Amazon rocks!!!
I usually buy books from Amazon but for a change wanted to buy something from a brick and mortar retailer. I went to the nearby Barnes and Noble looking for “The Intelligent Investor“. I knew that it was selling for around 13 bucks on Amazon so was a little shocked with the 20 dollar price tag at B&N. Amazon is so much cheaper to shop at than these stores.
I ended up ordering the book from Amazon and they shipped to me for free in 2 days. It shipped for free since I am an Amazon Prime customer. If you are not a prime customer you have to buy more than 25 dollars to qualify for free shipping. Prime membership is really addictive. Ever since I joined the prime program, I buy almost everything from Amazon. 
I love Amazon because of its reliability and low prices. I have always got everything shipped from them in the time they promised. I am a loyal Amazon customer. Nowadays even if the price of an item is a few dollars more on some other website on the internet, I prefer buying it from Amazon. I know the item will reach me in good condition and at the time that they promised. If you are not happy with their product you can return it back to them for free too.
If you buy an item and its price reduces in the next 30 days, they automatically refund you the money. Now which company on earth does that. Here’s an email that one of my friends got after Amazon dropped the price of Kindle by 40 dollars.
“Since your purchase shipped within the past 30 days, I’ve requested a refund of $40. This amount reflects the difference between the price you paid for Kindle ($399) and the current price offered by Amazon.com ($359).”
A few other services from Amazon that I use often are:
1. Amazon Prime: For an annual membership fee, you get free 2 day shipping on millions of items.
2. Same day shipping: This service is available only in a few cities for now. Using this service you can get an item shipped to you on the same day for a low fee of less than 5 dollars if you are a prime member. I have tried this and am very happy with their service. A friend was leaving for India and he forgot to buy a digital camera. He found one on Amazon for a very low price compared to best buy and circuit city. I ordered the camera for him at 11:50 am and got the camera delivered to my desk at 2:30 pm on the same day.
3. Amazon Fresh: Yes, they sell fresh produce too. You get fresh groceries delivered to your home or office on the same day(free shipping if you order above a certain limit). The prices are about same as that in retail grocery stores. This service is available only in Seattle for now but hopefully they will expand in the near future. Getting groceries shipped home is so much better than going to a store.
If you are not an Amazon customer, I highly recommend you to try them out. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
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May 15th, 2008 at 11:04 am
One more cool service from Amazon is Amazon TextBuyIt!. Especially in this case, you can compare/buy while you are in the store just by texting in “The Intelligent Investor” to AMAZON (262966). And all your prime and discounts are taken care of automatically using your 1-Click settings.
May 17th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
The prime service really rocks. One fact that I use is that I share it with 4 of my friends, so the cost for prime membership comes down.
May 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Kiran, thanks for the TextBuyIt information. This new offering will make it easier for Amazon customers to purchase stuff on the fly. To learn more about TextBuyIt visit https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/productsServices?sn=mobileShopping/whatIsIt
Parik, thanks for the helpful tip. Great way to save money on your prime membership by sharing the membership with friends and family.
May 19th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Good book, classic for investing. If you want to see a modern interpretation on Graham ideals try the quick read called “The Little Book That Beats the Market” by Joel Greenblatt (aka the magic formula).
Also, Barnes and Noble is hardly a local B&M what with the strong internet presence and all. Try your local small town book store sometime as well, the pricing may be higher, but the personal knowledge may be more helpful.
Nice Blog…
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
[…] day even if I chose FREE two day shipping. To read more about Amazon coolness read my earlier post Amazon Rocks.The prices are cheaper than any other retailer and you dont have to drive to shop(think about the […]
November 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Amazon completey dominates everything out there. I did all my christmas shopping with free shipping in a matter of hours at my computer.