Amazon UK has been rated as the number one retailer in the UK, based on Christmas experiences, according to a survey. Amazon have marked this accolade by offering discounts on Kindles.
The relevant page on Amazon says a little bit about the the methodology and details behind the survey and claim:
“For the seventh consecutive year, customers ranked Amazon #1 in customer satisfaction during the Christmas shopping season according to the newly-released ForeSee Experience Index: UK Retail Edition. For their study, customer experience analytics firm ForeSee collected more than 10,000 surveys during November and December 2013, asking consumers to rate their satisfaction with the top 100 retailers. ForeSee ranked Amazon highest in overall customer satisfaction in the survey with a score of 84. More information about the survey can be found at https://ForeSee.com.”
It pays to be wary about such surveys and extravagant PR claims but it does seem like a well deserved plaudit. I can’t think myself of a bad experience I’ve had with Amazon as a buyer. Indeed, when my first Kindle developed a fault after 3 months it was cheerfully and speedily replaced gratis with great alacrity.
It also perhaps goes to show that there may be a media hoo-ha every now and again about Amazon’s tax position in the UK but it doesn’t do much to taint the company’s reputation from a general buying perspective.
9 Responses
not for me this week it hasn’t 🙁
Ebays tax position is not much better than amazon’s. Along side loads of other American companies.
But as a seller i think Amazon buyers are alot more confident. We seem to sell higher value items on Amazon but the high commission is a killer.
We do loads of give away auction and ‘customer return’ auctions tk try and legtimise the auction even though the product ia perfect. We are trs rated and still strugle to sell quality goods on ebay. The cheaper items do okays but oten they can be listed as 2nds. Ebayers seem to like them.
Amazon attracts buyers who are more willing to pay a little extra a quality product and customers who are confident enough to make bigger purchases. Some of our best sales have from Amazon. But the commions really do dent profits.
Wish my own site did more it would make a massove difference to my business
Isn’t that legally required in the UK since it had been less than 6 months?
My last experience with Amazon involved me placing a few orders that each came with $5 Amazon instant coupons. For some reason one disappeared after I redeemed it and another couldn’t be redeemed. I wasn’t sure but I thought another one of my orders was supposed to come with one too. I contacted customer service and within a few hours not only did they restore my coupons they gave me an extra one because I thought I was supposed to get one but wasn’t sure (turns out I was wrong). Then they made them applicable to anything, not just Amazon Instant. Essentially they just hand out free money.
Amazon may be happy, but I doubt the overworked, underpaid, heavily monitored and penalised people in the warehouses are happy.
Always shop on eBay me, I find Amazon tedious.
If you have a problem with Amazon as a seller, you get a call back and you get the problem resolved.
If you have a problem with ebay as a seller, you can’t even get through to someone who can discuss the problem and hides behind their own regulations.
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Our Amazon Seller’s Customer Experience Performance rating has just been emailed to us for the last 90 days & excluding one buyer who cancelled pre dispatch [which we get -points for] and another’s poor feedback [RM taking 6 days to deliver a 1st class packet less than 5 miles away]. all looked good…..
The commission is abit of a killer, but with ebay’s recent grab on postage costs, the gap has virtually closed.
Amazons’s seller support is 99% of the time a positive experience, whereas eBay’s support stinks 99% of the time..
A lot less buyer’s on Amazon leave feedback, but sometimes this is a good thing unlike eBay’s feedback system which is just flawed top to bottom…..
The difference is buyers are alot more confident on amazon and willing to make larger purchases. Looking at out top 10 sales days 2013 amazon vs ebay. Out of the top 10 Amazon was 7 to ebays 3.
People on Amazon are actually prepared to pay say 39.99 for an item. Whereas people on ebay need RRP 139.99 buy it now 39.99 kind of offers to see any point. This has been ebays own doing and where it has pushed the platform. You dont have to go far to find suggested offerings of 50% or more off.
If a seller makes a half decent margin, they have more resources and feel more obligation to provide good customer support and service. For instance ebay seems to be the only auction platform where a seller not only accepts taking ‘any price’ but also has to offer full refunds and warranty etc.
As margins are generally so weak on ebay in my opinion, this is why customer service levels are so low. The Amazon return system works alot better also, we take returns without even hardly having to listen to the often long winded speech given by buyers on ebay. (We have no problem given refunds, but the big speeches get tedious, just say you want to return it)
If we take outlets as an example, which are promoted the most then a 98% feedback rating would be very acceptable.
Buyer on Amazon since 1998. Amount spent; tens of thousands. All online companies should model Amazon. The best in the business by miles for a customer.