I’m generally a fan of Amazon: they have good prices, good customer service, free shipping in orders of $25 or more and products that arrive fairly quickly (though there are exceptions). But I’m not thrilled about their pricing and search policy. While they often have the lowest prices, they often offer a same product in multiple pages (their own and those of its associated businesses), often at wildly varied prices, but you cannot always find the product with the cheapest price by searching for it in Amazon’s search engine.
For example, do a search for the “connair quick gem” (which I just got Mika) and the only search result you will get is this one, from an associate that sells the product for $18 + $5.20 shipping. But if you search for “quick gem jeweler” you will arrive to this page which sells directly for Amazon for $8 + free shipping (in orders over $25). Yes, the first one is a misspelling of the company maker – but if it could find the first product, why not the second?
My other concern is that Amazon’s prices change wildly, so you have to be pretty attentive and check multiple times to see that you get the best deal. And finally, it’s often difficult to find very cheap products (let’s say, $5 and under) that qualify for free shipping, often what you need to get your order to $25 to get such free shipping.
But despite all that I continue buying from Amazon – most often because I can’t find the same product cheaper somewhere else.