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What could I possibly say about Amazon.com that hasn't already been said? Perhaps nothing I have to say about this site is unique. Perhaps I'll simply provide a new combination of praises that have already been sung 1,671 times. I'm usually not one to strive for redundancy and I usually shy away from reviewing anything with more than 100 reviews. After working in retail for several years, I appreciate hard work and good service. I know how heavily businesses rely on feedback and recommendations, and I also know that excellent shopping experiences are not necessarily a dime a dozen. I was impressed enough to be compelled to write review 1,672 on Amazon.com.

What is Amazon.com?
Since this review is on the internet, I believe it would be reasonable to assume you have used the internet before. I’m sure you also have heard of Amazon.com before, but I’ll provide a brief refresher. This site is an online marketplace selling a huge variety of products including DVDs, CDs, electronics, games, computer hardware software, sporting goods, tools, jewelry, clothing, toys, makeup, personal care items, and even groceries. Most items are sold directly by Amazon.com, though some are sold from third-parties that are backed by Amazon. The site also sells new and used items from users, similar to Ebay, but allowing sellers to keep their listings up indefinitely at a set price.

The Site
Amazon.com is easy to navigate. Simply type the name of the product or its description into the search box for a quick list of related items. I found the search function to be accurate, usually resulting in the product I was looking for at the top of my search results. This may be in part to the site’s feature that allows users to suggest tags for the products. I’m sure with the millions of internet users that must shop on this site, eventually every tag you can think of will be associated with the appropriate products. Search results can be further narrowed by parameters that are linked on the left side of the search, including product category, price, and seller. I found this feature to be especially helpful when I was having difficulty describing what I was looking for. My mother wanted a box to hold her recipe cards in for Christmas. I wasn’t completely sure what would be the best search terms, so I used “recipe organizer.” The results mostly what I was looking for (some were binders when I was looking for a box, but not the fault of the search as I didn’t specify). The links allowed me to narrow my search to exactly what I was looking for.

Even when you know exactly what you’re looking for, you will often encounter several matches. For example, I wanted to buy my father the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End DVD. Amazon.com offers several versions of this DVD, including a widescreen, full screen, collector’s, and special edition. It can be a little more time-consuming to go through all of these matches to find the one you want, but I certainly cannot complain about a great selection.

Browsing the site is also very easy, though time-consuming considering the enormous selection offered. You can browse using categories and multiple subcategories. You can also use the same links to narrow down the items as are available while using the search feature. I browsed the electronics section to find my mother a portable CD player. I was able to limit it to only items stocked by Amazon.com to ensure faster shipping and able to narrow it down to my favorite brand.

Product pages are very detailed and complete. Each product listing is accompanied by a stock photo, with some having “customer photos” that are uploaded by users. There is a product description that details the products features. Information about the availability is included for each item, along with shipping estimates for the different methods of shipping. There are links to related products and also similar products that you may prefer. For example, many of the DVDs I looked into were available in Blu-ray and linked as such on their product pages. Other helpful information and media is often included, such as editorial reviews, consumer reviews, still images, and audio clips are provided as appropriate with each item. Some consumer reviews are more helpful than others, but either way, the effort to educate the consumer is appreciated.

The site is very stable. I encountered no broken links or errors while shopping.

Ordering
I have ordered from Amazon.com many times in the past, but the latest few purchases have been especially memorable so I’ll focus on them. This site has made my last-minute Christmas shopping so much easier

I was able to find every item in stock, within 1-2 weeks of Christmas. Up until December 18, they were guaranteeing Christmas delivery for even the lowest shipping option. I was able to find all three of the Star Trek The Next Generation box sets that my fiance is missing. I ordered it with standard shipping and received it within only 4 business days. My latest purchase was for $180 worth of DVDs, electronics, CDs, and books. I made the purchase on Monday and chose second-day shipping, even though the slower shipping would have made it to me by Christmas. They split the order at no extra cost to me and shipped half of it FedEx to get it to me on time. One package came today and the other is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

I was very impressed by their product availability and swiftness, especially so close to the holiday. The status was updated quickly on their website and my orders are being shipped extremely fast. Everything that has arrived thus far has been exactly as described on their website and in perfect condition. The boxes had been packed very neatly and I had no doubt the products arrived in the same condition they had left the warehouse in.

Price-wise, Amazon.com is very competitive. I found their CDs and DVDs to be priced $2-3 less than some competitors (Best Buy, Circuit City), the electronics to run about $5-$15 less than those stores, and their books to be $4-5 less than the same books on Barnes and Noble. Even the shipping charges were reasonable.

The entire ordering process was very easy. Like most online shopping sites, you click “add to cart” and follow step-by-step instructions to fill out the order. I encountered no problems with the site during ordering, despite the high volume of traffic they must be receiving at this time. I can’t comment on their customer service as I had no problems that caused me to have to deal with them.

Overall Recommendation
I highly recommend Amazon.com for all of your internet shopping. It is definitely a better option than braving crowded stores.