Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products • Hacker News Board

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

#401

Post by ionescu77 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 11:16 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #205

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…

(I can only guess you are American) - American experiences with Amazon are so different to mine over here in the UK it's incredible. I buy tonnes of different stuff from Amazon(multiple hundred orders last year) and I have never ever gotten anything counterfeit or had any issues. In fact every time when their 1-day delivery arrives late they just extend my prime by a month, no questions asked. And yet every time I go…

I don't know about Amazon UK, but pretty damn sure my Amazon DE (Germany) is similar. Degraded. I used to shop a lot on Amazon a decade ago. Now I am losing time scrolling through search results filled with garbage sellers which get promoted in the results. In the past year I went with Amazon Choice 3 times and got low quality products. I go to other online stores for electronics and other stuff. I only buy books on Amazon now.

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

#402

Post by diffeomorphism » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 11:46 AM UTC

stefek99 wrote: post #400

Excuse me, what's the news here? A company wants to maximize its profit. If it is wasn't that way, they would be acting illegaly. (publicly trading company must seek shareholders profit) So what is the news once again?

> If it is wasn't that way, they would be acting illegally.

Common misconception.

> Corporate directors are not required to maximize shareholder value.

https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/academics/clarke_business_...

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

#403

Post by mattmcknight » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 12:36 PM UTC

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #309

mattmcknight wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm done with buying stuff from third party sellers on Amazon. If the seller is not amazon.com, I am not buying from Amazon. Fulfilled by Amazon is not good enough. Unfortunately, the only way to get a seller option is to pick an item department. I wonder why they would bury such a useful feature. It should be a box you can tick for the whole site.

Hence why Amazon seems to be their darndest to hide that an item is a third party seller in search results. Last I looked there was no way to filter search results to only have Amazon seller. That's jerky.

Yeah, like I said, you have to pick a department first, before the option to filter by seller appears. (Which is extra annoying, because it is not always clear which department something is going to be in!)

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

#404

Post by nojvek » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 12:41 PM UTC

Amazons in a weird boat. Like building a marketplace where they are the most dominant player and they favor themselves.

But I guess that’s how supermarkets are too. I buy Krogers brands because I know they'll be vetted and meet a certain bar. If I don’t like it, I can always return it for a refund.

It’s not great for competition and Amazon can easily boost crappy cheap products.

Amazon is a massive beast. What is the alternative with better experience ?

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

#405

Post by throwaway_law » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 12:51 PM UTC

TylerE wrote: post #342

throwaway_law wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's a tricky problem to avoid. Its really not though, its just that between insurance and the courts its currently cheaper to enter products into the stream of commerce that will catch fire x% of times and hurt Y people costing $z, than it is to manufacture/supply/distribute/retail a product that won't catch fire in 100% of cases. Hell even when z exceeds the cost of proper manufacturing, these companies are signif…

You’re assuming nothing bad ever happens with the “name brand” product, which is patently bullshit. Every consumer product I. The shelves is cost engineered to death.

I replied to a comment talking about defective Samsung and Boeing products...those are name brand products.

However, knock off products are usually worse, at least if you are burned by an exploding Samsung or die in a defective Boeing...you and/or your family will be compensated as these companies are identifiable and insured. If you are burned by an exploding knock off, odds are: 1) you won't even be able to identify the manufacturer or seller; 2) you won't have jurisdiction to sue the manufacturer or seller; and 3) they probably aren't insured and will just fold up shop and start anew.

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

#406

Post by kevadk » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:01 PM UTC

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…

This sounds like a fable invented by someone familiar with the story of the phony villages that Grigory Potemkin built along the Volga to impress Empress Catherine II.

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

#407

Post by wccrawford » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:24 PM UTC

learc83 wrote: post #292

wccrawford wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's true for most goods, but there were definitely brands that stocked their own shelves at Publix when I worked there. That said, what brands got that special treatment was very much decided by Publix, so they were still curating the selection, they just weren't paying up-front for the goods or responsible for keeping those shelves looking good.

Generally Publix still owns that inventory though (even if they have a buyback guarantee) My dad worked for Lance snacks when I was a kid. He stocked the shelves, but the stores paid him for the product.

Did they pay him for the product before or after it was sold? I never really knew which way it went, but assumed that since the entire thing, except checkout, was handled by the rep, Publix never really owed the product, they just sold it as if it were on consignment.

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

#408

Post by toasterlovin » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:42 PM UTC

infogulch wrote: post #388

toasterlovin wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon also has an equivalent of shelf space: search results. They are just as incentivized to maximize revenue per customer search as super markets are incentivized to maximize revenue per shelf space.

Search results are an interesting comparison because their consumer-facing functionality is the same: They both have some limited consumer attention while they are present, and they both want to guide that attention to products that make them more profitable. Except the analogy falls flat when you actually compare the implementation: Amazon's costs to host listings is negligible to negative (they may get more value f…

I agree that online retailing is fundamentally different, overall. But it is similar in a way that was relevant to the comment I was responding to: Amazon also has an incentive to optimize search results do sales revenue.

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

#409

Post by avgDev » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:48 PM UTC

LordDragonfang wrote: post #320

avgDev wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free shipping is weird....I recently noticed that my father was looking up something he wanted me to order for him....his price was less, same item and amazon seller. I logged in and boom my price was $3 higher on a 20 dollar item. So, I'm not sure how "free" the shipping is anymore. I do agree that fast shipping is a big part of amazon but I think another big player could match the processing speed.

Amazon has multiple sellers with different shipping options and prices for most items, and always tries to show you the best "deal". This sometimes includes the likelihood that you prefer the two-day shipping. The listing being offered to you father probably wasn't eligible for prime (not shipped by Amazon) so the price+shipping was lower than Amazon's price+non-free-shipping (and the third party was likely intention…

Same seller Amazon.

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

#410

Post by learc83 » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:49 PM UTC

wccrawford wrote: post #407

learc83 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally Publix still owns that inventory though (even if they have a buyback guarantee) My dad worked for Lance snacks when I was a kid. He stocked the shelves, but the stores paid him for the product.

Did they pay him for the product before or after it was sold? I never really knew which way it went, but assumed that since the entire thing, except checkout, was handled by the rep, Publix never really owed the product, they just sold it as if it were on consignment.

They paid him before. But really big stores would buy the whole thing on credit.

They definitely owned the product, while it was on their shelves.

Even if a vendor has a buyback guarantee for expired product, if someone were to break in and steal all the product, its the store who is liable not the vendor.