Live data from Hacker News

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

wsj.com

161–170 of 184 posts

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

#161
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 ;-).

Ebay has bought a number of companies in other countries that are much more marketplace-oriented.

For example Mercado Libre. Originally from Argentina (I think) but it's all over Latin America now. They used to have auctions but at least in Mexico it's mostly a marketplace.

https://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/

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

#163
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

what happens if you refuse to pay?

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

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cost savings/increased efficiency is the name of the game, and first world regulations are costs SV can ignore. sometimes the quasi employees suffer the burden (but get increased flexibility), sometimes the consumer suffers (lower price but increased variance in quality of goods/service)

> cost savings/increased efficiency is the name of the game I'd say "socializing losses, privatizing gains" is the name of the game. Those popular disruptive startups dump plenty of externalities on everyone around them. Don't think for a moment that anyone there is increasing efficiency for the sake of increasing efficiency globally; it's just disrupting the society and hoping money pours through the cracks.

>hose popular disruptive startups dump plenty of externalities on everyone around them. Don't think for a moment that anyone there is increasing efficiency for the sake of increasing efficiency globally

Pretty lame analysis. There are lots of companies that are in it to do good or actually improve society.

I'd even argue that society is net better off with Lyft (not sure about Uber) even though working there as an employee isn't great. Taxis were awful.

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

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Technology always outpaces legislation.

That’s a popular SV cliche, but it’s not true.

For example, without the DMCA, neither Twitter nor YouTube would exist.

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

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same issue. And ordering the same product (even from the same "seller") is hit or miss. It's a weird story but I ordered a kids plate from Amazon. I ordered 2 that were totally fine but when I ordered a 3rd one, it was completely different quality, seemed to be a different material, and had a weird smell to it. It was "Prime" but almost immediately, you could tell it was a different product. This has happen…

> I wouldn't buy an HDD from Amazon for instance due to their crazy shipping shit I stopped buying anything electronic from Amazon because one power to USB adapter burned up, tripped a circuit breaker, and it broke my fridge. Luckily, that was the only other thing I had plugged into that circuit at the time. Another big issue was my friend bought an Apple power adapter that started smoking after a few hours of it bei…

When people tell me they buy condoms and sex toys from Amazon,I get legitimately worried.

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

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon manufacturer/distributor of home and kitchen goods here - the rule of thumb is that if it's Basically we pay Amazon $1 or 15% of sale (whichever is higher + ~$2.50 for shipping before anything else, so after margins and what not that's a minimum of $4 going to Amazon for marketing and logistics. That's why low dollar 1-pack items feel like price gouging -- there's been years of A/B testing on the marketplace t…

It's also worth noting that people don't think of the externalized cost of actually getting to the store verses getting these things shipped. If you have to drive a mile each way just to get that one extra item, the amount your saving from not ordering online is insignificant.

Retail price at Target, Walmart, etc on this is ~$2.89 a bottle. On Amazon it's the "Amazon Choice" for $13.97 for two bottles.

https://www.amazon.com/Formula-409-Purpose-Cleaner-Bottles/d...

You can get the normal retail prices on all this stuff and still shop online. You just can't do that on Amazon any more.

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

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Technology always outpaces legislation.

mmm.. yes and no.

Sometimes is outpaces legislation (self-driving cars, cryptocurrencies, all the privacy things) but more than often it just finds a vulnerability in the unspecified existing legislation/regulation (see airbnb, uber, lyft).

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

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> cost savings/increased efficiency is the name of the game I'd say "socializing losses, privatizing gains" is the name of the game. Those popular disruptive startups dump plenty of externalities on everyone around them. Don't think for a moment that anyone there is increasing efficiency for the sake of increasing efficiency globally; it's just disrupting the society and hoping money pours through the cracks.

>hose popular disruptive startups dump plenty of externalities on everyone around them. Don't think for a moment that anyone there is increasing efficiency for the sake of increasing efficiency globally Pretty lame analysis. There are lots of companies that are in it to do good or actually improve society. I'd even argue that society is net better off with Lyft (not sure about Uber) even though working there as an em…

> There are lots of companies that are in it to do good or actually improve society.

I don't disagree. They rarely get media attention though, and I don't mention them here, because their disruption is a quite different thing from Uber/AirBnB disruption.

For that "lame analysis" part, I'll give you a task: given that you wrote there are lots of such companies, name three. ;).

> I'd even argue that society is net better off with Lyft (not sure about Uber) even though working there as an employee isn't great. Taxis were awful.

Taxis were awful in many places, not everywhere. I'm usually taking people's word for it when they describe how Uber service is better than taxi (though I'm increasingly noticing stories about Uber quality declining). But there are cities, including my home town and the current town I live in, where taxis are almost universally good. And yet, Uber came and attacked taxis everywhere, whether good or bad. You can do things like that when you can freely break the law[0] and get away with it[1], and when you can lose money for longer than all your competitors can stay solvent.

Honestly, Uber story looks pretty much like a typical story of a corporation entering international market and displacing all little local players, except with more disregard for law, and some weird belief people still have that Uber is a startup.

Still, I'll grant Uber that some of the disruption came out for the better, because it allowed more ethical and legal competitors to emerge in this space. And yet:

> working there as an employee isn't great

Here's a thing: do we consider pushing more and more people into wage slavery to be "improving society"?

--

[0] - Not just general "taxi regulations", but also traffic safety (a common story to hear was Uber without valid insurance) and tax laws (in my country, I remember our equivalent of IRS being the most active in hunting down Uber drivers).

[1] - Half of the blame here goes to the municipal governments, who should've punished Uber immediately for breaking local laws. AFAIR only Germany behaved correctly, and started issuing service bans quickly.

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

#170

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.

Personally I would say it is a mix. There are some Uber drivers that definitely can be a bit more aggressive but still safe. I suppose it depends on the area/time of day but I'll walk past the line of taxis to get an Uber. If it takes 2 minutes longer to get to my destination, the experience is much better. Hell there have been a few times I wanted the trip to take longer because of the pleasant and engaging conversation.

One pattern I've noticed, taxis honk their horn constantly and obnoxiously. Uber drivers rarely do it. When you hear someone honking their horn for upwards of ten straight seconds, it's a taxi.

Post reply on HN