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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

#481

Post by anonymous5133 »

Another factor I've seen helping amazon is the fact that their amazon gift cards are basically being used as a form of currency. I often trade stuff online and everyone often uses amazon gift cards. The reason is because you can redeem an amazon gift card immediately to your account to make sure you don't get scammed. With most other gift cards, even after the trade the other person can still use the gift card.

I'm surprised other companies haven't realized this. If people are able to use your gift cards as a form of currency then it really helps the overall brand because eventually people are going to buy stuff with the gift cards.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#482

Post by malandrew »

NegativeK wrote: post #248
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…

As a sibling comment pointed out, cheapest doesn't trump everything -- otherwise we'd be ordering from Aliexpress. I've spend _way_ too much money on climbing gear in the past three years, very little of which was on Amazon. I simply can't risk getting counterfeit safety-critical goods. And while I'm not worried about counterfeit mops, I have noticed that the Amazon first habit is now broken in general.

This is my situation as well. I buy all my outdoor gear from Backcountry these days because I know I'm getting real products and their gearheads are super useful as well.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#483

Post by bootsz »

goda90 wrote: post #443
aglavine wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is that in 3) the company still doesn't make money.

Is that a hard rule though? Is it possible for a company to stay at 3 and make a profit? Is it pressure from investors that pushes them on to step 4, or the forces of competition?

I don't think it's a hard rule; it seems to apply to certain companies who pursue a strategy of deliberately not making any money at first and just acquiring as many users as possible to reach critical mass and ward off competition, and then after-the-fact slap on monetization practices (specifically Ads) that degrade the product and piss off users.

People don't like it when you mess with their products, especially once they already have something they really like. It's all about expectations.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#484

Post by kryogen1c »

ryanisnan wrote: post #313
chabes wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I simply can't risk getting counterfeit safety-critical goods. That’s a good call. I usually buy direct from someone like Black Diamond when it comes to things like that. Also, like with most industries , it helps to have a friend with a pro deal, if you’re trying to save money on important stuff. I’ve found that AliExpress is good for cheap electronics that I don’t mind waiting for, but not much beyond that. I hav…

A word to the wise, the first rule about pro deals is that you don't talk about pro deals.

Like Groucho Marx said, "I don't want to belong to any club that will have people like me as a member."

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#486

Post by clear_dg »

rperce wrote: post #465
wnevets wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is my Prime membership paying for? a higher price https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/lawsuit-alleges-amazon-...

When is that article from? I can't find a date. Am interested to know if the suit has progressed.

It was published in March 2014. Both lawsuits were filed in February.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#487

Post by DesiLurker »

adameast9000 wrote: post #420
__jal wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the issue they should care about is that I'm losing trust in them, for a number of reasons, and (anecdatally) I'm not the only one. - Are they taking me for a ride on price? I don't optimize this enough and do overpay because I'm lazy, but there have been multiple times lately that they gave me a price that was just stupidly high. - Is this the kind of product that will cause their screwed-up warehousing system t…

Somewhat related, there's a chrome extension called honey that will compare the final price (incl. tax) of all sellers for a product listing and add the best one to your cart. I've saved tons of money in some situations where an alternate seller had no taxes, was cheaper but longer shipping, etc... It's still frustrating the lengths I have to go to to get a fair deal on Amazon. there's so much anticompetitive behavio…

while I applaud comparison shopping, My regular PSA is any extension you put in browser has a clear-text view of your content on ALL websites. Be careful with these extensions, especially the closed source ones!

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#488

Post by DesiLurker »

Waterluvian wrote: post #128
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 noticed the price disparity this week as well. Suddenly Walmart is meaningfully less expensive. The math no longer makes sense for Amazon Prime in my case.

likewise, I am planning to cancel prim this year after the subscription runs out.

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#489

Post by fouc »

tzakrajs wrote: post #431
taurath wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I have a very similar story with ordering Salbakos towels. I reorder them every so often to keep my linens fresh. However, one of the last reorders was delivered with a completely different brand of towels and they didn't even match the pattern of the Salbakos towels. It's so frustrating.

At least returns are super easy to make

Re: Amazon is stuffing its search results pages with ads

#490

Post by ajross »

majormajor wrote: post #385
ajross wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

>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 competing. I'd say it's somewhat the reverse: Amazon was vastly better for things they sourced and sold themselves. I couldn't get everything there, but…

Or... if they hadn't tried to expand into "absolutely everything", you'd be buying from Walmart right now. Obviously you can second guess any single decision of theirs and try to spin that as "The Reason" Amazon is looking less dominant.

I'm saying that no, that's silly. They're less dominant because they're seeing significant competition, and the stuff you perceive as "worse" is the inevitable result of them having to squeeze on margins or expand into higher-hanging-fruit regions of the market.

And we're all richer for it. Don't buy from Amazon, that's fine. But don't expect to live in a world where you get someone else who can dominate a market like they did, either.

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