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Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#111

Post by aceazzameen »

kennend3 wrote: post #90
moolcool wrote: post #42

It runs deeper than just everything being an ad. It's also completely flooded with rebadged junk from dropshippers. A few weeks ago, I was looking for a new whetstone, and this is what I got when I searched Amazon https://i.imgur.com/1Utp2dF.png The results keep going like that. You see constant repetition of the exact same units with slightly different branding, often with the same stock photography, repeated for pa…

> Now Amazon is nothing more than AliExpress with faster shipping. Shame. This. Once i realized what was taking place on amazon I simply moved to AliExpress. I mean if i am going to get something from there anyhow i might as well save the middleman fees and take the hit on shipping. I canceled my prime membership a while ago as well. I don't see how amazon can continue to simply be a front end for AliExpress for long…

AliExpress hasn't fully replaced Amazon for me yet. But I definitely shop at AliExpress more often now. I don't care if shipping takes longer. It's pennies compared to Amazon, which makes a difference when the quality of the items are a mystery. And for name brand items, I just use Costco, Target, and Best Buy unless Amazon has a better sale.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#112

Post by bombcar »

zip1234 wrote: post #98
jrs235 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But even their shipping (with Prime too!) is getting slower and slower. Prime's selling point used to be free 2 day shipping. Shipping is still "free" but many items take 4 days (or more now).

Do you live in a city?

Amazon quotes delivery times up to two weeks for me for prime now.

And it doesn’t even ship (UPS) until a few days before the delivery date. And they still don’t do a good job combining orders.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#113

Post by [deleted] »

kennend3 wrote: post #103
zip1234 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you live in a city?

There are times i still use amazon and i actually bought a few items on Tuesday. Amazon's delivery date is friday? Want to guess where amazon's distribution warehouse is? A few blocks away from me. The point you are attempting to make is unclear. If the distribution hub is within walking distance from me, why does it take days to ship?

[deleted]

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#114

Post by dspillett »

moolcool wrote: post #42

It runs deeper than just everything being an ad. It's also completely flooded with rebadged junk from dropshippers. A few weeks ago, I was looking for a new whetstone, and this is what I got when I searched Amazon https://i.imgur.com/1Utp2dF.png The results keep going like that. You see constant repetition of the exact same units with slightly different branding, often with the same stock photography, repeated for pa…

You used to be able to filter for just things sold by Amazon, but that vanished some time ago. Not that a “fulfilled by amazon” filter would do much these days because of how much of other sellers stock there is commingled in their warehouses. Same for the “prime” filter that is present if you subscribe to that, it filters out a lot of junk but far from all of it.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#115

Post by akvadrako »

moonchrome wrote: post #71
stavros wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to say when I saw the end of your comment, that looks very much like the AliExpress experience. You get cheap stuff, but you gamble on them being a fake.

AliExpress isn't even cheap for what you're actually getting, but it is cheaper than Amazon if you're dumpster diving. The reason I say it isn't cheap is because when I ignore the fake labels and look at actual goods delivered equivalents can be bought locally for similar price (sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive) without insane wait time and with warrenty.

Depends what you are buying. You can often find things which are perfectly fine quality but too niche for westerners to sell near cost, like electrical and plastic components, basic tools, cables, etc.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#117

Post by GingerMidas »

Tempest1981 wrote: post #83
justapassenger wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Main reason I still use them is 100% hassle free return policy. I don’t stress about buying something crappy, as I know I can return it, in very convenient ways.

I heard that if you return too many items, they threaten to prevent future purchases. Has anyone hit this? What is the return/purchase ratio?

I suspect it's more about value of returned items than the quantity. I have returned ~half of the items I purchased in the last year

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#118

Post by bombcar »

markbnj wrote: post #41
d23 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason that changed for me lately and they no longer do free UPS pickup for returns. I have to go mail them myself, which tips the balance of the return convenience scale for me.

I rarely have to return things, but when I do have to return something purchased on Amazon it's basically: couple of clicks, get a QR in email, walk into the local UPS store with the item and hand it over, quick scan of the QR and done. Yeah it would be nice if they just sent someone to the house to get the item, but it doesn't surprise me that the economics of that don't work out.

It’s annoying because they used to give you a UPS label you could use, now they make me drive 30 miles to a UPS store.

I was able to get a label for one item and shove all the others in the same box and it worked. For now.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#119

Post by angelbar »

savanaly wrote: post #13
aslilac wrote: post #2

Amazon is unusable at this point, and I don’t get how they have so many customers. Free and fast shipping is no longer exclusive to them, and there are others out there with far nicer websites and no shitty ad listings.

I only need to buy something online every couple months, maybe once a month at most. I hate shopping so I'll be damned if I will spend 1 more second thinking about the process than I have to. Amazon always has the thing, ships it in 2 days, I can be relatively sure I'm not getting ripped off by more than +/- 25% and that's good enough for me. I've never had any issues with fakes that HN complains about all the time.…

>I can be relatively sure I'm not getting ripped off by more than +/- 25% and that's good enough for me.

Look at Keepa for historic prices

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#120

Post by bombcar »

carlivar wrote: post #108
bombcar wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Target Home Depot Best Buy Walmart (this is getting polluted with "vendors")

Best Buy uses Ontrac shipping in my area and they are awful.

Yeah I’m lucky in that everyone uses UPS or FedEx to reach me.
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