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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

#361

Post by mikestew »

jeremy7600 wrote: post #352
mikestew wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When NewEgg started the 3rd-party sellers, I quit buying from them. I don't buy from Sears for the same reason. If I wanted a flea market, I'd go find an shut-down drive-in theater. And that's the trick: I'd buy from NewEgg based on their reputation, not the reputation of some company I've never heard of. Back in the day, if I bought from Amazon I assumed (probably incorrectly) that it was somewhat curated. With 3rd-…

You know you can filter out non-NewEgg results?

No, I did not; thanks for the tip. Did NewEgg go out of their way to make that obvious before I said, "WTF is this shit?" and closed the tab? No.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#362

Post by djsumdog »

cfqycwz wrote: post #152
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 remember reading easily a decade ago, when people were describing Amazon as a charity propped up by investors, that this was Amazon's long-term strategy--aggressively reinvest all profits, burn through cash making a loss in order to achieve monopoly or near-monopoly status, and then jack up prices once they'd captured the market. It looks more and more like they're following through.

People say the same thing about Uber today. I wonder if they'll be around as some massive mega-giant in 10 years, or turn into another eToys or MySpace.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#364

Post by ljm »

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 have to admit, it confounds me that fraud can exist on such a large scale in a platform, without really doing anything to damage trust in the platform itself.

The internet does a fantastic job of taking what would otherwise be a localised cesspool, and making the entire thing efficient on a global level.

And I'm sure this suits Amazon very well because I don't use Amazon for discovery. I do my research elsewhere and then buy through Amazon (prime only, of course) because I'm too impatient to wait a week for a delivery!

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#365

Post by taurath »

daveFNbuck wrote: post #220
Gustomaximus wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 competit…

It wasn't just that Amazon was the cheapest in the market. It was that they built up a reputation over the years of being cheap and reliable. There was a long period where I would buy things from Amazon without considering other sources. That's gone now and they can't quickly get it back. Forget about price. I can't even trust that I'll be getting a legitimate product anymore. When possible, I prefer to buy from a mo…

For me my trust is breaking over a couple pairs of socks, of all things. I ordered some socks from amazon which were a larger than normal size. I was actually excited when they arrived and they actually fit perfectly - something thats difficult when trying to find specific styles of socks.

I enjoy them so much I decide to order 3 packages for the future. They come in the mail - all of them are the smaller size (but have the markings of the larger size). The colors weren't the same - it was clearly from another manufacturer. I go okay, that sucks, I guess I should just return them - Amazon decided that now was the time to make me ship them back rather than taking my word for it. The $20 wasn't really worth the time for me to do so - but that $20 is going to end up being a pretty important one for Amazon as I don't have any trust that what they're selling is what will arrive anymore. They could at least be internally consistent.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#366

Post by patrickxie »

ashelmire wrote: post #210
Gustomaximus wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 competit…

>1) The day Amazon feel threatened they can become the cheapest in the market quickly again. Can they? They aren't the ones selling those products, individual companies set their own prices - and they have to pay a cut to Amazon. Even if that cut goes to 0 (making Amazon lose lots of money), that only puts them at barely better than the rest of the market. Walmart sets its own prices. >2) Given purchasing power scale…

1) Amazon can lower fees easily, that's a 10 ~ 20% profit margin, which invites more competitors and thus lower prices.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#367

Post by jacquesm »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #164
cs702 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 competit…

Re. your 1), yes, they can but they will have burned their brand in the eyes of what was until that point a loyal segment of their customerbase and once you lose them they do not come back that easily. It takes less effort to convince a new user to join and start using your products and services than it takes to convince someone that has left because they were unhappy.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#368

Post by jrockway »

alexandercrohde wrote: post #156
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…

Downvoting this because it's irrelevant to the topic at hand (Amazon is stuffing search results pages with ads). It's your right to free-associate all amazon gripes onto this thread, but I'll just use the system to indicate that they are noise to me.

You're definitely right. This happened to me yesterday and seemed to be relevant to the conversation, as the other top-rated comments were along the lines of "I'm tired of Amazon for additional reason X." Technically this has nothing to do with ads, which doesn't change how I feel about Amazon. I am fine if they want to put ads on their pages. I am not OK if they post fake reviews or filter out negative reviews, though.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#369

Post by hkmurakami »

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 find it increasingly difficult to find the version of book I’m looking for

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#370

Post by lovich »

abnry wrote: post #90
mtgx wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon hasn't had the cheapest prices for a few good years now. They're taking advantage of the fact that they have what I like to call "brand inertia". The problem is brand inertia is not infinite. If you no longer do the things that have given you that inertia to begin with, eventually you'll run out of it. When a worthy competitor appears, your customers, who by then will have little loyalty to you, will switch.

So clearly there will be some delay in between when brand inertia is still going and competitors haven't caught up, but it does look like Walmart is stepping up its online retail business, so I have hope that Amazon won't maintain near monopoly status.

My local Target has started providing a service where anything you buy in the store can be rung up at the register and then delivered to your home as well. Really gets rid of the friction of buying anything when you live in a city and don't drive to any stores
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