I’ve just ordered the same quantity of the same book from two online book resellers: chapters.indigo.ca and amazon.ca. Both have confirmed they have the books in stock. I placed both orders simultaneously. Which will get me my books faster?
The books on amazon.ca were fully $5.75 cheaper than chapters.indigo.ca: $18 versus $23.75. But that’s not really surprising. Chapters.indigo.ca rarely beats amazon.ca on price. (I called chapters.indigo.ca’s customer service to ask if they’d price match and the rep I spoke to actually laughed at me, as though I’d made some insane request.)
Unfortunately, amazon.ca only had 3 copies in stock and I need 6 books by the weekend, so I decided to try this experiment: if I order the same books in the same quantities from these two online retailers, which will get me my books first?
For both orders I selected their fastest shipping method. That’s “Priority” at amazon.ca, with a shipping estimate of 2-3 business days. Chapters.indigo.ca calls it “Premium” and they estimate 2-4 days for shipping.
The total order at amazon.ca was $74.50 ($54 for the books, $16.96 for shipping, and the rest is GST). At chapters.indigo.ca the total was $87.90 ($71.25 for the books, $12.46 for shipping, and then GST).
It’s actually a remarkable difference in cost, from my view. I’m ordering the exact same titles from both retailers, yet I’m paying more than $13 extra to get the stuff from chapters.indigo.ca. Will that premium pay off in a more expeditious delivery? Stay tuned to find out… I’ll post here as I receive updates about my orders.
PS One way that chapters.indigo.ca has amazon.ca beat: online Interac payment. So a better way to pay for stuff online.
I’ve bought online from both sellers for almost a decade. I do find lately that Amazon has the better prices, but I have lifetime iRewards card from Indigo that often evens things out. I haven’t noticed much of a difference in shipping times, although both are very willing to break up orders and send just the books that are ready, even though I usually opt for free shipping. I must admit that I lean toward Indigo/Chapters just because they’re not an American behemoth: better the devil you know, I guess.
I’ve never ordered from either before. Did you try going into Mac’s and ordering through them? They take longer, but it supports a local business.
Who, in 2010, has not ordered from Amazon at least once? WTF?!
lol. I’m sorry. I’ve never gotten into ordering online! It takes away from the shopping experience. I like going to the store.
I order books from both sellers frequently, usually by the “free shipping” method. For the past while — quite awhile, actually — I notice that Amazon.ca takes much longer to get the books out of their warehouse. It usually takes Amazon several days longer than Chapters to get books to my house in Vancouver, BC. This was not the case when they first began to take orders a few years ago, so I don’t know what has changed. I always order books or DVDs that are in stock.
I have yet to try Chapters. I’ve been ordering Graphic Novels a lot off Amazon.ca lately. I’ve placed three orders with them so far. Each one arrived at my door four days from the date of order (they all shipped the following day).
This week I will have to use Chapters as one of the GN’s I want is “temporarily out of stock” on Amazon for a good week now, so hopefully it’ll be just as fast.
Book Depository ships single books FREE. Often has books from UK publishers hard to get here AND prices usually comparable- sometimes cheapest of the lot.
We’ve dropped the other two unless BD doesn’t have what we want.
You quote “Will that premium pay off in a more expeditious delivery? Stay tuned to find out… I’ll post here as I receive updates about my orders”.
So, did you receive the books yet from both Amazon and Chapters?
None at this time.
nice follow up dude….
@James I should hope he did….his post is from last year
The follow-up is invisible.