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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

#421

Post by LinuxBender »

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, Amazon is basically the same gamble as ebay. There is a high chance I will get the wrong product, opened boxes, no box (shipping label stuck on vendor package), opened packages, swapped products, used products sold as new.

I would suggest Amazon can't ever be the cheapest, when I factor in the risk factor that I may or may not get what I paid for. The convenience factor goes out the window if I have to return my package.

Just today I received an opened package. I am curious what surprises await me.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#422

Post by Anderkent »

394549 wrote: post #400
Anderkent wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Of course all companies use ads, including unscrupulous ones. But ads work better for companies with a real product, and therefore you expect the % of good products among advertised products to be higher than among non-advertised ones.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#423

Post by sbtrct »

H1Supreme wrote: post #261
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.

The last three orders I placed from Amazon took over a week to ship. Every product was sold directly from Amazon, and shipped from their New Jersey warehouse to Ohio. It's my opinion that they are intentionally delaying orders that aren't Prime. I've never been someone who used Amazon for everything, so a Prime membership never made sense. I'd estimate 2-3 orders a year at most. Placing 3 orders in a short time frame…

That's also my experience. I'm in Ireland, ordering (mostly books) through amazon.co.uk (since 2000) so Prime never made sense for me either, but delivery times from the UK have definitely slipped over the past two years. In-stock items 'sold & fulfilled by Amazon' used to ship within 24 hours, but now regularly take 5 days or more to ship. The result is that I shop elsewhere.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#424

Post by halr9000 »

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 (both including free shipping but Amazon came with an additional 8.25% sales tax).

> They can do that because so many people don't price compare anymore before going to Amazon.

"Alexa, reorder cat litter"

So, no, I disagree with your premise here. They can demand a higher price by way of providing a better overall service, end to end, by way of innovation and hard work. Sure, some of it is in fact laziness like you say, when viewed one way. Viewed another, I am willingly paying for that convenience.

Not to be tautological, but in a free market, this works as long as it works. Cheaper alternatives exist, no surprise there. But you need to take into account value, which is more than just price.

"Alexa, set 11 minute pasta timer."

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#425

Post by tormeh »

mattmg83 wrote: post #182
bhtru wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The entire TIC industry (I work for Underwriters Laboratories) does just that, we independently test and certify and then audit the factories to make sure it’s still made the same way as the original sample. Problem is... people counterfeit our certificates, and some retailers don’t care much

Then stop using certificates. Have a website where retailers can check if the supplier is certified. Using signed pieces of paper as evidence is inferior to just querying the certifier directly.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#426

Post by cliffordthedog »

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…

Which is why the solution is government intervention.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#427

Post by cliffordthedog »

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…

> History repeats itself, companies rise and fall

Except the tech companies are massive conglomerates which will insulate themselves by delving into every industry they can.

They are also approaching too big to fail status.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#428

Post by bhandziuk »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #49
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.

Even then it's borderline useless as when you search for the exact pair of trousers you want you'll now get other ranges, and dozens upon dozens of fake-brand cheap knockoffs. When you do find the item, you'll find in amongst the "customers also looked at/bought" 4 or 5 other pages containing the exact same item. At different prices and stock levels. None of which showed up in the search you just did for that item. I…

You simply cannot buy clothes online. It's far too unreliable in every way. Even if they deliver what the advertise it's hard enough determining what size to buy when in person, the amount of work it takes to buy something int he right "size" online is astronomical. Easiest examples are shoes and pants. I can wear size 8.5 to size 11 shoes or 29 to 33 pants. These all fit the same.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#429

Post by whoopdedo »

Judson wrote: post #68
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 noticed lately that Amazon's search also returns products if the query matches customer Q&A questions. So if you are wanting to purchase, say, a 10ga extension cord, and UL listing is important to you, searching for '10 Gauge Extension Cord UL' will return many non-UL listed cords with customers asking 'Is this UL Listed?'. It makes for a very frustrating shopping experience.

It's like they want marketers to post fake reviews. We've all seen the so-called users who write "I was very disappointed in the Ronco Widget Tensioner. I returned it and bought a Spacely Sprockets(tm) Grommet Guard instead. That worked perfectly!"

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#430

Post by moltar »

rmah wrote: post #376
swsieber wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterfeit problem? Stop co-mingling inventory - then you can track what inventory went to which customer and easily peg down which sources are selling counterfeits by looking at the reviews.

Amazon co-mingles different retailer's inventory when amazon handle fulfillment for them?!?!? Are you sure? That's insane.

Yup. Multiple sellers can sell the “same” item.

I put same in quotes, because it can be counterfeit or just similar. You’ll never know if you just buy the cheapest via buy now.

The only exception if it’s your own brand. Which is what many sellers are doing now. That’s why you are seeing a billion of poorly branded, cheap Chinese products.

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