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Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

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Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#101

Post by hirundo »

jrgaston wrote: post #86
hirundo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought this non-stick pan on Amazon and it was one of my best purchases of last year. The trick with non-sticks is to buy cheap enough cookware to affordably replace regularly as they wear out. My previous non-stick pan cost four times as much, wore out, and is now just hanging from a rack, looking fabulous. With the new one, I plan to toss it in another year and buy another. https://www.amazon.com/Tramontina-80114…

Kind of wasteful, no? I prefer to buy stuff that lasts, even if it costs more.

I have spent lots more for non-stick pans that were supposed to last. My last one was a Le Creuset for $120. The previous one was a Calphalon for about the same. Both wore out in about two years, and only lasted that long because I didn't want to give up on such an investment. My current $30 pan has lasted about a year with a slicker surface than any of the others, so it's already a better value.

I'm willing to fall for some credible marketing that convinces me I could spend a few hundred on a non-stick pan I could hand down to the grand kids, as with cast iron. But it doesn't seem to exist at the moment.

Given the additional soap and water, I wonder if it would be greener to scrape and scrub my eggs off of a sticky pan instead. It'd be better exercise.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#102

Post by freyir »

Recently, I was searching for a new office chair. Amazon offers the popular Steelcase Leap at full price, $978. You'd likely think you're paying full price to get a new chair. See if you can tell that you're getting ripped off:

https://www.amazon.com/d/Office-Desk-Chairs/Steelcase-Fabric...

Spoiler: buried in the fine print, and listed as a "feature," it says "open box refurb".

Customers are unwittingly paying full price for refurbished chairs, which typically sell for under $400. Many reviews claim that the chairs do not seem up to standard quality. You might think this is from some shady third-party seller, but it's in fact, "Ship from and sold by Amazon.com." And if you list all New/Used/Refurbished sellers, Amazon.com shows up in the New category, despite being described as a refurb in the product description. What a mess.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#103

Post by njharman »

bluedino wrote: post #19
nanoseltzer wrote: post #6

They may have ruined online shopping but they haven’t solved it either. The clothing retailers (an area hard for amazon to move in on) will remain competitive. I think the one area amazon absolutely has done right is customer service. If any other company made their customer service as good, easy, and simple, I think they would be able to catch up quickly as well. For example: I recently bought a jacket on sale from…

We need a breakthrough in package delivery. Over half of people’s online shopping complaints are due to items not arriving on time, being delivered to the wrong address, being stolen...

If you were older you'd know we've all ready had a massive breakthrough. 6 to 8 weeks nude to be normal. Now its couple days for free. Next day even same day is possible. I can get food, other perishables. Stuff is delivered from Hong Kong in days. You often get tracking of status, location, and eta. All of this without having to call and wait and wait on customer service phone line.

Its mindblowingly amazing.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#104

Post by wessorh »

This week I ordered from Amazon a 4tb Flash Drive. What arrived in 4tb packaging was a 250Gb flash drive with the manufacturer's label removed. Amazon did replace the fraud drive with a proper one.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#105

Post by johntiger1 »

Nelkins wrote: post #75
Johnny555 wrote: post #53

Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed. You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are f…

The startup I work for, Masse[0], is attempting to solve this issue. More or less a platform for product reviews with a social network component to see exactly who is recommending a product. I've written a little about it here [1][2]. [0] https://masse.app/ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18441347 [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/fsharp/comments/9wpw84/introducing_...

Why the downvotes?

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#106

Post by e40 »

finaliteration wrote: post #96
Johnny555 wrote: post #53

Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed. You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are f…

A lot of people like to disparage Best Buy but I’ve found the stores in my area to be excellent and the staff to always be friendly and helpful. They’ll also price match Amazon in most cases. Their PC components selection isn’t huge, but for things like consoles, games, peripherals, etc., I feel like they’re great. They also offer one-hour pickup and in some cases will even give you a discount if you choose that over…

For a lot of stuff, I agree. For certain things, though, Best Buy is a complete ripoff. I once went to get an HDMI cable and all that had was a $100 gold plated one. I walked up to the guy in that department and told him I knew this was a scam and he agreed. I told him I'd not buy anything from them and wait the 2 days to get a $5 one from Amazon. Best Buy isn't doing themselves any favors by this behavior.

There's a mom and pop computer store down the street. I went in for a USB cable that I really needed and ended up paying > $20 for that should have been less than $5. I never went back.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#107

Post by tossaccount123 »

Johnny555 wrote: post #53

Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed. You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are f…

legally every Amazon warehouse should be seized by the Feds for knowingly helping to ship counterfeit goods across state lines. That's what happens to other retailers who do this[1].

Luckily, Bezos owns the Washington Post, has a 600 million dollar contract with the CIA, and is close to signing a 10 billion dollar contract with the Department of Defense. The new HQ in DC probably helps grease those hands as well

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/16/nyregion/fake-luxury-good...

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#108

Post by Invictus0 »

I was recently backpacking in Colombia. In Colombia, no one shops online: the mountainous terrain makes shipping extremely expensive. It was an extremely refreshing experience. There are malls of course but also many small stores for things like school supplies and niche clothing brands (I bought a sweater from a store that sold basically nothing but sweaters: they also had a fully stocked bar with a pillow lounge, loft, and a TV in the back.) The public transportation is well utilized and people walk in the streets. Small grocery/convenience stores are only a stone's throw from anywhere in the city. This is what we have lost to online shopping.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#109

Post by malandrew »

NegativeK wrote: post #74
Johnny555 wrote: post #53

Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed. You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are f…

Amazon's counterfeit problem seems like something they're not taking seriously enough. For a laser printer or a lamp, sure -- I'll buy from Amazon and deal with the return if I ever get screwed. But for climbing gear, of which I've bought quite a bit of, I simply won't touch Amazon. I haven't heard of counterfeit (versus obvious trash, which exists but is different) climbing goods on Amazon, but I simply can't risk i…

Yup. For pretty much all outdoor gear I go to Backcountry or REI. Can't risk counterfeits for technical products where specs matter.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#110

Post by mysterydip »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #57
anoncoward111 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>at least I know what I'm getting Lorddddd I am holding back laughter right now. Ebay is the original defintion of online scamming and counterfeiting. The real way to do this would be for someone to buy a bulk order from the manufacturer, import it, and then sell it piecemeal with a social media profile that demonstrates legitness and quality of product. Ebay's fees and lack of quality control add negative value to t…

IME product details given in eBay listings refer to that product from that seller, rather than a similar product from anyone of a number of current or past sellers (as Amazon appears to). Thus ratings are useful, as are reviews.

User rating does refer to the individual, yes, but product rating is across all examples of that product. I've been asked by eBay to rate products I've purchased, and it even says in the guidelines "rate the product, not the seller". Product description should be specific to the one being sold.
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