Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Walmart vs Amazon..........

who is gonna win ? Walmart is free shipping on $35+ orders

no annual fee....Amazon Prime is $99....but offers music/videos

free shipping.....along with sales tax for us now...just for fun..

I went to Walmart online...added 2 50# bags of dog food to my cart

along with one other item to make the $35 order...yep..free 2 day

shipping...not sure how they can ship 100# order for free.....

Walmart is relatively new to the online business but they're putting a lot of money and effort into it. I think they really plan to challenge Amazon. Amazon, OTOH, has greatly increased their prices, including shipping. A couple years ago, shipping was free for orders over $25. Now it's $49. They're pushing Prime very hard.

For some things, Amazon is just plain nuts. Last week I was looking for some acorn squash seeds. The variety is a common one but I can't find them locally. I can get 100 seeds for about $2.50 from several online vendors but Amazon priced 50 seeds for $9.

3rd party sellers are hurting Amazon. They sell on Amazon and sometimes can't deliver. Had 3 instances of that during January.
Now, I buy only items shipped and sold by Amazon.

It wasn't free, for sure. They can't sell at a loss. You paid for it but it was buried in the price. They just took a smaller profit.

Yeah, I've ONLY ever bought items sold by Amazon.

I'm surprised you can get 2 bags of dog food plus a third item for $35!

I've noticed recently that Wal-Mart has started expanding their online inventory to be much more similar to Amazon.

I just assumed that you could only buy online what you could buy at the stores, but over the past year or so, when I do a search for a refurbished item or a very specific tool/electronics..even tires, whatever, Wal-Mart usually comes up as one of the retailers online selling it and very often its not available at my local store.

amazon still has lots more stuff than wally world, car parts etc.

Walmart operates Sam's club which is a membership-only retail warehouse type store, so Walmart certainly understands the concept of paid membership. They even have a higher price business membership for those needing access earlier in the day.

Amazon prime is better on shipping as there's no minimum purchase and if you have low cost high speed internet then Amazon video is worth the $99 per year all on its own, assuming you like on demand ad free movies and TV shows.

Amazon is and will continue to be the killer of most anything termed 'bricks & mortar'. It took The Walmarts[as most around here call it] a little time to figure out how to compete with a online Walmart but they seem to be getting there.

I take what I can get where I can get it. I know there's folks with a lot more $$$ and there's folks who desire to be more selective where they do business.... Stuff on my Amazon list fluctuates in price and availability enough I've seen some things to look out for. Prices are generally higher on weekends is one. Sometimes something that's been sitting there for months will suddenly drop 30% or more for a few days. There's solid third party sellers on Amazon just like Ebay. Sometimes the same offers, sometimes different. And there's crappy ones everywhere. Sometimes Walmart will have something that competes and if so - they get the business. I got a ring set recently that delivered to a Walmart was by far the best deal, so I took it. Many things simply are not available locally. Absolutely not available. Online allows one to be very specific in choosing particular models etc... I have had decent luck buying crap direct from China (mostly via Ebay) for a fraction of the cost buying after all the middlemen. If I can buy it from some dude that is ok with a 5% markup rather some dickwadd string of companies that make it 300% or more, I will do it gladly. I will admit that I don't generally GAF about retailers politics and I dig 2-day or faster shipping. Being in a state now that doesn't get taxed by Amazon is swell. The shipping upgrades are easily easily easily worth the Prime fee. It's amazing how ridiculously overpriced some things are at some retailers and it's all so highly variable. Buyer beware. I have bough a lot of chit the past several years setting up for various things. I'll take it where I can get it.

Walmart's online website, like Amazon, seems to be getting heavier with 3rd party vendors offering their products for sale as an option to what Walmart stocks. Also like Amazon, when you buy from one of the 3rd party vendors you usually have to deal directly with them not Walmart if any problems and returns.

Latter part of last year Walmart sealed a deal buying e-commerce site Jet.com.

just read that Amazon missed its earning projections by about $900m in part due to the increase of 3rd party sellers who diminish margin.

Yep have had that happen to me.

a big scam on Amazon before Xmas was a 3rd party seller would come on, post something 40 - 50% cheaper than Amazon would, but would sell it with a vague shipping date - like a month away.

If you looked at ratings they would be a new seller. They sell for 2 weeks or so and never ship anything out, then disappear when amazon called them on it, and then you'd have to get a refund thru Amazon.

Wal-Mart is building a 4 million sq ft distribution facility in Nevada to start taking on Amazon. Their website sucks but I'm sure that will change.