Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#121

Post by ckastner » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #92

ckastner wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bezos is out to make an empire, everything else comes second. I share this sentiment. For comparison, I believe the amount of and methods with which Google collects data to be wrong, but I also believe that they don't believe they are doing something (outright) wrong. Amazon, however, must know that they have a counterfeit goods problem, but it seems that they couldn't care less about it. Same applies to gaming the…

> but I also believe that they don't believe they are doing something (outright) wrong. With so many engineers working at Google, someone there should be thinking they are doing something wrong. Right? Or are you more thinking of a collective conscious of some kind?

I mostly meant upper management, where strategic and policy decisions are made; where the direction a company is going is determined.

Not that non-management is irrelevant. It's just less relevant. Because what is OK or not OK is ultimately decided at the very top.

For example, in the not-so-recent-past, Uber was rocked with scandals on a weekly basis. The first step to fix this was to find a new CEO.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#122

Post by specialist » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

swaggyBoatswain wrote: post #107

fishbone wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I almost ordered two pvc plumbing fittings from Amazon last week for $13.99. Thanks to some Hackernews skepticism I cancelled my shopping cart. I found the same fittings at my local hardware store for $8.99. My question is, how dynamic are Amazon’s prices? Do all users see the same prices or is it more like google search where results are “personalized”? It seems like they could dynamically change prices based on use…

Pretty sure users all see the same price, because otherwise reddit would be up in flames on things like r/mechkeyboarddeals, r/buildapc, r/ultralight, etc. Camelcamelcamel (price history checker) scrapes or pulls data from an external API, its going to be the same for all users

I also use camelcamelcamel to sanity check my recurring purchases.

For example, the range for my preferred elderberry syrup is from $20 to $45.

https://camelcamelcamel.com/Dr-Dünner-Sambu-Elderberry-Elder...

I waited the price to drop back down and then restocked.

YMMV

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#123

Post by ntsplnkv2 » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

geerlingguy wrote: post #53

greetings wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that 2 day shipping is no longer a guarantee. I have had multiple items that have not shipped on time, or had long delays.

It seems to be about 50/50 nowadays if something that has the Prime stamp takes 2 days or 5 or more. It used to be a nice comfort knowing I could order some supply up to 2 days before it runs out, and I’d have it at my house when I need it. But now my confidence in the two day shipping is gone, and I often run to a local Walmart to get the same item for the same price, but guaranteed to be at my house that day. It se…

I've been using prime since 2010. At first, it was incredible. 2 days, every time, no matter what.

Now it's almost always 3 days because they do the "USPS last mile" bullshit. It never makes it early enough on day 2 to make it on the mail truck for that day. I've complained about this and still the same thing. Before I'd get a free month with a quick chat. Not anymore. Now I get a half-assed apology and have to pull teeth for any sort of compensation.

I don't care about next day. Some people get lucky and say "sometimes it's 1 day!" I don't care. I want 2 day shipping. I want to know when it will arrive and that it will arrive at that time. And it's too inconsistent now for me to rely on.

I've since cancelled my membership - only a few more months now to go.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#124

Post by Bartweiss » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

Carstairs wrote: post #101

maaaats wrote: post #10

Unless you know exctly brand/make/model you wan't to buy on Amazon, the search is useless. Hundreds of similar results from dozens of vendors of varying quality. I liked it better when they sold things themselves, now they're just an eBay clone selling cheap knockoffs trying to hide the fact.

I've never really understood the search results in amazon or how anyone could even browse it without knowing the exact item they are looking for. Often the results it returns only has a tenuious link to what I searched for and it just feels like a list of what they have most of in stock that they want to flog off quickly.

The most frustrating experience I've had is attempting to buy anything that has add-ons or ancillary parts sold separately?

Want a phone? Here's 300 phone cases, which have the word 'phone' and are much cheaper! Want a left-angle USB to straight microUSB cord? Here's straight USB to left-turn micro, because those words are the same. And here are some right-angle options because most of the words are the same!

I understand that Amazon isn't indexing 100% of their items by hand, but the combination of no support for sophisticated search features and the failure to index even very popular product classes makes certain products essentially hopeless to buy.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#125

Post by noonespecial » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

maaaats wrote: post #10

Unless you know exctly brand/make/model you wan't to buy on Amazon, the search is useless. Hundreds of similar results from dozens of vendors of varying quality. I liked it better when they sold things themselves, now they're just an eBay clone selling cheap knockoffs trying to hide the fact.

Yes and ebays search actually at least trys to help you find what you're after.

Amazons just seems like an intentional labyrinth to keep you wandering. These days it seems like even the most specific queries just dump a ton of unrelated randomness and nothing of any use.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#126

Post by james-mcelwain » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:56 PM UTC

ckastner wrote: post #121

amelius wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I also believe that they don't believe they are doing something (outright) wrong. With so many engineers working at Google, someone there should be thinking they are doing something wrong. Right? Or are you more thinking of a collective conscious of some kind?

I mostly meant upper management, where strategic and policy decisions are made; where the direction a company is going is determined. Not that non-management is irrelevant. It's just less relevant. Because what is OK or not OK is ultimately decided at the very top. For example, in the not-so-recent-past, Uber was rocked with scandals on a weekly basis. The first step to fix this was to find a new CEO.

It's also a matter of degree vs kind. It's easy to say that Google is collecting too much data, but the basic premise of personalizing searches and selling ads is relatively unobjectionable to most people.

Once you've accepted that selling counterfeit goods and other broadly anti-competitive practices are A-OK and part of your core business model, you've crossed a line where it's no longer really a matter of simply doing "less" of it.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#127

Post by foobarrio » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

cmurf wrote: post #97

jrockway wrote: post #57

I might actually be done with Amazon. Every few months, I spend some time searching for the perfect LED light bulbs for my apartment; the built-in fixture requires 6 candelabra-base bulbs. These are hard to find, but there are a few products catering to this market, so I randomly buy stuff to see if I ever get anything good. I found some LEDs that claimed to have a high CRI and were brighter than normal, so I took a…

Ikea LEDs are pretty darn good for the price. Also note there is a lot of debate and quandary about the CRI as it applies to fluorescent let alone LED. Basically the CRI as it stands is like your kid coming home with a single grade for their report card, they got a B+. Little do you know they got A's in everything but got an F in earth science. The full spectral power distribution is almost too much information, but…

I for one, would love a little chart that shows the power spectrum as well as a black line representing ideal black body output next to the CRI rating. I'm sure a graphic designer can make this prettier (and I think we only care to show the part in the visible spectrum for lights no?). This would show whatever weird spikes or valleys the output might have.

* https://www.newport.com/medias/sys_master/images/images/h5e/...

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#128

Post by Waterluvian » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

arbuge wrote: post #19

Their basic underlying assumption appears to be that they're no longer in danger of losing customers and can now act accordingly. Now that they've captured 50%+ of US ecommerce, they've also raised many prices, to the point where they're far from the cheapest price in many cases. A random example... the cat litter I just purchased is $17.89 at Amazon, $13.49 at Walmart. Last week I bought a chair mat for $21.95 on Eb…

I noticed the price disparity this week as well. Suddenly Walmart is meaningfully less expensive. The math no longer makes sense for Amazon Prime in my case.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#129

Post by thieving_magpie » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

dgacmu wrote: post #35

thieving_magpie wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon (and prime as well) is a godsend for those of us that don't live within a 90 minute drive of a Target or Wal Mart.

Target and Walmart both have pretty reasonable delivery. I shop them together through Google Express (to be able to price compare), and the delivery prices still often beat Amazon. Particularly for heavy stuff.

I should clarify I'm not locked into Amazon. I'm just happy to have it as an option for shopping. I have used Wal Mart and Target when the prices made sense.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#130

Post by chooseaname » Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

moistoreos wrote: post #115

tfha wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I've been unhappy to see Bezos gaining steam. As his other products become more successful, you can expect a lot more of this. Alexa is not your friend, Alexa is a tool to make Amazon money. Amazon's move into media is not an effort to improve the media system, it's a recognition that there's a lot of money to be made by controlling the media that people consume. Same thing with the fire phone, it wasn't…

Empires can fall. They just take consumer behavior to change.

Right, but we're still on the wrong side of the hill for now.