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The Anti-Amazon Alliance

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Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#391

Post by miscPerson »

say_it_as_it_is wrote: post #317

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 peo…

Amazon isn’t taking over the global economy.

For instance, in retail, Walmart does substantially more business — via brick and mortar stores — and is rapidly growing online.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#392

Post by sanderjd »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #376
sanderjd wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My distrust of Amazon started when I had a baby. It felt like about 80% of the stuff I ordered at first was junk. Maybe not fake, I don't know, maybe I was just being too trusting with what I was ordering, but either way it was total junk. So I started reading reviews a lot more carefully. This didn't help, I still just got junk. So then I started only ordering things from brand names I recognized. A couple times I m…

Just get a little step, it's all my boys needed.

You mean for the potty? She is too little, she falls through the seat. (It's pretty early for potty training, but she is interested in it.) We do also have a step.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#393

Post by lammalamma25 »

bb2018 wrote: post #272
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.

Last year I made 349 orders on Amazon and cannot think of a single time I got a counterfeit item or felt tricked by the reviews. I would really like to wonder of the people encountering frequent fake products on Amazon, what categories are you shopping in? Is it fashion items or something similar? My main Amazon purchases are household items/toiletries and then hobby electronic parts. I haven't had any issues with th…

I purchased a motorcycle air filter at a price that was too good to be true. It arrive after almost 2 weeks (basically from China) damaged. I returned it waited another two weeks and it arrived damaged again. Left a bad review and got an email response asking about my experience. Can't really fault amazon too much. The price told me there had to be a catch. At the same time, I'm annoyed that was allowed to happen at all on the platform. Now There is always a thought in my mind to have a backup plan when I purchase something I really need on Amazon.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#394

Post by Spivak »

uoaei wrote: post #165
spaced-out wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the large retailers have their own store brand. Grocery stores like Safeway have a bunch (Lucerne, Open Nature, Safeway Select).

Large retailers can't push competitors' products to the back of the shelf to leave their cheaper alternatives in prominent display. This is basically what Amazon does once they develop a Basics product -- push it to the top of your search results, leaving the original producers down at the bottom.

You're joking right? That's literally what grocery stores do. There's an entire strategy to organizing stores, stocking shelves, and designing price tags to funnel customers to store brand products.

And retailers like Target who get consistent customers that compare products in-store just stop carrying their competition.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#395

Post by ehvatum »

randycupertino wrote: post #320
bb2018 wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The fake birdfeeder is required for Amazon Basic birds, which are delivered by counterfeit drones...

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#396

Post by jiveturkey »

Loughla wrote: post #252
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 website is almost nothing more than Ebay in some sense I would argue that it's even worse. At least, IME, the ratings at E-bay for both sellers and products mean something. With Amazon, neither mean a damned thing anymore. It's just a crap shoot, unless you know exactly what you're already looking for. Amazon used to be nice, because you could actually do product research. The worst thing, again in my opinion,…

> the ratings at E-bay for both sellers and products mean something.

they don't. when you buy something from a top seller, they get an automatic 5 star rating for that purchase. you have to wait many days (5 i think) after you receive the item, to lodge a less than 5 star rating. the rating is across a few categories, with unknown weighting, so even if you successfully put in a 1 star rating (which you have to justify), the weighted rating is still above 3.

"top seller" status doesn't have anything to do with quality, just as "amazon's choice" has nothing to do with quality.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#397

Post by Nasrudith »

ikt wrote: post #378
Reedx wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, according to the 2020 Tech survey via Vox Media, who is highly critical of tech: 91% have a favorable view of Amazon 73% trust Amazon with their information 70% say Amazon has a positive effect on society 81% would be disappointed if Amazon disappeared https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/21144680/verge-tech-survey...

More people trust Microsoft than Apple with their information? What is going on there?

PR campaigns is my cynical guess both positive from Microsoft and negative from FUD slingers. Since Microsoft outright betrayed their customers in the past but Apple stood in the way of the "right to backdoor". I am no Apple fan but it is consistent with the larger corrupt pattern of "smear anyone big and not giving you what you want".

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#398

Post by Nasrudith »

jimktrains2 wrote: post #215
schnevets wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thoughts on declining industries have changed a lot since listening to the Spectacular Failures podcast episode about Toys R Us and learning more about the vampiric practice of Private Equity, where firms like Bain acquire struggling businesses and win regardless of the output. Here's a similar story from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/toys-r-... I'm tired of people lamenting th…

Sears just confuses the heck out of me. They had everything they needed to basically be what Amazon is now, before Amazon even existed. Heck they were basically Amazon before the web existed.

I suspect internal political dysfunction is likely to blame for that. Many would rather have their bonus, unchallenged fiefdom, or to not have to learn things rather than success so that is what they wind up with and afterwards rather than admit fault by changing their ways they double down.

An online store would "take away" business from their retail fronts and would face plentiful sabotage. It isn't like they had a frontier out west to ship to as the "new domain" that respected their nice little boundaries.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#399

Post by Nasrudith »

dforrestwilson wrote: post #147
theptip wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is a strategy only available to... monopolies. I don't think this is the case. The strategy is called a "loss leader", and it's a very common business strategy. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lossleader.asp > Loss leading can be a successful strategy if executed properly. A classic example is razor blades. Gillette, for example, gives their razor units away for free knowing that customers must buy their…

What is the difference between the behavior of a company which holds all the market share and a company, which thanks to VCs, holds all the cash? Both exhibit the same behaviors with the same explicit goal. You are debating semantics when the intent in both cases is the same. In new markets we tolerate monopolies because we want to reward entrepreneurs. The question to ask is whether the cost of rewarding Amazon with…

Ask WeWork or the ride sharing companies. Mountains of cash is no guarantee of success. And again - Amazon is not a monopoly.

Re: The Anti-Amazon Alliance

#400

Post by anitil »

schnevets wrote: post #133
MattGaiser wrote: post #93

Most non-Amazon businesses are mediocre. Most grocery stores still don't have online ordering. Years, and years, and years, after Amazon entered the field, the other grocers have just decided to lie down and die. Still waiting for Chapters (a bookstore in Canada) to start sending me reading good reading recommendations. Still waiting on VISA to make generalized gift cards which are not miserable to use. I'm trying to…

My thoughts on declining industries have changed a lot since listening to the Spectacular Failures podcast episode about Toys R Us and learning more about the vampiric practice of Private Equity, where firms like Bain acquire struggling businesses and win regardless of the output. Here's a similar story from The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/toys-r-... I'm tired of people lamenting th…

Never heard of 'Spectacular Failures', very excited to listen, thanks!
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