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Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

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Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#131

Post by eloisius »

jjav wrote: post #89
noduerme wrote: post #56

I wish I could say I stopped buying things off Amazon for ethical reasons, but the truth is, I stopped buying because if you look closely at the reviews, you realize that almost everything for sale there is now a scam or a knock-off. This was a slow creep for awhile, but now the problem has grown exponentially. Amazon is what Canal Street was in the 90s - somewhere to buy fakes, stolen goods, and electronics that mig…

Last summer I bought a new Nikon DSLR from Amazon. Not the type of item where I thought they'd substitute scam items! But when the box arrived, it was an opened box with an old used and abused Nikon DSLR, parts even missing! Wow. At least the return was painless so I guess there's that. I try hard to avoid Amazon now. I prioritize a locally owned store if possible, second option is a reputable specialty web store tha…

Sorry, books too. Last time I bought a book from amazon I ordered Milan Kundera’s Identity. On Amazon it looked like a Harper Perennial paperback, the same style, publisher and cover art as all his other books I have. What I received in the mail looked like a print-on-demand cheapo from Kinkos. The text was blurry and looked like it was from a dot matrix, the cover looked nothing the same. I couldn’t believe it. Of course I sent it back, and then I called a real book store and asked them to order it for me. To think, I used to dismissively say ‘no thanks’ when a shop didn’t have something I want in stock but offered to order it.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#133

Post by xvector »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #127
noduerme wrote: post #56

I wish I could say I stopped buying things off Amazon for ethical reasons, but the truth is, I stopped buying because if you look closely at the reviews, you realize that almost everything for sale there is now a scam or a knock-off. This was a slow creep for awhile, but now the problem has grown exponentially. Amazon is what Canal Street was in the 90s - somewhere to buy fakes, stolen goods, and electronics that mig…

>I wish I could say I stopped buying things off Amazon for ethical reasons, but the truth is, I stopped buying because if you look closely at the reviews, you realize that almost everything for sale there is now a scam or a knock-off. that seems like an ethical reason to me.

It's more out of inconvenience than ethics. You don't stop buying off of Amazon because scammers are selling on it, you stop buying off Amazon because you become the victim of knockoff scams.

As in, the scammers could be scamming everyone but you but you'd still use it.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#134

Post by jrootabega »

noduerme wrote: post #92
andreareina wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By their actions, not so much: - commingling of inventory means you're not necessarily getting the stuff from the merchant you're ostensibly buying from - which doesn't really matter anyway because merchant reviews are hard to find (couldn't find them at all on mobile) - being able to change the product being sold while keeping the rating and review history. WAT

In the olden days, the seller was prominently listed in every Amazon listing, and you could click on a seller and browse their entire inventory along with reviews. AFAIK you can't do that anymore. They make it intentionally opaque who is actually selling or shipping.

Seller reviews are manipulated anyway. I once left a bad review of a seller regularly spamming me about my purchase months after I made it, and within a couple days (maybe faster) it was removed, replaced with someone else's review praising them for what I was complaining about. I have no trust in any ratings on Amazon, products or sellers.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#135

Post by ivanche »

annadane wrote: post #81
paulpauper wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for YouTube. they allow blatant crypto scam videos to run (such as videos impersonating famous people like Michael Saylor) yet none of their hundreds of highly paid engineers are able to do anything even though it is such a blatant fraud and people are losing a lot of money. It's like "who cares if users are being ripped off. sucks for them. not our responsibility." Unless a law is passed holding these companies…

And now that they removed the dislikes, good luck finding the scam videos (as a user)

Enhancer for YouTube [1] is your friend. I use it in Firefox but I think there are extensions for Chromium based browers too.

[1] http://www.mrfdev.com/enhancer-for-youtube

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#136

Post by xvector »

TuringTest wrote: post #108
jjav wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last summer I bought a new Nikon DSLR from Amazon. Not the type of item where I thought they'd substitute scam items! But when the box arrived, it was an opened box with an old used and abused Nikon DSLR, parts even missing! Wow. At least the return was painless so I guess there's that. I try hard to avoid Amazon now. I prioritize a locally owned store if possible, second option is a reputable specialty web store tha…

> I prioritize a locally owned store if possible, second option is a reputable specialty web store that specializes in the kind of item I want. Serious question, how do you find reputable specialty web stores nowadays? (for items which are not your professional specialty, i.e. when you don't have direct knowledge of the market or trusted contacts that can recommend those for you). Trying to google for items of medium…

B&H - general electronics, tax-free

Headphones.com - headphones, tax-free

Drop.com - general hobbyist goods

DigiKey/Mouser - miscellaneous parts

Your local bougie salon - high-quality body products (bodywash, hairspray, etc)

Bed Bath and Beyond - bedding and bath products

Design within Reach - furniture

Ubiquiti - wireless APs, PoE switches, and the nicest Ethernet cables I've ever used

ProtectLi - firewalls

Crowdsupply - miscellaneous gadgets for supernerds

--

Best way to find a good quality product is to go to the hobbyist subreddit/community for said product and see what vendor people use. Also, r/BuyItForLife.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#137

Post by JKCalhoun »

maeln wrote: post #103
noduerme wrote: post #56

I wish I could say I stopped buying things off Amazon for ethical reasons, but the truth is, I stopped buying because if you look closely at the reviews, you realize that almost everything for sale there is now a scam or a knock-off. This was a slow creep for awhile, but now the problem has grown exponentially. Amazon is what Canal Street was in the 90s - somewhere to buy fakes, stolen goods, and electronics that mig…

What start to really annoy me is how it as become almost impossible to buy quality product anymore. And the issue is not even limited to Amazon. Recently, at work, we had to make a bunch of RJ45 cables. So we bought some cable, terminals and a crimper and a tester. The crimper was so horrible, we add to cut and re-crimp new terminals 2-4 times before having a working cable. So we said fuck it, lets go buy another one…

I suspect "middle ground" had a race to the bottom on price. I'm thinking for example of Sears "Craftsman" brand. Now that there are all these other big-box stores like Blowe's, Home Despot, they each have to have their own "house brand" that should have been the "middle ground" as well but, as I see it, have moved to lower and lower priced Chinese products.

I think what we're seeing is a nice metaphor for manufacturing in the 1st world in general.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#138

Post by tyingq »

asd33313131 wrote: post #7

Solution? Allow filtering reviews in last 7, 30, 60, 90 days (reviews in last 7 days might show 2.5 of 5 stars, e.g.)

For most categories and products, if they just disallowed the seller from changing the GTIN, and showed the GTIN descriptive wording in the listing, this would be solved.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#139

Post by JKCalhoun »

stdbrouw wrote: post #129
maeln wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What start to really annoy me is how it as become almost impossible to buy quality product anymore. And the issue is not even limited to Amazon. Recently, at work, we had to make a bunch of RJ45 cables. So we bought some cable, terminals and a crimper and a tester. The crimper was so horrible, we add to cut and re-crimp new terminals 2-4 times before having a working cable. So we said fuck it, lets go buy another one…

That's interesting, I've been renovating my home for the past two years and have had the exact opposite experience: I've been quite happy with my cheap pipe bender, cheap angle grinder, cheap hex crimper, cheap multipipe pliers as well as store brand consumables like hybrid glue, tape, drill bits and whatnot. For electrical work I do buy Knipex most of the time and for tools that get used heavily it's usually Bosch,…

There is likely a difference depending on the tool. My track saw is going to be Makita or similar, but my abrasive cutoff saw can be a Harbor Freight special.

Re: Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews

#140

Post by JKCalhoun »

xvector wrote: post #136
TuringTest wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I prioritize a locally owned store if possible, second option is a reputable specialty web store that specializes in the kind of item I want. Serious question, how do you find reputable specialty web stores nowadays? (for items which are not your professional specialty, i.e. when you don't have direct knowledge of the market or trusted contacts that can recommend those for you). Trying to google for items of medium…

B&H - general electronics, tax-free Headphones.com - headphones, tax-free Drop.com - general hobbyist goods DigiKey/Mouser - miscellaneous parts Your local bougie salon - high-quality body products (bodywash, hairspray, etc) Bed Bath and Beyond - bedding and bath products Design within Reach - furniture Ubiquiti - wireless APs, PoE switches, and the nicest Ethernet cables I've ever used ProtectLi - firewalls Crowdsup…

"within Reach", LOL.

(Sorry, love their furniture, not so much their prices.)

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