I have been an Amazon.in customer since 2013 and it has been a pretty awesome 10 year journey with them. If I were to calculate how much I’ve spent on Amazon since opening my account, I will probably have a heart attack. But here goes nothing:
2013: Rs 38,054.55 – 6 items
2014: Rs 75,803.87 – 34 items
2015: Rs 1,16,913.18 – 53 items
Total: Rs 2,30,771.60 (YIKES!)
And that number kept increasing as the years went by.
2023: 396 orders placed
2022: 410 orders placed
2023: 356 orders placed
Why shop on Amazon.in?
This may sound like a paid review, but it is not. There are 3 reasons why I shop on Amazon: 1) Discounts 2) Wide variety of stuff 3) Ease of shopping and returns
Amazon Discounts
One of my most frequent purchases online are books. And books on Amazon are just WAY cheaper than in an offline store. A few weeks ago I had an urge to browse through a book store and so decided to go to Crossword. By the end of the evening, I had spent Rs 2500 on 4 books. That is quite ridiculous. If I bought the same books on Amazon, I would have spent not more than Rs 1500.
This is true for both books and electronics, where discounts usually range from 5% to 30%. Sometimes, during a special season, you could even get 40 to 50% off MRP. This may sound gimmicky, but if you do your research you will see that these are valid discounts.
Shopping for electronics on Amazon
Like I’ve mentioned, I’ve bought DSLR cameras, TVs, sound systems, expensive mobile phones (Rs 30k +) on Amazon.in without any problems. Packaging has been great, delivery fast, and the experience great overall. All you need to do is do you research first: read as many reviews as possible across Amazon, Flipkart, and third-party sites ( I still don’t trust Snapdeal reviews). Know your product. Know that it is a good fit. And then purchase without hesitation.
There are certain electronic items which I have not bought online, but have chosen to go to an offline store: Eg. refrigerator (we wanted to see the size of the damn thing, which we couldn’t understand through the online specs) or a mixer-grinder (all the pictures didn’t give us an idea of the material used and the reviews were either too mixed or missing).
Shopping for clothes and household items on Amazon.in
For other items like clothes and household stuff (curtains, dishes, glasses), my experience has been mixed. When you can’t see or feel the material of the curtain or kurta, things often don’t meet your expectations. This is true of most online shopping. While the discounts may still be good, I’d say its better to buy offline.
However, shoes are something I regularly buy online. What about the size you ask? Well, I measure my foot on a piece of paper and in some cases, when in doubt I’ve bought two sizes and returned one the ill-fitting one. Discounts on shoes online are GREAT!
Amazon.in Return / Refund / Replacement policy
It is SO easy to return items on Amazon.in. Simply go to ‘Your Orders’ > Choose your reason and then they will ask you for a time when you want the item to be picked up. No questions asked. Nothing to be printed out. Usually, this is valid for items less than 30 days old.
Delivery & Packaging Experience
Most Amazon products come well-delivered (not battered like some Pepperfry items I’ve purchased). Whether it is through Cloudtail (Amazon’s official logistics arm) or third-parties, I have never had a problem that has lingered. ! So far, to my recollection, I have had only one bad experience on Amazon. That was when the seller shipped something by FedEx and the product got lost in transit and just didn’t turn up.
Hello Kindle!
And, of course, Amazon.in is home to the Kindle and lots of e-books. If you haven’t got a Kindle yet, what are you waiting for?
ICICI Bank Amazon Pay Credit Card
I use the ICICI Bank Amazon Pay Credit Card for all my Amazon purchases and get about Rs 2500 back every month as cashback. Definitely worth it!
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