Amazon Shopping - An Expensive Expert Shopping Tips on Amazon Marketplace

Expert Tips for Save Shopping on Amazon

At times, many new novice shoppers, even the loyalists of Amazon would have negative user experience on the purchase made… Due to insufficient findings which could eventually led to the buying from unknown sellers from Amazon, misleading sales, and then the specious information.

But to get things done the right way, you need to be provided with a helpful-inevitable info like the one I will be offering you in this page… so that you’ll be able to have an awesome shopping understanding and protecting your Dollars. 

  

                        An Expert Shopping Tips on Amazon Marketplace

Huh. Amid a few keystrokes you can find almost anything on Amazon ... and buy it with as little as a single click. It’s a wonderbox of capitalism. Twenty minutes ago I typed in “yak” for no good reason and Amazon’s algorithms suggested “yak cheese himalayan dog chews.” So I hit Enter and up popped a page filled with 60 different dogchews that I have since learned are an all-natural, satisfying, long-lasting treat for pups. Amazon had six more pages, or 420 more Himalayan dog chews, to sift through, from hundreds of companies I’ve never heard of, sold by hundreds of different sellers.

I don’t need a bag of dog bones made of yak cheese right now, but if I did, I would feel overwhelmed. Which brands are high qualities? Which listings are legitimate? What’s a good price to pay?

Nowadays, almost anyone can sell items on Amazon in five easy steps. The site hosts millions of sellers, making it more like eBay than Walmart. But Amazon does not vet everything on its virtual shelves thoroughly, if at all, and that means you have to be careful about what you’re buying. The site has known problems with fake reviews and counterfeit items, and a growing number of Chinese sellers have flooded the site with strange new off-brand products in the past few years. Amazon has a fairly good return policy

 on its own items, but third-party sellers don’t have to abide by those standards, and many don’t. Below are a few tips to help you better pay attention to what you’re purchasing at The Everything Store, in an effort to choose items that are more likely to arrive as advertised and less likely to cause big headaches when you try to return them.

Buy Directly from Bezos

  

             AMAZON

Whenever possible, you should buy items directly from Amazon.com. Amazon keeps a far better eye on its own inventory than it does on its third-party sellers. Items it sells directly are more likely to arrive as advertised and qualify for free two-day Prime shipping. Because Amazon manages everything, returns are often painless, as well. I’ve gotten refunds for defective items without even having to return them at all.

If you’re already checking out a product on Amazon, like this espresso machine, always make sure the seller info says "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com." This information is typically in one of two places. Either it’s under the red price (and green "In Stock") or it's under the yellow Add to Cart and orange Buy Now buttons on the right rail. If you're on the Amazon app, it's also under those buttons.

How to Only See Items Sold By Amazon.com:

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If you’re browsing through Amazon listings, filter the site’s search results to only show items sold by Amazon.com. It will likely improve the quality of the items you see, cutting out a lot of less-relevant, lower-quality search results. And again, the items are better vetted, so you’ll probably get what you expect and have an easier time returning it, if need be. I'll use the new Motorola Moto G7 as an example of a product you might search for. It's one of my favorite new affordable phones.

Step 1: Search for a particular item in Amazon’s search box with category set to “All.” In this case, I searched for "Moto G7."

Step 2: At the top of the left rail, click on a Department that fits. Cell Phones & Accessories should be broad enough to include the Moto G7 phone, so that’s what I chose.

Step 3: Once the page refreshes, scroll to the bottom of the left rail and choose "Amazon.com" as your Seller.

Step 4: Now you will only see "Moto G7" products sold directly by Amazon.com.

Preferably, if you still don't see the"Amazon.com" as a seller, try hitting the "See More" button. It will bring up a dense but readable alphabetical page of sellers. If Amazon is one of those sellers, it will show up in the list. If your eyes start ADHDing on you, use CTRL+F (Command+F on Mac) to search for the word "Amazon.com." Sometimes you'll see "Amazon Warehouse," but that only sells used and refurbished items.

Avoid Fake Discounts

When people see that a product they like is on sale, a little wave of excitement washes over them. Instead of thinking about how much we’re spending, we start to think about how much we’re saving, or winning. Coupons and discounts exist because they create a sense of urgency that causes many people to buy things they normally wouldn’t. Some sellers abuse that pricing power. There are a lot of products on Amazon that are endlessly on "sale" and that makes it hard to know if you’re getting an actual bargain.

The page for these Monster Yak Dog Chews says that they’re on sale for $17 and normally cost $25. But that’s not true, and there’s an easy way to check. Just copy the URL and paste it into CamelCamelCamel. You'll get a page with a graph on it showing every price fluctuation in the past year. For this product, there were none. It’s been $17 for a year now. A lot of products have deceptive sale prices like this, to varying degrees. Knowing what the actual going rate is for a product puts you in charge.

Alternatively, the Keepa extension for Chrome will add a similar (uglier) box right into Amazon.com pages for you, though it does try and get you to register for free.

CAMELCAMELCAMEL

Tools like Keepa and CamelCamelCamel may also help you determine the best time to buy a big ticket item. Amazon’s Fire TV Cube, for instance, consistently bumps from its normal $120 price down to $80, like it is now. And for Black Friday, it dipped even lower. The tools can help you spot similar trends in other products, like televisions, which tend to get a lot cheaper when Christmas draws near.

Don’t Trust Every Review

Amazon's 5-star review system is supposed to make choosing products simpler, but it's easily gamed. If you’re looking at an expensive product from a company you’ve never heard of, or if there are hundreds or thousands of very positive reviews, do a little sleuthing. Many sellers try to manipulate reviews to get their products listed more prominently on Amazon.

ReviewMeta is an excellent tool to help you spot deceptive reviews. Just plug in an Amazon URL and it'll give you a report. It won't tell you how good a product is, and it isn't a flawless tool, but it will give you a hint at whether a lot of reviews are fake or suspicious. There's also a Chrome extension for ReviewMeta that shows its modified score in your URL bar. Fakespot is a similar tool, but its analysis isn't as comprehensive.

For example, this Hayke juicer looks fantastic at first glance, but ReviewMeta adjusted its score from 4.1 stars to 2.8. The tool noted that Amazon has had to delete reviews, and some reviews have entire phrases that are repeated, which is a strong sign that they aren’t authentic. There are also a lot of positive reviews that are “one-hit wonders,” meaning the poster only wrote a single, enthralled review about this one product.

Or just read the reviews yourself. Click on the link to reviews under the product name on a page and you'll end up on a reviews page like this one. To start, browse through the Customer Questions. You can use the search box above them to scan questions and reviews for key words that may indicate issues with a product, like "break,” “bad,” “defective,” “customer service,” or "return."

You also want to be alert for reviews that sound like other reviews, ones that repeat key marketing phrases, or any that seem overly happy and wordy. In the case of this juicer, many five-star reviews rave about how it’s “slow” at juicing and how it’s specifically great for carrots, lemons, ginger, etc. These are both features that the marketing description spells out. If you search for the word “reliably,” you can actually see two reviews that are identical, even though they're supposedly written by different people.

I don’t give much credence to one- or five-star reviews. They're sometimes filled with too much elation or anger to be useful. You can often learn more by reading two-, three-, and four-star reviews. These reviewers tend to have a more balanced perspective and may elaborate on the good and bad aspects of a product without as much BS (or rage). Verified buyers are also more trustworthy than non-verified, but they could still be receiving compensation for purchasing and reviewing a product. (It happens.)

Examine the Basic Stuff, Too

Only a small percent of third-party sellers would ever try to scam you or sell you fraudulent goods, but it’s good to be extra vigilant when you’re buying from a seller other than Amazon.com. Amazon doesn’t do a great job policing third-party sellers and doesn’t require they follow the same return policies.

Here are a few tips to help you know if a product listing or seller is trustworthy.

• Check the manufacturer and product: Make sure there's nothing fishy about the company name, product name, description, or images. Do they look like real high-resolution, clear photos taken of a real product? Do they look professional? If not, that’s an immediate red flag. Have you heard of the manufacturer before? It doesn’t hurt to click on the manufacturer’s name in Amazon (it should be a link) to see what else they’re selling, and you can make sure they have a real website and are sold in US stores by Googling the manufacturer’s name or plugging the product name into a tool like Google Shopping.

• Click the seller's name: Read the seller's page to make sure there are thousands of positive reviews (which at least tells you it's been in business for a while), and check its refunds policy to make sure it matches Amazon's. AnkerDirect is an example of a professional third-party seller. Anker makes its own products and has more than a million reviews. You can also Google it and see that it has a valid website and is a real business with a Wikipedia page. The seller of that Hayke Slow Juicer I mentioned above is Heyue and it only has 26 reviews, 25 percent of which are negative. Personally, I would not risk buying from this seller.

• Is the product “Fulfilled by Amazon?” Even if you're buying from a third-party seller, make sure it still says "Fulfilled by Amazon." This means that the manufacturer warehouses its items at Amazon's distribution centers. Amazon Fulfillment won’t prevent all issues, but it does help ensure smoother delivery and that Amazon will be your contact for customer service issues. You can see who fulfills the order right next to the "Sold by [Company]" text on a product page, under the Buy Now button or selling price. If a third-party seller is fulfilling the order itself, shipping and returns are more of an unknown. You might get slapped with additional shipping charges or delayed shipping because the third-party seller is managing shipping on its own. Returns may also be more difficult. Check the seller's return policy (it’s in the Returns & Refunds tab of the seller page), which could be different from Amazon's.

• Check the full list of sellers: Amazon Algorithmically suggests a seller for every product. For example, this Pixel 3 listing shows Breed as the seller. The steps above will help you determine if Breed is trustworthy, but there are usually other options. To view a list of other sellers offering a product, click the Used & New (#) link in the "Other Sellers on Amazon" box under the Buy Now, Wish List, and social media sharing buttons on the right rail (or under them on mobile). This page will let you buy or filter out used and refurbished versions, or eliminate sellers that don’t offer Prime shipping or free shipping. It also lets you see how many reviews each seller has, when they could deliver by, and extra any taxes they charge. Since all Pixel 3 sellers are third-party, Breed would likely be my choice, as well, though after adding taxes its price wasn’t a lot lower than others in the list. If Amazon.com were selling this product, it would be listed along with the other sellers

• Ensure you’re looking at the product you intend: At this point, if anything looks fishy or unprofessional, hit Back on your browser and look through your search results again (and don’t forget to filter for Amazon.com as your seller if that’s an option). Amazon search results are a mess of text and images, many of which look remarkably similar. Read the titles of the products thoroughly and check to make sure you clicked on the right product. If you’re looking for a smartphone like the Pixel 3, for example, the “Amazon’s Choice” entry is not a phone, it’s a case. Sellers will also often list different colors, refurbished (sometimes called Renewed), international, or other variations of a phone as a separate product. This kind of thing happens in all sorts of categories on Amazon. It’s often just the result of the messy way Amazon lets sellers make products in its database, but third-party sellers may find a way to make a duplicate-like product that’s different in some small way to get better visibility for its listing.

A Few Final Tips

Before I wrap this up, I have a few other quick tips to help you avoid outright scams. You should never be asked to leave Amazon.com to complete a purchase. That indicates that something is majorly wrong. Amazon also won't ever ask for your social security number or anything incredibly sensitive like that, so alarm bells should start ringing in your brain if that ever happens.

Watch out for fake emails, as well. Since Amazon is the most popular retailer online, a lot of phishing attack emails try to pretend they are Amazon. A good rule of thumb is to not click links in an email unless you know Amazon sent it. (Example: If you're like me and are just too committed to a C-rate story to stop buying seasons of The Walking Dead, you know that Amazon will send you an email about it after a new episode premieres.) You can find Amazon's messages to you in its notification center. If an email is legitimate or important, it should be here. Be sure to report any suspicious emails to Amazon.

For help with returns or other issues, check Amazon's support site. Your recent orders should show up on this page if you want to initiate a return.

20 Amazon Tips to Save You Time and Money

Amazon has become synonymous with online shopping. The company, which started out in 1994 as a web-based bookseller, expanded over the years to sell just about every type of product you can imagine. That breadth of coverage means Amazon.com isn’t always the easiest site to navigate. However, the savviest shoppers can jump to the front of the line for discounts and deals. Here are the tricks you can employ to save time and money, and get the most out of Amazon.

1. Take Amazon's apps into the real world

The Amazon Shopping app (free for Android and iOS) lets you compare the price of any product you encounter in the real world to its Amazon counterpart. Install the app, and then scan an item's bar code to look up its price on Amazon and see if you'd save money by ordering it online. Scanning barcodes works best, but often, you can get a match from a normal photograph of the item.

2. Follow brands and interests

Take a cue from your Twitter and Facebook accounts—follow activities and brands that interest you on Amazon. By clicking the Follow button on pages showing items from major brands, you can get speedy updates when those brands offer new stuff. Go to thissite to manage your follows and this one to see follow recommendations.

3. Dig for fresh deals

As well as the deals splashed across the front page (and just about everywhere else on Amazon), you can find discounts in two specific locations: Check out Amazon’s Warehouse for returned items still in great condition, and its Outlet for new items discounted by 30 percent or more. It pays to check these two pages regularly for relevant deals.

4. Register for instant price alerts

Want to buy a product—but only after its price drops below a certain threshold? Many add-ons and extensions can track Amazon prices for you. As mentioned above, CamelCamelCamel is one of the best we've found. It will track prices over time, send alerts when specific items drop in price, and more. Once you register, you can use the free service online or access it through a plug-in for your browser if you prefer.

5. Get SMS delivery updates

Amazon does a very good job of letting you know your pending delivery’s shifting location at every stage of the shipping process. But if you’re on the move or lack an internet connection, then it can be a pain to log into the site for updates. As an alternative, you can sign up to receive SMS alerts. Simply visit the Shipment Updates via Text page and follow the instructions.

6. Secure your orders

If you don’t trust your neighbors (or indeed your housemates), then consider having your items delivered to an Amazon Locker rather than to your door. Urban areas contain plenty of these secure cages, so you can choose a locker at the most convenient location. They also allow you to pick up your items at your leisure rather than waiting in the house for deliveries.

7. Apply coupons

The days of clipping paper coupons from mailers are gone. Instead, Amazon has a dedicated Coupons page where you can find all kinds of discounts and special offers on daily essentials from toilet paper to fruit bars. You can easily “clip” any of the coupons right from the page using the buttons underneath. When you’re ready to check out, Amazon will automatically apply these discounts.

8. Find hidden savings

On top of Amazon's own coupons, you can find a wealth of additional discount codes online—if you know where to look. I've spotted some very appealing deals in the Amazon sections of Offers.com, RetailMeNot, Dealio, and SlickDeals. So, click through and start saving money.

9. Settle for slow deliveries

Part of the reason people sign up for Prime is to get their deliveries faster. But, for those items you don’t need in a hurry, check to see if Amazon is offering digital credit (which you can use to purchase a movie or music) for a more relaxed delivery option. These deals, which Amazon calls the No-Rush Shipping Program, come and go over time.

10. Order with a Dash Wand

Treat yourself to a Dash Wand ($20 on Amazon, although your purchase comes with $20 in credit, making the wand essentially free) to order items faster and more easily than ever. With the Wand, you don't have to visit the Amazon website or app to buy stuff—you can just scan a barcode or simply tell Alexa what you want to add to your shopping basket.

The Dash Wand is an easy way to add items to your online shopping basket.

11. Rent textbooks

If you're a student, you're in luck. Load up a textbook on the Amazon site and you'll often see a Rent option near the usual Buy used and Buy new choices. This lets you pay a reduced fee to borrow a book until the end of the semester. At that point, you can return the textbook to Amazon using free shipping.

12. Find the deals of the day

The Today’s Deals link is on the top bar of the Amazon site, but it’s easy to scroll right by. Click it to see the items with the biggest discounts on the site. To really stay ahead of the pack, sign up for the Daily Deals email which sends the best bargains to you rather than the other way around.

13. Pad out your wishlist

Your Amazon wishlist is a great way to keep track of stuff you want—or to inspire people who want to buy something for you. And the official Amazon browser plug-ins for Chrome and Firefox let you add items to your wishlist from any website—you don't have to go to the effort of finding the item on Amazon itself.

14. Find your friends' wishlists

Asking your friends or relatives for their wishlists, kind of ruins the surprise of buying them their desired gifts. Instead, you can use Amazon to search for someone’s wishlist based on his or her full name or email address. To do this… head to this page and type in the name or email address of the person you’re looking for to see if there’s a match.

15. Subscribe and save

The Subscribe & Save program lets you sign up for scheduled deliveries of the stuff you order most often like toothpaste and Scotch tape. As the name suggests, you can tell Amazon the quantity you want and how often you’ll need a fresh shipment, and in exchange, you can often save money on the recurring order.

16. Unlimited photo storage

If you’ve signed up for Amazon Prime, you also get PrimePhotos, a digital picture locker with an unlimited amount of storage space for your snaps. You can upload pictures from your phone or computer using Amazon’s official apps. In addition to photo storage, look up the other Prime benefits that you’re entitled to and make sure you’re taking full advantage of your membership.

17. Track your spending

You can generate reports on what you’ve ordered in the past, based on a particular time period—just head to the Order History Reports page on Amazon. This can save money by giving you a much better idea of how much money you’ve been spending—and what you’ve been spending that money on—so you can budget for future purchases accordingly.

18. Review free stuff

The Amazon Vine program sends you free gear in exchange for reviews on the site. However, this service is only available by express invitation. To earn an invite, you must first “consistently write helpful reviews and develop a reputation for expertise” on the pages of Amazon. So write as many helpful and erudite reviews as you can, and hopefully, you’ll earn a spot in the club.

19. Expand your household

You can fit up to two adults and up to four kids onto the same Amazon Prime account via Amazon Household—as long as everyone lives at the same address. That means you will all share the same fast shipping, access to Prime Video, and various other perks for the same $99/year subscription.

20. Donate to charity

Finally, you can do something good with your money without sacrificing any work, or any of your own earnings. If you start your shopping quest at the Amazon Smile portal, Amazon will donate 0.5 percent of the total purchase price to your choice of its listed charities. If you’re the forgetful sort, this Chrome extension makes sure you always start on Amazon Smile.

Takeaways

Seven Ways to Save Money Every Time You Shop at Amazon

Amazon Prime Day may be over, but that hardly means the savings have to stop for shoppers. [Amazon Prime Day is an annual deal event exclusively for Prime members, delivering two days of special savings on tons of items. You can read more about it here]

Huh. Due to the compelling combination of selection, service, convenience, and price, the site’s loyalists keep coming back year-round, not for one day worth of deals. And yet shopping at Amazon strictly out of habit—which is what Amazon Prime members tend to do because of free two-day shipping included with the service—can be a bad move because prices are sometimes cheaper elsewhere.

“The most common mistake shoppers make is assuming that Amazon is the lowest price available,” says Benjamin Glaser, features editor at dealnews.com. “You might stop checking other sites because it is so convenient to just shop on Amazon, but this is a mistake. Always shop around.”

Here are some smart tips for saving money at Amazon, whether on Prime Day or any day:

Try before you buy. The recently introduced Prime Wardrobe service allows shoppers order multiple articles of clothing and return whatever they don’t want within seven days to Amazon. Customers—who must be Prime members—get free shipping in both directions and only pay for what they keep.

Pay for Prime for only part of the year. Prime subscriptions were originally offered on an annual basis, now running $99. But the advent of Prime by the month (for $10.99) raised the prospect of becoming a member only for key periods—like the winter holiday shopping season—when free two-day shipping really comes in handy. Just remember to cancel the membership after you’re done shopping.

Pay even less for Prime. In June, Amazon began discounting Prime to $5.99 per month for low-income people who receive government assistance. College students get deals on Prime too, including a six-month free trial, plus a 50% membership discount for the next three and a half years.

Shop with a Prime Rewards credit card – You’ll get an Amazon gift card worth up to $70 if approved for a PrimeRewards Visa card. After that, the card gives 5% back for Amazon purchases, and the points accrued can be redeemed for Amazon purchases, gift cards, travel, or cash back. Note that the card is only for Prime members. Also, be sure to always pay off your bill in full—if you don’t, then the rewards won’t offset the interest you’ll pay each month.

Use coupons, discounts, and price guarantees – Check out Amazon’s changing roster of online coupons for discounts on everything from salsa to shampoo. The promotions tend to be particularly good (think: 30% off staple items like toothpaste or protein bars) for “Subscribe & Save” items that you agree to buy on a regular basis. Also, while Amazon doesn’t officially match the prices of competitors, it does have a low-price guarantee on TVs: If you buy a TV from Amazon and find a cheaper price for the same model within 30 days from a competing retailer, Amazon refunds the difference.

Accept slow shipping – Prime members get free two-day shipping on most purchases at the site. But if you’re OK with slower shipping, Amazon sometimes offers credits good for future purchases as a tradeoff. It’s a great deal if you’re not in a rush.

Skip the Prime altogether – Lastly, Amazon recently made it easier for non-Prime members to get free shipping. The minimum purchase for free standard shipping via Amazon was once as high as $49, but now it’s just $25. That means you can go without Prime—saving yourself the $99 per year—and still get free shipping. It’s just that you may have to batch some orders together to hit the $25 minimum, and delivery will arrive in about a week instead of two days. As an added bonus, while Prime members are prone to shop at Amazon indiscriminately because they get free two-day shipping, non-Prime customers are likely to shop around and find better deals from other retailers.