Walmart vs. Amazon

[SWharton]

I may be a little behind on this but I have discovered that Walmart can be less $ than Amazon. My habit was to go to Amazon and order, this would be frustrating is we weren't in one place long enough. One day, I looked up the product I wanted on Walmart.com. I discovered Walmart was 25% less than Amazon(same UPC) and 2 day free pickup. With Walmarts being all over the place I could do some planning for picking up down the road!! I have since been doing a price compare and have found that Walmart is less about 25% of the time.

Walmart sends me a text when the store has the item and when I am in the area of that Walmart I "check in". The 3 times I have used the check in feature the associate has been at the pickup location waiting for me. 2 day free delivery each time.

Something for all of you to consider.

[packnrat]

yes very true about amazon costing more. there prices have gone up to pre pay costs for there "free" shipping.

can not say about wally wourld. never used them.

i am not living on the rd yet. and the closest ww is a good hr away from me. so amazon is still a better deal. as the usps is only a block away. ups / fed-up is my front porch.

so to each there own, and what works best for them.

[SWharton]

Something to keep in mind for the future...................

 

[trailertraveler]

I have used both. Amazon works well as long as the campground/RV park will accept and hold packages for you. Walmart works well when boondocking or staying in federal or state parks that generally do not accept packages. Also very convenient if you know you will be Wallydocking the night of delivery. I think Walmart always collects any state and/or local sales tax for in store pickups. Amazon seems to run about 75% recently for the items I have ordered. Fuel and time to get to a Walmart is also a factor at times.

[remoandiris]

1 hour ago, packnrat said:

as the usps is only a block away. ups / fed-up is my front porch.

Like you said, you're not on the road yet.  There are times shipping simply won't work when your front porch moves.  Or times when shippers screw you over.  I've had 3 shipping issues with FedEx over the past 2 months.  

[JimK]

My experience has been that Amazon orders are shipped and arrive sooner.  I am sure that having Amazon Prime helps.  Amazon prices are all over the place and you need to be careful before ordering.  When I have searched for products on Amazon, I find the featured items are often very expensive.  Usually some digging will turn up the same item at a much reduced price.

Deliveries are often delayed due to the carrier.  The volume of home deliveries has gone way, way up and some of the carriers are behind in providing the level of service.  I have had orders split and items left behind for another day just due to trucks being filled to maximum.  My UPS driver has been complaining about overtime.  He often shows up after 8 pm and has put in a full day and a few hours of overtime.  I guess paying overtime is often cheaper than getting more trucks and drivers. 

[Bill Joyce]

The campground I am in does not accept packages, but there is an Amazon locker in town, so that is where I ship stuff.  There is also a Wal-Mart with a delivery desk, but you have to compare prices to decide who gets your business.  I wanted razor blade refills and Wal-Mart was $30 and Amazon was $23, so Amazon won that price war.  For groceries, Winco Foods (all over the West) often wins against Wal-Mart, but the closest is a half hour drive in a direction we rarely go.  Our next campsite a Winco will be as convenient as Wal-Mart.

[Dutch_12078]

I routinely compare Amazon and Walmart prices to find the best deal, but Amazon wins on product variety by far. There are many more automotive and RV parts on Amazon than Walmart.

[KodiakJack]

2 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I routinely compare Amazon and Walmart prices to find the best deal, but Amazon wins on product variety by far. There are many more automotive and RV parts on Amazon than Walmart.

2X.  Add eBay to that list.  It had the best price I found for a Pathway X2 and Wally with free shipping and no tax as a bonus.

Later,
J

[SWharton]

The problem I find with Ebay is you never know when they will ship........................

[Pat & Pete]

24 minutes ago, SWharton said:

The problem I find with Ebay is you never know when they will ship........................

They pretty much tell you when you will receive an item . 

I always buy from sellers with high ratings . 98 or above . 

If I have a question , I ask the seller . Their response time is very telling . 

[dartmouth01]

A couple things to add: prices inside a walmart store can be different (oftentimes more, but occasionally less) than on walmart.com.  you can ask for a pricematch to the site at the register.  Has saved me more than a few bucks just looking for the item on the walmart app via the upc scanner before I check out.

Secondly, i use google shopping before buying anything on amazon.  It is a quick, good gut check to see if the item may be available less at any of yhe major (and minor) retailers.  Oftentimes the major retailers are within reason of each other (dang bot price scraping) but sometimes you'll find a deal.  Also make sure to check alternative sellers on amazon before buying the price shown (sold and fulfilled by amazon).  Oftentimes you'll find a cheaper listing by a different seller, still fulfilled by amazon, and usually not taxed.  And check used listings, amazon warehouse deals are good buys on inspected returns.....

[dartmouth01]

Oh, and consider installing the honey extension, it will show u price trends of the product u are looking at on amazon.  Camelcamelcamel.com is another website that does this but requires the additional step of copying and pasting the web address of the amazon product listing.  Both will alert u to price drops if you want.  Fakespot.com is a good way to get an idea if a listing has too many fake favorable reviews as well, some sellers like to try to game the Amazon system, even after the crackdown Amazon did.

[Kirk W]

5 hours ago, Dutch_12078 said:

I routinely compare Amazon and Walmart prices to find the best deal, but Amazon wins on product variety by far.

I have had the practice of comparison shopping with Amazon and other sources for a long time. If you compare prices in fixed stores, why not do that same thing when shopping online? And remember that there is also Ebay. 

[Dutch_12078]

49 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

I have had the practice of comparison shopping with Amazon and other sources for a long time. If you compare prices in fixed stores, why not do that same thing when shopping online? And remember that there is also Ebay. 

Yes, of course I shop multiple sources including eBay. But I mentioned Walmart and Amazon in particular because they're the subject of the thread.  

[Kirk W]

8 minutes ago, Dutch_12078 said:

they're the subject of the thread.

It sounds like not everyone does so, even though you and I do. My comment wasn't intended to say that you don't, only that we should do so. Sometimes Amazon wins due to location even if not the best price. At present we are about 40 miles from the nearest Walmart so that does give Amazon an edge since with Prime the delivery is free and our state park does accept packages and mail for volunteers. 

[Dutch_12078]

Agreed, Kirk, and sometimes the severity of the problem means buying the closest available part, regardless of the price... 😊

[WeBeFulltimers]

Another thing to consider when deciding on who to buy from is the ease of returning a problematic item. I have never had a problem returning a defective item to Amazon but Walmart is usually easier. I also use eBay from time to time but am very careful about the sellers and always buy new items only.

[richfaa]

We shop at walmart. We have  Amazon prime  we purchase were we can get the best price on the product we need. We have never had a problem with Amazon or walmart.

[offroad]

22 hours ago, Bill Joyce said:

The campground I am in does not accept packages, but there is an Amazon locker in town, so that is where I ship stuff.  There is also a Wal-Mart with a delivery desk, but you have to compare prices to decide who gets your business.  I wanted razor blade refills and Wal-Mart was $30 and Amazon was $23, so Amazon won that price war.  For groceries, Winco Foods (all over the West) often wins against Wal-Mart, but the closest is a half hour drive in a direction we rarely go.  Our next campsite a Winco will be as convenient as Wal-Mart.

The Amazon Locker arrangement is pretty good on delivery.  Given that WHOLE FOODS and AMAZON are the same company, guess we can expect more ability to deliver items there in the future.  As fare as price comparison?

1) Amazon  2) Costco  3) Ebay  4) Walmart  5) Target 6) Google search 7) Facebook or Craigs list

 

[sandsys]

When we were on the road Amazon started pairing up with the postal service. They would not give me advance knowledge of how the package would arrive. My address for UPS/FedEx was different from that of the postal service. Walmart was near so I stopped using Amazon. Now that we are settled again Walmart is not near and our address is the same for all types of delivery so we are back to using Amazon. For us, price was not the most critical factor.

Linda Sand

[trailertraveler]

49 minutes ago, sandsys said:

...When we were on the road Amazon started pairing up with the postal service. They would not give me advance knowledge of how the package would arrive. My address for UPS/FedEx was different from that of the postal service...

Not sure I understand this statement. The only issue we have had is whether the campground that we were staying in would receive and hold packages. UPS, FedEx and the postal service all have seemed to be able to find the campgrounds. I have received packages sent by all three. Now if you were using a mail service that had a PO Box and used a street address for UPS and FedEx, I can see a problem. But why use a mail forwarder and ship an item twice rather than ship it direct to a campground or Amazon locker? In the few cases where I had to use General Delivery to a Post Office, I purchased from a vendor who would agree to ship via the postal service.

[dirtyboots]

One RV park I've stayed at a couple times does NOT receive usps mail, so I've set-up General Delivery at the P.O. also just in case.  The RV park uses a P.O. box for their mail but does get UPS/FedEx delivery.  The day I was leaving this time I saw a flyer in the laundry room saying there was a 'Mailboxes & More' now in the small town.  That will be my solution if I stay there again.

[sandsys]

46 minutes ago, trailertraveler said:

Not sure I understand this statement. The only issue we have had is whether the campground that we were staying in would receive and hold packages. UPS, FedEx and the postal service all have seemed to be able to find the campgrounds. I have received packages sent by all three. Now if you were using a mail service that had a PO Box and used a street address for UPS and FedEx, I can see a problem. But why use a mail forwarder and ship an item twice rather than ship it direct to a campground or Amazon locker? In the few cases where I had to use General Delivery to a Post Office, I purchased from a vendor who would agree to ship via the postal service.

The RV park did not accept anything. Amazon lockers did not exist back in 2014. FedEx and UPS would deliver directly to my camp site. The post office would not; mail had to go to General Delivery. The post office would not accept UPS or FedEx so I had to know how packages would be delivered to know which address to give to Amazon. But, Amazon would not tell me. Those new mail receiver companies that will take all three will, I think, do a booming business.

Linda Sand

[TreyandSusan]

We have been to one park (in 8 years) where the park had one address for UPS/Fedex and another address (owners home address) for USPS. The problem was that Amazon did not give the option for choosing and so we had one package returned because USPS did not recognize the address.

The weirdness was some issue with the local government and the US post office and how they assigned addresses. We were only there for a week so we did not care to find out the details. (Perry, Florida)