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***** top seafarer site

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com high data!
http://www.amazon.co.uk

Buy books, CDs with free local delivery

Amazon have become one of the most successful retailers on the Internet, initially selling books at an average 30% discount from shop prices. Steadily expanding, the site now offers CDs, DVDs, computer games, gifts and personal advertisements for items on sale.

The site is very easy to use and the purchasing system avoids the need to keep typing in the same information. All addresses, for billing and delivery, credit card numbers and personal preferences are recorded. Amazon even developed a secure credit card system that allows you to select between different cards by displaying only the last 5 digits, meaning that no-one can look over your shoulder and copy it.

There is a gift wrapping service for a small charge and a message of up to 200 characters can be included for free. Local delivery charges are fairly reasonable and nearly always covered by the savings on the books themselves, and orders over £25 are delivered free. International charges are obviously less economical (e.g. world deliveries cost £2.95 plus £3.00 per item).

One of the best features of the site is a “related items” listing. For every book sold, Amazon saves information about other books bought by the same person, leading to an interesting and real life recommendations index. Users can also add reviews and comments about their favourite (or otherwise) books.

There are several international sites, in France (http://www.amazon.fr), Germany (http://www.amazon.de), Japan (http://www.amazon.jp) and Austria (http://www.amazon.at). Spanish language titles are available from the main dot com site.