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by sidlls 3226 days ago
Free shipping for what delivery time frame?

Amazon Prime's fees are quite small compared to direct shipping costs with carriers. It depends on the product type, of course, but typically third-party sellers are already on thin margins selling on Amazon. It's very likely that "drop a few bucks off the Amazon price and offer free shipping" means they're selling to you at a loss.
2 comments
YCode 3226 days ago
I'm not generally in a rush; if they can get it here in a week or two that's fine as long as they tell me what day it'll be here.

I'm not saying it's a great deal for the company, but what can you expect consumers to do if Amazon has the cheapest price AND prime shipping you already paid for?

That said some companies at least raise their prices on purpose when posting to Amazon in order to meet their standards for things like returns and Prime shipping.

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nostrebored 3226 days ago
You say this like it's somehow a bad thing? Amazon has built an extremely efficient distribution network comprised of all major shipping companies and a vast array of third party sellers. The price you're seeing is the result of billions of dollars of investment paying off.
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twothamendment 3226 days ago
Most of the time I'm not in a rush, but I still pick 2-day Prime because it gets delivered to my door by UPS or sometimes FedEx. If I select slower shipping or order from another site it might come USPS or SurePost (handed off to the USPS). Best case with USPS is it ends up in the mail box down the road - worst case I have to drive to town and get it at the post office.

If Amazon would let me pick a slow option that was still UPS/Fedex, I'd do it. Same with other sites, sometimes I won't buy from them if they only ship USPS and I know it won't fit in the box.

For me, Prime is great because it means most thing come to my door at no extra (other than the yearly fee) cost.

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SubiculumCode 3226 days ago
thin profit margins on amazon is not the same as costs of doing business on amazon. Amazon takes a hefty cut.
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sidlls 3226 days ago
Amazon's cut all in (shipping, listing, stocking, etc.) is often on par with the shipping cost for the slowest option with carriers.
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omarchowdhury 3225 days ago
15-20% of price sold at? No way.
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