Live data from Hacker News

Goodbye Amazon

princeton-audio.com

11–20 of 139 posts

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#11
post #3

>I'll repeat that: Amazon.com, a reseller, told us that we were not allowed to raise the price of our own product for any reason. I don't believe this... Were you actually selling using "Sell on Amazon/Fulfilment by Amazon"? Or some 3rd party using Amazon for you...? >Amazon's policy is to never return unsold products to manufacturers https://services.amazon.co.uk/services/fulfilment-by-amazon/... says that: >Typical…

Perhaps you can get returned stock back to see if there's something wrong with it, but not unsold stock? It seems strange to me as well, but I've also seen plenty of Amazon items that are obviously effectively about to be out of stock forever, lingering on those last one or two items still in some warehouse somewhere.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#12
post #4

>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…

Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week custom-made-to-order products.

Seems like there's a place for such a website.

There are quite a number of things like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSR8wKQ-TEU

Maybe there's another well-known retail site that caters to that type of vendor

Massdrop? However, this requires a different set of adaptations from manufacturers that some might regard as "compromises."

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#13
This is a just an ad or marketing stunt for the company.

As most of you pointed out, they picked the wrong distributor for their business model. Now they are mad and severing relationships.

However, 75% of the article is about their company and their handcrafted products. Then they offer a discount at the bottom tells you everything you need to know what this is really about.

This is a publicity and marketing stunt.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#14
post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

Is that racism or nationalism? Do you think it'd bother him if someone of Chinese descent lived in their hometown and made that money? I don't know.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#15

Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, using their preferred tonewoods, choice of hardware, as well as other unique customizations. ... The only way to meet their demands would have been to mass-produce huge volumes of speakers featuring no customizations. How is Amazon even possibly a good place to sell this kind of an item? People overwhelmingly go…

How is Amazon even possibly a good place to sell this kind of an item?

For manufacturers like this, Amazon is only useful for selling returned items, "Used - like new" or "refurbished".

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#16
post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

That assumption once applied to Made in Japan. If you go back even longer, it once even applied to things made in North America.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#17
post #4

>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…

> Maybe there's another well-known retail site that caters to that type of vendor but it certainly isn't Amazon (or Walmart).

Massdrop is a possible alternative. They have a thriving audio enthusiast community and long fulfillment times for custom/semi-custom orders are not uncommon.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#19
post #4

>Our Site:1 speakers are lovingly handcrafted. We make them one at a time, to our customer's desired spec, [...] If all goes smoothly, this process takes about six weeks. >Amazon relentlessly pushed us to accept lead-times that were typically only four days, and sometimes demanded fulfillment of orders in as little as 24 hours--including delivery. Amazon is not really an appropriate distribution platform for 6-week c…

And the risk of keeping inventory value that you're never going to sell. Amazon takes their speakers, but will never send the unsold units back. Making expensive speakers according to MRP projections with no reliable demand is a time-bomb for a small company like this one. Especially if they're already unsatisfied with Amazon's performance, why would they risk thousands of dollars worth of product for no reason? It doesn't seem like they're trying to scale-up to be Bose. They seem to just want to hang out, make money, and make diesel speakers.

Re: Goodbye Amazon

#20
post #7

When I read sentences like this: "We steadfastly refuse to be purveyors of cheap, plastic, mass-produced, craptastic speakers made on an assembly line in China that contribute nothing of value to the lives of our customers or the town we call home." I'm always amazed how much subtle racism seems to be acceptable when it comes to talking about China. This sentence contains so many hidden assumptions, e.g. "product fro…

There's nothing racist about recognizing that a lot of cheap crap products are made in China, nor about caring more about your own community than other communities.
Post reply on HN