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Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

theatlantic.com

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Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#131

Post by tedmiston »

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_...

> Product recommendations from people you trust

Why do I trust user reviews on your site more than user reviews on any other site? Or is this assuming that my some of friends have already become users and we will only look at each others' reviews?

It would be nice if you could "glue" together one's reviews across all third party sites.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#132

Post by Johnny555 »

tedmiston wrote: post #129
malandrew wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Plus REI's ~~lifetime~~ one-year return policy is much more generous than Amazon's. Not to mention the annual member dividend.

What's a "lifetime one-year return policy"?

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#133

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #58
80mph wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my 1st time trying it. I want the authentic Yorkshire Gold, made for UK flavor standards, not one re-formulated for American taste buds (as some of the reviews allege).

Perhaps the USAmerican reviewers can't make tea? (They just chuck it in harbor full of water and wonder why it's salty and weak?)

American tea is ice cold and full of sugar... If that's the disrespect that they're going to pay to our glorious national beverage then they may as well throw it in the sea for all I care ;)

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#134

Post by tedmiston »

roywiggins wrote: post #88
NullPrefix wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Previously you were risking getting your card stolen by a shady seller. Now you're risking of getting your payment stolen. Bad product/no product delivered could be seen as equivalent to stole payment. It's an improvement, isn't it?

PayPal solved that problem already though, right?

Not necessarily. Card theft, yes; bad/no product is fuzzy.

If a shady seller can prove delivery of a package to the buyer, it becomes much harder for the buyer to get through winning a dispute irrespective of what the package's contents were. Particularly if the merchandise is counterfeit but definitely proving that it's counterfeit is difficult.

Also with forum commerce for used things, it's difficult to sort out "this item isn't is the condition that was communicated to me".

If the seller can't prove delivery, then the buyer wins almost hands down.

On the flip side, an unscrupulous buyer can use this to their advantage with international shipping where it is extraordinarily difficult (and expensive) to prove delivery all the way to the destination across different country's mailing services.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#135

Post by seniorsassycat »

Johnny555 wrote: post #132
tedmiston wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus REI's ~~lifetime~~ one-year return policy is much more generous than Amazon's. Not to mention the annual member dividend.

What's a "lifetime one-year return policy"?

Poster expected to cross out lifetime because REI changed their lifetime return policy to a one year policy.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#136

Post by _bxg1 »

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…

Yeah- and really, I think PayPal has done more to make online shopping feel safe and comfortable than Amazon. It means you can use those little-guy websites without fear of credit card fraud. They even offer purchase-protection.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#137

Post by jhall1468 »

freyir wrote: post #102

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 p…

That's either a mistake in the product description or an error in marking it new. Amazon is selling it's standard "new" warranties along with it, which wouldn't be possible if it's a refurb. My guess is the product description is inaccurate.

Disclosure: I work at Amazon.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#138

Post by savanaly »

koboll wrote: post #18
80mph wrote: post #12

I recently went down the rabbit hole of trying to buy Yorkshire Gold tea on Amazon (I am in the US). I encountered so many bad reviews of users complaining about the quality, and the flavor being weakened, or not the authentic YG flavor, that I gave up. It was impossible to tell to which seller each bad review was attributable. I went on Ebay, found decent UK sellers in less than 5 minutes, and ordered my tea. Downsi…

There are certain swaths of items that you literally can't buy anymore because they are completely overrun with counterfeiters. Perfume/cologne and board games are two big ones. Amazon is, at this point, undoubtedly one of the largest enablers of open counterfeiting in the world. It needs to be met with a massive investigation and crippling fines. That probably won't happen until we have a federal government that is…

Board games are completely overrun you say? But I buy at least a half dozen big board games per year from Amazon and have never had a problem.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#139

Post by mauvehaus »

alacombe wrote: post #122
mauvehaus wrote: post #36

I was never a Prime member, but I have bought stuff from Amazon in the past. As of about 2 years ago, I've basically quit Amazon for all the reasons listed in the article: confusing selection of products that I might want to buy (are those widgets the same as those other widgets or not?), the decreasing reliability of reviews, and the co-mingling of stock from different sellers. Admittedly, I'm buying "weird" stuff o…

On the other side, a $15 chisel set is essentially fungible as well.

Counterintuitively, the $15 price point is probably the point at which they are least fungible. Consider a 1/2" chisel:

$5 chisels are universally crap (terrible steel, terrible finish) $35 or thereabouts chisels (Stanley 750, Two Cherries) are almost universally fine (modulo weird personal preferences that some people have?). Companies manufacturing chisels at this price point tend to do a lot of QC or have their processes down to the point where they put out consistent product for year after year. $50 and up (potentially way up) chisels (Lie-Nielsen, Blue Spruce, Veritas) are probably all outstanding. I wouldn't know, I don't own any.

At the $15 price point, some are decent, some aren't. The Buck Brother's chisels that are made in the USA are generally regarded as having decent steel. Some are rumored to have less flat backs than others. I have a 2" one that I like just fine (except that the handle is damnably uncomfortable where the striking cap meets the plastic; the blade, however, is well made).

Somebody I knew had a Narex chisel at the $15 price point that wouldn't hold an edge well. I understand that Narex is generally considered reputable, so maybe that's an aberration, or maybe they've gone downhill.

Point being, the midrange is kind of terra incognita for quality.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#140

Post by fgandiya »

bonestamp2 wrote: post #72
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…

Also no sales tax at B&H for a lot of people. Of course, in some states, you're still supposed to pay the state sales tax directly when you do your income tax. I used to do this with amazon before they collected sales tax in my state. They allow you to download your purchase history (csv format) and see which items you didn't pay tax on so it's easy to calculate that line item on state taxes.

B&H have started collecting sales tax [0] on lots of states after the Supreme Court ruling. States are going hard on collecting sales tax. Connecticut is even asking for online retailers to give them DBs on customer transactions[1]. B&H refused to do that while Newegg obliged[2].

[0]: https://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/06/bh-is-set-...

[1]: https://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-online-sales-tax-201...

[2]: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xytMBKQyYdg

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