you ‘saved’ money that you spent, exactly?
rumba@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
I need a $40 screwdriver and 12v battery
They reduce the price of the screwdriver kit $4 to make it not free shipping on it’s own
I buy them both for $40.
I would have to buy them anyway, I spent $40 instead of $45 and still got “free shipping”
WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
It’s still cheaper than it would have been without Amazon’s discount
dingus@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Supposed you were going to buy batteries elsewhere anyway. So you saved money by doing it in one go there.