Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

foxbusiness.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 293 posts

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#131

Post by nothrabannosir »

neverminder wrote: post #129
SwellJoe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is another big one. Amazon is filled with garbage products. It can be very hard to tell what's quality, anymore, and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be. I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.

> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've alre…

Why didn't you leave the review?

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#132

Post by kbart »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #10
Clubber wrote: post #2

That's pretty standard for what I call the "scam economy" that is the US for the past 20 years. Watch any commercial.

Lest anyone not take you seriously, I noticed this when I first immigrated to the US, and every time I've returned from a multi-week trip: the first time I see a TV again I'm just flabbergasted at how nasty the advertizing is. When you're not used to it, it just seems especially manipulative and very negative towards the competition compared to other the other countries I've spent time in (which primarily other count…

"which primarily other countries heavily influenced by the UK"

UK, which until recently, had to abide strict EU mandated consumer protection protection laws. You cannot make unsubstantial claims even in ads. Companies had been sued and fined heavily for that.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#133

Post by StreamBright »

jumpkickhit wrote: post #99
SwellJoe wrote: post #46

I've become more and more disillusioned by Amazon over the years. Prices are now almost never the best; I only buy from them when I need something quickly (and can't get it locally). NewEgg (nearly) always has better tech prices. Walmart often has better prices on everyday items and I can have it immediately. I just bought a pair of tweezers at my local grocery store for two bucks that was $6 on Amazon for the same m…

I've fallen for Newegg's slightly lower prices a few times, last two new items i ordered, both were opened up. 2nd one missing crucial parts that someone poked all of them out through the bag inside of the device's box. 2nd item was through a reseller though. I don't use Amazon too often these days, but Newegg's lost me from these last few experiences. Their support basically said "meh" about both cases.

For a really long time (over a year) I was trying to get my oders to be shipped to an address in California, Daly City. I had 30% success rate. I have called Amazon several times but they gave me bullshit. I figured out that the delivery guy was stealing all of the shippment and I could prove it. Amazon did not care. After a while I just stopped ordering anything because it is impossible to get delivery there. All of the shippments were arriving to a different address few miles from that one. Funniest part that the shipping company was actually owned by Amazon.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#134

Post by ikurei »

neverminder wrote: post #129
SwellJoe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is another big one. Amazon is filled with garbage products. It can be very hard to tell what's quality, anymore, and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be. I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.

> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've alre…

So you just helped continue the fraud? Things aren't gonna improve by complaining on HN.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#135

Post by gnicholas »

kelukelugames wrote: post #74
SwellJoe wrote: post #46

I've become more and more disillusioned by Amazon over the years. Prices are now almost never the best; I only buy from them when I need something quickly (and can't get it locally). NewEgg (nearly) always has better tech prices. Walmart often has better prices on everyday items and I can have it immediately. I just bought a pair of tweezers at my local grocery store for two bucks that was $6 on Amazon for the same m…

Is there an easy way to comparison shop on Amazon? I saw ads for chrome extensions but I don't know if they are good.

I would love if one of the extensions mentioned in sister replies would include a feature that hides the "regular price" so that you can't be falsely anchored (and duped into thinking you're getting a good deal).

All you'd see is the price you're being asked to pay, so you can evaluate whether it's worth that price or not.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#136

Post by neverminder »

ikurei wrote: post #134
neverminder wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've alre…

So you just helped continue the fraud? Things aren't gonna improve by complaining on HN.

There's no point in debating the moral issues when our world is anything but. It's like condemning engineers for enabling governments and corporations to spy on us and constantly erode our privacy. In this particular situation the interaction was between me and the seller. Reviews are written, edited, removed by a person that owes nothing to other potential customers.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#137

Post by barking »

nothrabannosir wrote: post #131
neverminder wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've alre…

Why didn't you leave the review?

Probably the best thing would be to edit or replace it and then in addition to the criticisms, mention how they were very proactive about replacing/refunding for the item

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#138

Post by barking »

Fej wrote: post #98
SwellJoe wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is another big one. Amazon is filled with garbage products. It can be very hard to tell what's quality, anymore, and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be. I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.

The bad reviews are useful. The positive ones are almost universally worthless (excluding Benson's).

Except that bad reviews are sometimes put there by competitors

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#139

Post by ajnin »

neverminder wrote: post #136
ikurei wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you just helped continue the fraud? Things aren't gonna improve by complaining on HN.

There's no point in debating the moral issues when our world is anything but. It's like condemning engineers for enabling governments and corporations to spy on us and constantly erode our privacy. In this particular situation the interaction was between me and the seller. Reviews are written, edited, removed by a person that owes nothing to other potential customers.

Seems contradictory to buy a low quality item based on unfair reviews, complain about that fact, then go on saying that reviewers owe nothing to anyone. They obviously owe a modicum of honesty and objectivity to other potential buyers. Why would you leave a review if not to inform other buyers ?

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#140

Post by jacobolus »

SwellJoe wrote: post #65
ballenf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over and over again I've realized just before or after buying an item from Amazon that I paid way too much. I have finally broken the ingrained habit of leaping before looking. That can't be good for Amazon if too many people do that. On another note, I am beyond tired of the craptacular deals that are >80% fly-by-night products with astroturf reviews. The gold box deals used to be a favorite bookmarked stop.

This is another big one. Amazon is filled with garbage products. It can be very hard to tell what's quality, anymore, and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be. I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.

I’ve mostly stopped buying new books directly from Amazon because they sometimes seem to send crappy quality printed-on-demand copies, and I have no easy way of predicting if I’ll get one of those beforehand. (Sadly much of the book industry is moving this direction even if you buy directly. For example, the past few years of Springer math books are all terrible printing quality.)

I’m mad that they now hide book reviews that aren’t from “verified purchasers” unless you spend several clicks hunting for them.

It’s really unfortunate that there’s no independent page for book reviews with a big enough community to be remotely comprehensive.

Post reply on HN