In the market for a new phone, but don’t want to pay retail? Amazon is offering $50 off unlocked Android smartphones, but that discount comes with a slightly big catch: the e-commerce giant gets to pre-load the device with its own apps and send ads to the lock screen anytime it wants. [More]
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Amazon Giving Dozens Of Brands Dash Buttons Whether You Want Them Or Not
By 6.27.16 — Updated: 1.20.17
UPDATE: Amazon made it official, announcing that it’s adding 50 new brands to the Dash lineup. [More]
Re-Zombified Circuit City Opens Storefront On Amazon
By 6.23.16 — Updated: 11.21.16
Back in 2009, electronics shoppers turning to Amazon was one of the factors blamed for the demise of the retailer Circuit City. Now Circuit City, under its second post-bankruptcy owner, is beginning a retail comeback by opening a retail storefront on Amazon. They’re starting out by going where the customers already are. [More]
FAA Announces Two New Potential Hazardous Materials Fines For Amazon
By 6.23.16
A few weeks ago, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $350,000 fine against online Everything Store Amazon.com for shipping corrosive drain cleaner without properly packaging or labeling it. Now the agency is proposing additional fines for the company over other incidents shipping hazardous materials. [More]
Amazon Prime’s “No-Rush Shipping Credits” May Not Be Worth The Extra Wait
By 6.21.16
At $99/year — or the recently announced $10.99/month — a subscription to Amazon Prime isn’t cheap, but for people who place regular orders with the e-tail giant, the free expedited shipping may be worth the cost. Now Amazon is offering “No-Rush Shipping Credits” to Prime members willing to temporarily waive their right to what had once been the main selling point of Prime. However, a closer look at the offer raises concerns that many customers may not benefit by being more patient with their purchases. [More]
FAA Wants To Fine Amazon For Allegedly Shipping Hazardous Materials As Air Cargo
By 6.13.16
Because you can’t just throw anything in a plane and ship it somewhere, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to stick Amazon with a $350,000 civil penalty for allegedly shipping hazardous materials as air cargo. [More]
Report: Amazon’s Strides In Apparel Could Be Serious Threat To Brick-And-Mortar Stores
By 6.10.16
As if retail chains aren’t already having a rough time of it lately, a new report says Amazon’s clothing business could prove to make things even worse in the future. [More]
What Happened? Amazon Removes Half Of The Streaming Video I Bought
By 6.8.16
By now, most of us are aware that videos come and go from Amazon’s streaming offerings; that a movie available on Prime this month may be gone the next. There are even caveats in the Amazon terms of service that videos you purchase from Amazon may vanish from your online library — and there’s nothing you can do about it. What you don’t expect is for half of a video you buy to suddenly disappear without explanation. [More]
Amazon Giving Away Free Tablets If You Sign Up For Comcast Through Cable Site
By 6.8.16
Are you in the market for an Amazon Fire tablet, and a new cable provider? If so, you’re in luck, because the Everything Store is offering free tablets in its Cable Store along with new Xfinity Internet and TV packages from Comcast. Maybe they’d offer tablets with packages from other providers, too, but Comcast is the only vendor in their Cable Store for now. [More]
Amazon Expands Restaurant Delivery Service To Miami, Atlanta
By 6.7.16
Following the rapid expansion of its restaurant delivery service to more than 20 major cities in the last several months, Amazon is finally getting around to offering one-hour food delivery via Amazon Restaurants to two of the largest metro areas in the South: Miami and Atlanta. [More]
If You’ve Got Amazon Prime, You’re Probably Keeping Amazon Prime For Years
By 6.2.16
Amazon these days is all about Prime. What started out as a way for power users to save on shipping, years ago, has become an all-encompassing membership to the internet’s biggest virtual big-box store. And whatever lever Amazon pushes to get individuals interested in signing up, it works: the longer you subscribe, research finds, the longer you are likely to stick with it. [More]
Amazon Goes After Third-Party Sellers For Buying, Creating Fake Reviews
By 6.2.16
Months after filing several lawsuits to block companies from selling fraudulent positive reviews on its site, Amazon is now turning its focus to those that purchase the fake reviews, taking action against one company and two individuals who sell on the e-commerce site. [More]
States Hungry For Online Sales Tax Looking At Challenge To South Dakota Law
By 5.31.16
Amazon now collects sales tax in more than half the states, but that still leaves a substantial portion of the country not paying taxes on their purchases. Even in states where Amazon is collecting taxes, some other online retailers say they don’t have to collect taxes because they have no physical presence in the state. A new South Dakota law is a direct attack on these companies, and if it stands up to legal scrutiny it could have nationwide implications. [More]
Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer Deny PETA Accusations Of Using Down Ripped From Live Geese
By 5.31.16
If you yank the soft down feathers from the body of a goose that’s still alive, here’s the thing: the goose can grow that plumage back, and you can pluck it again. That’s apparently the inhumane practice on some poultry farms in China. A continuing investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals discovered live-plucking on farms linked to suppliers of well-known U.S. retailers Lands’ End, Eddie Bauer, L.L. Bean, Sears, and Amazon. [More]
Amazon Really Wants To Sell You Groceries, Is Expanding “Prime Fresh” To More Cities
By 5.24.16
Big box brick and mortar stores have long since expanded into selling you fresh and packaged groceries to go along with your clothes, books, electronics, and housewares. Amazon, unwilling to be left behind by any 21st century shopping trend, now seems ready to expand their own grocery offerings right on cue. [More]
Google Home Will Try To Be More Conversational, Flexible Than Amazon Echo
By 5.18.16
As expected, Google pulled back the covers today on Google Home, the combination WiFi music speaker, voice-activated personal assistant, and connected-home control console that it intends to go face-to-face with Amazon’s Echo device. While Google did not reveal a price for Home, it did detail some of the features it expects to make the product competitive. [More]
Gap CEO Says He’s Open To Possibly Using Amazon To Reach More Customers
By 5.18.16
Although Amazon may be the big bad wolf at the door coming to blow the house down and eat up their business, some retailers are considering teaming up with the tech giant instead of fearing it. Like Gap, whose CEO said the company would consider working with Amazon if it means reaching shoppers. [More]
