Amazon shipping costs increase AGAIN

[Porcupine]

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/amaz ... 47482.html

I've barely bought anything from amazon since they increased the minimum purchase price to get free shipping from $25 to $35. Now it's increased to $50. I won't be buying much from them anymore. Aside from that, their regular prices have also been high for many years now. Most things they sell, I can get cheaper elsewhere.

[MentholMoose]

Well the minimum spend for free shipping is comparable to the minimum at other stores (e.g. Walmart which is also $50). But I think the idea may be to encourage people to sign up for Prime. I've been doing the student Prime for a few years now and find it worthwhile. YMMV of course. I'm not sure if I'd pay the normal price.

I've noticed Amazon pricing can vary significantly. Besides disparity between types of items, with some generally overpriced and others priced competitively, the price of individual items can jump around. One very helpful resource is camelcamelcamel.com, which shows the historical pricing for an item and lets you set up price alerts.

I have the Sallie Mae credit card which gives 5% cash back on Amazon which helps. Unfortunately I think this card is being discontinued (I don't think you can apply for it anymore). It also gives 5% CB on gas and groceries. I've been getting around $400/year since I've had it.

[Porcupine]

Yeah I've been using camelcamel since you introduced it to me maybe a year ago. Thanks, it's been great. I used it to make one order on amazon, but more often it prevents me from making an order and finding it cheaper elsewhere.

Last week my bedroom TV broke so I replaced it with this: http://camelcamelcamel.com/Samsung-UN40 ... ext=browse

Amazon was playing its usual price jumping game though, so I bought it on ebay instead of from amazon, for the same $600 it is currently going for on amazon. With better timing I could have paid $100 less, but I'm happy with the purchase since it already arrived with no dead pixels that I've noticed, which is all that matters in the end.

I have a Chase credit card which gives 5% back on Amazon but it only works in the last quarter of every year. It isn't a very good card in general, and they keep worsening the terms of agreement for it, almost to the point that I might close the card. Hmm looks like that Sallie Mae card was discontinued just half a year ago. I hope yours keeps working for a long time.

[Porcupine]

I may have spoke about the dead pixels too soon. After having the TV for a while I noticed that despite there indeed being no dead pixels, there are a lot of dust specks behind the screen that obscure one or more pixels. Some of the dirt is behind the front glass, others are actually behind the LCD panel itself but in front of the LED lights. I can tell by moving my head around with my face point-blank on the TV, that way I can see the dirt spots appear to shift according to the distance they are at, whether in front of or behind the actual LCD pixels.

Anyway, more crap from amazon: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/mo ... nd-policy/

camelcamel is more important than ever now.

[Porcupine]

Apparently Amazon just dropped the free shipping threshold back down to $35. My boycott worked!

There's also a $8.63 coupon today or something but it ends in a few hours. Gotta shop fast. Fine print says one use per customer so I guess I don't have to shop all night.

[Porcupine]

And now the general free shipping at amazon is back down to $25. Not that impressive though since amazon has started charging sales tax to all states. This is pretty much the minimum they need to do to stay competitive.

However you can avoid sales tax by buying from marketplace sellers, including those with free shipping by amazon, so that's good.