Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 184 posts

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#151

Post by siruncledrew »

darksaints wrote: post #83
rootusrootus wrote: post #13

As proof that I am clearly not qualified to run a nearly trillion-dollar company, I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. I have been a reliable Amazon Prime consumer for years, but I have begun making purchases elsewhere because I can not even trust "Ships from and sold by Amazon" any more. At the very least, quite intermingling stock. And at this point you're going to ha…

I think Amazon dug themselves into a hole with this one. The Amazon Marketplace is the biggest liability to their brand reputation, but now it is also a big revenue driver. It would be in the long term interest of Amazon to ditch it, or severely clamp down on authorized marketplace participants. But Amazon is now in a sticky situation because the stock price, which they rely on for many reasons, is heavily dependent…

This is why I think Amazon will continue to push hard on Amazon Basics. That is an area that has the potential to be Amazon's Kirkland (Costco private label).

Amazon has the data from Amazon Marketplace to know the top selling products, and Amazon has the scale to arrange manufacturing deals with perhaps the same overseas factories Amazon Marketplace sellers are using to economically produce private label brands for Amazon, thereby decreasing the market share of Amazon Marketplace sellers. Amazon could also make their Amazon Basics more visible to consumers by default, and have more control over the QA of the items.

With growing negative feedback about the quality-side of Amazon's Marketplace items/sellers, there is an opportunity to accelerate into private-label territory with more control over manufacturing oversight/customer service while using the Amazon Marketplace as the "proving grounds" to determine which products are most profitable for Amazon to private-label. Sure AMZN's earnings are doing well, but the real secret sauce for Bezos isn't just logistics - it's holding control over a market.

Right now, Amazon's quality-gatekeeping on their platform is the equivalent of Mac doing an "ocular pat down" on entrants. If there is monetary incentive to stray away from this, Amazon would be more willing to flip the switch on the marketplace. And thus we come one step closer towards living in an Amazon corporate town buying Amazon-branded items from the Amazon general store.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#152

Post by stcredzero »

mtnGoat wrote: post #142
stcredzero wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation. Taxis used to be smelly and dirty. Drivers were quite cavalier in their attitudes towards customers. Hailing a taxi was difficult and chancy. I was scammed by drivers who would take me on indirect routes for more money. It seems to me that what Uber has been better at than traditional taxi services is solely the technology. That is precisely the point. I d…

FWIW, the most rank smelling drivers/cars ive ever had, were both Uber drivers.

I've also had quite rude Uber drivers, who were worse than the worst cab driver I've ever had. They are by far an exception. I've also been in a taxi that smelled like an ashtray many times. I think it's happened just once to me with Uber. Overall, the track record is much better with Uber.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#153

Post by ams6110 »

hatchnyc wrote: post #110
paulie_a wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I love Uber and avoid taxis as much as possible. The worst Uber ride was still far better than the best taxi I've taken. A driver might be chatty and you have a great conversation, or they just stay quiet. Either ways a much better experience than the angry cab driver. I was a little shocked when Uber sent me my stats for last year 1000+ rides.

I've noticed that Uber drivers tend to drive much slower and more cautiously than taxi drivers, and break traffic laws far less often. As a result when I really need to get somewhere quickly I do tend to look for a taxi first.

Question, are Uber drivers penalized for speeding or hard cornering, stopping, etc. that would indicate aggressive driving? I would assume Uber could know this based on GPS and accelerometer readings from the driver's app.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#154

Post by glxxyz »

CountSessine wrote: post #134
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and company came in with technology that worked better than the old government bureaucracy at cleaning up and regulating the market. To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation. It seems to me that what Uber has been better at than traditional taxi services is solely the technology. I can only expect to hail a taxi on demand if I'm in a big city, airport, train station, or other transit center;…

To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation Then let me invite you to come visit my city, Vancouver, the last major city in North America where ride-share isn't available and taxis are the only game in town. First, taxi regulations stipulate that taxis get to charge a flat-rate tariff on every ride. They have to/get to charge this. Whatever this tariff was meant to accomplish, it incentivizes taxi dr…

I live in a city with Uber & Lyft, and avoid taxis wherever possible for exactly the reasons you gave. Every time I take a taxi I regret it and swear it'll be the last time.

Another problem with cabs is that they are not incentivized to use the fastest route. Determining the fee at the start of the journey aligns both the driver's and passenger's interests.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#155

Post by CountSessine »

CountSessine wrote: post #134
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and company came in with technology that worked better than the old government bureaucracy at cleaning up and regulating the market. To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation. It seems to me that what Uber has been better at than traditional taxi services is solely the technology. I can only expect to hail a taxi on demand if I'm in a big city, airport, train station, or other transit center;…

To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation Then let me invite you to come visit my city, Vancouver, the last major city in North America where ride-share isn't available and taxis are the only game in town. First, taxi regulations stipulate that taxis get to charge a flat-rate tariff on every ride. They have to/get to charge this. Whatever this tariff was meant to accomplish, it incentivizes taxi dr…

As an addendum, here's a taxi driver who was caught on video refusing to take someone to the neighboring city of New Westminster.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3907475/taxi-driver-refuses-to-dr...

The British Columbian government recently 'legalized' ride-share. They were elected in 2016 on a promise to legalize ride-share, but taxi-industry money bought a 2 year delay in the legislation. You can't ride-share yet, though, because taxi-industry money also bought an additional 1 year delay in deployment of ride-share-compatible car insurance, which won't be available until late 2019, 3 years after the government promised, and 5 years after the previous government proposed legalizing it. But don't get your hope up yet, though, because

1. we don't know what the ride-share-compatible insurance will look like. In Manitoba, another province with government-owned car insurance monopoly, the ride-share insurance was crafted to make it impossible for Uber and Lyft to enter the market. Ride-share companies quite reasonably want their drivers to be able to get a separate rate between when they are driving privately vs when they are driving for ride-share, just like what they can get from private insurers. Manitoba's government monopoly wasn't willing to give them that, which makes ride-share unworkable.

2. the government's 'legalization' legislation enables a public commission to set supply limits on taxis and ride-share, much like medallions. This almost completely nullifies any benefit ride-share would bring to the city and is a poison-pill that will probably keep Uber out of Vancouver.

So on top of the 5 years we'll have been waiting by fall 2019, figure in another 2 or 3 years for everyone to realize that the legislation is a bust and that we've been suckered by the taxi lobby again.

The taxi-industry's lobbying money has been very well spent.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#156

Post by ohyeshedid »

reaperducer wrote: post #35
decebalus1 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> These days, I feel like I'm in a twilight zone where 'wealth creation' is happening by putting a fresh face on 3rd-world country business models. It's not a secret that lots of business models coming out of Silicon Valley are just regulatory workarounds/loopholes. It's a matter of chance that they coincide with some 3rd world country models as the latter's fuels are survival/corruption/perceived lawlessness while o…

"Disruption" is SV for "Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission."

Technology always outpaces legislation.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#157

Post by CountSessine »

glxxyz wrote: post #154
CountSessine wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, at least, this assertion requires some substantiation Then let me invite you to come visit my city, Vancouver, the last major city in North America where ride-share isn't available and taxis are the only game in town. First, taxi regulations stipulate that taxis get to charge a flat-rate tariff on every ride. They have to/get to charge this. Whatever this tariff was meant to accomplish, it incentivizes taxi dr…

I live in a city with Uber & Lyft, and avoid taxis wherever possible for exactly the reasons you gave. Every time I take a taxi I regret it and swear it'll be the last time. Another problem with cabs is that they are not incentivized to use the fastest route. Determining the fee at the start of the journey aligns both the driver's and passenger's interests.

Once I actually manage to get a cab, after the bars have closed and I've been waiting 3 hours or more, I can always be certain they'll putter me down Hastings street when Prior street would get me home a full 15 minutes faster.

Taxis suck hard.

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#158

Post by rootusrootus »

AndrewHampton wrote: post #38
rootusrootus wrote: post #13

As proof that I am clearly not qualified to run a nearly trillion-dollar company, I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. I have been a reliable Amazon Prime consumer for years, but I have begun making purchases elsewhere because I can not even trust "Ships from and sold by Amazon" any more. At the very least, quite intermingling stock. And at this point you're going to ha…

In case you're interested, Steve Yegge had a recent post about the origin of the marketplace: https://medium.com/s/story/jeff-bezos-jack-ma-and-the-quest-...

Definitely an interesting read, thanks!

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#159

Post by rootusrootus »

jasode wrote: post #118
rootusrootus wrote: post #13

As proof that I am clearly not qualified to run a nearly trillion-dollar company, I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. I have been a reliable Amazon Prime consumer for years, but I have begun making purchases elsewhere because I can not even trust "Ships from and sold by Amazon" any more. At the very least, quite intermingling stock. And at this point you're going to ha…

>I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. But for many things I shop for, that would be extremely inconvenient for me. For example, I needed to buy replacement fuses for a Fluke multimeter. Amazon itself didn't sell it but a 3rd-party marketplace seller did. If the marketplace was shut down, I'd have to go through the hassle of registering a new account on yet another ecomm…

That sounds like a good match for eBay, though. Amazon is presenting itself as a store, eBay is presenting itself as a marketplace. In the same way I would run Amazon into the ground, I would suggest to eBay to embrace the marketplace and phase out the auction aspect.

This is why I'm a software engineer and not a retail tycoon ;-).

Re: Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak

#160

Post by rootusrootus »

erichocean wrote: post #52
rootusrootus wrote: post #13

As proof that I am clearly not qualified to run a nearly trillion-dollar company, I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. I have been a reliable Amazon Prime consumer for years, but I have begun making purchases elsewhere because I can not even trust "Ships from and sold by Amazon" any more. At the very least, quite intermingling stock. And at this point you're going to ha…

> As proof that I am clearly not qualified to run a nearly trillion-dollar company, I offer this advice to Amazon -- ditch the marketplace. No more third party sellers. Last I heard, it was ~50% of their revenue. And they take a 15% cut of the price, plus a per-transaction fee, for the cost of maintaining a product catalog (which they already do). Not a chance they'll drop it.

If they do not find a way to believably eliminate the counterfeit problem, the marketplace may end up a lot more than 50% of their revenue.
Post reply on HN