But it is ALMOST there. I’ve been using the Amazon wish list for a long time now and I really like it. The addition of the Universal wish list was a great addition, I just have the universal wish list bookmark on the firefox toolbar to add things from other sites. So when it came time to register for the wedding I thought… hmm… I wonder if Amazon has a wedding registry. It does!

We started using it a couple weeks ago and we’ve found some shortcomings with it. First off, While I do like shopping online, there are somethings that I want to see in person. When it comes to choosing a good set of pots and pans I want to hold the handle in my hand and see the finish for myself. I had heard about the iphone app Redlaser which scans bar codes and looks up the prices online on Amazon and Google. So I went ahead and bought it. The first time I tried it out it was amazing… it just worked. I scanned in a set of pans, it looked them up on Amazon and found that they were $30 cheaper online. Great! Then I noticed that you

can add to the wish list directly from the iphone! Could life get any better? I submit that it could not! But then I noticed something, you can’t add something to the Wedding registry from the Mobile version of Amazon.com (glaring omission #1). So I thought I would just add them to my wish list then move them over later, until I found out later that you CANT DO THAT. (glaring omission #2) So you have to… find the item on the wish list, click on it, re-add it to the wedding registry, then remove it from your wish list.

So what could have been “historically awesome” was rendered “just pretty cool” by Amazon.

In Summary the good things about Redlaser and Amazon are…

• The Redlaser app is historically awesome.
• Amazon Registry works with the universal wish list button.
• The Registry separates the items into categories.
• unique URL for sending out to people.

Bad things…

• Universal wish list items are relegated the universal wish ghetto at the bottom of the page.
• You can’t move items from your regular wish lists to the registry.
• Cant put things on the wedding registry from Amazon mobile.

I sent some feedback to  Amazon about these problems. Here’s the email, I hope I get a response!

I love the Amazon Wish List.

I love the Universal Wish List Button.

But Two things. We’re using Amazon for our wedding registry and we’ve found some problems.

1. You can’t move an item from the normal wish list to the Wedding Registry.

2. You can’t add to the Wedding registry through the mobile site.

2a. You NEED to partner with the iPhone redlaser app for wedding registries. It’s amazing to be able to go through the store and scan in things that you want and then add them to the amazon wish list (at a discount!) but with the problems listed above it makes for a bumbpy process

Thanks,
Mark

*UPDATE*

I got this email today.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions.

We’re aware of #1 and #2 and over the longer haul, will be looking to address those. Probably not much help to you in the short term, I know…

2a is pretty cool. I just downloaded that app and tried it out and it works surprisingly well on all of the codes around our office. Kind of fun too! We have a similar function within the Amazon app that allows you to shoot photos of things and get them identified. It works really well on books, music, etc. but we haven’t used the bar codes yet. Thanks again for sending your ideas along.

Cheers!

Eric Franklin
Product Manager, Wish Lists and Registries
Amazon.com

Amazon, they’re good people.