How do I love thee, Amazon.com? I’d count the ways, but we’d be here all day and rather be browsing your goods than gushing over your glories. And while you’re a kick-assingly amazing website in nearly every respect, a few select web 2.0 sites and applications have managed to take your awesomeness all the way to 11.
(Why I’m talking to Amazon like it’s a sentient being, I have no idea. I’mma stop that now!)
So without further ado, I present my top three Amazon.com web apps and add-ons:
Amazon Filler Item Finder
Outside of the huge product selection, competitive prices, reliable user reviews, and blissful lack of sales tax, my favorite aspect of buying on Amazon has got to be their “free super-saving shipping”. And it’s fast! I bought a book recently and they used ONTRAC (a west coast based delivery service) to ship it, and it literally got here 2 days after my order was placed. Brilliant! But there’s a catch. You need to fill up ye olde shopping cart with $25 worth of goods to score free shipping, and while that would hardly be a challenge for most, sometimes all you need is a DVD or two, and you might find yourself a dollar short with a day’s worth of frustration trying to come up with something cheap to buy. But no longer! The Amazon Filler Item Finder does the digging for you; just enter in the dollar amount that you need to reach the free shipping threshold, and you’ll get a customized list of cheapie items that you can filter by category till you find one worth snagging.
InvisibleHand Browser Add-On
Although I give Amazon.com high marks for not driving up the price of their products to compensate for the free shipping, there are lots of other web retailers who offer identical goods – and with the constant flux of retail sales in this lackluster economy, it always pays (or saves!) to make sure you’re getting the best possible price. That’s where the fantastic InvisibleHand Browser Addon comes in. Add this to your Firefox or Chrome installation, and it unobtrusively nudges you when you’re browsing an online store to let you know if a better price can be found elsewhere. I tested it on several Amazon pages, and it found better prices at places like Buy.com, Border’s and NewEgg – although Amazon prices beat the others the majority of the time. Still, it could potentially save you some considerable coin, especially where big ticket purchases are concerned. And there’s always that sweet sense o’ satisfaction when you know you’re getting the best deal!
Wishlist.com & Amazon Univeral Wishlist
While not necessarily a website aimed solely at Amazon shoppers, Wishlist.com allows you to save items from any retailer’s website to your personalized lists (yep, you can set up as many as you like for various people and occasions) – and you can share them with friends and family to boot. Another great feature is the ability to import your current Amazon.com Wish List, and if you use the built-in Shopping section (powered by PriceGrabber), you can get “best price alerts” so you know the best time to buy. Alternatively, you can use Amazon’s own Universal Wishlist Bookmarklet to do virtually the same thing, although keeping your wishlists confined to Amazon won’t offer the same feature-rich experience as Wishlist.com.
Got any tips or tricks that enhance the interwebz experience? Send ‘em our way!
