I recently had to buy a bunch of lawn mower parts to fix mine... Through amazon (I'm a prime member) they were LESS THAN half what I would have had to pay locally.

Example: The main deck belt, locally, ~$60 after tax. Amazon, 19.99, no tax, no shipping.

Example 2: Spindle that holds one of the blades. Locally, ~$125, amazon, $35.

[Edit: One problem with amazon on that last one. It had four mounting holes that were supposed to be tapped but were not. I did have to go get a tap/die set, which was another $20. Still came out way ahead and needed to have a set of taps and dies around anyway.]

Just got this from Amazon. : Rebates to use their fulfillment....

You are invited to participate in an exclusive offer.

When you register with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) before September 30, 2012, you can earn a rebate on shipping and fulfillment fees up to $1,900.
•Get up to $700 back when you ship your inventory to us using our discounted Amazon partnered carrier.
•Get up to $1,200 back in fulfillment fees based on how many units you sell and we ship.
•The rebate will be made as a deposit to your Amazon Seller Account.


Clicking this button indicates that you are the original recipient of this e-mail
and understand the requirements of this offer outlined below.



The more you sell, the more you get back!

Amazon Services LLC (“Amazon”) is offering new sellers who register for FBA through a direct sales representative the opportunity to earn both:




(a) Shipping Cost Rebate:

A rebate on the shipping fees paid by you, up to $700, to ship units to an Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012.

The number of units received by Amazon from you between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, will determine the amount of the Shipping Cost Rebate you can earn.





Shipping Cost Rebate schedule




Units Received


Rebate up to




200-499


$50




500-999


$150




1,000-2,499


$300




2,500 +


$700




AND




(b) FBA Fees Rebate:

A rebate on FBA fees, including Multi-Channel fees for off-Amazon.com orders, incurred by you, up to $1,200, for units shipped for you through FBA between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012.

The number of units shipped for the seller through FBA between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, will determine the amount of the FBA Fees Rebate you can earn.





FBA Fees Rebate schedule




Units Shipped


Rebate up to




100-249


$100




250-499


$300




500-999


$600




1,000+


$1,200




How it Works
•This offer applies to all shipments received at and/or shipped from a qualified Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012.
•Qualified sellers will receive a one-time Shipping Cost Rebate in the amount of the actual cost, up to the amount earned per the above schedule, of their inbound shipments received at an Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012. For example, if Amazon receives 750 units from the seller between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, at a verified shipping cost of $200, the seller will receive a Shipping Cost Rebate of $150.
•Qualified sellers will also receive a one-time FBA Fees Rebate in the amount of the actual cost, up to the amount earned per the above schedule, of FBA fees incurred for units shipped for the seller through FBA between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012. For example, if Amazon ships 750 of the seller’s units through FBA to fulfill the seller’s Amazon.com and off-Amazon.com orders between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, and the seller incurs $700 in FBA fees, the seller will receive an FBA Fees Rebate of $600.
•The combined dollar amount of any Shipping Cost Rebate and FBA Fees Rebate earned will be deposited to or used to offset any negative balance in the seller’s Amazon Seller Account on or before November 1, 2012. The amount will be titled “Other.”
•This offer is not “incremental”; sellers will not accumulate more than one Shipping Cost Rebate or more than one FBA Fees Rebate.
•The seller must use the integrated UPS shipping account to send their products to Amazon unless prior arrangement is confirmed in writing by the Amazon sales associate.
•If using a carrier other than the Amazon UPS account, proof of shipping costs will be required to verify the costs of inbound shipments to an Amazon fulfillment center. Proof of shipping costs (for example, a bill of lading or official shipping receipt from the carrier) must be submitted to and received by an Amazon associate no later than October 10, 2012, otherwise such costs will not be considered in calculating the Shipping Cost Rebate.

Qualifications

To qualify for these rebates, a seller must sign up for FBA before September 30, 2012, and ship its first units to an Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012. The rebates earned will be based on only units received at a qualified Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012, and/or shipped from a qualified Amazon fulfillment center between July 1, 2012, and September 30, 2012.

Costs and Fees NOT Covered by the Rebate

The rebates earned by the seller will NOT cover any portion of the following costs and fees charged to the seller:
•FBA removal and return fees for inventory the seller requests Amazon to remove and/or return.
•Fees that are not part of FBA, including:

•Any sales commission or closing fees charged by Amazon in connection with the sale of any unit.
•Any subscription fees for any other Amazon program, including the Professional Selling plan and the WebStore by Amazon service.

Additional Terms
•This rebate offer is void where prohibited.
•Amazon may terminate or modify the terms of this offer at any time in its sole discretion.
•This offer will not be applied retroactively to any units shipped to Amazon by a seller prior to the seller signing up for the Fulfillment by Amazon service.








--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Regards,

SF Proxy
antonc@amazon.com








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I have found sears parts direct is pretty good for mower parts.

I've noticed the main sears.com online site is a lame attempt to copy what amazon does with the marketplace stuff with third party sellers. I noticed Newegg is also doing the marketplace thing too, and selling all kinds of stuff now like tools and appliances.

Gawd I hate Sears website! Its like this mesh-mash of different sites, completely disorganized & way way more expensive than other sites. Occasionally I'll go there to see if they have an item & the instant the site pulls up, I start kicking myself & say its not worth the hassle.

Amazon tax free? How so? If your state has sales tax you're supposed to report all out of state purchases on your state tax form and then pay the sales tax. Do we have a bunch of fraudsters here?

Quote:

Do we have a bunch of fraudsters here?

Welcome to america, the home of the free and the brave.....

UHm...

Home of the tax evaders?

Amazon is still 10-50% on most items I comparison browse for; and it's more heavily weighted on the books side, which is what I typically buy from them. They have great selections on harder to find items that I want as well (toys, Legos specifically for my little man - ok, and daddy too!). While the cost is slightly higher on these sometimes, it's the scarcity factor. I finally drove around to all of the different venues that had the same items, and while I found 75% of what I wanted at the various stores, it still wasn't the 100% I typically find on Amazon, and the prices were all over the board comparitively.

Price advantage slipping away? Possibly, in some areas - but it's not nearly what you're thinking it is - at least not from this angle.

Only place I collect lego from anymore (due to price) is yard sales.

When our treasury secretary files a knowingly false tax return, our current president never really paid taxes or even had a job and appears to have faked his birth record, social security card and draft registration, his opponent has half his **** off shore, a main contributor to the Obama election stole millions in MF global and walks the streets free, the prior president committed perjury under oath and was disbarred from the Arkansas BAR association, the banks manipulated libor and are no longer required to mark holding to market prices, the last treasury secretary used a government loophole to not pay capital gains on 200M in Goldman stock sales, the house and senate can legally trade on inside information, the market on which they trade is known to be rigged by HFT traders illegally skimming profits off a broken system but nothing is done, key federal reports are leaked ahead of time, AIG was allowed to sell insurance it couldn’t pay and is still in business, GM bondholders were subordinated though an illegal government intervention, the FED is the main buyer of new treasuries, Fannie and Freddie bonds now have the backing of the federal government when they specifically said they did not at issue, pension funds are allowed to operate with 7%+ growth assumptions in a zirp market, candidates routinely lie to Seniors and tell them social security is safe, the supreme court just ruled the absence of commerce can now be fined but the fine is really a tax………..and you want me to self report sales tax on internet purchases? **** YOU.

BTW – I know you were kidding but I wanted to vent. This is truly a ****ing banana republic from any objectionable view. To address that, I stay in cash, pay down debt as fast as possible and buy guns and ammo…**** the rest of this ****.

Eighty6thebs++

Totally EPIC..I wish I could use that as my sig.

Outstanding rant 86!

I copied it to the funny or apropos thread that's pinned in the bar.

DEFINITELY worth it. :)

Cue the monkey....

86... a nice comprehensive rant :) dead nuts on.


We're at end game here, everyone is doing fraud to make a buck where-ever or how-ever they can. As we see, enforcement has pretty much ceased so frauds will get bigger and bigger.

86...damn, that's perfect!

86...excellent rant. Mind if I copy it to FB and G+? I'll credit you and provide a link to this thread.

I was wandering around on amazon a bit ago.

Do a search, then sort highest->lowest for price. Pretty much the first whole page of every one is 5 figures or more, many in the millions.

Talking **** like wrenches and stuff like that.

Perfect rant 86.

What the govt needs to learn is that others are noticing their reckless behavior and asking themselves " If they aren't playing by the rules, why should I?"

I just sold my boat and the guy that bought it owns a small company with 12 employees. He pulled out 16k in cash. I asked him if he ever heard of a cashiers check and he looked at me and smiled.....

Sandor, I wouldn't take a cashiers check, unless I knew the bank it was drawn on and was very familiar with their checks. Cash only for anything like that from me.

I just paid for an entire HVAC replacement in our home in cash...the guy simply smiled and said, "I hope I don't get robbed by the cops on the way home!" Paid to have 8 acres of forest cleared and leveled last year with all cash as well...I love the smile it brings to people's faces! :)

I don't understand why so many people do everything they can to avoid paying taxes. I have no problem at all paying state taxes collected by Amazon and (I'm in TX) I will continue to be a frequent Amazon customer and seller. I'm a second-year Prime customer and that will help save me some money and I'll look for other opportunities to save. But taxing my purchase won't make a bit of difference to me.

I ****ing HATE going out to buy something. I hate the traffic (DFW). I hate the stupid ****ing people you ALWAYS encounter when you have to go to a retail store. I hate the driving, parking, parking lot, ******ned no-turning wheel-squawling shopping ****ing carts. I hate all that especially in the asphalt boiling summers and the cold, damp, windy ****ty winters. With Amazon, the mother****ing UPS guy has to do all that bull****.

Long live Amazon!

I'm horribly arthritic and it requires ignoring a lot of pain to go walk around a store.
Before they closed Borders took almost every stool and chair out so I could not pull up a stool and browse a section sitting.
About two weeks ago I went to the local Barnes and Noble and they had done the same thing. I won't be back. After Borders I take that as a sign they are failing.
It is well worth the expense to me to have the nice UPS gal bring my stuff right to my door.

Quote:

I don't understand why so many people do everything they can to avoid paying taxes.

Because some of us are against legalized armed robbery...if I can avoid paying even a penny in tax...I will. I'm also a Prime member, and have been for about 2 years as well...when AMZN starts collecting sales tax in TN...I'll find somebody else to order from.

Mpilar: Right with ya.

Sometimes, Amazon just has the item you're looking for, when nobody else does.

That's how I got started there at all.

I've been wondering if a Prime membership is worth it.