Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real? • Hacker News Board

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#281

Post by exhilaration » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:51 AM UTC

sk5t wrote: post #196

hrktb wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we are going in the expected direction, but we’re not at the end yet. About brands, we’ve seen the rise of comparison sites and review videos that allows unknown products to raise to the top. I’d say that’s pretty in line with your expectations towards user reviews. We just have more experienced, less influencable/buyable reviewers (in general). For instance the top vacuum cleaner on wirecutter doesn’t need t…

After reading about the Wirecutter's attempts to extract a commission from a maker of standing desks[0] and observing their general high churn in product picks, it seems hard to argue that WC isn't buyable. [0] https://www.xdesk.com/wirecutter-standing-desk-review-pay-to...

I was curious if this had been discussed on hacker news, and found that it has: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22141719

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#282

Post by jedberg » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 4:55 AM UTC

myopenid wrote: post #280

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

You're right user reviews on Amazon are manipulated. Bought a bluetooth earphone on Amazon DE, was contacted by vendor to exchange a five star for a half refund. Also came across Facebook ads that asks you to buy random crap and leave positive review in exchange for a full refund, and they call this "free samplimg".

> was contacted by vendor to exchange a five star for a half refund

And the way you can tell Amazon doesn't care is because they have no way to report this to them.

I've tried. They just don't care if someone offers you something off platform in exchange for a good review.

Maybe that's why Amazon beat eBay. When I worked at eBay 17 years ago we had systems in place to combat this exact type of fraud (off platform exchange for a good review).

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#283

Post by yspeak » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:01 AM UTC

tzs wrote: post #115

nappy-doo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My neighbor bought a set of woodworking clamps from Amazon. When the ~25lb. box arrived, the driver threw them up onto his porch (his house is quite raised from the street), and he has video of it damaging his siding as it took three attempts for the driver to get them over the railing onto his porch. When he contacted Amazon, they said to contact some insurance company they had. When my neighbor called the insurance…

Does that Amazon owned insurance company have any clients other than Amazon? If it only serves Amazon, it might not count as an insurance company for purposes of regulation.

Exacting. Most likely they self insure.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#284

Post by smnrchrds » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:07 AM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #105

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy I do the same. I wish I didn't, but I don't know what the practical alternative is. I guess it's the whole reason that brands were created in the first place. I do source some of my stuff from smaller brands and shops, whenever I can. But that's not always an option. When it comes to software, I'm not entirely satisfied with Apple's "walled g…

> ... I generally don't have to worry.

Emphasis on generally. Apple still sells many (most?) of its iMacs with spinning rust drives. Just picking up something from Apple Store and paying tons for it does not guarantee it meets minimum quality standards one might expect.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#285

Post by Polylactic_acid » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:14 AM UTC

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #278

Polylactic_acid wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How on earth can you possibly spend so much on random consumer products sold on Amazon? Are people really buying so much junk that it costs more than most peoples yearly salaries?

I spend about $20k on personal items only (no business).

On Amazon? Are you buying jet skis on the site? I don't understand how someone can spend so much in a year on Amazon.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#286

Post by LetThereBeNick » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:17 AM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

I’ve been happy with the “ReviewMeta” chrome extension, which evaluates the product reviews on any amazon site, and displays a score indicating how likely it is the ratings have been manipulated. It shows examples of flagged reviews which can be pretty funny. Chrome lets you limit extension permissions by domain, so I don’t worry about it snooping on the rest of my browsing.

But you’re right about brands. When it comes to certain products like phone chargers, the manipulation is so rampant I stick with the same supplier.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#287

Post by plorkyeran » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:19 AM UTC

deanCommie wrote: post #255

rubidium wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are standard ways in industry of dealing with this problem. You verify your suppliers. Amazon doesn’t do this, and so kids eat lead and we get shitty stuff. The real makers get pissed. The scammers and amazon profit.

not. at. amazon's. scale. Amazon's prices are too low to do this verifications per product. > The scammers and amazon profit. Is short term thinking and Amazon would never think like that. The problem is harder than you give it credit for. It's a constant arms race.

If Amazon has found themselves too large to operate as a marketplace that customers can trust then perhaps they made a poor decision in prioritizing short-term growth over everything else.

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#288

Post by andrepd » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:22 AM UTC

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

But what do brands matter if the issue is counterfeits/knockoffs?

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#289

Post by mav3rick » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:22 AM UTC

ratww wrote: post #165

mav3rick wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No non tech person is going to use Duck Duck Go.

After moving to Germany I met quite a few non-tech people who ditched Google for DDG: artists, musicians, accountants, translators.

You can still fallback to Google from the DDG UI

Re: Which of these Amazon Prime purchases are real?

#290

Post by jxramos » Mon, Feb 24, 2020, 5:23 AM UTC

andrewfromx wrote: post #124

ThePhysicist wrote: post #88

It's funny: I always thought the Internet and platforms like Amazon with the collaborative reviewing system would make brands more and more obsolete, because you could just pick high-quality products from smaller manufacturers by looking at user reviews. Now I find that I rely more and more on brands to decide which things I buy, because I simply cannot trust user reviews in most of the cases. Recently there are more…

i think from the director of engineering at amazon charged with making sure reviews are not fake, they would say "we can only make it so difficult to create a new account and prove you are human before it literally becomes impossible for new people to make real accounts." You say amazon has to police this more. I say amazon has tried and there is so much money to be made in jumping through the hoops to prove you are…

This is true, sometime I wonder about global economies exposing folks to the widespread corruption we hear about in so many other places in the world but haven't dealt with much first hand. I have to wonder if folks in corrupt environments just see these shady behaviors as the norm and so long as they're not axe murderers they're considered more or less decent people. Low standards and ethics eat systems based on honesty for breakfast.