The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
theatlantic.com
The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
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Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#2https://archive.ph/Kz0Rn
“around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about”
Enshittified
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#3https://archive.ph/Kz0Rn “around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about” Enshittified
> “around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about”
And whenever you feel that, hop on AliExpress and find the exact same thing for about a tenth the price.
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#4Two-day shipping was the best thing about Amazon. (Well, it was a reason to subscribe to Prime.)
The example used in the article is confusing, too. A single-use purple wig? That's a great case for a generic, cheap product.
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#5https://archive.ph/Kz0Rn “around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about” Enshittified
> “around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about” And whenever you feel that, hop on AliExpress and find the exact same thing for about a tenth the price.
With two month shipping, instead of two days. It's still worth it sometimes, since Amazon is slowly turning into AliExpress.
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#6It's sort of funny - the author's first complaint was about the query "purple wig".
Perhaps I'm getting better results since I'm using an adblocker, but is this not what the author was after? [1] I see lots of wigs in lots of different styles, all purple, all around $20. If I went to a costume store it'd be a little cheaper, but that's the idea of Amazon, is it not? They're concerned they've never heard of the brands (do you know any wig brands?), but remember this is for a kid's halloween costume.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/s?k=purple+wig
Look, at the end of the day, the consumer is still largely coming out on top here. They get what they want, shipped free, tomorrow. If you pitched that system to someone in 1999 they'd laugh you out of the boardroom, it's only due to Amazon's gargantuan scale that it's become possible. Of all the annoyances online these days, sponsored Amazon listings have never struck me as the ones to be distressed over.
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
> “around every corner lies a brand you’ve never heard of, selling a product you’re not sure about” And whenever you feel that, hop on AliExpress and find the exact same thing for about a tenth the price.
With two month shipping, instead of two days. It's still worth it sometimes, since Amazon is slowly turning into AliExpress.
> With two month shipping, instead of two days. It's still worth it sometimes, since Amazon is slowly turning into AliExpress.
In my experience, it's not that bad. I usually get all my stuff within a couple weeks to a month.
Also you have to pay a lot of money for a Prime subscription, and even then Amazon doesn't consistently hit its two day shipping targets (IIRC Amazon without Prime gets you something like no-rush shipping, which takes like week).
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#8It's sort of funny - the author's first complaint was about the query "purple wig". Perhaps I'm getting better results since I'm using an adblocker, but is this not what the author was after? [1] I see lots of wigs in lots of different styles, all purple, all around $20. If I went to a costume store it'd be a little cheaper, but that's the idea of Amazon, is it not? They're concerned they've never heard of the brands…
[deleted]
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
With two month shipping, instead of two days. It's still worth it sometimes, since Amazon is slowly turning into AliExpress.
> With two month shipping, instead of two days. It's still worth it sometimes, since Amazon is slowly turning into AliExpress. In my experience, it's not that bad. I usually get all my stuff within a couple weeks to a month. Also you have to pay a lot of money for a Prime subscription, and even then Amazon doesn't consistently hit its two day shipping targets (IIRC Amazon without Prime gets you something like no-rush…
Free shipping that you pay for
Re: The Best Thing About Amazon Was Never Going to Last
#10> The problem isn’t that it lacks what you want, but that it offers infinite permutations of often unknowable quality.
This the problem. The actual worthwhile products being buried in a sea of garbo. Along with the reviews being gamed, it's essentially the online equivalent of a flea market.
It just means consumers have to be more careful and do a lot more research before they buy. While this isn't a new thing for anyone here, this will be a necessary behavior shift for everyone in order to avoid these dark patterns, and to get safe and quality products. This isn't just an amazon problem.
Essentially: avoid impulse shopping.