Amazon.com Inc. on Friday morning lowered its prices on hot upcoming book releases once again to match Walmart.com in their continuing price war, and is now also selling top 10 pre-orders for November at $9.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched a brash price war against Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday, saying it would sell 10 hotly anticipated new books for just $10 apiece through its online site.
Hours later, Amazon matched the $10 price, squaring off in a battle for low-price and e-commerce leadership heading into the crucial holiday shopping season. Wal-Mart soon fired back with a promise to drop its prices to $9 by Friday morning—and made good on that vow early evening Thursday.
Amazon.com Inc. on Friday morning lowered its prices on hot upcoming book releases once again to match Walmart.com in their continuing price war, and is now also selling top 10 pre-orders for November at $9. ...............
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It is worth noting that Amazon charges sales tax in only 2 or 3 states (I forget which ones), while I believe WalMart must charge sales tax in every state that has a tax, even for online sales... unless they're playing shell games by making walmart.com a separate company, but I don't think they are. Therefore, buyers should factor in the sales tax when deciding which site to use. (That is, assuming the buyer doesn't do the "honest" thing and declare the unpaid use tax on year-end tax returns, which one is supposed to do, at least in CA. I suspect the percentage of people who actually do this is in the single digits, though.)
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Originally Posted by cepheid
Therefore, buyers should factor in the sales tax when deciding which site to use.
Buyers should also consider that while Amazon.com may not charge tax in some states, they also have no agreements with portals that give rewards such as frequent flyer miles. [most airlines shopping portal sites offer miles for Walmart.com purchases]
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max M
Buyers should also consider that while Amazon.com may not charge tax in some states, they also have no agreements with portals that give rewards such as frequent flyer miles. [most airlines shopping portal sites offer miles for Walmart.com purchases]
A very good point, although for most states and most portals, the sales tax will exceed (sometimes greatly) the portal reward. But, you are correct, that should be factored in as well.
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Well I found a site that *does* offer something for Amazon.com purchases. While it's not a cashback or frequent flyer mileage portal, it does offer a percent back of your Amazon.com purchase to a charity of your choice:
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Originally Posted by Max M
Consider using Goodsearch's Goodshop for your Amazon.com purchases to help out the greater good.
I hope they have a special deal worked out with Amazon, because what they're doing is technically a violation of the Associates Agreement, even if the money is going to charity. I should also note that based on their listed donation amount, they keep the majority of the referral fees they earn; the amount donated to charity is, at best, 37.5% of what they earn, and is probably more like 20% or less given their likely referral volume.
It is overall a good idea that I support... but if you want to donate to charity by shopping at Amazon, I strongly recommend finding a specific charity and using their direct Amazon link if they have one - that way, all the referral money goes directly to that charity, instead of only a small fraction.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Max M
Buyers should also consider that while Amazon.com may not charge tax in some states, they also have no agreements with portals that give rewards such as frequent flyer miles. [most airlines shopping portal sites offer miles for Walmart.com purchases]
Umm - depending on how much biz you do at Amazon and if you have a plausible e-commerce site, you can set up a direct affiliate program with Amazon.
I have one, and probably half of the products sold through it are purchases by me. Half are from random customers.
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Originally Posted by josephstern
Umm - depending on how much biz you do at Amazon and if you have a plausible e-commerce site, you can set up a direct affiliate program with Amazon. I have one, and probably half of the products sold through it are purchases by me. Half are from random customers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Max M
They also have no agreements with portals that give rewards such as frequent flyer miles. [most airlines shopping portal sites offer miles for Walmart.com purchases]
I stand by what I say.
Perhaps you can enlighten the FT Community as to what website that is a portal that offers miles or cash back to "average joes", not to those who own an E-Commerce site, for Amazon.com purchases.
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Originally Posted by josephstern
I have one, and probably half of the products sold through it are purchases by me.
Which is a direct violation of the Associates Agreement. Be careful with this. I'm surprised they haven't caught on - are you using two different Amazon accounts?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Max M
Perhaps you can enlighten the FT Community as to what website that is a portal that offers miles or cash back to "average joes", not to those who own an E-Commerce site, for Amazon.com purchases.
There is no legitimate U.S. site that does this, that I know of. It is a violation of the Associates Agreement, which prohibits the offering of any cash-back, rebates, or other incentives to customers to use the affiliate link, hence reputable portals that want to maintain their affiliate status can't and won't offer anything.
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Originally Posted by cepheid
Which is a direct violation of the Associates Agreement. Be careful with this. I'm surprised they haven't caught on - are you using two different Amazon accounts?
Well, the affiliate account is as a seller - so I guess, yes, two different accounts. Same domain name; same billing and shipping addresses. I realize it's not cool according to the letter, but I figured they don't enforce it since I could just as easily go through my kids' school or another charity or any of the blogs I read. Someone would get the money, so why not me? If they piss me off by shutting me down, they lose my business, so why not overlook the infraction, since they probably wouldn't gain money anyway?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by josephstern
Well, the affiliate account is as a seller - so I guess, yes, two different accounts.
Not quite what I meant. If you use the same login information (email address and password) to access your affiliate account as you do for your purchasing account, then you're using the same account. I use the same login credentials for purchasing, selling, and affiliate, for example. I did not have to register separately - Amazon's various systems share the same login credentials database.
If you are using the same credentials, and hence it's the same account, I'm surprised they haven't done anything to enforce their agreement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by josephstern
I figured they don't enforce it since I could just as easily go through my kids' school or another charity or any of the blogs I read. Someone would get the money, so why not me?
Because most people probably wouldn't bother using someone else's affiliate link... they'd just purchase normally. So, Amazon is very likely saving commissions by having this provision in the agreement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by josephstern
If they piss me off by shutting me down, they lose my business, so why not overlook the infraction, since they probably wouldn't gain money anyway?
Would they actually lose your business, or would you simply continue doing what most people do - using them if they provide the cheapest option? And, with free shipping and no sales tax in most cases, they are often the cheapest option.
In your individual case, they may or may not lose money by enforcing the agreement, but overall, I think they would save money. I'm surprised they're not actually enforcing it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cepheid
Because most people probably wouldn't bother using someone else's affiliate link... they'd just purchase normally. So, Amazon is very likely saving commissions by having this provision in the agreement.
Right, but most people wouldn't build their own affiliate link, either.
You're right, I'd probably still buy at least half the stuff there that I do. But I often don't even shop around, figuring the 5% or so puts me pretty close to the lowest price. On some things, like Apple products for example, I would most certainly shop around if they enforced this.
I checked my reports, and I probably represent about a third of the sales in my referral account. So maybe I'm just under the radar?
This all started just because I had the account for legit purposes - and I still do use it that way. The temptation to click my own link was just too strong.
