Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon • Hacker News Board

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#41

Post by ardy42 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

jdm2212 wrote: post #6

sytelus wrote: post #4

This is quite significant given market is very bullish on Amazon (Goldman is just all over it). The expectations are set sky high to do well during these times. But if you look at things as consumer, it doesn't look so good. Personally, I've significantly less orders on Amazon these days because of huge delivery times. Sure, orders for "essentials" might have gone up but can that offset the gap? Also, sellers are ver…

This is sort of a "no one goes there anymore, it's too crowded" criticism. Huge delivery times are because they're getting so many orders (which means so much revenue, which means so much profit).

> This is sort of a "no one goes there anymore, it's too crowded" criticism. Huge delivery times are because they're getting so many orders (which means so much revenue, which means so much profit).

Is that completely true? I thought the delays were at least partially due to staffing problems (e.g. increased absenteeism, worker social distancing).

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#42

Post by bedhead » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

unethical_ban wrote: post #36

bedhead wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally any article about Amazon on HN inevitably devolves into a bunch of useless anecdotes about how much Amazon supposedly sucks. You could set a watch to it. It's beyond tiresome. If you did nothing but read HN you'd think Amazon was filing for bankruptcy imminently.

The fact that amazon sucks as a place to get reputable items or find brand-specific stuff, and that they are rolling in money, should show several things: * They still satisfy consumer demand "enough" * They don't have enough competition in enough spaces * They can suck at some things, be good at others, and make money

Feel free to provide basis for any of these claims.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#43

Post by aioprisan » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:51 PM UTC

WhyKill wrote: post #13

Amazon sucks now. I can't buy most of the specific items I use in my work, and when I do find something it's swimming in a sea of clone crap. The best thing it does still is books. Anything else is a mizxed bag. AMZ is just Ali Baba for people who can't wait for the ship.

They're prioritizing only essential goods, everything else is delayed until later. That's the best solution for the largest number of people, especially those at higher risk, for whom one click one stop shop is a very attractive value proposition. But if you can, this is a perfect time to buy direct from your local businesses who offer curb side pick-up or delivery.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#44

Post by brandon272 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:53 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #35

ProAm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Absolutely none of that is Amazon's fault. This is 100% Amazon's fault. If you are going to be a seller, a platform and a supplier you need to verify the authenticity of the goods provided. Especially if you set prices, shipping options and take a cut of sales. This has been going on for years, its just be exacerbated now. I placed an order and was given a estimated delivery 5 weeks out.

Does eBay verify authenticity? No. No reasonable 3rd party marketplace dealing with millions of products can. And again... estimated delivery 5 weeks out is because of a pandemic . Or because you ordered something from a third party that shipped from China. Or it was out of stock, which is a normal thing to happen sometimes in any business.

eBay and Amazon are apples and oranges.

eBay is an auction site where all the products you buy are from a random third party seller. Period. Amazon is a mix of of their own products, products they sell and fulfill on behalf of third parties and transactions they merely facilitate while the third party is responsible for fulfillment.

While the distinction between these products may seem obvious to you or I, many typical consumers I talk to who use Amazon seem baffled when I mention that not everything Amazon sells actually comes from or is fulfilled by Amazon. Their UI to describe these different purchasing scenarios is vague at best.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#45

Post by bnjms » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:54 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #35

ProAm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Absolutely none of that is Amazon's fault. This is 100% Amazon's fault. If you are going to be a seller, a platform and a supplier you need to verify the authenticity of the goods provided. Especially if you set prices, shipping options and take a cut of sales. This has been going on for years, its just be exacerbated now. I placed an order and was given a estimated delivery 5 weeks out.

Does eBay verify authenticity? No. No reasonable 3rd party marketplace dealing with millions of products can. And again... estimated delivery 5 weeks out is because of a pandemic . Or because you ordered something from a third party that shipped from China. Or it was out of stock, which is a normal thing to happen sometimes in any business.

Then Amazon shouldn’t mix being a first party marketplace with being a third party marketplace. They take care of distribution and refunds so at least some of the responsibility falls on them as long as they keep playing peekaboo with who the source of Amazon items is.

Amazon should have a separate logo style for pages not sold by Amazon.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#46

Post by gowld » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

coder1001 wrote: post #25

Is this a good or bad sign? What problems exist that only the founder can solve and require his involvement? or is that just what he wants to do?

He's not just the founder. He's the CEO. His one and only necessary job function is to make critical decisions and actions when business is not usual.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#47

Post by ganstyles » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:55 PM UTC

aioprisan wrote: post #43

WhyKill wrote: post #13

Amazon sucks now. I can't buy most of the specific items I use in my work, and when I do find something it's swimming in a sea of clone crap. The best thing it does still is books. Anything else is a mizxed bag. AMZ is just Ali Baba for people who can't wait for the ship.

They're prioritizing only essential goods, everything else is delayed until later. That's the best solution for the largest number of people, especially those at higher risk, for whom one click one stop shop is a very attractive value proposition. But if you can, this is a perfect time to buy direct from your local businesses who offer curb side pick-up or delivery.

Are you talking about covid essential goods? From the context of your post, it sounds like you are. The Amazon shopping horribleness has been ongoing for at least a couple years, this isn't a new thing. It's been at least 18 months since I've stopped purchasing things I need to trust, like laptop chargers, electronics, etc, from Amazon.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#48

Post by gdubs » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

bedhead wrote: post #40

bedhead wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally any article about Amazon on HN inevitably devolves into a bunch of useless anecdotes about how much Amazon supposedly sucks. You could set a watch to it. It's beyond tiresome. If you did nothing but read HN you'd think Amazon was filing for bankruptcy imminently.

Is there a more efficient way to get downvotes on HN than saying something positive about Amazon, or simply say that Amazon doesn't suck? Probably not.

If we’re going to overgeneralize, there’s a comment like yours on every article criticizing any of the big companies. It’s more productive to the conversation to simply state why you don’t think the conversation is accurate, or why you feel like the company in question is not being criticized fairly. I would guess the downvotes have more to do with the lack of substance to the comment than anything specially about Amazon. Like most things on HN, things look biased one way or another to us — but usually you can find plenty of posts and comments that go in both directions on any given topic.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#49

Post by Someone1234 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

WhyKill wrote: post #13

Amazon sucks now. I can't buy most of the specific items I use in my work, and when I do find something it's swimming in a sea of clone crap. The best thing it does still is books. Anything else is a mizxed bag. AMZ is just Ali Baba for people who can't wait for the ship.

They also removed customer-based recommendations and replaced them with paid ads.

Two examples:

- Search results used to be order-able by popularity, but now only "featured" aka who pays the most.

- "Customers also purchased" or "Customers also viewed" boxes on item pages now replaced by sponsored boxes.

Amazon has gone from a site which made it effortless to find things and buy them, to a site that values advertising revenue over actual retail.

Unfortunately both Walmart and Target have gone the same way and also offer third party seller's items for sale, and sell paid advertisement.

Re: Jeff Bezos has returned to day-to-day management of Amazon

#50

Post by ardy42 » Thu, Apr 23, 2020, 2:57 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #35

ProAm wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Absolutely none of that is Amazon's fault. This is 100% Amazon's fault. If you are going to be a seller, a platform and a supplier you need to verify the authenticity of the goods provided. Especially if you set prices, shipping options and take a cut of sales. This has been going on for years, its just be exacerbated now. I placed an order and was given a estimated delivery 5 weeks out.

Does eBay verify authenticity? No. No reasonable 3rd party marketplace dealing with millions of products can. And again... estimated delivery 5 weeks out is because of a pandemic . Or because you ordered something from a third party that shipped from China. Or it was out of stock, which is a normal thing to happen sometimes in any business.

> Does eBay verify authenticity? No. No reasonable 3rd party marketplace dealing with millions of products can.

Not exactly, but IIRC eBay puts seller reputation front and center, while Amazon greatly obscures it.

Amazon's focus on "product reputation" and near-total lack of emphasis on "seller reputation" also enables certain kinds of fraud (e.g. using inventory commingling to launder counterfeits, transferring ratings from one product to an entirely unrelated one by rewriting the listing).