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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

#131

Post by fvold »

lm28469 wrote: post #101
kennend3 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

The only pro of amazon is that you can contact them months after the purchase and still get a free replacement/refund. With aliexpress I doubt they'd refund you even if you received a bag of dirt instead of your product

In my experience, Ali Express is absolutely 100% a buyers market, in every single way. I've bought random junk with a somewhat long fulfillment time, and contacted the seller just to politely ask about a time frame without in any way indicating dissatisfaction, and received groveling responses begging me to not open a dispute with Ali.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#132

Post by KyleBrandt »

"Amazon has turned shill results into its next big thing. After selling $31 billion in ads last year, Amazon became the third-largest online ad company in the United States, trailing only Google and Facebook".

Got my attention more than than anything else. Seems to really be pushing antitrust to new heights?

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#133

Post by chrisbaker98 »

jrs235 wrote: post #95
kennend3 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

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).

Anecdotal, but I haven't noticed this in the UK. Pretty much everything I order from Amazon still arrives within 24 hours, and I live in the countryside (albeit in the southeast so still not far from London.)

OTOH I still notice the problem that other people have mentioned - that practically everything on Amazon these days is the same repackaged Chinese dropshipped garbage. Which is one reason I shop on Amazon far less than I used to.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#134

Post by sweezyjeezy »

ThunderSizzle wrote: post #109
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).

Delivery has never been faster for me. Most things arrive in less than a day now. But some things do take longer. I guess it depends on stock levels.

Agreed - live in London, and often receive things within 12 hours of purchase.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#135

Post by chrisbaker98 »

CosmicShadow wrote: post #121

Scamazon just sucks now. It was once good, but every time I go to use it I waste time and get frustrated. I now only seem to buy stuff where the trade off on research vs going to store is not worth it and buy their probably crappy prime brand batteries. I've been floating like $100+ of amazon credits for months because I keep getting damn gift cards and more credit from returns. Sure there is things I kind of want, b…

> YGGFSS

What does this mean?

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#136

Post by anon7725 »

verdverm wrote: post #28
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.

tbh, just used Newegg this week... 2 day shipping costs more, they didn't even get it here in 2 days, they split my order into 8 orders, each tracked and emailed separately. I've been boycotting Amazon almost 5 years, but their competition really sucks to the point I'm thinking of going back. At least I've been able to avoid a lot of frivolous purchases for a while...

Try B&H next time. AFAIK they still ship everything themselves and don’t have marketplace sellers like Newegg or Amazon.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#137

Post by treis »

arein3 wrote: post #123
treis wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough that's cheaper on Amazon than AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802919678760.html ^ You have to click on the 1000/6000 grit to see the price of $26.53. Pretty much everything people buy is cheap Chinese crap anyhow.

It's 12.33$ for me https://i.imgur.com/hWyQ466.png

You're not looking at the full kit ones.

Interestingly enough though it shows me $16.70 for just the stone. Maybe they're doing some price discrimination or you're shipping to a cheaper place.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#138

Post by ajmurmann »

kennend3 wrote: post #94
jabo wrote: post #53

I recently had to buy something mundane - a light bulb, with a specific lumen and color temperature spec. Weeding out all the junk listings, ads and clearly fake reviews, I ended up spending an hour trying to get to the one I wanted to buy. Had a very similar experience for another product as well. At this point, I hesitate to look up stuff on Amazon just considering the time it takes to find stuff. I much rather pre…

> I ended up spending an hour trying to get to the one I wanted to buy. As someone who has been in the same situation I just go to my local Lowes/Home Depot now. The lighting section actually shows you what they look like turned on which is nice. After doing some competitive price shopping it is rare that amazon's prices are competitive. I guess not having to go to the store is convenient? > I much rather prefer a cu…

The dreaded comingling of inventory is just the cherry on top. A curated list is there opposite of Amazon Marketplace. For years I wished that it was easier to just keep all the marketplace offerings hidden permanently since I want to buy from Amazon and not someone I've never heard of. At this point it's all such a blurred mess.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#139

Post by PaulHoule »

CosmicShadow wrote: post #121

Scamazon just sucks now. It was once good, but every time I go to use it I waste time and get frustrated. I now only seem to buy stuff where the trade off on research vs going to store is not worth it and buy their probably crappy prime brand batteries. I've been floating like $100+ of amazon credits for months because I keep getting damn gift cards and more credit from returns. Sure there is things I kind of want, b…

I used to like Best Buy but increasingly I am frustrated with their wide but shallow product line. They stock grills and washing machines and even stock one entry level mirrorless camera but no lenses or quality accessories. Out of 10 parts I need to build a PC they stock maybe 2. I think they kid themselves into thinking I will drive there just to buy the 2 parts and then buy the rest online with somebody else but it doesn’t work that way. I was happy to be able to spend a credit I had on a DVD of The World of Susie Wong because I can’t count on them having particular movies.

AMZN is killing them based on the strength of their product line but killing themselves because the product listings are flooded with bogus results that you just don’t get with reputable but failing retailers.

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