Why Buy from Amazon.com?

[germ_boi]

Contemplating whether to get books from there as it seems to be the in-thing and furthermore the purported convenience it offers. Finally, the falling US Dollar rates make it somewhat more attractive to buy Amazon products since it's will be cheaper. So here's my take and the process I went through, and my feelings thereafter. It is highly biased and full of personal feelings so do take what I say with a pinch of salt.

Firstly, I looked for a set of books I wanted to buy and it came down to these 4:
Ogilvy on Advertising USD$17.22
Investing For Dummies, 4th Edition USD$14.95
How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization USD$11.53
The Forbes Book of Business Quotations: 14,173 Thoughts on the Business of Life USD$13.10

Total: USD $56.80
+ USD $26.95 (Shipping/Handling, no free shipping as I'm not in the US)
= USD $83.75 = S$ 129.10 (10 -19days to be delivered)

Firstly, I would say that if I'm located in the US, the prices will become very attractive to me because it is lower but here in Singapore, the prices are low but throw in shipping and the exchange rate, it becomes not as attractive.

A quick comparison with Kinokuniya.com.sg shows that the cost for the same four books above costs about S$ 138 so thanks to online convenience, I saved $8 but I have to wait for $10.

So the conclusion after this trial experience for me? It is not worth it to buy books online just yet due to the price difference. It is simply too negligible to be considered a saving. You also have to consider the risk factors such as torn pages, delivery lead times to a consumer because unlike a physical store where I can just choose my books and buy straightaway, online I have to wait and even run the risk of credit card fraud, which happened to one of my bosses recently when he purchased something online.

 

[djork]

yeah. i wanted to buy a couple of books, but was slapped with that shipping cost, the same price as the books itself! immediately i closed the window.

 

[germ_boi]

Update: The delivery time is est. January 17, 2007 - January 26, 2007. This is crazy! I placed my order today and they need 20days to deliver it to me?

Conclusion, not worth it for people in our region to buy from Amazon.com

 

[asterixsg]

I think the book prices in Singapore are grossly overpriced. But then if Amazon were to open a huge shop in Ngee Ann City, wonder what would their prices be like ?

I my opinion, it really depends how desperately you need the books. If you can afford to wait, or if the titles are not available in Singapore, then its ok to order from Amazon. But, I agree with you, 10 bucks saved is definitely not worth the wait for 25 days.

Recently, I ordered 8 books from Amazon and compared the prices against acmamall (Singapore based online store, I think they run it from a warehouse in Tuas) and I saved around 150 bucks or so. Even if I had ordered from acmamall, I would've had to wait 15 days. I know kinokuniya was priced higher than them.

If I were in the US, I would definitely be a frequent shopper at Amazon.

 

[germ_boi]

Care to share what 8books you bought to save you $150? Books on Design/Photography/Ar in singapore are expensive, not sure if it is the same overseas?

 

[deckard]

go to the library save money and save trees too.

 

[germ_boi]

Hmmm, there are books where you buy and it's worthy of keeping so you can re-read whenever you need to. Moreover if everyone read from Library, you arent exactly encouraging the fluorishment of literature. Because sales will come down, no one will want to be a publisher or author.

 

[arpinkor]

I used to buy books and DVDs from Amazon a few years back but nowadays I won't buy from there unless it's one of those out-of-print books that can only be found there (in the used section). If I want to buy a book, I'll look for it locally first. The prices in Amazon are not that cheap, and if you try to save by choosing the cheapo shipping (meaning by surface instead of air), it takes a few weeks to arrive.

 

[ob1canob]

Can you guys order anything from Amazon.com? I had no such luck for the past several years. Everytime when click in my info for shipping, it says something like "Sorry we no longer ship to these regions or the Asia Pacific regions" or something of that nature. I heard they originally do ship to Asia Pac but eversince they encountered lots of bad credit card numbers they decided to bar from shipping here. Any truth in this? I still cannot get them to send here. I like Amazon because I can get the books I wanted earlier and at the same time find books or other stuffs which I couldn't get here.

 

[germ_boi]

Yes, turns out after shipping and rates are involved, Amazon's isnt that competitive after all. I would rather go Kino and enjoy the ambience as well as the flipping of the books first before purchasing. haha

 

[germ_boi]

Can you guys order anything from Amazon.com? I had no such luck for the past several years. Everytime when click in my info for shipping, it says something like "Sorry we no longer ship to these regions or the Asia Pacific regions" or something of that nature. I heard they originally do ship to Asia Pac but eversince they encountered lots of bad credit card numbers they decided to bar from shipping here. Any truth in this? I still cannot get them to send here. I like Amazon because I can get the books I wanted earlier and at the same time find books or other stuffs which I couldn't get here.

jus purchased from them yesterday

 

[numzkull]

if you want to enjoy the free shipping, you might want to consider using vPost USA. you might save some $$$ from shipping this way.

however do take note that the estimated shipping date might take longer. as for the rates charged by vPost, check their website.

http://vshopusa.vpost.com.sg/aom/shop.php

 

[Denosha]

I always buy CDs and DVDs from Amazon.com and recently even a flash. Hur hur. Anyway, the CDs and DVDs I buy from them either can't be found locally or if available, are grossly overpriced. Even with the shipping factored in (not even using vpost), with a bulk order of about 10 items i still save at least S$5-10 per item.

 

[asterixsg]

Care to share what 8books you bought to save you $150? Books on Design/Photography/Ar in singapore are expensive, not sure if it is the same overseas?

Yeah, almost all are photography related books like John Shaw's Landscape photography, Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure etc. These books are US$16.50 vs S$45 to S$50
Just to give you an idea - the book "Photoshop CS2 by Scott Kelby" costs US26.39 whereas the same book at acmamall was S$87.39. Since I had ordered books from acmamall before, I would've got 15% discount. Even then the price was S$74.28.

I double-checked my order. I was looking at 8 books but had ordered 6 books only and I saved around 100 bucks.

I only order those books that I think are keepers for a few years at least. I almost always, never buy fiction. I try to borrow these books from the library.

 

[swampthing]

Yeah would only reccomend Amazon for stuff you can't get here. Unfortunately that's a lot of stuff!

 

[germ_boi]

haha, interesting analogy swampthing. Unfortunately being young on my years I do not know of books that we do not have in Singapore yet, but probably up next I will be getting Design/Advertising/Logos/Photography books from them. Denosha/Asterixsg, is it cheaper if I order more books at one shot? (Save on shipping?)

 

[Denosha]

For CDs/DVDs it is cheaper to order more at one short. For books I'm not so sure since they tend to be quite heavy and bulky. However, I believe it should still be cheaper to do bulk ordering.

Of course, another alternative is to share an order with someone else to save on the shipping costs. But if the cost of your order (including shipping, insurance, etc) exceeds S$400 then one needs to pay GST.

 

[ob1canob]

jus purchased from them yesterday

Do you order thru' paypal account or straight with your credit card? Haven't tried with paypal.

 

[germ_boi]

Straight from my mum's visa credit card. haha

 

[satay16]

Yeah would only reccomend Amazon for stuff you can't get here. Unfortunately that's a lot of stuff!

i agree with that. alot of physics books that i cant find in big bookstores like borders or kinokunuya always appears in amazon. it is only that high shipping cost which turns my down, but that is really inevitable.