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Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

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Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#161

Post by LinuxBender »

apersona wrote: post #102
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…

How would you solve the counterfeit goods and preventing people from gaming the review system problems? It seems like a hard problem - eBay suffered from this too for their goods,Yelp with reviews. I doubt it's just a "I don't care" kind of thing.

I don't believe you can stop this. I have tried and failed. I steer clear of anything not shipped directly from Amazon. Trying to report shady sellers on Amazon is next to impossible and Amazon will not remove them.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#162

Post by MentallyRetired »

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…

Two weeks ago I ordered toilet paper. I got fake toilet paper. Not my normal angel soft. The fakes are a huge issue that they really need to deal with, but they can't do that without losing their "marketplace" status.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#164

Post by Gustomaximus »

cs702 wrote: post #142
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…

> Their basic underlying assumption appears to be that they're no longer in danger of losing customers and can now act accordingly. Speaking as a longtime customer, I agree: this is what Amazon's behavior feels like to me nowadays. Search no longer works well for me. Reviews and product ratings are no longer trustworthy. The authenticity of products in key categories (e.g., electronics) can no longer be taken for gra…

Does it though?

1) The day Amazon feel threatened they can become the cheapest in the market quickly again.

2) Given purchasing power scale and people like fast delivery there will only be a handful of companies that can complete with Amazon ever, so it seems unlikely there will be a 'started in the garage' business compete with them now the market is maturing.

3) With the extra profit Amazon are making vs a competitors they can develop and buy technologies or business to keep a moat around them for a long time.

I'm not saying they are irreplaceable. I do feel there is an inertia there that will be difficult to overcome combined with Amazons ability to change course given Bezos complete rule makes a fall vastly less likely than continued dominance over the short to medium term.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#165

Post by StreamBright »

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.

So we need a service that provides better results for items that you can purchase on the internet?

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#166

Post by mortenjorck »

Talyen42 wrote: post #59
phobosdeimos wrote: post #8

So do physical stores. Is it really so different from Heineken paying for prominent shelf space in the supermarket?

In Amazon's case, it's more like you walk in for Heineken and see three advertisements: * Best Heineken (a Chinese no-name brand with 1,551 fake reviews) * Top Rated Heinekan (a Chinese no-name brand with 6,731 fake reviews) * Genuine Official Heienekan 16oz Can Beer Great Tasting Best Loved By Users Drink Up (a Chinese no-name brand with 5,532 fake reviews)

And then at the end of the shelf there’s the actual Heineken, with the caveat that the grocery store doesn’t buy from just one authorized distributor, but rather any distributor can walk in the door and drop off a case of what they claim to be Heineken to sell on consignment.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#167

Post by scrooched_moose »

y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #153
Zelphyr wrote: post #111

Has anyone compiled a list of alternatives to Amazon? I’m not expecting a one-stop-shop where I can buy everything like at Amazon. But a list of online retailers who are better than Amazon at specific categories of products. Because I’m at the point where I would rather pay a little extra and get quality products from a not evil company than continue shopping with Amazon.

Some people are suggesting stop paying for Prime and just use eBay. My biggest concern if I ditch Amazon is losing out on some of the cheap Chinese merchandise that I actually don't mind; flashlights is one example. It never occurred to me that eBay is probably selling the same junk though, so I think i'll start doing comparisons between Amazon and eBay.

You don't have to completely stop using Amazon if you dump Prime though. I still place occasional orders, but I just have to get to $25 for the standard free shipping. In my area, things take about 4 days without Prime - 2 extra "processing" days and 2 days to ship.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#168

Post by gbersac »

tfha wrote: post #63
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…

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…

Welcome to capitalism. People are not in business to be nice, but to make money. Their behaviour is expected and the same as most private actors.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#169

Post by chickenfries »

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…

My experience has been the same, unsubscribed after many years. On top of that, I feel good knowing I’m not supporting a company with terrible working conditions.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#170

Post by ryanianian »

apersona wrote: post #102
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…

How would you solve the counterfeit goods and preventing people from gaming the review system problems? It seems like a hard problem - eBay suffered from this too for their goods,Yelp with reviews. I doubt it's just a "I don't care" kind of thing.

It's pretty easy to spot fake reviews. The tacticts are pretty obvious. I'd bet basic NLP and pattern-matching would work to catch a huge percentage of fake-reviews if it were something Amazon really cared about doing.

Is the reviewer saying things of substance, how many other reviews have they left and over how many years, how many things have they actually bought on the store and at what dollar amounts, are their other reviews a mix of positive/negative, are the types of products distinct, etc. Score each of these and remove/shadow-ban reviews that don't meet an authenticity metric.

If there are real consequences for getting caught buying fake reviews (e.g. banning from selling or fines), it could really restore some order to the chaos. (Then you get the inverse problem of competitors buying fake reviews trying to get the competition banned or fined. This is second-order to actually removing the fake reviews in the first place though.)

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