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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

#391

Post by nblgbg »

Amazon doing some questionable things off late like

1. Removing prime subscription renewal notifications. 2. Injecting ads into search and not differentiating them much with results. 3. Replacing different recommendations in the details page with ads.

Unfortunately you won't notice them if you are not keen. I recently contacted their CS about a fake product. The reviews clearly says it is some cosmetic product the product itself is a dashcam. They did not do any thing about it. They said they get back to me about it and never did. Not sure why they are turning their back on these things. Its definitely not customer obsession !!

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#392

Post by skellera »

taurath wrote: post #365
daveFNbuck wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

Exactly my case. I ordered a couple shirts off the same listing I’ve bought from before. Turns out they used a 3rd party for this color who sent me the wrong shirt (different cotton poly blend). It took a week for them to “approve” the return which they were going to make me pay. Way to lose customer confidence over a $12 order.

It was supposed to be a “Prime” order but it was a terrible experience. What is my Prime membership paying for?

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#393

Post by bonestamp2 »

taurath wrote: post #365
daveFNbuck wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

This hits too close to home. For years I used Amazon to replenish my sock supply with the exact same ones. Suddenly, one day, they weren't the consistent anymore. Then, a few times I ordered things and they were dropshipped from target or walmart.com where they were %30-40 cheaper! The wool had finally been lifted from my eyes and now I fill my walmart cart first and only order a few things on amazon that I can't find elsewhere.

I pulled my amazon spending report and I used to average a little over $11k/year spent there, this year I've spent less than $1000. No matter what amazon changes, I can't trust them anymore. Walmart doesn't mess around, they just aim for the lowest price all the time, and they have cheap (usually free) shipping with no need to pay for a prime membership.

As soon as amazon has saturated the market with prime subscribers, their growth in shopping will start to slow and eventually stop as everyone sees the light.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#394

Post by bonestamp2 »

ajross wrote: post #256
daveFNbuck wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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. That's probably true, but the truth is that situation was an unstable equilibrium in the first place. There's absolutely no reason in a functioning market to expect (or want!) one provider to be the uniform best option at all things. Eventually everyone else starts comp…

There was no lack of competition before, it's just that everyone loved Amazon... they had no desire to look at the competition. As that love affair wears off, we're looking elsewhere.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#397

Post by amazone2 »

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…

> 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 Ebay - identical item on Amazon was $33.95

At least they're simply charging more. I found this battery charger [0] that costs more the more you buy! You can get 1 for ~$33.00, or you can get 3 for the price of 4 (~$133.00). I selected the single unit and set the amount to 3 and got them for ~100.00 rather than buying the 3-pack for $133.00.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Crosse-Technology-BC700-CBP-Battery-C...

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#398

Post by alexandercrohde »

nkurz wrote: post #200
alexandercrohde wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The downvote is fine, but the comment explaining it is excessive. Different people will have different senses of what's relevant vs irrelevant. Although this specific article is about ads on Amazon, I'm personally more interested in the larger question of why/whether Amazon is shooting themselves in the foot with bad policy choices. As such, 'jrockway' was on topic for me.

Meh, when I'm downvoted I prefer to receive a justification. So I return the civility.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#399

Post by darioush »

taurath wrote: post #365
daveFNbuck wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

Had a very similar issue with socks. Re-ordered after ~4 years of the old socks wearing out. New socks came with the brand stitch in different color, and the new ones are already wearing out in ~4 months.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#400

Post by 394549 »

Anderkent wrote: post #390
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.

But this is exactly why sponsored results are good for the searcher. Products that people are willing to spend money advertising will usually be better for you, especially in a context where repeated custom is likely.

> But this is exactly why sponsored results are good for the searcher. Products that people are willing to spend money advertising will usually be better for you, especially in a context where repeated custom is likely.

No, that's false. Ads are only a way of exchanging money for the eyeballs of potential customers, and both scrupulous and unscrupulous merchants use them. They make no reliable statement about what's really "better for you." And especially when the ads are targeted (an therefore relatively cheap), you can't trust anything.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/01/the-s...

> It all started with an Instagram ad for a coat, the West Louis (TM) Business-Man Windproof Long Coat to be specific. It looked like a decent camel coat, not fancy but fine. And I’d been looking for one just that color, so when the ad touting the coat popped up and the price was in the double-digits, I figured: hey, a deal!

> ....

> Several weeks later, the coat showed up in a black plastic bag emblazoned with the markings of China Post, that nation’s postal service. I tore it open and pulled out the coat. The material has the softness of a Las Vegas carpet and the rich sheen of a velour jumpsuit. The fabric is so synthetic, it could probably be refined into bunker fuel for a ship. It was, technically, the item I ordered, only shabbier than I expected in every aspect.

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