Do you mean literally sold by Amazon or sold by a third party through Amazon? I don't think Amazon sells plants straight from them, but I could be wrong. It's probably a third-party seller, which means Amazon is just the middle man. I've purchased plants from Amazon with success, although I know most are leary about it. The main rule of thumb is to make sure the seller has LOTS of good feedback, then I would be comfortable with the transaction. The hidden gem with Amazon that most people overlook is that they have the best customer service on the planet. Customer is always right with them, they will back you all the way. That makes me feel better when dealing with a third-party seller, knowing Amazon will take good care of me if there is an issue. I just bought Glow Girl Spireas and Annie's Magic Ball Arborvitaes from Amazon with a third-party seller in January. Plants are doing great, all except one Glow Girl, who has been listless since breaking dormancy. I sent the seller a pic, they immediately refunded me and told me to process a new purchase so that they could get a replacement plant out to me. I was pleasantly surprised, b/c this seller didn't have such great reviews, but I took a chance b/c I couldn't find glow girls anywhere else for anywhere near that price. I felt safe doing that with Amazon, though. I could have purchased straight from the seller's website, they are an online nursery, but I wanted that extra coverage since their feedback was average. Hope that helps!

I bought a Strathwood glider when I first moved into my new place. In less than a month, the supports for the glider had broken and it had collapsed.

I started buying from Amazon US and I can't buy from Amazon UK (this book is not available in your area). They have now started up Amazon Aus and there is a constant banner asking me to swap, but I'm not going to as I think there will be less choice there.

I've also had great experiences with their customer service, but I've also had that computer (or clueless foreigner in his native country) reading an e-mail and getting it all wrong. A follow up usually fixes it. :) The Call Me works great, as does the chat, though on that one, do anticipate foreign workers who don't really know what you're talking about. My recent issue, however, was when the delivery driver left a big heavy box with my parents' correct packages. It was for a street not that far away but where there's nowhere even a little way away to park, and it was just too big and heavy to go trotting down the sidewalk with if we'd rustled up someone to drive around the block (no possibility of waiting, either). Normal thought would be that they'd send someone to pick up the box and deliver it to the right place. The delivery services just park in the middle of the road and pay the fines as a cost of doing business. Because I didn't have an order number, because it wasn't my box, they said they couldn't do that. Couldn't. So I asked to speak to a supervisor. After waiting half an hour, I was told that the supervisor would call me back. Didn't happen. So I e-mailed. And got another e-mail back asking for the info on the label (i.e., so they could identify the order), then they told me to keep or ditch the box, that they couldn't pick it up because it wasn't my order!! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, because the cost of restocking is so high that a lot of mass distributors like Amazon give all their returns, or all under a certain price, to jobbers to resell, getting no more than dimes on the dollar. I wasn't so happy with their policy on that, especially because the heavy wrong box was distressing my mother, and it would have been easier to dispose of if they'd come and gotten it. In general, however, their service is very good.