Amazon, really?

[rdl]

Trying to buy some stuff, getting errors such as "You have already bought too much of this item." and apparently free shipping now requires $35 minimum purchase. Hmm...

[bdunham7]

Like what and do you have Prime?

[rdl]

No, I don't have Prime. I was just trying to buy some stuff. I went to pad my order to get the free shipping and got this. It was Chicken Noodle Soup I think.

[Shonky]

I went to pad my order to get the free shipping and got this. It was Chicken Noodle Soup I think.

Well there's your problem...

[rdl]

It was the new $35 minimum order that annoyed me most.

[Kim Christensen]

I went to pad my order to get the free shipping and got this. It was Chicken Noodle Soup I think.

Well there's your problem...

I've never had that problem. I do that all the time without any problems.
It's possible that other people bought the remaining stock before the OP completed his order.

[Rick Law]

Our transportation system has been running rather sub-par in the last couple of years.  Item shortage is rather usual these days.  Thus, seller limits purchases to "stretch" the availability.  Even my local grocery store does that.  Just last weekend, I was looking at some ice-cream bars, goodness, they have a sign that limits purchase to 4 boxes (24 bars total) max!  Since the price went up significantly in the last 12 month, I was not going to get any unless it is on sale, so no impact to me.

Besides the multiple train racks in the mid-west last 12 months, ships ain't any better either.  I don't know if you recalled from November 2021 News that cargo ships pileup waiting to dock to unload at Los Angeles and Long Beach...  You can see the cargo-ships horizon to horizon.  I imagine Normandy beach on June 6, 1944 would look something like that.   Sea filled with awaiting ships must have been a rather unlikable sight, particularly coupled with empty shelves in the stores, so complaints were rumbling.  Our brilliant public servant solved the problem quickly:  mandating that ships must wait > 40 miles off shore.  Problems solved, no more unsightly parking lot of cargo ship disturbing the joy of surfing...  Almost every News reporter dropped "port delays" as a News to report, mean while empty shelves in stores remain empty.

Here is a reminder of the disappearing ships and hence availability/purchase limitations:
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/california-pileup-still-piling-up-but-out-of-sight-over-horizon

[rdl]

This actually might have been what the problem was. However, the wording and tone of their message could certainly be improved. I was able to complete the order by switching half of the soup to Cream of Mushroom.

That $10 increase to the minimum order though... Well, I guess I'll be eating a lot more soup.

...
I've never had that problem. I do that all the time without any problems.
It's possible that other people bought the remaining stock before the OP completed his order.

[Monkeh]

It was the new $35 minimum order that annoyed me most.

How dare they expect to get enough margin out of your purchase to give you 'free' delivery.

[RoGeorge]

Amazon, the new "Soup Nazi"



 

[themadhippy]

Well, I guess I'll be eating a lot more soup.

Do you eat soup or do you drink it?

[Kim Christensen]

It was the new $35 minimum order that annoyed me most.

How dare they expect to get enough margin out of your purchase to give you 'free' delivery.

Maybe I'm a rare case, but it doesn't seem to be working out very well for them. 80% of the time that I've padded an order to get over the $35 threshold, the extra item ended up coming as a separate shipment a day or two later. 

[Veteran68]

As much as I order from Amazon (and have for many years), Amazon Prime is no-brainer for me, even at twice the cost. I've been a subscriber pretty much since it was first offered. Not even counting the extras perks like streaming video, music, 5% cash back on my Amazon Prime card (which btw more than pays for my Prime membership), etc., just the free shipping on almost any order makes it totally worth it for me.

I have a bad habit of going shopping and forgetting one or two items. This is true with the supermarket, big box stores, or online. With Amazon, I try to buy what I need in one go, but always forget something. Having Prime, I don't think twice about ordering that small item I forgot, as soon as I realize I forgot it, rather than waiting until I have a bigger order to get free shipping. Prime is a good investment for someone like me.

[rdl]

Yeah, "eating soup" sounded a bit odd to me when writing it. Probably should have been buying/consuming/having/ordering more soup. Or something.

Usually when I place an order with Amazon they tell me if I need something else in the next 24 hours, shipping is free. I'm not sure that was the case this time.

Split shipments, yeah it's a bit funny when you add something to get the "free shipping" and it comes as a separate shipment. And I always make an effort to be sure everything comes at once, from the same place.

[Kim Christensen]

I still get the free shipping with the split shipment, so I'm not complaining. 
It's usually because the two items are coming from two different warehouses or something.

[Infraviolet]

"...Amazon Prime is no-brainer for me..."
I don't see how, for anyone. If they did a subscription service which gave you free deliveries, particularly on marketplace things fulfilled by the seller, it could be worthwhile. But as it is, Prime doesn't make deliveries cheaper. At one point it might have lowered the threshold for free deliveries, but that didn't make them cheaper, it just meant you could place two say £10 orders and get free delivery on each and pay the prime subscription, against waiting to need £20 of stuff and get free delivery anyway without paying Prime.

[Veteran68]

"...Amazon Prime is no-brainer for me..."
I don't see how, for anyone. If they did a subscription service which gave you free deliveries, particularly on marketplace things fulfilled by the seller, it could be worthwhile. But as it is, Prime doesn't make deliveries cheaper. At one point it might have lowered the threshold for free deliveries, but that didn't make them cheaper, it just meant you could place two say £10 orders and get free delivery on each and pay the prime subscription, against waiting to need £20 of stuff and get free delivery anyway without paying Prime.

On the contrary it makes my deliveries much cheaper given my order volume and frequency. Maybe you missed the part where I mentioned how much I order from Amazon? As in, sometimes several times a week, for years now. Many are very small orders that I order when I want instead of waiting to bundle for free shipping. Sometimes < $10. Not to mention all the other perks I get and the cash back that more than pays for my membership. So yeah, easy no-brainer for me.

Just checked my order history. Right now I’m up to  8 orders this month, 32 for the past 3 months, 73 year to date, 128 in 2022. So average about 10/month over years. Never paid a dime in shipping thanks to Prime.

[SiliconWizard]

Trying to buy some stuff, getting errors such as "You have already bought too much of this item." (...)

In that particular case, maybe they were right.

[Nusa]

Careful when comparing things from different countries. The plans, even with the same name, are not necessarily the same plan in both places. Especially in the details.

[xrunner]

Well this thread is as good a place as any other Amazon thread.

Amazon Really?

Ordered a new garden spade. This is the box it came in. The spade had a simple wrapping of paper around it.

But the box ... really? 

[IanB]

Well this thread is as good a place as any other Amazon thread.

Amazon Really?

Ordered a new garden spade. This is the box it came in. The spade had a simple wrapping of paper around it.

But the box ... really? 

I would be more concerned if I ordered a garden spade and received instead a garden fork. That would be far more of an issue than the box it came in.

[soldar]

Ordered a new garden spade. This is the box it came in. The spade had a simple wrapping of paper around it.

I see you are the kind of person who calls a spade a spade.

And you call a fork a spade. Do you call everything a spade?

I hope you do not intend to shovel that birdseed with that "spade".

[xrunner]

Well this thread is as good a place as any other Amazon thread.

Amazon Really?

Ordered a new garden spade. This is the box it came in. The spade had a simple wrapping of paper around it.

But the box ... really? 

I would be more concerned if I ordered a garden spade and received instead a garden fork. That would be far more of an issue than the box it came in.

 

WTF do you think I was concerned about when I saw that box on my porch? Whether it had a garden spade or a garden fork in it? I thought I had received somebody's big screen TV.

[PlainName]

Ordered a new garden spade. This is the box it came in.

Apart from it being a fork, they no doubt have standard-sized boxes and the one you got just happened to be the next size up from the 'just too small' one. Cheaper to stock, faster to pack, what's not to like?

[Stray Electron]

It was the new $35 minimum order that annoyed me most.

   You must be new to mail ordering. Minimum orders are nothing new and most companies have had them for decades.  I just pay the $100 for a Prime membership and get the free shipping. It's well worth it IMO.

[NiHaoMike]

Ever since Amazon raised the minimum order for free shipping, I found that I have been ordering a lot more from Ebay instead.

[tooki]

"...Amazon Prime is no-brainer for me..."
I don't see how, for anyone. If they did a subscription service which gave you free deliveries, particularly on marketplace things fulfilled by the seller, it could be worthwhile. But as it is, Prime doesn't make deliveries cheaper. At one point it might have lowered the threshold for free deliveries, but that didn't make them cheaper, it just meant you could place two say £10 orders and get free delivery on each and pay the prime subscription, against waiting to need £20 of stuff and get free delivery anyway without paying Prime.

The Prime benefits vary wildly by country. So you really can’t say “I don’t see how it makes sense for anyone” without carefully investigating Prime’s benefits for each country, one by one.