Why I Love Amazon.com

I love Amazon.com. I'm not embarassed to admit that fact. I go there multiple times every single day. Primarily because I run my CD business from Amazon - but I think I'd go there even if I didn't run my business there. In addition to being the best place to find music, books, and videos (they have the best selection of new and used items), Amazon sells virtually everything you can think of. If you know how to work the site, you can also get some pretty great deals.

Amazon's Price Drop Policy - Did you know that if you buy something from Amazon and they drop their price within 30 days (it happens frequently), they'll give you a refund for the difference? All you have to do is file your claim online and they'll credit you the difference. Even better, if the price drops again, they'll refund you again. You're guaranteed to get the lowest price that they have! There are even sites out there that will track this for you and email you if you become eligible for the refund. Here's the site that I use:

Amazon's Free Shipping Deal - Did you know that anytime you spend $25.00 on Amazon merchandise, you get free shipping? Shipping cost is the biggest reason why I don't do ALL of my shopping online. I can always find a better deal online - but sometimes, if I can't get free shipping, it's more economical to go to my local vendor to buy. There are some tricks to getting free shipping too. If you really want the free shipping but don't quite have enough in your Amazon basket to push you over the $25 threshold, there are sites you can go to that will show you 'fillers'. A 'filler' is an inexpensive item that you can buy on Amazon to reach the $25.00 free shipping minimum. You enter how much you need to get to $25.00 (say you're $0.85 short or whatever) and it will show you a whole list of items you can buy for $0.85 to push you over the threshold. Sometimes the little fillers are even useful! Here's where I go to find fillers:

Amazon Grocery Subscriptions - Did you know you can buy groceries on Amazon? Did you know that you can get a cereal subscription on Amazon? You can! Here's how it works. Amazon will allow you to 'subscribe' to groceries. You can tell them that you want a 4-pack of Cheerios delivered once per month and they'll automatically ship it to you (and, yes, you can cancel at any time). Even better - you can tell them you want it every 2 months, every 3 months, every 6 months! And - on top of all that - if you get a grocery subscription, shipping is always FREE (even if you don't hit $25.00!) AND you get a 15% price break. That, my friends, is a good deal. If you have dry goods that you buy every month over and over, if you need organic or specialty food items (like my brother in law & sister in law who both have gluten issues) - this is the best deal going. Amazon's grocery prices are already better than your local store. When you factor in the price break, the convenience of not having to leave your house, the convenience of not having to remember to buy Cheerios every month - it's a good deal.

Amazon's Prices & Variety - I could go on for a long time about how to find the best deals on Amazon, ways to use their programs to your advantage, etc. The fact of the matter is that they sell a ton of stuff, they have good prices, and stuff goes on sale ALL THE TIME. If you want to browse their sales and don't want to have to navigate their maze of menus to find the item that you're looking for, go to the site below. It has links to every category of merchandise and it has them by % off. So - if you're looking for a sporting goods gift and you want something that's at least 50% off, click the Sports, 50% Off link, etc. Great for finding those hidden deals that aren't on the front page of the site!!

Enjoy!