Amazon is taking over the World
Edit: With the world changing, we have to admit an important truth when it comes to purchasing from Amazon and Chewy - it's relatively safe. There is a tidal wave of unscrupulous scam artists from a certain large country on the other side of the Pacific who are preying on you and your neighbors. And small retail websites like Besthorsegear.com too often get painted with the same brush. I find myself relying more and more on Amazon if I don't recognize the name of a merchant who has a product I need. I'd ten times rather deal with the little guy but I don't want to get screwed either. I'm afraid that unless the small merchant has a truly unique product, like Desert Wildflower Designs' mohair creations, the era of the small online merchant is coming to an end.
Who can blame you, it literally takes seconds to make a fairly safe purchase and it's usually delivered in a couple days. Tack, supplements, it's all on there. Heck, we buy on Amazon all the time. But when equine products started showing up on Amazon in 2016 our business stagnated and hasn't changed in the last 5 years.
But there are some "inconvenient truths" about Amazon sales:
1) Many merchants (like us) sell on Amazon as well as on their own web sites. The cost of selling on Amazon is 15% compared to about 3% on our website. If we sell a pair of Iconoclast boots on Amazon, they make about $12. After fees, shipping, etc, we make about $8.
2) You'll get better treatment from merchants' web sites than from Amazon. Whenever possible, we ship within 24 hours. If it's an Amazon sale, we ship within 48 hours. We often barely make enough on Amazon sales to pay the fuel to get to the post office.
3) Prices are often higher on Amazon. For products without a lot of competition like Runners Relief, for example, our Amazon price is considerably higher than our website price.
But hey, Amazon donates all those cool prizes and awards for your events. And Amazon sponsors tons of contestants. You can see the Amazon patches on the contestants' shirts. Oh wait, no that's the merchants.
We recommend you find a reputable merchant and deal with them direct. If you don't, pretty soon Amazon, WalMart and a handful of others will be your only shopping options.