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Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

washingtonpost.com

181–190 of 510 posts

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#181
I don't mind the ads, they are clearly labeled "sponsored".

What I hate is all the fake reviews influencing my choice. You buy something highly reviewed then receive some giftcard/offer or something in the packaging saying to leave a review and get something in return.

Now I have to "reddit productX" and read there before making a choice.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 le…

I've never managed to connect with America tales of the length of shipping. Almost (99%) everything I order from amazon arrives when it says, most of which is next day. I live in the country, but like most UK citizens fairly close to a major trunk road (10 miles or so). Of course I'm sure things are different if you live on Mull or Fair Isle, but for the vast majority of us it seems reliable The quality of what you g…

The difference between the US and the UK is size and the sheer remoteness of some places, even small cities. Unless you've been there, it's hard to grasp.

I've driven around large parts of the western US and there's a LOT of empty space. I don't know how many shipping centers Amazon has in the UK, but I am about 99.999% sure that there's areas of the US larger than all of the British Isle that are served by a single warehouse and shipping center.

So the variability in the US is going to be very high. Some places that happen to be near a shipping center, or two, will have consistent on-time delivery. Other places that are distant from one, and may have a high mountain pass that's dicey in winter or closed because of wildfires in the summer between them and that single center, are going to have problems.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#183

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?

Wow this thread is the only Google result for "YGGFSS" that isn't a catalog site.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#184
post #56
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did you know counterfeits can be sold under the “sold by anazon.com” branding because of co-mingling? I have also had a bad experience with "Sold by Amazon.com" so I'm not questioning the veracity of what you are saying. But how does this work? How can someone get a counterfeit product under this umbrella?

"Sold by Amazon" comingles identical SKUs from different sellers in their warehouses. Seller A sells real Product Z on Amazon. Seller B sells fake Product Z on Amazon. When you order Product Z that is "Sold on Amazon" you might get a real one provided by Seller A, or you might get a fake one sold by Seller B

I believe what you are saying is possible for “Shipped by Amazon” not “sold by Amazon”.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 le…

I've never managed to connect with America tales of the length of shipping. Almost (99%) everything I order from amazon arrives when it says, most of which is next day. I live in the country, but like most UK citizens fairly close to a major trunk road (10 miles or so). Of course I'm sure things are different if you live on Mull or Fair Isle, but for the vast majority of us it seems reliable The quality of what you g…

I think what many people outside North America fail to grasp is the size of north America.

To give you an idea:

I live just outside Toronto (Ontario, Canada) and if i want to drive east to the next province (Quebec) it will take me 4 hours to cover the 450 KM. If i want to go to the next province to the west (Manitoba) It will take me 20 hours to cover the 2,000 KM. So to cut across Ontario you are looking at something like 2,450 KM

This is just my province of Ontario. The other provinces are not as large, but the country is vast when looking at Europe.

Using google maps, i can drive from the south (footbridge) to the north (ChargePlace,Scotland) and this ~ 1,200 KM?

In the case of my very simple order, one item is being shipped from 120KM away?

How often do you order something simple and one of the distribution hubs is 120KM away from you? There is a massive 1 million square foot hub a few blocks away but i guess it isnt big enough to hold what i wanted?

I hope this provides some context for you.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You’re assuming that the product you ordered is at that warehouse. It probably isn’t. They can’t store all products at all locations. Even if that distribution center ends up being the shipment origination site, the product still probably had to move within the Amazon network. Some of those things will move within the Amazon network, some with external (trackable) carriers (UPS/FedEx). And some things has restriction…

A few months ago I ordered a dongle from Amazon to attach a floppy drive to a modern computer via USB. For some reason this weird, niche little thing was eligible for Amazon Essentials same day delivery. Apparently every Amazon warehouse has a dusty box of these things in the corner that they're still trying to unload?

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#187
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They often don't, like the extension cord I bought that flips my breaker when I plug it in. I don't want garbage products that were sourced from the dumpster next to a Chinese factory after they make a defective batch.

"Six letter Chinese sellers" does not automatically mean cheap shitty defective rejects. If anything, that's just stereotyping and xenophobia. For every one of you, I'm sure there's a dozen who have had no issues with the product. And I'm sure there's been plenty of people who have had the same issue with a name brand product that was made in the same factory by the same process and people.

I'm not bagging on Chinese manufacturing in general, they build the worlds stuff, including super high quality+value items. Yet throwaway brands peddling junk that wouldn't have realistically made it onto the shelves of a big box store is a real problem on Amazon's marketplace, and other similar ones.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#188

It’s refreshing to see this in the Washington Post, owned by Bezos. Tiny beacon of hope going out into the darkness. Search ads on shopping websites are just capitalism taken to the natural end. Hopefully degradation of user experience will curb it somewhat. Our only other option is some sort of new Internet Bill of Rights being passed and I’m not optimistic lobbyists would ever allow it. We need some sort of fund fo…

> Hopefully degradation of user experience will curb it somewhat. Sometimes the ads even betray themselves. Like I, as a rule, hate ads. I block them where I can, and where I can't, I do my best to ignore them. But then you get instances where the ad _is_ what you're actually looking for. Like if you search Amazon for "iPhone", you get official first party iPhone stuff from Apple, but they're sponsored listings. My p…

They have to buy their own keywords so that others aren't first in the listings right? They don't want Samsung to be the first thing you see. Hilarious and sad at the same time.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#189

Its apparently not enough for a business this size to just sell products with good customer service any more. The customer service is long gone replaced by the computer saying no. The product listings are just ads and the reviews are all fake.

One Day Shipping and aggressive FC expansion led to a completely inordinate logistics cost. Pretty good reason Wilke is gone and Jassy had the chance to step up to me, but I can’t speak to that with authority.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And they have the Payboo credit card that gives you back the sales tax.That's significant especially for higher priced items like laptops or cameras,
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