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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

#171

Post by bhtru »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #149
apersona wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 a solved problem and not hard. Most brick and mortar chains in the UK have a buying policy that requires you to prove your goods are fit for purpose before they'll put it on the shelves and risk hurting their brand. I imagine most of Europe operates similarly. They will generally require suppliers to send examples of the range before being allowed in store, and they will test or examine a representative selectio…

Couldn’t malicious sellers circumvent this by sending quality product initially and then swapping it later on?

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#172

Post by mindcrime »

dsr_ wrote: post #155
mindcrime wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. As Adam Smith said: It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

And if you don't regulate them in the interests of the people at large, they will conspire to advance their own interests. The free markets need regulation, or they stop being free.

Everybody "conspires to advance their own interests"... that's pretty much the definition of self-interest.

Anyway, the point is just that one doesn't expect companies to be your friend. You expect them to pursue their own interest, and thankfully their interest and your interest overlap quite often - and mutual, voluntary exchange of goods, service, and currency occurs.

Are there things I wish Amazon, for example, did differently? Of course. And the wonderful thing about the free market is that if enough of their customers become unhappy about some issue or other, another company can come along and serve those customers. Of course that might not happen, and that's fine. Nobody is claiming that a free market guarantees that everybody gets exactly what they want.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#173

Post by josefresco »

Sooo, just like Google? If these ads become commonplace, savvy users will start to ignore the "first x results" and Amazon will make click/ad money on the the same people that click Google Ads.

While we all wish a competitor (just a click away! /s) would arise to compete, we all know from our experience with Google that lock-in is real.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#174

Post by arbuge »

Finbarr wrote: post #108
SteveCoast wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you saved $4.40 to go to Walmart. * There's a non-zero chunk of the population not near a Walmart or similar. * It costs time to go there * It costs vehicle depreciation So if you were going to Walmart anyway, or walked there with nothing better to do you saved the money. But if you didn't then let's say the average wage is $25/hour or so and you spent 30 minutes there and back, and fully loaded vehicle depreciati…

Walmart has a major online shopping portal that competes directly with amazon. My assumption is the OP was talking about buying online from Walmart, particularly given the other example was eBay.

Correct.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#175

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#176

Post by philipov »

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.

Sounds like an antitrust issue. Great example of how it doesn't take full monopoly-scale control for markets to break down.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#177

Post by arbuge »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #99
SteveCoast wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you saved $4.40 to go to Walmart. * There's a non-zero chunk of the population not near a Walmart or similar. * It costs time to go there * It costs vehicle depreciation So if you were going to Walmart anyway, or walked there with nothing better to do you saved the money. But if you didn't then let's say the average wage is $25/hour or so and you spent 30 minutes there and back, and fully loaded vehicle depreciati…

You can order online from walmart right? I assume that's what he meant

Yes, it is.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#179

Post by tjr »

fishbone wrote: post #83
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 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…

I'm not sure how it happened, but at one point I had two of the same product in my cart -- not Quantity of 2, but it was listed two times. Both of the same Amazon product ID. And each at different prices. And, over time, as they sat in my cart, their prices changed, differently.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#180

Post by mc32 »

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…

If this is true, they have turned from an online store which fulfilled your order from its warehouses to now, basically, an advertising network with incidental products that attract users so they can shove ads at them. That’s a sad thing to see happen.
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