How vendors lose sales

[John-NYBW]

I don't need to know nor do I care what goes into a vendor's costs to deliver an item to me. All I care about is the total cost they charge me. When I click on something on their website, it tells me that cost. The only thing added in is the sales tax which all online sellers are charging now and which I would pay at a brick and mortar store. Most of the time I have an idea what an item would cost me if I bought it at a brick and mortar store. If Amazon's price is reasonably close to that, it is a better deal for me to buy from them and not pay for gas and wear on my car. There is also the value of my time. A round trip to the nearest town with a Walmart and a Lowe's is almost an hour. Now if I am going into town to do other shopping, the equation changes. 

My last renewal for my Prime membership was $119. Somebody said that it has gone up to $139. With gas prices rising so dramatically, that Prime membership is still a bargain. It would have to go up considerably more than that for me to consider dropping it. 

[John-NYBW]

maxman

It also seems that there are some items where "free shipping" does not apply.

 

If shipping is extra, it means you are buying from a third party vendor that is charging for shipping and hasn't worked out shared cost agreement with Amazon for shipping.

The MicroMark truck tuner I spoke of in the OP is available from Amazon. The item cost is $4 more than what MicroMark charges but I wouldn't have paid additional shipping which tells me MicroMark and Amazon have an agreement on shipping. Had I bought directly from MicroMark, the item cost would have been less but I would have spent $10 more for shipping so buying the item from Amazon would have saved me $6. I saved a lot more by buying from the ebay seller and I'm getting two truck tuners for $13 less than I would have paid MicroMark for one. 

[tstage]

Okay, I think we've beatin' this one to death.  Let's get back to trains rather than S&H costs.  Thanks...

Tom