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Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

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Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#391

Post by aedron »

ryandrake wrote: post #235
partialrecall wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon employees have complained to Bezos about the state of Amazon's search. Bezos' response every time I've heard it is along the lines of "meh, I think our search is pretty good, quit your complaining." Maybe it's intentional, or maybe he's deluded. I don't know. But either way, I doubt it's going to get fixed any time soon.

Maybe an urban legend, but I thought I read somewhere that the version of Amazon that Bezos personally sees is quite different than the one you and I see, due to all his various little one-off complaints and product micromanagement. Legend has it that engineering gave up trying to make sense of the requests and just gave him his own environment that does everything he thinks it should do. If true, then the search he…

Like all urban legends, there is likely a core of truth in the story. Certainly Bezos is known for micromanaging and arbitrarily overruling employees' decisions on everything from strategy to product design. Now, if a leader really does have great instinct, this can work out for the better (like Jobs). And I think in some areas, Bezos does (he has done surprisingly well with their IT strategy). But I know that in others he doesn't, and he just botches stuff (like many horrible Kindle design decisions).

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#392

Post by NeedMoreTea »

ikeboy wrote: post #237
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's similar and completely indistinguishable, except for brand name and logo. e.g. their desk lamps, also their mice. Seems to be the case for almost every Anker product I remember looking at recently.

Nothing illegal about that unless Anker has a design patent.

You don't need a patent to protect a design. There's trademark, copyright and design protections, not just patents.

So maybe Anker are uniquely incompetent in selecting suppliers. Not specifying in the contract with factories not to copy whatever widget they produce for Anker, not registering any of their designs. Yet aside from a) products within the same group ostensibly from different brands and b) same idea but clearly made by someone else, few other companies seem affected. They'll have a few products counterfeited. Not most. It's the sort of thing that might encourage you to be very careful on third, fourth and subsequent products.

I suppose it makes a case to avoid Anker and the identical copies, as clearly inept. Few other companies appear to be quite so afflicted. I'm not convinced it's the answer though. Outside the purely generic: white T shirts, tungsten light bulbs and such, you see very few precisely identical products.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#393

Post by peteretep »

jedberg wrote: post #110
dmarlow wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too have noticed this. I recently bought a new keyboard and mouse and got them both at best buy for cheaper.

When I spilled water on my keyboard, I actually walked into a Fry's and got a better deal than anything online, for a genuine Microsoft keyboard.

> for a genuine Microsoft keyboard

Also you knew it was Genuine. I'd love Amazon to do a "Guaranteed Genuine" label or something, but I can see why they don't. I used to buy everything on Amazon, now I only buy stuff that I'm willing to accept might be counterfeit.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#394

Post by peteretep »

Scoundreller wrote: post #382
Pxtl wrote: post #34

Considering how shopping at Amazon now feels like shopping at an electronics bazaar in Singapore with giant bins of random knock-off products of suspicious quality, tweaking the algo to push name-brand options (even if it's their own name-brand) would be a welcome move to me as a buyer. Obviously it's grossly unfair to their vendors, but from a strictly user-centric view it's an improvement. Otherwise, Amazon feels l…

AliExpress: a massive company that somehow never bothered to observe a new user using their software. Why the heck does the ordering window have 2 or 3 “Confirm” boxes that I have to press? And if I haven’t, why can’t it just tell me what’s not confirmed when I hit “Submit Order”?

I've had the misfortune of needing to run some FB and Twitter ads recently, and it baffles me how completely unusable and unfriendly these platforms are for the only thing that makes them any money.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#395

Post by paulcarroty »

Pxtl wrote: post #34

Considering how shopping at Amazon now feels like shopping at an electronics bazaar in Singapore with giant bins of random knock-off products of suspicious quality, tweaking the algo to push name-brand options (even if it's their own name-brand) would be a welcome move to me as a buyer. Obviously it's grossly unfair to their vendors, but from a strictly user-centric view it's an improvement. Otherwise, Amazon feels l…

Well, products which sells Amazon by yourself, not by third-party sellers, are mostly trustworthy.

Aliexpress - always been a Russian roulette.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#396

Post by chatmasta »

opportune wrote: post #199
jhallenworld wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do care about the quality of their own products. I posted a negative review on an Amazon product, and they called me(!) so that I could further elaborate. It was very odd because they called within an hour of the review. At some point I must have given them my phone number. This was a review for their TV Cube. I was trying to buy something with good voice control to allow a paralyzed person to browse YouTube, an…

I posted a negative review on a FBA product (~$100) that arrived super late and damaged. I got called to offer me $20 to take the review down. Didn’t respond, they somehow got my review taken down anyway. That was the first time I realized how bad Amazon was getting. Kind of surprised this is something Amazon does too though; I figured only crappy dropshippers would engage in that

What is wrong with Amazon (or any vendor) following up on a bad review? If they’re offering incentives to take it down, of course that’s a problem. But engaging with the customer and identifying faults in detail seems like a plainly good, consumer-friendly and win/win behavior that every brand should practice.

That said, I’m not sure a third party seller can get my contact info as easily as Amazon can, so that part seems a bit unfair.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#397

Post by scarface74 »

aty268 wrote: post #370
scarface74 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is. You can use manage services through AWS to set this up at almost any scale including encoding, transcoding, global CDNs, etc.

I don't think you understand what simple means for the vast majority of Americans.

The vast majority of Americans aren’t trying to release content that would have been delivered via cable. Except maybe the public access channels.

That content can be uploaded to YouTube.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#398

Post by amelius »

Spare_account wrote: post #186
ikeboy wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally I've spoken to people who compete with Amazon private label in electronics and they tell me Amazon doesn't care about quality, and that the factories they were buying from were known to be lower quality. I've also heard the opposite about Anker - that they always get the best quality.

The issue, then, is how do I guarantee that the Anker branded product I'm buying through Amazon is genuinely Anker manufactured. I'm of the understanding that Amazon comingle stock from different supply chains in their warehouses so presumably I can't trust them to be supplying genuine hardware.

Perhaps products should include a tiny circuit (e.g. challenge-response) that can prove that the product is genuine.

Re: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

#399

Post by bufferoverflow »

monitron wrote: post #6

I would compare this to a supermarket allocating shelf space to maximize its profits, either by placing its own brands front and center or by featuring brands that have made a deal for prime shelf placement. I don't see this as scandalous or even new. Coincidentally, Amazon brand products are usually pretty good in my experience, so this might not be a terrible outcome for users who have already decided to come shop…

Or an OS manufacturer to preinstall their brand of the browser. Oh wait.
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