Best Amazon Marketplace Participant

You should have requested FedEx or UPS delivery. Postal systems at many countries are horrible.

 

Thanks for the tip, but that's not the point here. What I'm saying is that they just cancelled my order when they learned I was from Brazil.

 

It was lousy customer service on their part. Even if they did not offer UPS or FedExp, they should still notify you before canceling your order.

 

It is not a matter of free delivery. All of the orders I've made to Caiman have been slow and I pay for the shipping.

There are two problems for me with Caiman:
a) they are too slow
b) they offer items as in stock that they do not have and, at least on one occasion, have offered an item at a price that - I believe - they themselves could not serve at, hence a few month delay (perhaps in hopes that I would cancel my order instead of them having to lose money, something I finally decided to do).

 

I've also had a good experience with Import CD Specialists.

 

My first order with Import CD went quite well. But then I am a domestic customer.

 

Do any forum members have experience dealing with Music Express of CA?
It only has under 15,000 lifetime ratings at 90% positive.

 

My Amazon Marketplace experience has been pretty good so far. Both Newbury Comics and Import CDS are excellent, though I hesitate to buy from Caiman due to the spotty customer service reported by other forum members. At any rate, buy.com will lose me as a regular customer.

 

Had my first problem yesterday. I got a jewel box with the disc missing. I emailed the seller and she had the disc and sent it back out. OTOH, I got the jewel case in just one day.

I've been buying a bunch from Amazon Marketplace lately and have no other complaints. Many have been from Caiman and Newberry Comics.

 

I've gotten wrong cds sent to me.Water damaged cds sent to me.Wrong versions of the cd I ordered sent to me.

 

I feel almost a duty to support Newbury Comics. Unlike Towers, which grossly overpriced its products, Newbury Comics has great prices and excellent customer service and it is a New England small business.

 

I placed an order for 1 cd with Newbury.It said In Stock-Ships in 2-3 days.An authorization was put on my debit card.Next day they tell me my order was cancelled.They said they had no way of getting the cd.Now it'll be at least 10 days before the $$$ drops back to my card and the website is still showing that it's available.This was only my second order with them.I'll stick with Cd Universe from now on.

 

It seems Newbury on amazon and ebay carry a lot of stuff you
wont find in their stores. I have been looking for a lot of the ojc titles
and it seems online they are carrying a wider variety. I see stuff they
have online that i wish i could just walk in the store and buy.

 

Mostly good experiences with Amazon marketplace, even Caiman, Gohastings and Hermanstreet. Marketplace has certainly allowed me to fill in some holes in my collection. I've only once ordered from overseas via marketplace, from Australia, and the discs got here within a week. OTOH, I've ordered overseas through Ebay, Gemm, Musicstack and others, sort of hit or miss. Sometimes it gets here quickly, sometimes it takes a while. Been waiting for about 2 weeks for a CD from Greece. The seller sent me a ship notice then. Austria and scandanavia have been pretty fast. Germany was slow, but the seller forget to put a customs declaration on the package and it arrived re-sealed with a big green "US Homeland Security" tape.

 

Thanks, I almost bought something from that seller.

And I've had no problems with Caiman, but I do think they have listed things a couple of times that they did not actually have in stock. Actually this happened to me with the Audio Fidelity of Minute by Minute. Caiman cancelled my order (although I think I placed this order on half.com not amazon) saying it was out of stock. Then, like a month later I get an email that it's on the way and now here it is. I almost bought another one because of that!

Newbury Comics has a store close to me in Amherst, they've got a pretty decent store. I think I mail ordered once from them and had no problem. Be glad you're in CT, they probably don't charge you sales tax like they do me. They have a website btw, www.newburycomics.com. I wonder if their prices always match up with their amazon listings.

 

Caiman is fast, usually less than a week for delivery (I am serious!)

 

Don't go for free shipping.That's media mail.It took me one month to get a boxset from Caiman with free shipping.Pay the extra few bucks and get first class.

 

For a single CD, first class costs less than media mail.

 

I ordered a box set of Mahler symphonies from Caiman years ago. They e-mailed me a couple of days later saying they didn't have it. It was a low price. I saw they'd relisted it at a higher price within a day or so. Caiman *****.

 

I have had excellent service from Newbury Comics and CD Imports and recommend them both. I have returned a few CDs to CD Imports and been issued a refund without a single problem or argument.

I am surprised by the number of positive recommendations for Caiman. Not only do they advertise titles they do not have in stock (and sometimes cannot get), they also substitute other editions for the title that particular CD lists under on Amazon. They also have a practice of buying merchandise from countries the consumer would not think of as obvious sources of CDs (for example, Argentina - no offence intended to any members from Argentina). I suppose they can purchase these cheaply and then substitute them for the listed USA, UK or EU titles.

I used to purchase a minimum of one CD per week from Caiman. With every order I received an email thanking me for my business and extolling their customer service if I ever ran into a problem. As soon as a problem arose, I was greeted instantly with stonewalling arguments and then ignored. The problem was not solved until I contacted Amazon and they dealt with Caiman. I will never buy from them again.

 

Newbury Comics is the best. I've also had good luck with Amazon's Warehouse Deals. They sell stuff that Amazon can't sell for full price because of damaged jewel cases, torn/missing shrinkwrap, dinged DVD boxset covers, etc. I've gotten several great deals from them.

 

After getting burned a few times I've developed a few rules:

1. Never buy from a seller with less than 96% good feedback - anything lower than that's a 1 in 20 failure rate. Even taking into consideration the people who start crying because their disc isn't in their mailbox six hours after they place the order, that's not a very good track record.

2. Never buy a product where multiple editions are available. There's an enormous amount of clueless sellers acting in good faith that erroneously list early issues under descriptions for more current versions that are re-mastered or feature bonus tracks.

3. Never order anything unless I'm saving at least 20% off of Amazon's price (factoring in shipping). Amazon's prices are already great, and I've had NO problems with their customer service. Saving seventy-five cents isn't incentive to order from a low rated seller.

Another Amazon marketplace problem I've noticed is that the items priced $5.00 and under seem to be the ones that never show up. People apparently just don't put the care into shipping a small ticket item that they would a $30.00 order. Anyone else experience this?

 

My second order with Newbury through the Amazon Marketplace arrived 2 days after I placed the order. But then I only buy classical music ...

 

I took a chance and ordered a CD from Caiman--a good price, and listed as "like new". It came in 4 days and is as listed. I figured, this particular CD was never re-published by itself (it was re-released years later as a 2-fer), so chances are good I'll get the proper thing.

If I see a sale under an out-of-print listing, I always, always contact the seller for catalog numbers, the words "remastered", and when necessary, track listings. I've had good experiences, for the most part, even from huge sellers. The funny thing is, a few times, after I've asked the seller for these details (CDs and books), the seller will increase the price!
Caiman, though--I was told, "we don't have access to listing details. Please check with Amazon or our website"--now that is complete crap. Even with that I took a chance and placed the order. I'm going to check with knowledgeable members here to make sure the CD is legit.

EDIT: upon close inspection, it certainly is not the original 1991 pressing; what 1991 CD has "www.roadrunnerrecords.com"?

And don't get me started on Half.com...

 

I buy several CD's a week from Amazon.com Market Place and I have to say that both Newbury Comics and CD Imports are excellent. If they have a CD that I want, I'll buy it from them, even if it costs more. It's well worth the cost. I've also bought a lot from Caiman. I've never had a major problem with them, but they are slow. Especially when compared to Newbury Comics and CD Imports.com. Caiman can takes weeks, where as Newbury Comics and CD Imports take days.

One seller that I am having difficulty with right now is speedsales_us. After 4 weeks, I'm still waiting for my CD. Also, their communication is poor and slow. I won't buy from speedsales_us again.

I do like some of the rules that loucope uses. I too never try to buy from anyone with less than 96%. However, most sellers seem to hover around the low to mid 90's. Only Newbury had a 100% rating (at least the last time I looked).

Still, I think it's far safer to buy from Amazon market place than it is from eBay.

Good luck.