After Amazon started offering free shipping for more than one item,
online shoppers started looking for second items on sale for under $1.
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Mirroring a move made by Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) two
weeks ago, Barnesandnoble.com
(Nasdaq: BNBN) announced Monday that it will
offer free shipping for consumers purchasing two or more items.
In a jab at Amazon, which raised the prices on some items when
it offered to pick up the shipping tab for customers, Barnesandnoble.com
said that its "low product prices remain unchanged."
Said Barnesandnoble.com vice chairman Steve Riggio: "Now, we're offering free shipping without changing our prices or making any fine-print exceptions."
Carolyn Brown, director of communications at Barnesandnoble.com,
told the E-Commerce Times that the online bookseller has not
decided how long the promotion would last.
Barnesandnoble.com's Offer
Barnesandnoble.com is offering free standard shipping on
customer orders of two or more items purchased from the
company's selection of books, CDs, video, DVDs, magazines and
eBooks.
Shipping on orders of single items has also been reduced to
US$3.48 for one book or video, and $1.98 for one CD, tape or DVD.
Posters at the message forum of comparison shopping site
FatWallet.com apparently approve of
Barnesandnoble.com's offer.
"Amazon cheats customers when it
offers free shipping while raising prices on its products," a poster wrote. "[Barnesandnoble.com] is honest when
it says free shipping without raising prices."
Amazon's Offer
Visitors to Amazon's site are greeted with a pop-up window that
promises visitors free shipping when they buy two or more
items, in any combination, from the e-tailer's
books, music, DVD or video stores.
"At Amazon.com, we're always working to make your shopping
experience as simple as possible," the e-tailer says. "For qualifying orders, the
price you see is the price you get -- you'll no longer need to
factor in shipping charges at the end of your order."
Amazon added that it had also reduced
shipping charges on single-item orders and on international shipments.
User Backlash
However, the fine print of the offer warns visitors
that the company has changed its pricing "on some books." Amazon
said that it had lowered the prices on some products
but "reduced our discounts" on others.
Those "reduced discounts" did not go unnoticed among posters at the FatWallet Forum.
"Did anyone else notice the prices on most DVD titles went up?" a poster named Cornelius wrote.
"I have about 40 DVDs in my 'save for later' section that I move
to the shopping cart as I want to buy them when a coupon or
[gift certificate] becomes available. Nearly all of them went
up about $3 in price."
Is Amazon Listening?
Amazon spokesperson Bill Curry told the E-Commerce Times that Amazon's promotion is scheduled to end Wednesday. Amazon will
analyze the results and make a decision on whether to continue it, Curry said.
When asked if Barnesandnoble.com's promotion would have any affect on Amazon's
decision, Curry said: "We look at what our customers say and
not what our competitors do."
He also said that the "overwhelming majority" of Amazon customers had
saved with the promotion, in spite of the price increases on
some items.
Back Door
In any case, some Internet shoppers have found a way
to circumvent Amazon's price increases. Several
posters at FatWallet urged their shopping brethren who
only want one item to purchase "The Book
of Hope" for 49 cents, in order to qualify for free
shipping.
Notably, the 64-page book has shot to No. 51 on Amazon's best-seller list.
Amazon's offer is only good on orders shipped to a single
address within the mainland U.S. The offer also excludes
digitally downloaded material and all other items sold by
Amazon.
Talkback: 
