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Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

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Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#91

Post by forgotusername6 »

plorkyeran wrote: post #64
magnetowasright wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the reviews says to look at the sample, but it looks like the sample isn't available any more. Might just be a regional thing that the sample isn't available but maybe they removed it intentionally lol

The first puzzle from the sample: > A seller has some quantity of floor with him. The seller offered his customer that if he/she buys half of the floor he has, he will give half kg of floor as a discount. The first customer accepted his offer and he purchased half of the floor and got half kg as extra. After selling the floor to the first customer he again makes the same offer for the second customer, and so on. The…

The mangled puzzle: replace identical pairs with single white balls. Replace non-identical pairs with black balls. Number of balls reduces by one after each action resulting in a single ball at the end.

I'm not certain of the analogy, but it appears to be something like the white balls are even and the black are odd. Both odd+odd and even+even equal an even (white) number. But odd + even equal an odd number. Since it starts with an odd number of odd numbers, the answer is black.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#92

Post by sph »

kredd wrote: post #85
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I always underestimate, in regards to bad / anti-consumer behaviour, is the size of the customer base (and sometimes in combination with the bell curve / normal distribution of intelligence, but maybe not in this case). The scope of humanity that use Amazon is gigantic, and the percentage of us pedantic, technically knowledgeable folks who'd give up some convenience, time, or even the purchase of an item, a…

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

Who? There's your problem. I have never heard of Temu, and neither have many who know (and use) Amazon.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#93

Post by SXX »

Beldin wrote: post #88
CSMastermind wrote: post #67

> Amazon is filled with garbage Full stop, no need to specify e-books. I've moved my purchasing dollars elsewhere at this point with the exception of some very specific categories. Amazon is just too unreliable.

Nevertheless, spam ebooks do deserve a separate category. There is an actual industry around spam ebooks that offers aspiring fraudsters the tools to quickly cobble together junk with enough stolen content that readers are getting their $0.99 worth. (That latter part helps raise the bar against refund requests.) Moreover, this industry has developed tools and mechanisms to SEO and spam your fraudulent book. Why launc…

Dont you think problem with spam books is that someone actually buys them?

Without enough demand no one would do it.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#94

Post by amanaplanacanal »

sph wrote: post #92
kredd wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

Who? There's your problem. I have never heard of Temu, and neither have many who know (and use) Amazon.

That’s only a matter of time and advertising though.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#95

Post by faluzure »

CSMastermind wrote: post #67

> Amazon is filled with garbage Full stop, no need to specify e-books. I've moved my purchasing dollars elsewhere at this point with the exception of some very specific categories. Amazon is just too unreliable.

Every once in a while I try to become an Amazon seller through FBA. I sell quality goods without a huge markup.

My latest attempt resulted in 1/3 of the goods being returned because they could be sourced cheaper elsewhere (eg AliExpress) after they were tested, or they were swapped by the buyer with defective goods purchase elsewhere returned (they had heavy wear). In the case where the goods were still functional, the packaging was damaged and I had to pay for the returns.

My conclusion is that amazons liberal return policies only allow something to be sold profitably at a 2-3x markup. Hence everything being garbage.

I won’t attempt it again.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#96

Post by Beldin »

SXX wrote: post #93
Beldin wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevertheless, spam ebooks do deserve a separate category. There is an actual industry around spam ebooks that offers aspiring fraudsters the tools to quickly cobble together junk with enough stolen content that readers are getting their $0.99 worth. (That latter part helps raise the bar against refund requests.) Moreover, this industry has developed tools and mechanisms to SEO and spam your fraudulent book. Why launc…

Dont you think problem with spam books is that someone actually buys them? Without enough demand no one would do it.

If you can get a copy of "100 money-saving tax tips" for $1.99, and the preview already sounds promising, wouldn't you? Even one good tip would easily save you the price of the book.

(Also: to me, blaming demand is a bit victim blaming - these scams are deliberately set up to entice as many readers as possible.)

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#97

Post by devoutsalsa »

faluzure wrote: post #95
CSMastermind wrote: post #67

> Amazon is filled with garbage Full stop, no need to specify e-books. I've moved my purchasing dollars elsewhere at this point with the exception of some very specific categories. Amazon is just too unreliable.

Every once in a while I try to become an Amazon seller through FBA. I sell quality goods without a huge markup. My latest attempt resulted in 1/3 of the goods being returned because they could be sourced cheaper elsewhere (eg AliExpress) after they were tested, or they were swapped by the buyer with defective goods purchase elsewhere returned (they had heavy wear). In the case where the goods were still functional, t…

As a consumer I love liberal return policies, as I can buy something I’m not sure about to try it out. When I was in Colombia, but avoided buying some AirPods because I couldn’t try them on, and once purchased I could not return them. When I buy shoes online , I’ll buy maybe 7 pairs, find the best fit, and return rest.

As a vendor, I can’t imagine dealing with a high percentage of returns. I don’t know what the solution is.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#98

Post by jajko »

SXX wrote: post #93
Beldin wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nevertheless, spam ebooks do deserve a separate category. There is an actual industry around spam ebooks that offers aspiring fraudsters the tools to quickly cobble together junk with enough stolen content that readers are getting their $0.99 worth. (That latter part helps raise the bar against refund requests.) Moreover, this industry has developed tools and mechanisms to SEO and spam your fraudulent book. Why launc…

Dont you think problem with spam books is that someone actually buys them? Without enough demand no one would do it.

I don't get it, who buys them? My time is so precious (raising 2 small kids now) that I do quite a bit of research before committing so much of my time to it. There are literally millions of books out there.

Even without kids, life is just so wonderful and intense to actually experience, stuff I pick up for just sitting and reading better have amazing reviews by many thousands. Yes, I won't support much some new starting author this way (but then if he wins say Hugo it gets on my list) but my time and well being is simply higher priority for me.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#99

Post by mattmanser »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #97
faluzure wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every once in a while I try to become an Amazon seller through FBA. I sell quality goods without a huge markup. My latest attempt resulted in 1/3 of the goods being returned because they could be sourced cheaper elsewhere (eg AliExpress) after they were tested, or they were swapped by the buyer with defective goods purchase elsewhere returned (they had heavy wear). In the case where the goods were still functional, t…

As a consumer I love liberal return policies, as I can buy something I’m not sure about to try it out. When I was in Colombia, but avoided buying some AirPods because I couldn’t try them on, and once purchased I could not return them. When I buy shoes online , I’ll buy maybe 7 pairs, find the best fit, and return rest. As a vendor, I can’t imagine dealing with a high percentage of returns. I don’t know what the solut…

The solution is pricing it in.

Like stores that sold physical goods had to price in things like staff or shoplifting or business rates.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#100

Post by myaccount80 »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #97
faluzure wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every once in a while I try to become an Amazon seller through FBA. I sell quality goods without a huge markup. My latest attempt resulted in 1/3 of the goods being returned because they could be sourced cheaper elsewhere (eg AliExpress) after they were tested, or they were swapped by the buyer with defective goods purchase elsewhere returned (they had heavy wear). In the case where the goods were still functional, t…

As a consumer I love liberal return policies, as I can buy something I’m not sure about to try it out. When I was in Colombia, but avoided buying some AirPods because I couldn’t try them on, and once purchased I could not return them. When I buy shoes online , I’ll buy maybe 7 pairs, find the best fit, and return rest. As a vendor, I can’t imagine dealing with a high percentage of returns. I don’t know what the solut…

how do you feel about the resource waste of such return policies? Shipping all these items to then return most of them is an insane amount of waste. And sometimes returned items cannot be resold so they are thrown away. Imo there should be clear limits on returns
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