Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#101

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 7:37 AM UTC

gwbas1c wrote: post #45

mtmail wrote: post #12

Amazon was no longer allowed to sell them in Germany earlier this year. Consumer protection agency said the button isn't a clear enough buying agreement (here payment forms need to make clear it costs money to click, exact price, what you buy). Amazon allowed itself to change the product, e.g. amount of washing liquid.

In the US, I looked at them with a high degree of skepticism. How do I know that I'm getting the same product, at the best price? In the US, quite frequently the same product is sold in different packaging, and the best price often varies between the packaging. Sometimes the 20-pack of toilet paper is cheapest. Sometimes the 30-pack is cheapest. Besides, on the mobile app, it doesn't take that long to figure out the…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#102

Post by adrianmonk » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 8:10 AM UTC

lazerwalker wrote: post #100

corobo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m half surprised Amazon doesn’t have a widget or something that displays the virtual dash buttons I say half surprised. They’re probably avoiding Apple’s 30% cut or something

FWIW, Apple's 30% cut doesn't apply. You can't use Apple's IAP system for physical goods.

Same story on Android. Google Play's in-app billing is for digital goods only. (See the over here: https://developer.android.com/google/play/billing/billing_ov...)

You can use Google Pay (note no "l" in second word) for physical goods, although I think you can collect your own payments if you prefer.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#103

Post by roel_v » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 8:26 AM UTC

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #4

I've no real love for the intended use of the dash buttons (re-orders of items) but do hope that some other company comes up with a similarly easily hackable wireless button for interactions.

Not as cheap, but Fibaro has a ZWave button like this. Registers double clicks and some other behaviors too.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#104

Post by Symbiote » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 10:19 AM UTC

donatj wrote: post #43

driverdan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why you'd need it. It's not like detergent is something you need to order every week. It takes me over a year to use a large jug of laundry detergent. All you have to do is get two containers, one open and one backup. When you use up the first buy another one the next time you go grocery shopping.

> It's not like detergent is something you need to order every week That's exactly why this is useful. It's something I forget to buy at the store because I run out so rarely. Right now while I'm doing my laundry if I notice I'm below about a third I'll hit the button. Before I'd almost always realize I was out of detergent mid-washing, undoubtedly the night before some important meeting, and have to run to the store…

Does that really justify eventual electronic waste, an inefficient delivery and packaging material?

Leave the empty bottle by the doorway or in your car or something until you remember.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#105

Post by astura » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 1:23 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #96

esotericn wrote: post #88

I don't understand the appeal behind ordering something without knowing the price. The only thing I ever buy without knowing the cost is a drink in a pub, and that's some sort of strange anachronism. And in that situation, if the bartender turns around and tells me 25 quid or whatever after pouring it, I'd just walk off. The economy doesn't work properly if you just blindly pay whatever.

A lot of the products seem to be small household items, like razor blades, trash bags, water filters, and the like, that when you run out you are (1) probably going to want to replace with the same brand, (2) probably don't want to put off replacing to wait for a bargain, and (3) probably will still buy even if the price is a little more than the last time, but within the normal Amazon price variation. Also, accordin…

This seems incredibly non-optimal on a few levels.

I rarely buy small household items at full price, just wait until my brands go on sale or I have a coupon to buy several. They go on sale often enough that I almost always have items in the house. I probably have a five year supply of razors at my house, they take up basically no room. If I need something right away I'll put it on the grocery list and pick it up next time I go to the grocery store.

On top of that I don't really believe in shipping my household products to me one by one, seems very wasteful and inefficient. Plus you'd either need to pay extra for shipping every item you need or buy a prime subscription on top of that.

Amazon pricing is all over the place, not like the normal variation of other stores. You could easily be paying double or even triple since the last time you bought.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#106

Post by m-p-3 » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 1:39 PM UTC

michaelbuckbee wrote: post #4

I've no real love for the intended use of the dash buttons (re-orders of items) but do hope that some other company comes up with a similarly easily hackable wireless button for interactions.

I guess you could make and program your own with an ESP8266.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#107

Post by jaclaz » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 3:32 PM UTC

esotericn wrote: post #92

schristou88 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During setup of the dash button you tell amazon what you want the button to purchase. When setting up the button you get a few choices to choose and you pick one to link, so whenever the button is pressed it will order that exact product. When you pick the product you’re also told the price.

The price changes.

>The price changes.

And in some cases you won't like the change.

I have noticed on other "platforms" (I don't use Amazon, so it may be different on it) that vendors must be using some (evidently crappy) software to "re-align" their prices automatically to market/competitors/whatever and this makes from time to time some egregious mistake.

Recent anecdata, a couple weeks ago I bookmarked a plastic bench that I might have been interested in buying but had no "urgent" need for, I found a vendor selling it for 148.50 Euro (there were a number of other ones selling the same article ranging from 150 to 170 Euro).

Last week I accessed the bookmark and found that the price was now 1,148.50 Euro (and I just checked, it is still at that).

But I have seen it happen several times.

Not that anyone would have a dash button for that, but I suspect that the same can happen for common, ordinary house supplies.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#108

Post by aiddun » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 6:49 PM UTC

Makes sense with the ubiquity of Alexa/Echos in homes. Why quantize consumer selection to a finite number of items when one can be able to order anything with the same seamlessness.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#109

Post by jfengel » Mon, Aug 05, 2019, 1:35 PM UTC

thr0w4w4yy wrote: post #78

jfengel wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal was to reduce friction in the purchase. You had to walk to a computer, bring up Amazon, look up the product, click the version of it you want, and push "one click order" (or maybe two or three more clicks) -- that's a lot of opportunity for you to just add it to your shopping list and just buy it at the grocery store. Or from your point of view, that's a lot of effort for a product that you already know you…

How much friction is there really in adding “toilet paper” to your shopping list and grabbing it during the next grocery run? It really feels like a solution in search of a problem.

Not much, but a little. You don't find yourself thinking, "I'm running out of shampoo, surely I will remember it for the five minutes it will take to finish my shower, then put it on my list." I fail at that all the time.

It's the firstest of first-world problems, and I sure as heck don't see putting a "shampoo" button in the shower. But it kinda doesn't surprise me that at least some people wanted them.

Re: Amazon will pull the plug on dash buttons

#110

Post by bduerst » Mon, Aug 05, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #75

bduerst wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A simple solution would have been an e-ink screen that listed the price per unit/press, but that probably would have increased button costs by an order of magnitude. Also more users probably would become aware of price variance (as you have) and changed their shopping habits, which is not good for business.

The simpler solution, is to just not price-gouge customers and hope they don't notice, while trying to build a subscription-based business. If Amazon isn't able to offer any level of price stability, then don't offer the subscription. Toilet paper is convenient to get on a subscription basis, but that convenience isn't worth paying $5/roll.

Definitely. It would be amazing if they offered subscription with price lock-in and a preset range lockout (i.e. if current price reaches 4x subscription lock price the subscription is suspended until price goes down).

They will lose some money but they'd also gain money from people afraid to drop subscriptions (e.g. gym subscription model).