Pulling out my soapbox.

[el ess A]

I'd rather sell for less and sell more items (economy of scale) than make all my profits off 2 or 3 sales.

But, as pointed out, a lot of companies drop ship rather than keep that stuff on the shelf. The biggest thing about that is you along with the vendor will have to wait if the supplier doesn't have it ready to go (a big problem with just-in-time business models when something goes wrong).

I think JP is saying that sometimes you're likely going to have to pay more to buy from a vendor that actually carries the inventory to supply the stuff you want "right now". If you can't wait for it, you'll pay for that convenience.

Amazon made a LOT of money by saying that they'll ship stuff out in a hurry and get it to you right friggin' now (or rather quickly). You do pay for that convenience, however. And they did that for a good while. And now it's getting murkier as they "partner" with other vendors who DON'T ship quickly. They're losing steam on their streamlined model. I used to order from Amazon a lot because they often could save me money AND have the stuff I needed in stock. Not anymore. 8 different items could come in 3 or 4 different shipments on different days. Don't know what it is, but they're starting to become the same ol' same ol'.

[BlackSmoke]

Originally Posted by el ess A

I'd rather sell for less and sell more items (economy of scale) than make all my profits off 2 or 3 sales.

But, as pointed out, a lot of companies drop ship rather than keep that stuff on the shelf. The biggest thing about that is you along with the vendor will have to wait if the supplier doesn't have it ready to go (a big problem with just-in-time business models when something goes wrong).

I think JP is saying that sometimes you're likely going to have to pay more to buy from a vendor that actually carries the inventory to supply the stuff you want "right now". If you can't wait for it, you'll pay for that convenience.

Amazon made a LOT of money by saying that they'll ship stuff out in a hurry and get it to you right friggin' now (or rather quickly). You do pay for that convenience, however. And they did that for a good while. And now it's getting murkier as they "partner" with other vendors who DON'T ship quickly. They're losing steam on their streamlined model. I used to order from Amazon a lot because they often could save me money AND have the stuff I needed in stock. Not anymore. 8 different items could come in 3 or 4 different shipments on different days. Don't know what it is, but they're starting to become the same ol' same ol'.

You are exactly right on the Amazon model. I use to brag of what a brilliant business model they had, referring to their streamline process, good pricing and quick shipments which make customers very happy along the way. I WAS a huge Amazon customer and have literally spent thousands of dollars annually. However, like you pointed out - the Amazon model is becoming rather brittle and not as appealing as it once was. Utilizing USPS as a way to save them money leaving the end user (us The customer) with lacking services such as prime 2 day delivery taking 3 or even 4 days to deliver.

I have even recieved a few items very recently that were missing parts which never ever had happened before. That tells me that quality control is now lacking so I am sure that their prime member list has suffered as a result of these changes. Amazon is the perfect case when comes to "if its not broken don't try to fix it".

I am for the first time in years considering dropping my prime membership status. It's a real shame to be honest. Any company big or small can be at the top of the mountain but with poor business decisions such as greed for the mighty dollar. They will find there are always 10 dozen other company's just waiting to take their place at the top.

[MrChrisLS3]

Originally Posted by Pathogen

This irritates me so badly. I will often choose a seller on eBay based on proximity only to find that they drop ship from another country.

And that's just it, the "E-Bay effect". E-Bay created this economy of on line vendors, many, if not most, are just people sitting in front of their computer doing mothing more than processing orders for a manufacturer. They have no "wharehouse", no 'inventory", Just an order number and shipping arrangement from someone else's wharehouse.

It is possible that even a vendor that does carry stock, might say something is in stock, when in fact it may not be on the shelf, but on the truck in the their next delivery. It really just depends on how they organize their inventory and ordering system. The philosphy being, "why lose out on this sale just because I won't actually have it until Tuesday?" They take the order, set up Fed-Ex or whoever to pick it up on Wednesday.

As far as "real time" inventories listed on line, this often requires very expensive software. Big chains can use this because they can afford it, and it saves them money in the long run. But smaller specialized vendors aren't gonna spring for this type of thing.

It is unfortunate that there are many on line vendors that will out right lie about shipping times, or maybe they just don't know and say what you want to hear. So, that leaves two choices for the consumer, search by price, or search by availability. Availability may take a little more work, and cost a little more in the end.