Reply
Trusted Contributor
Posts: 1,423
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Why would anyone purchase on the Q when Amazon, Sephora and Philosophy to name a few provide better pricing and free shipping???????

Am I missing something?

Super Contributor
Posts: 268
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I understand what you're saying. I shop Amazon mostly now but once in awhile I see something on QVC and the ""Easy Pays"" make it doable for me. beanie

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,935
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

I buy where I can get the best deal. I think a lot of people will buy from Q for the e-z pay. Not me. I would rather have free shipping then e-z pay. E-Z pay does not save me any money but better prices elsewhere does.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,955
Registered: ‎03-10-2010
My Shark vaccuum was a rare better buy at the Q- otherwise, I buy where my dollar goes the farthest.
Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,230
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

What you're missing I think is that those places are good for shoppers who already know what they want to buy and are willing and able to work their way through the hugeness of their websites.

And neither is automatically free. First, in 2015 on Amazon you'll spend $99 for Prime and then most things are shipped free. That works well for people who buy lots of separate purchases. If each of my QVC purchases this year had cost $9, I would have lost if QVC had an upfront charge for shipping and I'd chosen to do that. I paid Amazon $79 in 2014 and the only reason it was a deal at all was because I got caught up on Downtown Abbey. Otherwise, I would have paid way too much for shipping.

Amazon is also free shipping if you spend over $35. My last purchase from them was 11.95. It was a good deal because I couldn't find that product elsewhere. If I had spent another $23 then shipping would have been free - but I don't see how that's saving anything. It's just spending more and buying something that I wasn't going to buy anyway.

Same with Sephora - if you buy lots of cosmetics and buy it in groups, it pays to shop there..I tend to buy one item at a time - no free shipping on that.

I think we all spend and save differently. Just as I think OP could go through my spending and find me some savings, I'm fairly certain I could do the same with hers. We'd each be doing something with our money we didn't really want to do, though.

And, btw, be careful about your buying. I've had a Philosophy item on AD with QVC for several years. With tax and shipping, it's less than Sephora before tax - It is over $50 at Sephora so sometimes it would qualify for free shipping.

ETA EZPay is not a lure for me. I use it if it happens to be offered when I'm buying, but I've never once used one of those extra offers they send. Same with free shipping day tomorrow. I don't even know if QVC is a participant. There's nothing on my shopping list now any place except Publix, and I don't buy just to "save." There's no savings involved.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 65,680
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Familiarity, pure and simple... and Easy Pay helps move the goods too. Moreover, by hoarding EP more than do the others, they keep customers coming back and looking to see if an item they want has gone on EP... They're not dummies, for sure. Unfortunately, other factors that used to make QVC a fun place to shop have more or less disappeared.


In my pantry with my cupcakes...
Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,955
Registered: ‎03-10-2010
I always by coffee, vitamins, and several other staples at Amazon, so I never buy unnecessary items and almost never pay shipping.
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,088
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

I have found many shopping sites offer free shipping. Amazon is the best & fastest. As to the comment about paying for Prime we more than get our money's worth. I get loads of free books, streaming and much more. The prices are excellent and service is fantastic. None of which I can say about the Q. Before we were Prime members I usually waited until I had the min. purchase and got free shipping. Even HSN offers better shipping for the most part than the Q. If I am buying something, I don't care about easy pays. For me if I can't afford it now, I'll just wait until I can. It's a great perk, but not worth the additional shipping.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,230
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

I agree lots of people get great value from using Prime. I don't shop enough to get that value and I don't stream. The thing I've been most disappointed with is the quality of the free books with Prime. I much prefer getting my freebies via the library, either in print or in their Kindle offerings. For what I want to read, that works really well.

My Prime is up in a couple of weeks, so I will take advantage of a few purchases between now and then, but I'm not renewing. They depend upon members like me to bulk up their revenue so they can keep shipping lower for those who buy a whole lot. I just don't need to help them do that.

But I also wouldn't do a pre-paid shipping with QVC. Once upon a time that might have saved me money. Now it wouldn't.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,570
Registered: ‎06-13-2012

I don't pay for Amazon prime since I don't ever need pseudo "free" 2-day shipping (all my orders are always free shipping anyway) and don't stream movies but I LOVE Amazon. I buy so many of my items from Amazon, including hard to find items.