Leaving purchases in the (virtual) cart

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I expect some of you have experienced this/figured this out already, but I am pleased with myself about it, and if you don’t know, it might (or might not) be useful to you.

A while back I created a couple of documents and wanted Staples to print them for me. I went through the whole rigamarole–special paper, no thanks; color or b&w, color please; navy or black back cover, I’ll go with black–checked that the price was decent, and put the documents in my shopping cart.

Then a call came in that I had to deal with, and I forgot to complete my purchase.

The next morning, there was an email from Staples. “We see you haven’t checked out even though you have things in your shopping cart,” it began, and offered me a 20% discount if I would make the purchase that day. Well! A good thing the call had come in–saved me about five bucks, which isn’t exactly lifechanging but hey, it’s something.

So the next time I wanted Staples to print a document of mine, I tried the same thing, only with intent this time. Yup–another 20% off. Not bad!

I recently decided to purchase a piece of sports equipment online. There was a sale going on, so I saved 20% upfront. But, upon reflecting on my Staples experience, I wondered if I’d do better if I left the thing in the cart. Bottom line: it took several days, but they offered me free shipping–which saved me a lot more than five dollars.

I’m sure this won’t work for all companies–I have it on good authority that amazon, for example, is perfectly content to let items sit in virtual carts for approximately forever–but worth trying. Hey, you never know!

2

I’ve had that happen. Was ordering a hoodie. Thought, well maybe I could wait. And I stop before clicking the check out button. A couple days later I got offered a deal to get a twofer. Yay! Two hoodies. Of course I took the deal.
I’ve since ordered from them several times. I’m a valued repeat customer. It seems. I’m getting coupons or offers all the time from them. I’ve even gotten downright free items unsolicited. They just sent them to me.

I like that stuff.

3

I was thinking of buying a car and they offered me $3000 off the model I wanted that was on the lot. I told them I wanted to sleep on it. Next day it was $4500 off. This is a car company that has the computer come up with the quote, not a salesperson going to the manager to see if they can sharpen the pencil. So in a way, yes, I’ve had it happen.

4

A woman I work with told me that years ago. I was ordering something and she suggested that I just leave it in my cart and exit. She, unlike me, bought a lot of stuff online and did it always. I have done it ever since if I am in no hurry to make the purchase. I don’t buy much online but many times it has worked.

5

I’ve done that a few times on Amazon with no intent.

Never once have I been offered a discount to complete the purchase. Maybe because Amazon is not the actual seller but rather a middle-man. Dunno. Just a data point.

I will, however, have Amazon notify me of a price change if something in the cart changes prices before the purchase is made.

6

Amazon doesn’t do this, as you surmised. But they are the actual seller in many cases. They buy the products outright from “Amazon Vendors” at strictly set prices and resell them. That’s what all those Amazon distribution centers are for. Whereas “Amazon Sellers” are 3rd party sellers who just use the Amazon platform to hawk their stuff at whatever prices the sellers (or their algorithms) determine, similar to Etsy or eBay. The terms are often misused (or used loosely), even on the Dope by Amazon Sellers.

7

I’ve gotten the discount offer from some sellers, but others have just sent me a reminder without offering up anything. More often than not the cart just self-empties after a day or two and I have to start again from scratch. I do tend to reject all but required cookies, though if it’s a store I’ve purchased from before that has a login, or if I’ve gone through enough of the checkout process to have entered my contact info, then it’s more likely I’ll get a poke.

8

Yup, there are some online companies I will specifically put something in the cart with no intention to buy right then knowing they will later send me an “oops you forgot to order! Here’s a 15% off code for you!” email.

9

What I used to do with Amazon before I became a Prime member was to leave stuff in my cart for a few days, then when I checked out the stuff would arrive the next day. I surmised they were moving the inventory to the closest warehouse in anticipation of the sale. So I got free expedited shipping without paying for it. But like I said, I am now a prime member so shipping is irrelevant.

10

It’s an important distinction. My wife recently ordered an item from Amazon and it arrived the next day. She didn’t like it so requested a return. at the same time, she ordered a similar item made by the same manufacturer and that arrived on the following day.

Returning the first item was no problem since it was direct from Amazon. The second item is still waiting while the seller quibbles about why it is not suitable (it was a different size to the one ordered).

11

When buying something from eBay that’s just buy-it-now and I’m not in a hurry I put the item on my watch list. (Usually several different sellers.) Then I wait and see what happens. Usually get a 20% offer. But if they offer a 5% discount I delete their item. Something about such a small discount sets off alarms for me.