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Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

latimes.com

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Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#21

Post by saghm »

nomel wrote: post #16
tenpoundhammer wrote: post #13

"This item will arrive tomorrow at 9 AM" -> Pay -> "Sorry this item can't be delivered by tomorrow will be delivered 2 days later" -> Next day -> "This item will be delivered 3 weeks from now"

I think Amazon is catching on. I had this happen last week, and after the 2 days late, Amazon sent an automated apology with the option to cancel if it didn't show up after the third day.

I'm not sure that's "catching on". One would think that if they can't reliably offer a service, they shouldn't be offering it in the first place.

Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#23

Post by cmiles8 »

tenpoundhammer wrote: post #13

"This item will arrive tomorrow at 9 AM" -> Pay -> "Sorry this item can't be delivered by tomorrow will be delivered 2 days later" -> Next day -> "This item will be delivered 3 weeks from now"

OMG yes this. So annoying.

It’s like Uber saying book and pay for a ride, cars are 2 min away. Great here’s my money, send a car. 15 min later still waiting for car…

Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#24

Post by radicality »

> leave a product review in exchange for a free bed scrunchie accessory

I wonder what the exact language was. If it included something like “5 star review” on that card, then the guy deserves getting kicked out from Amazon and getting his business shut down (it’s federally illegal to do that per ftc regulation). If it was just very neutral language asking for reviews, then that sucks, and hope he can get it resolved with Amazon eventually.

Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#25

Post by giarc »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #15
showerst wrote: post #4

Amazon, Walmart, Etsy... my kingdom for a marketplace that doesn't become just a dumping ground for shady fly-by-night dropshippers.

Don't allow 3rd party sellers?

I think that is key. I used to browse Best Buy's website for various electronics and it was typically pretty good. I knew that somewhere, a Best Buy product buyer was evaluating the products with at least a minimum set of expectations. Then they opened their marketplace to 3rd party sellers and it's the same low cost, low quality crap on every other site.

Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#28

Post by secabeen »

cmiles8 wrote: post #11
Loughla wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have yet to find something on Amazon that I couldn't find at a local shop for within 5% of the Amazon price. I live in a very rural area, so I have to imagine that it's easier if you live near a city. Or maybe my sample size of 1 person isn't enough.

A lot of things are actually LESS expensive in stores. All that speedy delivery adds a lot to costs that are baked in. Sometimes things on Amazon are 50+% more. You have to know your prices to know what’s a good deal vs what’s a total ripoff. IE folks will take a 4 pack of something that sells for $20 and sell each bottle individually for $10 each.

My rule of thumb is that every not-heavy product has about $7 of shipping costs baked in somewhere. For cheap items, there isn't enough markup to cover those costs, so they are usually higher priced than at retail. If it's $50 or more, there usually is, and the amazon price will be competitive or better than retail.

For heavy things the shipping ding is bigger, but they also usually cost at least $30. No one bothers to sell $5 items like 50lb bags of basic sand on amazon.

Re: Amazon seller reveals glimpse of shadow bribery market

#29

Post by victorbjorklund »

smallerfish wrote: post #14
gertrunde wrote: post #10

I tend to find ebay less shady than Amazon these days, which is a bit disapointing really.

AliExpress is less shady. If only they had customer service and a decent UI.

I only had good experiences with the customer service. Do they wanna have long conversations? Nope. But they are quick to just give you a refund.
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