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Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

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Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#131

Post by wildrhythms »

phatfish wrote: post #121
Animats wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. After I got a recall notice on some Amazon vitamins because they were counterfeit, I stopped ordering much of anything from Amazon. A competing "direct from the manufacturer" sales site would be useful. Only the business that actually makes the thing could sell it. No intermediaries.

I find good deals on manufacture online stores, so that would be helpful. It started from using Amazon to research and then looking for alternative larger online stores to buy from when product+shipping more or less matched Amazon. A couple of times I have found good deals direct from the manufacture that were not available elsewhere, so I make a point of checking there as well now. It feels like companies are able t…

On the other hand, I've found manufacturer sites have a "Where to buy" section that just contains an Amazon link.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#132

Post by wildrhythms »

munk-a wrote: post #29
al_borland wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems a lot of people see the issues of AI coming, maybe not all of them, but certainly some. Too bad so many people and blinded by potential profits to care.

Unfortunately all the people with money can see nothing but upsides.

It's the same people that gave us pop-up ads, and now on-page pop-up ads.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#133

Post by sandmn »

kredd wrote: post #85
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I always underestimate, in regards to bad / anti-consumer behaviour, is the size of the customer base (and sometimes in combination with the bell curve / normal distribution of intelligence, but maybe not in this case). The scope of humanity that use Amazon is gigantic, and the percentage of us pedantic, technically knowledgeable folks who'd give up some convenience, time, or even the purchase of an item, a…

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

The question is what will happen once Temu burn through their marketing budget. Will there be another investor with Temu 2.0?

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#134

Post by Double_a_92 »

silisili wrote: post #24

Not just e-books, garbage print too! Link below. The kid likes brain teasers, so I'll grab a book here and there. The last one I ordered was seemingly AI generated. The wording was off, the answers were either completely incorrect, or theoretically correct but not matching the question or parameters asked. I can't quite remember the last time I became as infuriated at a...book. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0CQQPPQ…

The cover already screams AI crap...

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#135

Post by kredd »

sandmn wrote: post #133
kredd wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

The question is what will happen once Temu burn through their marketing budget. Will there be another investor with Temu 2.0?

It's owned by Pinduoduo. Publicly traded on Nasdaq, and looking at their numbers roughly, they probably have a lot of marketing budget from where it came from.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#136

Post by cogman10 »

kredd wrote: post #85
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I always underestimate, in regards to bad / anti-consumer behaviour, is the size of the customer base (and sometimes in combination with the bell curve / normal distribution of intelligence, but maybe not in this case). The scope of humanity that use Amazon is gigantic, and the percentage of us pedantic, technically knowledgeable folks who'd give up some convenience, time, or even the purchase of an item, a…

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

Or, if like me, you end up realizing "why should I have something shipped to my home when I can grab it from a local store for roughly the same price minus shipping".

Specialty items are still hard, but I'm not buying a hammer from Amazon when my local supermarkets all carry it and I can physically inspect and heft the product.

It does seem ridiculous that chain stores still haven't figured out how to have a good online shopping experience.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#137

Post by shepherdjerred »

CSMastermind wrote: post #67

> Amazon is filled with garbage Full stop, no need to specify e-books. I've moved my purchasing dollars elsewhere at this point with the exception of some very specific categories. Amazon is just too unreliable.

What are the alternatives to Amazon?

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#138

Post by JohnFen »

cogman10 wrote: post #136
kredd wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works until people look at things like Temu, and figure out “why should I get from Amazon, when I can buy something for the same quality”. It’s just a battle of giants.

Or, if like me, you end up realizing "why should I have something shipped to my home when I can grab it from a local store for roughly the same price minus shipping". Specialty items are still hard, but I'm not buying a hammer from Amazon when my local supermarkets all carry it and I can physically inspect and heft the product. It does seem ridiculous that chain stores still haven't figured out how to have a good onl…

Yes. When I need something, my first stop is the physical stores in my area. I only go online if nobody carries what I'm looking for.

> Specialty items are still hard

I stopped using Amazon years ago, and what I've done for specialized items is to find the actual manufacturer and order directly from them. This works 80-90% of the time. When it doesn't work, then I hit up the likes of craigslist, eBay, etc.

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#139

Post by csours »

jcranmer wrote: post #82
kiernanmcgowan wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Financial Advice (2023) is also excellent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pYeoZaoWrA Its about the fallout of the memestock craze and where the community ends up.

So I thought I had known most of that material, but I had somehow missed the entire thing about the mother-of-all-short-squeezes being a global financial apocalypse that brings down the entire system... Which actually raises the interesting question: just how can you even entertain a belief that you'd somehow leverage billion-dollar profits in such a situation? I mean, I know it's completely divorced from reality. I…

> "how can you even entertain a belief"

groupthink and in-group morality. The HODLers have a feeling of righteousness when they think about brining down the system

Re: Amazon is filled with garbage e-books, this is how they get made

#140

Post by sickofparadox »

faluzure wrote: post #95
CSMastermind wrote: post #67

> Amazon is filled with garbage Full stop, no need to specify e-books. I've moved my purchasing dollars elsewhere at this point with the exception of some very specific categories. Amazon is just too unreliable.

Every once in a while I try to become an Amazon seller through FBA. I sell quality goods without a huge markup. My latest attempt resulted in 1/3 of the goods being returned because they could be sourced cheaper elsewhere (eg AliExpress) after they were tested, or they were swapped by the buyer with defective goods purchase elsewhere returned (they had heavy wear). In the case where the goods were still functional, t…

Where do you sell your goods then?
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