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Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

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Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#281

Post by smcin »

TeamMCS wrote: post #178
reinsdyr wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I already don't trust airbnb because of their random fees they keep applying after actually putting in my information. And their general unreliability when it comes to supporting hosts and costumers.

One tip you may appreciate is to use the Australian version of airbnb (.au), their regulators require them to show the true cost of the rental, including all fees in the headline price. It operates exactly the same as your regional airbnb once you switch the location and currency. For example, switching to USD and searching for apartments in California

That's an incredibly useful tip. Recommend you post it as an article in its own right.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#282

Post by freejazz »

Zetice wrote: post #276
freejazz wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, my dad works at the Justice Department and he said it does.

Okay so to be clear, are you saying you don't believe Walmart.com does the things you've listed, but if they did, you'd be wrong?

No, because the fact that competitors exist doesn't mean that there are not anti-trust concerns, not sure why I keep having to repeat this to you but oh well.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#283

Post by Ensorceled »

carlosjobim wrote: post #268
Ensorceled wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically, your comment has the same problem the people you are complaining about are a complaining about ... 8 paragraphs as opposed to the GPs 2. I'm not learning Roman History from youtube/tiktok, I'm trying to figure out how to factory reset my parents DVR. 10 minutes of rambling is not useful.

Why make such a rude and useless comment? If you don't like what people say you don't have to read or listen.

> Why make such a rude and useless comment?

I'm matching the tone of the comment I'm replying to.

> If you don't like what people say you don't have to read or listen.

Speaking of irony ... you can also just move along.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#284

Post by brutusurp »

echelon wrote: post #24
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google should be nervous about all of its ads system because their search engine is becoming increasingly trash

1) It's no longer the search intent destination for advertisers. You find information on TikTok, you research products on Reddit, you send your purchase intent to Amazon, etc. These platforms will accrete more advertiser dollars. 2) Google SERPs sucks now. Low quality ads at top, low quality results that follow. A lot of SEO bullshit. Information returned is often irrelevant. Users know this and are getting fed up. 3…

> you send your purchase intent to Amazon, etc.

I'm not sending my purchase intent to Amazon. In fact I am ensuring I don't give them ads results via SEO (e.g., -site:amazon.com).

I don't want Amazon ads in my results which I know were forcibly generated at runtime by overriding competitors (i.e., breaking/hacking Google Search).

I don't want to purchase an item from Amazon knowing it could contain an empty box and/or defective product (i.e., no quality control), will take 5x as long to arrive, and I may not even receive a refund in the event I try to return the item.

Give me a service better than Amazon. I'm tired of being served subpar everything by them. Especially when they treat their employees and customers like trash. No thanks.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#285

Post by brutusurp »

the_snooze wrote: post #134
deepGem wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ads on Amazon are far more annoying than ads on other web properties, because I go to Amazon for a very specific need. I search for Tide washing liquid and I see these sponsored products on top, way above the Tide result. From a purist viewpoint, this is disgusting. I have to come to you Amazon, to just give me what I want, not what you think I want. That said, there isn't a better alternative so I just ignore the ad…

> just give me what I want, not what you think I want. I feel the same way about writing suggestions in Gmail and “fuzzy search” common on a lot of sites. What’s the deal with this apparent trend of constantly trying to second-guess user intention?

Ads revenue.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#286

Post by brutusurp »

qizzy wrote: post #209

I bought an echo dot on a whim. I was going to post in the thread about Alexa's 'failure' about how miserable the experience was, how demanding of access it was, how little function it delivered in return. But the second half of that story - the reason it led to me blacklisting Amazon belongs here: A day or two after installing the Echo Dot, I wrote a very personal and long postponed email to my sister. We haven't co…

Pretty crazy. Amazon actively harvests your data, w/ and w/o your consent. Because you tried Echo, that's all it took. You connected it to wifi/bluetooth, and Amazon was then able to access all your connected devices; all of them. Anyone who downloaded the Alexa app, Amazon took over your phone, accessing all your apps, your mic and your camera, as well as accessing all your devices that share wifi/bluetooth connection. We're talking some of the most intimate of situations Amazon has copies of, without your knowledge or acute consent.

It is legitimately criminal.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#287

Post by brutusurp »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #214
qizzy wrote: post #209

I bought an echo dot on a whim. I was going to post in the thread about Alexa's 'failure' about how miserable the experience was, how demanding of access it was, how little function it delivered in return. But the second half of that story - the reason it led to me blacklisting Amazon belongs here: A day or two after installing the Echo Dot, I wrote a very personal and long postponed email to my sister. We haven't co…

As a technical aside, Did you voice transcribe your heartfelt message, or do you think the Echo intercepted and read the email contents?

Once connected to wifi/bluetooth, Amazon can access any devices that share that connection, e.g., your laptop. With that Amazon can freely access your browser, your keystrokes, your camera, your mic. All of it.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#288

Post by dazc »

hakfoo wrote: post #277
dazc wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'I've noticed Bunnings (like Home Depot, but in Australia) adding "Marketplace" listings for non-store things to their website...' This is certainly a trend led, I am guessing, by troves of internal search data that suggests people are searching for things they don't have the capacity to stock themselves.

In a way, it feels like lying to the customer. "Do you stock purple widgets?" "No, we're Red Widget Emporium" is not an inappropriate answer. If anything, it improves the trust angle-- you're the experts on Red Widgets rather than a mile-wide-six-inches-deep generalist. I generally don't want to buy sheet lumber and breakfast cereal at the same store. "We'll pretend we stock it but actually hand you to a second tier…

I agree, but I think it also helps retailers swell their cashflow (since they don't have to tie up capital on stock) so, for them, it's just too compelling an advantage to pass up?

In a way, it does help a specialist differentiate him/herself in the market though. I am tending to buy more from small, specialist retailers for this very reason.

Re: Retail, search and Amazon’s $40B ‘advertising’ business

#289

Post by bombcar »

prawn wrote: post #261
bombcar wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's a blatant cash-grab by all big online stores. And for awhile you can continue to search "shipped and sold by Company" but eventually that goes away, because the marketplace shit is pure profit for them. It sells out the brand and turns them all into eBay/Alibaba clones and it's a major danger sign. More and more I have to restrict Walmart to "stocked in store" to avoid useless crap.

Funny you should mention that because it's how I'd started searching the aforementioned Bunnings site. Filter by what's available and in stock at the local store. The other development is having to check online reviews before purchasing just about anything. Previously, if I bought shelf brackets or similar, I could usually rely on the fact that they were stocked at at a reliable store to mean they were decent enough…

That latter development is really, really annoying. I've started to order certain things from commercial suppliers like Uline (the advantage of having one local) simply because there's some things I don't want to deal with the thought process necessary to work out what is crap.
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