Recovering Amazon Addict

One of my favourite corporate data collecting organisations is Amazon.

I have been a Prime member for years. I liked them so much I usually just paid for my subscription for the year in one hit.

I ignored the fact that their employees probably aren’t treated the best and that their boss went on a joy ride to touch the fabric of space in a cowboy hat.

My love for Amazon was next day delivery and free returns. You can’t beat it.

I can order something today have it tomorrow and then if I decide I don’t want it after opening it, just put it back in the box slap a label on it and send it back. Free!

Doing this in any other retail environment can be difficult.

The distance selling regulations in the UK (and EU), means I can buy something online and I instantly get a seven day cooling off period, that entitles me to send the item back without penalty or even a reason. It does state that return delivery costs can be liable for the consumer.

Amazon goes a bit further, you get thirty days and returning the item is free.

This applies to any product sold and dispatched by Amazon.

Amazon is a market place so independent traders can sell as well. There are different ways goods get delivered to us and that can have implications on if return postage has to be paid.

The one I always look for with items I am not sure I want to keep, to ensure hassle free returns is:

Sold by Amazon

Dispatched by Amazon

My second favourite to get equally good terms is:

Sold by [independent trader]

Fulfilled by Amazon

The one I try to avoid is:

Sold by [independent trader]

Dispatched by [independent trader]

That probably looks like I shunned the small business trying to make a living, but in reality I am trying to save myself money and the third party hassle. Any product that a small company has to take back comes with an administrative cost. The item has to be received and checked and added back into inventory. It can be time consuming.

If I was not 100% certain I wanted a particular product I had no problem on putting all the hassle on Amazon. In fact I enjoyed it, a bit too much.

This type of consumer power isn’t good for me, I became fickle. I was ordering products continually. In 2022 I placed a total of 165 orders with Amazon. I returned 57 products.

I returned 34.5% of all goods purchased. As a Prime member I was getting really good value for money, but I have some concerns.

My shopping habits were obviously a little bit screwed up. That sort of return rate is clearly impulse purchasing at it’s worst.

The seemingly endless products that are available in theory makes for a great retail experience however the quality of the items varies.

Reputable brands are generally very good but there is a growing number of brands with names I can’t pronounce sprawled across the site. I often go for a cheaper model because, well, it is cheaper, but the quality rarely lives up to the hype and the way the items are marketed goes from awful to untruthful. This contributed to my return rate.

It is quite time consuming returning products all the time. That is a first world problem, but it is true. More life administration stuff I don’t need. All completely self inflicted.

Environmental factors. Amazon deliveries had been turning up at my home on average approximately every three days. I have been returning items every seven days. This type of consumerism is not helping with my carbon footprint.

I could say that I was creating jobs by ordering all this stuff, but it is likely I was just putting more pressure on the existing logistics workforce.

I am abusing the seven day distance selling regulation. It doesn’t matter how I feel about big companies like Amazon. The fact I consider myself as winning against them is false. They knew exactly what I was doing and they allowed it. They could have easily stopped it. I was not getting one up. I was playing straight into the hands. As long as I was engaging with them they had me as a customer.

Next day delivery is good but it is not required most of the time, it just contributes to the instant gratification way of life we live and it is not very complimentary for society. Waiting a few days for a delivery should not be an issue, a little patience and the desire to want something is good. We don’t really feel that sensation anymore. Most of the fun in owning something new is the desire to own it. Once you have said item then the desire dissipates quite fast.

I am aware of the fact I have specific requirements when shopping on Amazon that are second nature to ensure I am able to leverage everything to bend to my will. It is not about the shopping anymore it is about what I can acquire and if I can return it. That is not a healthy habit.

Amazon Prime expired for me in March 2023, I haven’t renewed my account.

In that time I have purchased seven products and returned one. That is about one item every ten days delivered, and one item returned every seventy days.

I am not completely cured yet but I have improved considerably.