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The Anti-Amazon Alliance

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Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#311

Post by rib3ye »

thr0w__4w4y wrote: post #225

Way way back, when Amazon got bigger than just books, my motivation for using them was a) very good selection (in one order, I can order bagel chips, wiper blades and a router?) and b) price. Implicit in this was authenticity and good customer service -- for me, if the product isn't the real thing, or the company is a nightmare to deal with, it's a non-starter. Well now here we are. Fake reviews, counterfeit products…

The trick is to look in the buy box on the right. If it doesn't have "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com", there's a high risk it's garbage.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#312

Post by rrdharan »

bsder wrote: post #290
prismatk wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If frys hasn't gone out of business yet, they're not going to - last one I was in only sold gift bags and batteries in a massive retail space and yet somehow they were still there. The retail gods must love Mr. Fry.

> If frys hasn't gone out of business yet, they're not going to - last one I was in only sold gift bags and batteries in a massive retail space and yet somehow they were still there. I really don't understand why Fry's isn't out of business. Do they own the real estate they're sitting on or something? Are their online operations that profitable? Sure, a private company can carry losses for as long as they have money.…

A lot of people have been wondering the same thing:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Is-Fry-s-Electr...

https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/10/frys-electronics-isnt-res...

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#313

Post by Talanes »

bsder wrote: post #290
prismatk wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If frys hasn't gone out of business yet, they're not going to - last one I was in only sold gift bags and batteries in a massive retail space and yet somehow they were still there. The retail gods must love Mr. Fry.

> If frys hasn't gone out of business yet, they're not going to - last one I was in only sold gift bags and batteries in a massive retail space and yet somehow they were still there. I really don't understand why Fry's isn't out of business. Do they own the real estate they're sitting on or something? Are their online operations that profitable? Sure, a private company can carry losses for as long as they have money.…

>Do they own the real estate they're sitting on or something?

A quick search gives some mixed results. They own their San Jose property¹ through an affiliate company. This affiliate doesn't appear to own any other Fry's property though². Conversely, the Palo Alto location was closed when the lease ran out³.

¹https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/01/10/industrial-mega-devel...

²https://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Menlo-Park/caraco...

³https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/08/29/frys-to-close-its-pal...

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#314

Post by [deleted] »

subhobroto wrote: post #50
lotsofpulp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The typical consumer does not care whether the IP of a company was stolen and cheap copies were made that were defective and buggy compared to the original product. They do care whether it's $9 vs $27. People might not care if they are knowingly buying a counterfeit item, but they certainly do care if they think they are getting a legitimate brand name item and then receive a different (especially inferior) product.

> People might not care if they are knowingly buying a counterfeit item, but they certainly do care if they think they are getting a legitimate brand name item and then receive a different (especially inferior) product. I personally would be very cautious if I saw a $1500 Gucci handbag on sale for $45 and expected it to be genuine. Have I come across a $1500 Gucci handbag on sale for $45 and it was genuine? Yes, at a…

[deleted]

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#315

Post by three_seagrass »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #136
three_seagrass wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warm and fuzzies go away pretty quickly when you get a counterfeit product. Wal-Mart won the retail game because it won the price war, like you said, but it held the keys to the kingdom for so long because it also enforced a minimum quality standard with suppliers. Ebay used to be inexpensive and widely used until it was overrun with counterfeits and scams. Amazon is on the same path with it's lax counterfeit enforce…

> Wal-Mart won the retail game because it won the price war, like you said, but it held the keys to the kingdom for so long because it also enforced a minimum quality standard with suppliers. Wal-Mart is nearly just as guilty of selling shoddy items as Amazon. Wal-Mart has struck deals with brands so that lesser-quality versions of popular products are shipped to Wal-Mart stores than to more upscale shops. These lowe…

> enforced a minimum quality standard with suppliers.

I'm not saying Wal-Mart is top tier quality. The point is that their product quality vetting with suppliers is still magnitudes more than what Amazon does.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#316

Post by joefourier »

Non24Throw wrote: post #302
thr0w__4w4y wrote: post #225

Way way back, when Amazon got bigger than just books, my motivation for using them was a) very good selection (in one order, I can order bagel chips, wiper blades and a router?) and b) price. Implicit in this was authenticity and good customer service -- for me, if the product isn't the real thing, or the company is a nightmare to deal with, it's a non-starter. Well now here we are. Fake reviews, counterfeit products…

> their prices aren't competitive anymore... What do you mean by this? Amazon has had the lowest price for basically everything I’ve shopped for in the last 4 years. When it is higher on Amazon, it’s by pennies (because algorithms) and not for very long. At home there’s a grocery store at the bottom of my elevator. It costs less money for me to buy groceries on Amazon Fresh with same-day delivery, than it does for me…

Your experience might be true in a big American city, but in Europe it's the complete opposite. Amazon is relatively fast (2 day shipping), but the grocery selection is limited and full of third parties charging extortionate prices. E.g. the same brand of nappies is 2x more expensive than getting it from Tesco. Anything specialty, such as musical instruments, PC parts, furniture, etc. is more expensive than getting it at the source, and all "cheap" items are 2x-5x more expensive than buying it from China, shipping included.

Amazon beats other shops in terms of convenience and selection (you can buy lots of random unrelated items and get them delivered fast), but often it's basically just a more upmarket eBay.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#317

Post by say_it_as_it_is »

The thing about anti-Amazon rhetoric is that it's easily debunked because so many people transact business through them. There's no need to take any "expert" or activist opinion on the matter. The proof is in your own life experience. If it's sunny outside but someone on the internet is telling you that it's raining, you probably should discount the opinion of that person, or ignore entirely. I have no doubt that people have been ripped off from Amazon but their customer service handles the situation very well. I don't like that Amazon is taking over the global economy and won't stop growing unless it is forced to. However, they're conducting business well.

(I'm not affiliated with Amazon other than that I've been a customer since the 90s)

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#318

Post by caseysoftware »

katbyte wrote: post #297
hyperdimension wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I heard of Best Buy (a major US electronics chain of stores) being called the "Amazon showroom" more than a few years ago. I never would've thought the situation would've flipped like that.

Yep, anything of real value where I worry about quality I order from Best Buy. I don’t want to deal with amazon for a tv or freezer.

I did this a couple weeks ago. I shopped around, found a handful on Amazon that would be good, then went to Best Buy to buy one. The best part was that Amazon said they'd ship in May (almost 3 weeks later) while I could pick up from Best Buy the next morning.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#319

Post by jonas21 »

koboll wrote: post #14

>as John Gruber put it on Daring Fireball, “Amazon isn’t hurting for revenue (especially now), but they are hurting for trust.” This is empirically false. Amazon is the second most-trusted brand in America . https://morningconsult.com/most-trusted-brands/ It's wild how easily SV types will tweet things like "No one trusts Amazon!" when the reality outside the Bay Area is so radically and demonstrably opposite.

And the only brand more trusted is a government agency!

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#320

Post by randycupertino »

bb2018 wrote: post #281
sam_goody wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've gotten fakes from Amazon, but it is not always obvious that you've got a fake. There was an article recently with pictures of the real and fake items, both from Amazon. You wouldn't know which was which even if they were side by side. But the fake will probably fall apart faster, may leak poison and is overall not what you thought to buy. And that is all aside from the issue of fake reviews, which are so prevale…

I'd still like to know what category of product you and others are talking about. I'm not in denial - just legitimately curious.

Fake makeup, beauty products, skincare, and a fake birdfeeder for me.
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