Shopping

Changing Amazon delivery charges is a risky business

So as a one-time Amazon affiliate I received notification recently that the terms of the free delivery (Super Saver Delivery as they call it) in the UK was about to change (as of 1st May 2015). And in my opinion, it’s not a minor change at all, as they’re changing the minimum qualifying order from £10 to £20. 

Amazon super saver

Amazon super saver affiliate notice

It’s not the first change they’ve made, as the super saver delivery used to be free for all orders. They subsequently introduced a £5 cap, which quickly became a £10 limit – and this was just about acceptable, as it still meant a lot of orders could be considered impulse purchases. And if your basket fell below the £10 cap, sometime you might add something extra items that you knew you were going to use at some point (like a commodity item such as printer paper, or something that cost a couple of quid), just so you hit the minimum order level.

But at £20, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to reach that qualifying cap and it’ll take a good few commodity items to get close. 

I can understand why they’re doing it, as postage charges have increased, so they need to cover their costs. And the prices of many items has also gone up too, so from a consumer’s perspective maybe they’ll not notice the cap as much as I think they will. But from a personal perspective, I think it’ll definitely make me think twice about using Amazon if I know I have to pay postage charges. 

Forcing Prime

Some have said that in raising the limit, they’re trying to drive customers to opting for their Prime subscription. At £79 per year, that’s quite a leap of faith and an upfront commitment to the Amazon way of thinking. And for me, as a happy Netflix subscriber (better quality, more devices, better range of material IMHO) and having had the free trial of Prime – I found a worrying range of products that weren’t eligible for Prime delivery and also didn’t particularly rate their Prime TV/video services. I found their apps clunky (compared to Netflix), their range limited (although they do often have slightly better, more modern movies available) and generally the whole experience just felt a little forced.

I’d much rather they did one thing well, rather than many things in a mediocre manner. Netflix understand that and that’s why I’ve been subscribing for a while. eBay understand it too, and I think that with many of their lower ticket items continuing to be offered with free delivery (and no minimum order value) they might be the big winner as a result of this move by Amazon. At one time Play.com might have been a credible alternative, but since Rakuten have taken over, the platform has gone downhill and seems to be confused about what its raison d’etre actually is – not a smart move in such a fast moving, online, very visible world of online retail!

Convenience

So will I still use Amazon? Probably. Although the delivery charges will make me use it less. And less frequently too, which I think is an important consideration. I’ll not be going online and making an impulse purchase through Amazon any more, that’s for sure. Maybe that’s what they want? Maybe they want us to use their wish lists and basket facility more, so that they can have fewer, higher value deliveries. If that’s the case, then maybe this is a stroke of management genius.

But from a consumer’s perspective, I think they just might have shot themselves in the foot and opened the door to other, leaner, more customer-friendly operators that offer exactly what we want: flexibility, free/cheap delivery, and the ability to make impulse purchases when the moment takes us, not just when we have a sufficiently high value basket of goods.

The best discount dining card

A relatively recent phenomenon to hit the UK’s high street is the proliferation of vouchers, daily deals and discount sites that effectively offer money off and savings across a whole range of products and services. One particular niche related to these sites is the ‘discount dining card’. There are a handful of major players in the market and having tried them all, I reckon I’m in a good position to advise on which one(s) I think are the best.

So, the 3 main players are:

Gourmet Society – www.gourmetsociety.co.uk 

Gourmet SocietyThe Gourmet Society is probably one of the better known dining discount cards, in that it is frequently promoted in the quality newspapers. Accepted at over 6,000 restaurants, it offers a good coverage of venues across the UK.  There’s an iOS and Android app available, although I’ve had a few niggles with the Android app crashing from time to time, and the location search is sometimes a little flaky. Having said that, they do also offer a digital version of the Gourmet Society card, so you can just show your phone to the restaurateur as opposed to remembering to take your card with you every time you go out. Subscriptions are advertised on the site from £69.95 for 12 months access, although there are frequent trials available online for anywhere from 1 to 3 months, and quite often they’ll be discounted membership too. As with the other major dining cards, I would expect to pay anywhere from £29.95 to around £40 for a discounted version of this card.

Deal: Get a 2 month free trial HERE

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Good deal web site

Hot UK Deals logoI realise I’ve not added anything to the site for ages… I’ve just been so busy with work commitments! Anyway, more for my reference than anything else – here’s a really good site that you should definitely add to your favourites if you want to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest deals. It’s not like a GroupOn or LivingSocial deal web site, it’s more of a crowdsourced deal forum where the general public list the various deals they come across on and offline, and then others vote on the deals – casting them as either hot or cold deals depending on the amount of ‘heat’ added (or not). The site is: www.hotukdeals.com – and it’s a site I visit regularly. They also have a twitter feed @hotukdeals and their own ios and android apps.

Why TopCashback.co.uk is worth using

 – classes itself as the UK’s leading cashback site, and there are a handful of reasons why I’m inclined to agree. I joined recently and through very little effort, I’ve already racked up earnings of nearly £60 in just under a month. The beauty of it is that I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t already have done – other than clicking on TopCashback before I go to the online merchant or shop I was going to use. You can Join Top CashBack by clicking on the link. It’s quick and easy to set up, and even easier to use.

What are the key selling points?

  • It’s free to join
  • They guarantee to pay the highest rates of cashback
  • Commission returns of up to 110%
  • No annual fee like on some other cashback sites
  • More than 3,300 online merchants
  • A variety of free payment methods – including PayPal, Amazon vouchers or direct into your bank
  • The option to earn referral bonuses of £10 for each friend that is referred (subject to them then earning £10 cashback too).

The site’s not a new thing either – it’s been around for ages, having been reviewed by the likes of The Independent, The Guardian, The One Show and Daybreak.

How to use the site

TopCashback requires just 5 simple steps to use their site.

  1. Browse through the list of online merchants (or use the search facility to find a company by name)
  2. Select the company or online shop you want to buy something from
  3. You’ll see a “Get Cashback Now” button – so click on that, then just shop as normal on the main site
  4. You have an Account area, where you can track the status of your cashback
  5. Once the Account area demonstrates that cashback is payable, you can request the money in the way that’s most suitable for you.

So what are you waiting for?! Join Top CashBack today

Buying used products from Amazon and Play.com

Amazon and Play.com are two high profile sites that have addressed the ‘long tail of search’ and have built their operating model predominantly around selling high volume at low price, where small margins will collectively add up to large profits – and it’s something that seems to be working really well for them. For the regular customer, the two sites provide a first class online retail experience, often undercutting the high street and even other online retailers. However, the prices quoted on Amazon and Play.com aren’t necessarily the best prices.

As long as you’re willing to accept second hand products, then the Amazon Used and New feature and Play.com’s Playtrade offer the same familiar interfaces of these well regarded sites, but the products here are second hand. All listings include an explanation regarding the condition of the products and it’s not unusual to find used products for half the retail price, or even less!

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Amazon Kindle 3G

Amazon Kindle 3G

Ok – I’m more than a little bit excited…

After buying my mum a Kindle for Christmas, I’ve finally ordered myself one!

Unfortunately delivery dates over the festive break mean I won’t get mine till the New Year, but it just means I can get all my ebooks in order between then and now. I have, however, had plenty of opportunity to set my mum’s Kindle up, source her some good books and have a general play around with it. My experience with it led me to order one for myself… it’s just that good!

The Kindle 3G, at £149 £152 following the VAT increase  (including VAT and delivery – click HERE to buy yours now!) is exceptionally good value and the e-ink screen has to be seen to be believed/appreciated. Anyone that’s ever had to contend with looking at a regular laptop screen in the sunlight will know exactly what I’m talking about.

Have a look at the video Amazon has put together themselves on the Kindle 3G page – it’s really quite good and helps explain fairly clearly what the Kindle is and what the features and benefits are. You can access the page by clicking HERE.

Contents of this article:

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Custom built PCs

Why would you want to buy an expensive PC from the likes of PC World or Dell, when you can use a specialist, custom PC builder to produce a more powerful, better specification machine – and all for less money?!

After my old desktop PC started literally falling apart at the seams, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and purchase a new one. After a detailed online search – I came across Dino PC.

Two weeks after ordering, I have taken delivery of my new desktop system – all for around the same price as an average netbook.

They’re well worth a look if you’re in the market for a new machine.