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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Billsig who wrote (11701)	7/25/1998 1:05:00 PM
From: Ron Kline	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

It's hard to be objective if you own the stock and only buy books from Amazon and haven't even looked at the other sights. People do like convenience and AMZN offers this but price does make a difference. I always go on Yahoo and search my book under their shopping network. I find all prices and choose the lowest. I also look the ease of use and the way they handle orders. I will say so far Amazon does come in the top area for this. One thing I don't like about AMZN is they manipulate prices on what they charge for books. They have a newsletter they send out and many times when they recommend a book they will change the sale from 40% to 30%. Once they get a bunch of orders they sometimes change it back to 40%. I got pretty mad because I happened to by an investment book before they covered it in their newsletter. When I went back in it changed from 40 to 30%. Then I bought a book from their newsletter and went back in weeks later and it went from 30 to 40%. I'm not sure they still do this but I've cancelled getting the newsletter for this reason. Ron

To: Billsig who wrote (11701)	7/25/1998 1:18:00 PM
From: Greg M.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164684

WJS, It sounds like you are representative of some higher income shoppers who clearly see "time is money" and who buy readily available titles. I enjoy both browsing at a "bricks & mortar" store and buying online as well. I order many titles, however, that are not in stock. AMZN on the whole has done a reasonably good job of getting them to me--despite numerous shipping glitches (that all co's seem to share). From experience, however, Borders in particular has had over a dozen books I bought "in stock/for immediate shipping" when AMZN said "hard to find" or "ships in 2 to 3 weeks." My guess is that you will quickly learn to shop the other sites as soon as you want a book ASAP--which AMZN says it won't have for a few days. Others, more bargain conscious than yourself, already are shopping around. Good luck, Monty

To: Billsig who wrote (11701)	7/25/1998 1:50:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

William<I'll be honest I haven't been on Barnes and Nobles or Borders or any other online sellers' websites and don't see a need to> Of course not. Your not just as frugal as most of us. If I was a car salesman, I'd love to have you as a customer.

To: Billsig who wrote (11701)	7/25/1998 2:38:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

<<<<3days. I didn't shop the other 20 online book sellers to find out who could save me another a buck. I don't care about the rest I'm comfortable with amazon and quite frankly don't care if the whole industry raised their prices or cut their discounts. In fact i would probably be willing to pay more for a given book from an on line retailer then to go to a book store and spend 1 hour looking for a book that they probably won't have anyway. I like the flexibility, spontaneity, and choices. In fact buying a book is so easy from amzn with that 1 click system, that I'm waiting for someone to sue amzn for damages due to the customer filing for bankruptcy. Its just to easy to order books. I'll be honest I haven't been on Barnes and Nobles or Borders or any other online sellers' websites and don't see a need to>>>> I'm sure that the segment of the book buying public that wants to be online, which will be equally confy with barnes&noble or borders will feel the same way that you do. Maximum share for amzn of this market in 2-5 years = 33%. LP

To: Billsig who wrote (11701)	7/25/1998 3:13:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Amazon.com does have a very nice site but their market advantage is disappearing. Many people will take the same attitude you have expressed - you, after all, are the customer and have every right to shop how you wish - but they will shop at Barnes & Noble or Borders instead. Partly because they are familiar with shopping at their walk-in stores (the first rule in marketing is to gain recognition or "familiarity" with the customer - the reason Amazon.com is spending into debt to advertise). Partly because these companies now have attractive and easy to use web sites on a par with Amazon.com.