Good points!

I always look to see if it states "Ships from and sold by Amazon" or "Fullfilled by Amazon", because that means Amazon has it in a warehouse and will ship it themselves. If an item description states something like "Ships from and sold by ACME Roadrunner Company", then Amazon has nothing to do with the actual shipment. When I see the latter statement, I look at the right sidebar in the web page under Other Sellers on Amazon to find better shipping/price options. I find that the fastest deliveries state "Ships from and sold by Amazon" or "Fullfilled by Amazon". If it doesn't state one of those, it is anyone's guess as to how long it will take to be shipped and arrive at your location. There is an art and science in using Amazon to the maximum, so the more tricks you learn the better.

ETA: Also look out for Prime and other shipping types that have tiny little caveats stated. For example, I occasionally see Prime, but below it will state that it ships Prime but it might be several days or even weeks before it actually ships. Rather deceptive, but when it is shipped by a 3rd party they sometimes do that. So read the fine print carefully. As I stated in an earlier post, I once ordered an item that said 2-day shipping, but what they meant was it would be shipped within two days but come from China. Really misleading, especially since they left out any mention of China. Amazon made it right though by dinging that retailer.