Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

Post by avgDev » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 1:51 PM UTC

m463 wrote: post #350

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.

I've been told that amazon might do "personalized pricing". Friends have told me their friends come up with lower prices in other locations. Target was caught doing this. People with location services turned on using the target app would find pricing for an item jump up as they approached their local store. search for "The Target app price switch: What you need to know"

Post by Apofis » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:06 PM UTC

Post by ikeboy » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 2:25 PM UTC

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #392

ikeboy wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

password1 wrote: post #52

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…

> Otherwise, Amazon feels like AliExpress with faster shipping and better English. It literally is. All these products are cheap stuff that marketers find on aliexpress. They buy them in bulk, stamp a logo on it, import in the US/EU, stock in logistic centers and then sell on Amazon. It's the same stuff, but it comes from an English seller and a warehouse in US/EU. It's exactly the same thing that Amazon does with it…

Post by NeedMoreTea » Tue, Sep 17, 2019, 3:23 PM UTC

ikeboy wrote: post #415

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 c…

You said they were not copying the brand, so it's not trademark infringement nor counterfeit. You keep using the word counterfeit when it does not apply. Copyright is also not applicable unless there's a work of art printed on the product (like cell phone cases). Most brands making commodity products don't get protection for the design, because the design isn't that unique. Search for "fast chargers for Samsung" and…