Amazon.co.uk > Reviews > where shall I begin

Author's product rating:   

Range of Services / Products	Very complete
Products & Services Pricing	Excellent value
Security & Privacy Statement	Excellent
Purchase Tracking Function	Excellent
Customer Services Support	Excellent

Advantages:	excellent customer service, huge range of products and fast arrival of goods, easy to navigate
Disadvantages:	a little slow to load

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Amazon seems to be an extremely popular site and from what I have read I am not surprised. Amazon is a superb site and contains such a wide variety of 1.5 million items on their site, ranging from video games to books. From what I personally have seen, Amazon looks to be an excellent site and I a few weeks ago I was finally convinced to make a purchase of a book from their site. As I expected I had no problems whatsoever and the ordering process was fast, secure and easy.

One quality feature on their site, which in my views rises them above from other online retailers is the auction place where you can buy cheaper items and be sure of receiving them! Anyway, on with the real review…

Amazon has a selection of one and a half million items on their web site. You can buy anything and everything, You can also pre-order items which have not come out yet so you receive it as soon as it is released. That is an extremely helpful feature.

Items, in stock, are sent immediately and if you are lucky like I was you receive it the next morning. However, I doubt this is the case for all items…it simply depends on what you are ordering.

The site is extremely helpful as you can store items in your basket for upto 90 days. This saves you the hassle of going to the product each time. I always surf around if I can find any better options so it is particularly helpful for me and saves a bit of time.

As a very cautious user of the Internet, I always take a look at the payment options before contemplating a purchase. Don’t worry; ordering on Amazon could not be easier. All you do is add the selected item to your shopping basket and then proceed to the checkout where things become slightly more difficult and important. At the checkout you sign in using your e-mail address, and tell Amazon where to deliver it. If the product is a gift you can select giftwrap and send a gift message. This is another helpful feature saving you more time. Then you have to choose how you would like to pay. Amazon welcomes the following payment options:

Cheques

If you would like to pay by cheque or postal order, simply select the "Pay by Cheque" option on the order form, and send a personal cheque or postal order in pounds sterling for the total amount of your order.
Note that currently they only accept postal orders denominated in pounds sterling or cheques denominated in pounds sterling and drawn on a UK bank.
Paying by cheque does slow down your order somewhat as they do not order your items until your cheque is received and do not send the items to you until your funds clear.
If you are in the UK, paying by personal cheque typically delays your order by about seven to 10 days.
After you have fully submitted your order on our Web site you can send your cheque to the following address: Amazon.co.uk Accounts Department, Patriot Court, 1-9 The Grove, Slough, Berkshire, SL1 1QP, UK.
Write your e-mail address clearly on the back of your cheque, as this will help to process your order more efficiently.

Credit & Debit Cards

Amazon accept Visa, Delta, Visa Electron, MasterCard, Eurocard, American Express, Switch, Solo and cheques or postal orders denominated in pounds sterling as payment for orders.
If you are paying for your order using a credit or debit card you will be asked to enter your card details as part of the ordering process, and you will find further instructions when you process your first order.

Gift Certificates

This is how I choose to buy from Amazon because you don’t necessarily have to enter card details if you have a gift certificate. This is a safer option which involves the passing of no card details. A method which I favour and one that makes Amazon better than others.

Other Ways to Send Us Your Credit Card Details

If like me do not want to forward your card details via the net, you can provide your details via fax or telephone.

Calling in or faxing your card number
There is a way for you to use your credit or debit card without ever having to enter the complete number on the Internet. When filling out the order form you can enter just the last five digits and the expiry date of your credit or debit card on the order form. This gives Amazon a way to track your order but guarantees your security. Then you can phone or fax them to give the rest of your credit or debit card number. You can do this even if you can’t use the secure server and your credit or debit card number will be totally protected.

Phone:
Non-UK residents: +44 20 8636 9451
UK residents only: 0800 279 6620

Fax:
Non-UK residents: +44 20 8636 9401
UK residents only: 0800 279 6630

This is another fabulous feature and makes payment all the more reliable.

Once you have completed your purchase you receive an e-mail confirming your order. You can check the status of your order at any time by clicking on Your Account at the top right of every page. You will be sent another e-mail when your item has been sent from the warehouse.

The customer service at Amazon is excellent and all queries are answered within 24 hours.

For website owners, Amazon has an Associates scheme, which is beneficial, as Amazon is such a popular site.
The Amazon.co.uk Associates Program is an easy and exciting way for you to work with Amazon.co.uk to enhance your Web site and to promote products from your site. By simply linking to Amazon.co.uk, you can earn generous referral fees when visitors click from your site to Amazon.co.uk to purchase items. Amazon.co.uk handles all of the customer service, delivery and tracking of sales generated from your Web site. Amazon provides a wide selection of linking options--we even build the links for you. All you have to do is decide how you want to link to Amazon.co.uk--for example, you can recommend your favourite book title or choose from more than 1.5 million items in our growing selection of shops: Books, Music, DVD, Video, Software, PC & Video Games, Electronics, Toys & Kids! You can link by placing an Amazon.co.uk search box on your site, or you can simply link to the homepage and let them take care of customer orders. No matter how you choose to link to Amazon, you get paid on all sales.

Registration is fast and simple and Amazon provides yet another scheme which benefits customers. I think that with Amazon you would earn a bit, as it is so popular and well known.

For such a packed site it is easy to navigate and procedures such as payment are well explained on the site. It is extremely helpful and the sit is terrificly designed. A little slow in loading but well worth the wait.

To sum it up. Amazon is perfect especially for people who need to buy online but wish not to disclose their card number via the net. With our friends at Dooyoo you can earn gift certificates for Amazon making it even better.