Has anyone ever bought something from caiman_com on Amazon's zshops?

but Donut has some stories IIRC.

this is all very reassuring

if im patient, theyre a great place to buy, because theyre pretty much always the cheapest. if i know ill get annoyed if it takes a little longer, ill put up 50¢ more and go through import_cd_specialists or something.

also
CLAIRE FROM CAIMAN SENDS ME EMAILS
THE CROCO-DEAL!

clare is such a ho.

i have a backorder that's been "processing" for over a year.

One disadvantage is that every item you order ships on its own schedule, so you don't get any discount on shipping for a large order.

Based on my own range of experiences, I'm unlikely to order from Caiman again.

One thing, though- AVOID the seller "moviedogpound" on ebay like the plague. I tried to get the L&PT album from them a few weeks after it came out, and it took them over a month just to tell me it was backordered and they wouldn't be able to get it. Keep in mind this was a listing on ebay, where they're supposed to actually have the item they're selling. I ended up waiting two more months for the refund, and had to badger them about it all the way. And then paypal stiffs me $5 on the refund since I'd used a $5 off coupon on a second order I placed at the same time...grr.

whatever you do, don't order cds from the amazon seller caiman.com. they sent the cds in the worst packaging and every one of the cd cases was cracked to pieces. retards!

-- amon (...), September 23rd, 2005.

my opinion hasn't changed. buyer b-w@rez

HI DERE AQUARIUS RECORDS

The emails I get from them are really odd, though. When I order something, they'll send me a 'placeholder' email that has random database strings in the place of what I ordered.

Also they'll say 'we'll tell you when we shipped' and suddenly the thing arrives with no email to tell me it's on its way.

English is not the first language of the people manning the help desk, as well.

But on the whole they're great. They just need to work on their communication with customers as when things start to go wrong, you're in the dark.

Since I moved into the boondocks, the Amazon marketplace has become my record store. I have had pretty good luck with only a couple of times having some orders out of a bunch get really screwed up.

overall i'd say this has been a terrific shopping experience. :)

The main problem is: "Claire" is a bot, so so obviously. You actually send a question to caiman, and Dr. Sbaitzo or ELIZA has a better chance of answering your question in better english than Caiman ever will... and it's not that they don't know English.. it's very much a strategy to frustrate you into a state where you want to just say "fuck it" and not bother, but I managed to get many refunds from caiman before through A2Z claims... You have to work to get your revenge, but I got mine

And this has been a good experience for some stuff that, while not rare, was pretty expensive from all other avenues (and randomly out of stock most places):

Instant Funk - The Anthology 2xCD
Walter Gibbons Salsoul Anthology: Mixed With Love 3xCD
Salsoul Orchestra - Deluxe Anthology 2xCD
Inner Life - The Anthology 2xCD
Holloway, Loleatta - Anthology 2xCD
First Choice - The Anthology 2xCD

All said and done, 13 new import discs bought and shipped for under $100.
Hard to beat.

Also, if you order through Amazon and have a problem, they will refund you if Caiman don't.

I always assumed that the prices they charge are American prices, which are cheaper than UK prices, but they still make their profit.

But perhaps not.

I would not trust Caiman myself, but I have no experience.

my guess is i'll be buying from them again in the not too distant future.

They get 10% off the top of thousands, tens of thousands, of orders per day, just for keeping the website and databases up and running smoothly. (Some times more smoothly than others.) Plus $40/month in free cash money from each of thousands of Pro Sellers, plus 99 cents per sale from all other non-Pro-Seller transactions. It's a huge revenue stream for them, and there are still a lot of buyers out there who won't buy from 3P sellers, who stick with Amazon Central. (I'm married to one.)

Don't think I'd trust them with more than one night's beers money.

What is the Amazon.co.uk A-to-z Guarantee?

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Also, the lack of combined shipping when ordering from the same seller on zShops is a complete dud. On half.com you get a nice discount on the second item.

Yeah but it doesn't really matter what Amazon sez. You can just go to your credit-card company and institute a chargeback. It might take a moment for the credit to come back to you (although for stuff between $1-15 bucks my CC company has just said whatever and given me the money immediately.)

They must have upped it to five after my nastygram.

Buyers are limited to a lifetime maximum of five claims for Amazon Marketplace, Auctions and zShops purchases.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/537868/

Hopefully that link works

Is this "three times max" thing a new thing? Or does it just apply to "I've changed my mind, I want to cancel this purchase without any good reason other than I changed my mind" type refunds?

I'm currently a reseller with 5.0 stars there, and I'm noticing that, despite my not having THEE cheapest price available for certain CD-single items (maybe slightly more) I'm still selling those items over the cheaper ones. The five-times-max thing makes a lot more sense to me now.