Crazedseepies wrote:
Ebay wins in every case when you exclude textbooks.
On amazon, you cannot sort by total cost (price+shipping). Even when you look within an item's listing, all the sellers' total prices only vary about one or two cents.
On the other hand, if you search eBay, you can sort by total price right off the bat. And the prices are ALWAYS cheaper. And instead of being limited to free shipping from amazon prime (assuming you spend a certain amount of money), TONS of items on eBay have free shipping.
eBay used to win in every case. If you purchase something Amazon Prime then that's typically being shipped by Amazon. On eBay you don't know if that is coming from a company or an individual. I don't want to order supplements from some guy storing them in their hot garage or lives in squalor. You're not getting free shipping with Prime or with eBay, trust me, the price is built in. Yes you can sort total cost with Amazon if you search "prime only" because everything has 2-day shipping. You buy something thru Amazon and it's shipping usually within a few hours, with eBay you have no clue when you're getting your item. Some eBay merchants ship only once or twice a week which you only realize when you read the fine fine print.
I got a really good deal on a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses thru eBay because they were counterfeit, I did eventually get my money back abot 10 weeks later and a lot of finger pointing and hoops to jump thru. With Amazon I print a return label and I get my money back the second the UPS guy scans the tracking number. There is an S-load of counterfeit items on eBay that you're not going to find on Amazon.
eBay is good if you are looking for a particular something no longer made or want to buy used. I get car parts, used bike parts and I have gotten really good deals on used jeans. As many of good deals I've gotten you will always get burned from time to time you have to factor in all those good deals. Sometimes you get something that just wasn't what you wanted or the jeans don't fit right...with eBay you're typically stuck with it because that was no ones fault but your own and the merchant has a no return policy. You're guaranteed a certain level of customer service and it's worth paying a bit more for that guarantee. How many times will Amazon use sticky used plastic grocery bags for packing material, or find dog hair? If they're shipping a carb for my motorcycle that's fine but I don't want the running shorts I just bought be shipped that way.