The Truth Behind An Amazon Treadmill/Elliptical Listing

The Truth Behind An Amazon Treadmill/Elliptical Listing
In your search for the perfect elliptical or treadmill, what will likely end up happening is discovering that very model sold on Amazon. For those of you not familiar with Amazon (which really shouldn't be that many of you), it's a company that's as big as Yahoo in terms of how much they’re worth. In other words, buying online does not get safer than buying on Amazon.

Back to our original situation, you see a treadmill you're interested in being sold at Amazon and at several other websites online. Where should you buy it from?

THE TRUTH BEHIND MOST TREADMILLS AND ELLIPTICALS SOLD ON AMAZON

The fact of the matter is that in many cases, Amazon does not carry the treadmills and ellipticals that it sells. Oftentimes, Amazon only acts as a platform for other merchants to list their products for sale. But because of the Amazon brand, customers are sometimes misled into believing that Amazon is the company that fulfils their order. If you read carefully however, you will notice something along the lines of "Ships from and sold by >>insert merchant name here<<" in the Amazon listing.

So the chances of you ordering something from Amazon but actually being shipped by another company are pretty good. Just make sure you know where you're getting it from before ordering.

WHY YOU SHOULD ORDER FROM AMAZON EVEN IF YOU CAN GET IT AT THE MERCHANT'S WEBSITE

Most merchants that place their products on Amazon have their own ecommerce website where you can place your order. So exactly what benefits does one obtain from buying on Amazon versus directly on the merchant's website? The answer is Amazon's A-to-Z Guarantee Protection. You can read it here. What this essentially means is if you're afraid of dealing with a merchant that might not listen to your complaints should one arise, you can always complain to Amazon and get your refund. Of course this only applies if the merchant is wrong.

WHY YOU SHOULDN'T ORDER FROM AMAZON

The Amazon guarantee is all good and all but for the peace of mind shopping experience, you might have to pay a little extra. You see, Amazon which provides a platform for merchants to sell, also charges a fee. If you've ever sold anything on eBay, this is very similar.

Amazon's fee page here says that they charge a 15% fee. This means the merchant could potentially markup the price by that much to cover the costs associated with selling on Amazon. Not all merchants mark up their prices but there’s a good possibility they will to cover the extra cost of selling on Amazon. With this site as your price comparison guide, you'll know whether buying on Amazon will get you the best deal.