OT: WARNING: Amazon *forcing* "prime" on customers.

[John Doe]

Robert Baer <robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote:

John Doe wrote:
Robert Baer <robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote:

Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day shipping and
they FORCED "prime" on me.

You weren't paying attention. The free month offer is a good
deal, it's not FORCED on you.

* NOT true

Provide the evidence...

A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that
you can remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

Sounds like you accepted their offer of one month free Prime.

* SEE ABOVE. I ordered something, selected 3 day delivery, NOT the
next day "prime" delivery.

The problem isn't what you selected. The problem is what you didn't
see.

Provide the evidence...

Nobody can show evidence of being "FORCED" into Prime, because there
is no such thing. If there were, plenty of bloodsucking lawyers
would be dying to represent you (and even a class).

The closest I have ever been forced into paying for stuff that I
didn't expect to pay for was on a federal court document website.
Apparently the language is in their click-through user agreement.
They provide no contextual indication that you will be for documents
being downloaded and that those charges are being added to your
bill. You will not find any such language in your Amazon user
agreement that allows them to take your money without contextual
approval.

Disclaimer: I couldn't care less about Amazon. Don't even think I'm
shilling for it.

 

[-asop-]

On 11/13/19 3:12 AM, Robert Baer wrote:

Rick C wrote:
On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 1:35:53 AM UTC-5, Robert Baer wrote:
Remember, "prime" costs money EVERY month whether you use it or not.
    TINSTAFFL.

    In the past, the tried 3 times to stop that, saying that i did not
ask for it. That worked.
    Was told to select shipping option 3 days or more and i then would
not be put on the "prime" wagon.

    Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day shipping and they
FORCED "prime" on me.
    Used their "chat" and they REFUSED to tell me why.
    Told them i did not ask for it, did not want it and again asked why
was it forced on me; they REFUSED to tell me why.
    Also refused to remove it.

    Went round-robin on this with ZERO budging on their part.
    Finally was told to use some kind related of complaint link.

    That link was filled with ads relating to the "benefits", many
choices FOR this and that and (buried in the mess) one "no" choice
which...

    Yup! You guessed it!
    MORE of the same pressure sales BS with (buried in the mess) one
"no"
choice which...

    A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that you can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

    Greedy bastards.

One of the many reasons why I use eBay for most purchases.  Prime is
useful if you use Amazon a lot.  I don't care for it so much.  I often
don't see a way to reach the vendor to ask questions and pretty much
every time I do reach a vendor they are unwilling/unable to answer.  I
just don't get the impression Amazon is interested in providing
negative info on any vendors.  eBay at least lets you rate the vendor
with feedback which I take seriously.  There has to be a reason to use
a vendor with an approval rating below 99%.

  Glad your experiences with e-bay were reasonable.
  In my cases with them, they refused to listen to raw facts.

I used to sell a lot on eBay until all the rules and regs they've come
up with over the years have discouraged me a lot. What did it for me
was having someone come along and open a case a month after purchasing a
"used- as-is" electronic antique item. Doesn't matter how old it is or
what shape it's in, the customer can get refunded even with as-is items.
That did it for me.

I'm not a happy camper with Amazon either mainly due to Prime. They
*used* to have the free shipping long before prime came along, but
obviously not enough money was made so they made free shipping items
without prime far fewer.

I still actually like going out and buying things, but online has those
days numbered. I suspect a day will come soon when the malls will close
and Walmart will dwindle like Kmart and the others before it did and
eventually go out of business all because of online firms. Once all the
physical world places are gone, watch out.

 

-asop- <noemailrus@netnitco.net> wrote in news:qqggnf$8im$1@dont-
email.me:

I'm not a happy camper with Amazon either mainly due to Prime. They
*used* to have the free shipping long before prime came along, but
obviously not enough money was made so they made free shipping items
without prime far fewer.

Blame Donald J. Trump for this.

His vast genius knowledge of "The Deal" caused him to piss and moan
about the deal Amazon was getting from the USPS.

 

Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote in
news:qqgka1$14fv$1@gioia.aioe.org:

Actually I can reproduce it and although you are right that there
is a hidden option to proceed without Prime it is very well hidden
and not present at all on the order summary page. Which says and I
quote the relevant HTML from the order screen verbatim below (what
a mess!):


img
src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/marketing/
prime/testing/prime-logo-spc._CB515943449_.png" alt="Martin, we
are giving you a FREE 30-day trial of Prime."
class="primeStripeImage"/> </td
td

It's all designed to blow your mind...

 

-asop- <noemailrus@netnitco.net> wrote in
news:qqggnf$8im$1@dont-email.me:

On 11/13/19 3:12 AM, Robert Baer wrote:
Rick C wrote:
On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 1:35:53 AM UTC-5, Robert Baer
wrote:
Remember, "prime" costs money EVERY month whether you use it or
not.     TINSTAFFL.

    In the past, the tried 3 times to stop that, sayin
g that i did not
ask for it. That worked.
    Was told to select shipping option 3 days or more
and i then would
not be put on the "prime" wagon.

    Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day
shipping and they
FORCED "prime" on me.
    Used their "chat" and they REFUSED to tell me why.

    Told them i did not ask for it, did not want it an
d again asked why
was it forced on me; they REFUSED to tell me why.
    Also refused to remove it.

    Went round-robin on this with ZERO budging on thei
r part.
    Finally was told to use some kind related of compl
aint link.

    That link was filled with ads relating to the "ben
efits", many
choices FOR this and that and (buried in the mess) one "no"
choice which...

    Yup! You guessed it!
    MORE of the same pressure sales BS with (buried in
the mess) one
"no"
choice which...

    A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" lin
k including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and
that you
can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

    Greedy bastards.

One of the many reasons why I use eBay for most purchases. 
Prime
is
useful if you use Amazon a lot.  I don't care for it so much. 
I often
don't see a way to reach the vendor to ask questions and pretty
much every time I do reach a vendor they are unwilling/unable to
answer.Â
  I
just don't get the impression Amazon is interested in providing
negative info on any vendors.  eBay at least lets you rate the
ve
ndor
with feedback which I take seriously.  There has to be a reason
t
o use
a vendor with an approval rating below 99%.

  Glad your experiences with e-bay were reasonable.
  In my cases with them, they refused to listen to raw facts.

I used to sell a lot on eBay until all the rules and regs they've
come up with over the years have discouraged me a lot. What did
it for me was having someone come along and open a case a month
after purchasing a "used- as-is" electronic antique item. Doesn't
matter how old it is or what shape it's in, the customer can get
refunded even with as-is items.
That did it for me.

I'm not a happy camper with Amazon either mainly due to Prime.
They *used* to have the free shipping long before prime came
along, but obviously not enough money was made so they made free
shipping items without prime far fewer.

I still actually like going out and buying things, but online has
those days numbered. I suspect a day will come soon when the
malls will close and Walmart will dwindle like Kmart and the
others before it did and eventually go out of business all because
of online firms. Once all the physical world places are gone,
watch out.

Yeah and isn't it nice that you do not get to look at an item
before you buy it. Everything is trial and error.

USB chargers, cables, battery packs portable hard drive
enclosures... everything.

Cheap chinese is just that because we did not regulate what flea
market idiots bought to push here.

Consumers are not all that bright on the whole. Even those that
are lack many skills for determining quality. We pay too much and
get crap hardware a lot of times with no return channel.

I get brand specific. Some of the cheap chinese brands make a
pretty good line, so I stick with those in some cases.

But not being able to see (and touch) an example is a problem. I
would never have bought a drone were I not able to look at and
compare them first hand.

The other thing IS the shipping. When a store gets a display, they
come on a truck that has nothing but pallets of displays, and
everything is set up for shipping. When you buy a single unit on
line, you do not know how that unit was shipped and stored at the
distribution point, and you DO know how it will ship to you. Fed Ex
tosses packages. They get tossed onto conveyor belts, they get
packed into long haul trucks on top of and under hundreds of other
packages. There is no this side up and no handle with care. I have
seen it. I am sure that UPS is similar though I have seen and
thought their conveyors looked better designed.

If it is a small package, it may start out as fedex or ups but end
up regular postal system, which means it gets handled even more
times. I have seen fiberglass burlap sacks (that's what they use)
that hold over half a cubic yard of 'smalls' and they get tossed
around on the conveyors as well before the USPS ends up with them and
they get tossed and handled some more. Your package likely gets
handled maybe thirty times before it ends up on the last truck to
you.

Just at a final hub... Big truck... off the truck (1) onto the
conveyor... Scan at conveyor (2)... Sort and send at top of
conveyor (3)... Sort and route at bottom of conveyor (3)... Scan at
bottom for last routing (4)... Place onto final truck (5)... and
driver hand off to you (6).

All manual tasks as package routing automation is not a reality
yet. Which might be worse handling.

This is on a truck with TRUCK TIRES, CAR TIRES, FULL SIZE TRUCK
TIRES!... your neigbor's back yard trampoline... the other guy's
exercise bike.

It ALL gets stacked and tossed and filled up to the brim on those
big trucks. No bigger stuff on the bottom... no rules at all for a
top to bottom filled truck. At the local hub, all those big trucks
get emptied as described above. All within a 4 hour shift. Every
day... every time.

And lets not forget "Chewy". Do you get your pet supplies from
them now? Oh boy. I have seen entire trucks filled with Chewy runs.

Thos idiots do not know how to pack a box for shipping, much less
one filled with bags of dog food. How hard could it be?

Premium quality tape, but the dopes do not know how to make sure
the tape got pressed on right and sticks! Boxes are blowing open
every day! Chewy's shipper/packers SUCK!

Essentially, if you are getting it shipped to you, you can expect
that you package was impact tested and drop tested several times from
point a to point b.

 

[Martin Brown]

On 13/11/2019 03:45, John Doe wrote:

Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nezumi.demon.co.uk> wrote:

John Doe wrote:
Robert Baer <robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote:

Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day shipping and
they FORCED "prime" on me.

You weren't paying attention. The free month offer is a good deal,
it's not FORCED on you.

Not quite. There has been a recent promotion where they automatically
upgrade you to Prime with no option to opt out if you don't want it.

And the cow jumped over the moon. That wouldn't even be legal here in
the United States. Next time, take a screenshot. Then we can help with
your confusion.

Actually I can reproduce it and although you are right that there is a
hidden option to proceed without Prime it is very well hidden and not
present at all on the order summary page. Which says and I quote the
relevant HTML from the order screen verbatim below (what a mess!):


<img
src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/marketing/prime/testing/prime-logo-spc._CB515943449_.png"
alt="Martin, we are giving you a FREE 30-day trial of Prime."
class="primeStripeImage"/> </td>
<td>





&lt;span data-prime-metric="al1"&gt;
<a href="javascript:void(0)" data-action="a-checkout-modal-popover"
data-a-checkout-modal-popover='{"name": "prime-acquisition-spc-popover",
"header": "Amazon Prime"}' class="a-declarative prime-popover-link">
&lt;span class="emphasisedPopoverLauncher"&gt;
Martin, we are giving you a FREE 30-day trial of Prime.
&lt;/span&gt;
</a>
&lt;/span&gt;


Your benefits will include Free One-Day delivery on
millions of items, instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows,
over two million songs ad-free and many other benefits. You can cancel
anytime.
<br/>
&lt;span id="beforeLearnMore"&gt;&amp;raquo;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;


The scenario that elicits this situation is that you buy from an Amazon
Marketplace trader who offers free shipping on an order under ÂŁ20.
Result is a forced "free" upgrade to Amazon Prime with a rider that you
can cancel any time in the next 30 days. Curiously the only option for
delivery was FREE standard delivery in 3-5 days despite the "Prime".

I am pretty sure it is illegal to do this in the UK too.
It is certainly bad practice.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

 

Robert Baer &lt;robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote in
news:dPOyF.156315$Ko9.108512@fx48.iad:

DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno@decadence.org wrote:
Jim Horton &lt;jhorton@nospam.net&gt; wrote in
news:qqf3rv$tm8$1@dont-email.me:

On 11/12/19 1:35 AM, Robert Baer wrote:
  Remember, "prime" costs money EVERY month whether you
use it or
not.
  TINSTAFFL.

  In the past, the tried 3 times to stop that, saying that
i did
not
ask for it. That worked.
  Was told to select shipping option 3 days or more and i
then wo
uld
not be put on the "prime" wagon.

  Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day
shipping and
they
FORCED "prime" on me.
  Used their "chat" and they REFUSED to tell me why.
  Told them i did not ask for it, did not want it and
again asked
why
was it forced on me; they REFUSED to tell me why.
  Also refused to remove it.

  Went round-robin on this with ZERO budging on their
part.   Finally was told to use some kind related of
complaint link.

  That link was filled with ads relating to the
"benefits", many

choices FOR this and that and (buried in the mess) one "no"
choice whic
h...

  Yup! You guessed it!
  MORE of the same pressure sales BS with (buried in the
mess) on
e "no"
choice which...

  A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link
including a

"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and
that you ca
n
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

  Greedy bastards.


I have always avoided prime by asking someone who has it to buy
the item for me and I'll pay them. Yes, a bit of a hassle, but
still avoid it, or.......

I just try and find the item I'm looking for from a vender
offering free shipping independent of prime. This can take some
searching, but more than half of the time I can find my item
that way.

Makes no sense to shell out $ since I don't purchase on Amazon
more than six times a year. I wont do it.

Buy something from these guys...

https://catalog.usmint.gov/apollo-11-50th-anniversary-2019-five-
ounce-proof-silver-dollar-19CH.html

https://catalog.usmint.gov/apollo-11-50th-anniversary-2019-proof-
silver-dollar-19CC.html

Compare their prices with the local coin dealers FIRST..

With the limited minting of those coins, one must buy as soon as
they are released, or you may have a hard time finding one at a local
dealer, and when you do, it will very likely already carry a higher
price tag.

The gold coin is no longer available, even though the site will
sell you one, then cancel the next day (stupid). With only 50,000
minted, if you can find me one in pristine, new condition at the same
price or lower, I would like the link to get in touch because I
really wanted the one I bought. I have serious doubts though that
you'll find one at a reasonable price any time soon.

 

[legg]

On Tue, 12 Nov 2019 08:39:58 -0800, John Robertson &lt;spam@flippers.com&gt;
wrote:

On 2019/11/12 7:40 a.m., Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:35:47 -0800, Robert Baer
robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that you can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

"How to Cancel Amazon Prime"
https://www.howtogeek.com/429020/how-to-cancel-amazon-prime/

Some ebay vendors require that buyers use Amazon Prime. You might
check if that is what happened.
"Sell products with the Prime badge directly from your warehouse"
https://services.amazon.com/services/seller-fulfilled-prime.html


I tell eBay sellers, who put special requirements on their sales, that
they would get more business if they open it up more. Limiting to Prime
will not help their sales. Much like limiting your listings to national
instead of international lets you out of many more customers.

We sell and ship internationally and the odd hiccup is well worth the
extra business we get.

John :-#)#

John, you ARE international, as far as US ebay is concerned.

RL

 

[Rick C]

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 1:03:09 AM UTC-5, jla...@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:

On Wed, 13 Nov 2019 03:15:21 +0000 (UTC),
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno@decadence.org wrote:

John Larkin &lt;jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com&gt; wrote in
news:5c7mset0t947j5tp57s1i50boj8amvgke5@4ax.com:

His stance is that he can't remember which city or state he is in, or
what actually happened in his life.


More retarded baby bullshit from the retarded bullshit baby.

https://www.whatfinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bidenclinton.png

I never realized this is the way you swing. Maybe you should find another porn group?

--

Rick C.

++ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
++ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Rick C]

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 3:12:09 AM UTC-5, Robert Baer wrote:

Rick C wrote:

One of the many reasons why I use eBay for most purchases. Prime is useful if you use Amazon a lot. I don't care for it so much. I often don't see a way to reach the vendor to ask questions and pretty much every time I do reach a vendor they are unwilling/unable to answer. I just don't get the impression Amazon is interested in providing negative info on any vendors. eBay at least lets you rate the vendor with feedback which I take seriously. There has to be a reason to use a vendor with an approval rating below 99%.

Glad your experiences with e-bay were reasonable.
In my cases with them, they refused to listen to raw facts.

They aren't always reasonable. I found one vendor who was cheating people by selling undersized wire. He offered a return, but I don't have a printer for the label and the nearest Staples is 25 miles away. I tried to get him to acknowledge it was fraudulent (the wire is marked with the company name and fake size) and time ran out on the return. I disputed the transaction on the credit card and now have both my money and some 15 gauge wire.

Way back in eBay's early days they tried to force their customers to agree to not charge back. The credit card companies told them to cut that out!

--

Rick C.

+- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
+- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

On Wed, 13 Nov 2019 00:09:39 -0800, Robert Baer
&lt;robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

jlarkin@highlandsniptechnology.com wrote:
On Wed, 13 Nov 2019 03:15:21 +0000 (UTC),
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno@decadence.org wrote:

John Larkin &lt;jlarkin@highland_atwork_technology.com&gt; wrote in
news:5c7mset0t947j5tp57s1i50boj8amvgke5@4ax.com:

His stance is that he can't remember which city or state he is in, or
what actually happened in his life.


More retarded baby bullshit from the retarded bullshit baby.

https://www.whatfinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/bidenclinton.png




How sweet..a kiss on the neck....

No. He's hair sniffing.



--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

[-asop-]

On 11/13/19 10:16 AM, Rick C wrote:

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 3:12:09 AM UTC-5, Robert Baer wrote:
Rick C wrote:

One of the many reasons why I use eBay for most purchases. Prime is useful if you use Amazon a lot. I don't care for it so much. I often don't see a way to reach the vendor to ask questions and pretty much every time I do reach a vendor they are unwilling/unable to answer. I just don't get the impression Amazon is interested in providing negative info on any vendors. eBay at least lets you rate the vendor with feedback which I take seriously. There has to be a reason to use a vendor with an approval rating below 99%.

Glad your experiences with e-bay were reasonable.
In my cases with them, they refused to listen to raw facts.

They aren't always reasonable. I found one vendor who was cheating people by selling undersized wire. He offered a return, but I don't have a printer for the label and the nearest Staples is 25 miles away. I tried to get him to acknowledge it was fraudulent (the wire is marked with the company name and fake size) and time ran out on the return. I disputed the transaction on the credit card and now have both my money and some 15 gauge wire.

There was a thread that seemed to come under fire here recently, but
I'll mention it anyway. If you want to talk about fraud on eBay, just
look at their stun gun listings. The gentleman here had a point
recently and, no, it wasn't to test the da** thing on himself, but the
false voltage. *Anyone*, where they are legal to purchase of course,
could purchase one off of eBay and open a case due to inaccurate
description/ advertising of item! Probably end up with a free stun unit!

Way back in eBay's early days they tried to force their customers to agree to not charge back. The credit card companies told them to cut that out!

 

[Rick C]

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 4:00:37 AM UTC-5, -asop- wrote:

On 11/13/19 3:12 AM, Robert Baer wrote:
Rick C wrote:
On Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 1:35:53 AM UTC-5, Robert Baer wrote:
Remember, "prime" costs money EVERY month whether you use it or not.
    TINSTAFFL.

    In the past, the tried 3 times to stop that, saying that i did not
ask for it. That worked.
    Was told to select shipping option 3 days or more and i then would
not be put on the "prime" wagon.

    Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day shipping and they
FORCED "prime" on me.
    Used their "chat" and they REFUSED to tell me why.
    Told them i did not ask for it, did not want it and again asked why
was it forced on me; they REFUSED to tell me why.
    Also refused to remove it.

    Went round-robin on this with ZERO budging on their part.
    Finally was told to use some kind related of complaint link.

    That link was filled with ads relating to the "benefits", many
choices FOR this and that and (buried in the mess) one "no" choice
which...

    Yup! You guessed it!
    MORE of the same pressure sales BS with (buried in the mess) one
"no"
choice which...

    A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that you can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

    Greedy bastards.

One of the many reasons why I use eBay for most purchases.  Prime is
useful if you use Amazon a lot.  I don't care for it so much.  I often
don't see a way to reach the vendor to ask questions and pretty much
every time I do reach a vendor they are unwilling/unable to answer.  I
just don't get the impression Amazon is interested in providing
negative info on any vendors.  eBay at least lets you rate the vendor
with feedback which I take seriously.  There has to be a reason to use
a vendor with an approval rating below 99%.

  Glad your experiences with e-bay were reasonable.
  In my cases with them, they refused to listen to raw facts.

I used to sell a lot on eBay until all the rules and regs they've come
up with over the years have discouraged me a lot. What did it for me
was having someone come along and open a case a month after purchasing a
"used- as-is" electronic antique item. Doesn't matter how old it is or
what shape it's in, the customer can get refunded even with as-is items.
That did it for me.

I'm not a happy camper with Amazon either mainly due to Prime. They
*used* to have the free shipping long before prime came along, but
obviously not enough money was made so they made free shipping items
without prime far fewer.

I still actually like going out and buying things, but online has those
days numbered. I suspect a day will come soon when the malls will close
and Walmart will dwindle like Kmart and the others before it did and
eventually go out of business all because of online firms. Once all the
physical world places are gone, watch out.

Unfortunately eBay eventually realized they were being held back by the lack of buyer trust in the market. So they made it a lot harder to pull one over on customers at the expense of vendors getting ripped off occasionally. I'm sure they simply factor that into their profit margins just like lighting, heat or insurance for the occasional hurricane.

I've bought a number of flash SD and USB devices that were fraudulently sized. I test them and get a full refund on reporting it. If eBay didn't have the refund rules they do, I would never buy any flash devices through them at all. Same with Costco and virtually all brick and mortar stores.

--

Rick C.

--- Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
--- Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:58:18 -0800, Robert Baer
&lt;robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:35:47 -0800, Robert Baer
robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that you can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

"How to Cancel Amazon Prime"
https://www.howtogeek.com/429020/how-to-cancel-amazon-prime/

Some ebay vendors require that buyers use Amazon Prime. You might
check if that is what happened.

* Do NOT use e-bay; have been cheated both sides of the fence (buy,sell).

Sorry. That was a typographical error. I should have written:

Some *Amazon* vendors require that buyers use Amazon Prime.
You might check if that is what happened.

I tend to use eBay far more often than Amazon, mostly for repair parts
and sub-assembly purchases that were scrapped from allegedly working
machines. I've never been intentionally cheated either buying or
sell, but have purchased wrong parts usually due to either a vague or
deceptive item description, or my failing to carefully read the item
description. I've also returned some items for various reasons, and
have noticed that the transaction only seems to go awry when an eBay
employee or contractor becomes involved. Caveat emptor and caveat
venditor.

"Sell products with the Prime badge directly from your warehouse"
https://services.amazon.com/services/seller-fulfilled-prime.html

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Robert Baer]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Tue, 12 Nov 2019 23:58:18 -0800, Robert Baer
robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:35:47 -0800, Robert Baer
robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

A third array of BS but an easier-to-find "no" link including a
"reminder" that you still have "prime" free for a month and that you can
remain on "prime" by an easy say-so.

"How to Cancel Amazon Prime"
https://www.howtogeek.com/429020/how-to-cancel-amazon-prime/

Some ebay vendors require that buyers use Amazon Prime. You might
check if that is what happened.

* Do NOT use e-bay; have been cheated both sides of the fence (buy,sell).

Sorry. That was a typographical error. I should have written:

Some *Amazon* vendors require that buyers use Amazon Prime.
You might check if that is what happened.
* Saw no mention / indication of that.

I tend to use eBay far more often than Amazon, mostly for repair parts
and sub-assembly purchases that were scrapped from allegedly working
machines. I've never been intentionally cheated either buying or
sell, but have purchased wrong parts usually due to either a vague or
deceptive item description, or my failing to carefully read the item
description. I've also returned some items for various reasons, and
have noticed that the transaction only seems to go awry when an eBay
employee or contractor becomes involved. Caveat emptor and caveat
venditor.

"Sell products with the Prime badge directly from your warehouse"
https://services.amazon.com/services/seller-fulfilled-prime.html

 

[Robert Baer]

Martin Brown wrote:

On 13/11/2019 03:45, John Doe wrote:
Martin Brown &lt;'''newspam'''@nezumi.demon.co.uk&gt; wrote:

John Doe wrote:
Robert Baer &lt;robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

Well, today using that strategy, i selected 3 day shipping and
they FORCED "prime" on me.

You weren't paying attention. The free month offer is a good deal,
it's not FORCED on you.

Not quite. There has been a recent promotion where they automatically
upgrade you to Prime with no option to opt out if you don't want it.

And the cow jumped over the moon. That wouldn't even be legal here in
the United States. Next time, take a screenshot. Then we can help with
your confusion.

Actually I can reproduce it and although you are right that there is a
hidden option to proceed without Prime it is very well hidden and not
present at all on the order summary page. Which says and I quote the
relevant HTML from the order screen verbatim below (what a mess!):


img
src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/02/marketing/prime/testing/prime-logo-spc._CB515943449_.png"
alt="Martin, we are giving you a FREE 30-day trial of Prime."
class="primeStripeImage"/&gt;            &lt;/td
        &lt;td





span data-prime-metric="al1"
a href="javascript:void(0)" data-action="a-checkout-modal-popover"
data-a-checkout-modal-popover='{"name": "prime-acquisition-spc-popover",
"header": "Amazon Prime"}' class="a-declarative prime-popover-link"
                &lt;span class="emphasisedPopoverLauncher"
                    Martin, we are giving you a FREE 30-day trial of
Prime.
                &lt;/span
/a
/span


            Your benefits will include Free One-Day delivery on
millions of items, instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows,
over two million songs ad-free and many other benefits. You can cancel
anytime.
            &lt;br/
            &lt;span id="beforeLearnMore"&gt;&amp;raquo;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span


The scenario that elicits this situation is that you buy from an Amazon
Marketplace trader who offers free shipping on an order under ÂŁ20.
Result is a forced "free" upgrade to Amazon Prime with a rider that you
can cancel any time in the next 30 days. Curiously the only option for
delivery was FREE standard delivery in 3-5 days despite the "Prime".

I am pretty sure it is illegal to do this in the UK too.
It is certainly bad practice.

Thanks. Looks like proof of forcing "prime" on someone to me..

 

[-asop-]

On 11/14/19 12:45 AM, Rick C wrote:

For me the ideal combination is to be able to buy in the store, but also have the store be a free delivery pickup and return location for Internet purchases. That works for me. I was tickled to get a sealed lead acid battery at half the cost of other Internet sellers because of the high cost of shipping which Home Depot ate because they tossed it on a truck arriving there anyway. Awesome! I think I've done that with Walmart once or twice as well.

I tried that with Best Buy once but they messed it up in that the item was on sale, so when I was able to get there to pick it up the sale was over and they wouldn't give it to me. I guess this was a bit different in that I was buying something already in the store. Still, it was very goofy. The web site said it was on sale, but the dates were not very obvious and there was no mention of having to pick it up by any given date. It was flash memory, so any time you don't buy it you end up saving money by buying it a couple of months later. I just bought a 256GB Sandisk USB drive for something like $30 at Costco. Amazing! Of course, with Costco you have to factor in the $1.25 weekly membership fee. I think that comes to around 1 or 2% added markup for what I end up spending there. The guy at the return desk shared a Costco tidbit. When a price ends in $.99, that's a regular price. When it ends in $.97 that's a closeout price.

The best deal I ever got on electronics buying new was at Walmart four
years ago. I happened to be checking their "clearance" isle and almost
missed about a dozen or so 1 TB self powered USB hard drives for $9
each. I couldn't believe the price and thought maybe there was some
sort of error, but it rung up at that price at the register. I think
the reason for the sale was that they were "formatted for Mac" which, as
most PC savvy folks know, is a no brainer to format to something else
but much of the public wouldn't know that thinking they could only be
used on the Mac. Anyway, I picked up half a dozen with the intention of
returning to get the rest. The cashier really looked them over and I'll
bet when I walked out, she or someone she knew grabbed the rest.
Anyway, the best deal I've ever come across and I use the drives
regularly for back ups and other purposes.

 

[Robert Baer]

John Doe wrote:

Robert Baer &lt;robertbaer@localnet.com&gt; wrote:

Are you a lawyer that could do something meaningful about this BS?

Nope! I cannot hold a candle to a good lawyer. I build arguments on the
foundation of "honesty" (speaking my mind instead of being paid to argue
any thing). Besides being good at presentation, successful lawyers are
capable of remembering massive amounts of stuff. That's what it takes
when you do not (necessarily) believe in what you say. Otherwise you
will be tripped up.

So..you believe in honesty...for yourself ONLY.

I made a true statement having "prime" forced on me.
Suppose for the sake of argument that i knew ahead of time that would
happen, that i took screenshots at every step for proof.
I dare say you would not take that sequence as proof.

I am well aware of the tricks Amazon uses to trap one into
choosing/accepting "prime", i have ordered a lot of stuff over the
years, and the "prime" thing was basically in the background except for
chosen items which had "prime" plastered right by the item ad.

Then more and more items had/have the "prime" plastered right by the
item ad.

Take a long walk off a short pier.

 

[Rick C]

On Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 4:00:37 AM UTC-5, -asop- wrote:

I used to sell a lot on eBay until all the rules and regs they've come
up with over the years have discouraged me a lot. What did it for me
was having someone come along and open a case a month after purchasing a
"used- as-is" electronic antique item. Doesn't matter how old it is or
what shape it's in, the customer can get refunded even with as-is items.
That did it for me.

I'm not a happy camper with Amazon either mainly due to Prime. They
*used* to have the free shipping long before prime came along, but
obviously not enough money was made so they made free shipping items
without prime far fewer.

I still actually like going out and buying things, but online has those
days numbered. I suspect a day will come soon when the malls will close
and Walmart will dwindle like Kmart and the others before it did and
eventually go out of business all because of online firms. Once all the
physical world places are gone, watch out.

I may be a bit too old school, but I have no interest in buying online many things like clothing, bedding, furnishings and such that I would want to touch and see first hand before I buy. I know people who buy these things online and simply return them if they aren't suitable. The process of returning by shipping is anathema to me. It's a big enough PITA to return things to stores I visit regularly.

I don't believe for a minute that stores will disappear, but then I've been wrong about paradigm shifts like this before. I never thought anyone would feel the need to have a cell phone instead of a land line unless they were in an occupation where they needed to be reachable pretty much all the time. Boy, was I wrong about that and this might be the same sort of outdated opinion.

For me the ideal combination is to be able to buy in the store, but also have the store be a free delivery pickup and return location for Internet purchases. That works for me. I was tickled to get a sealed lead acid battery at half the cost of other Internet sellers because of the high cost of shipping which Home Depot ate because they tossed it on a truck arriving there anyway. Awesome! I think I've done that with Walmart once or twice as well.

I tried that with Best Buy once but they messed it up in that the item was on sale, so when I was able to get there to pick it up the sale was over and they wouldn't give it to me. I guess this was a bit different in that I was buying something already in the store. Still, it was very goofy. The web site said it was on sale, but the dates were not very obvious and there was no mention of having to pick it up by any given date. It was flash memory, so any time you don't buy it you end up saving money by buying it a couple of months later. I just bought a 256GB Sandisk USB drive for something like $30 at Costco. Amazing! Of course, with Costco you have to factor in the $1.25 weekly membership fee. I think that comes to around 1 or 2% added markup for what I end up spending there. The guy at the return desk shared a Costco tidbit. When a price ends in $.99, that's a regular price. When it ends in $.97 that's a closeout price.

--

Rick C.

--+ Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
--+ Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209