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Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

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Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#141

Post by jvz »

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_...

I was intrigued, but after visiting your website I'm ambivalent. The only way to truly combat shilling is to fully embrace a model where each person sees reviews only from their own personal network of sources— this drastically reduces the "eyeball multiplier" that makes mass media so attractive to marketers.

But seeing things like "Top 3 Recommended" on your website makes me believe you're falling into the same trap everyone else is, at least partially. I don't care how sophisticated your detection of paid content is; you simply can't win a direct war against these pathogens (marketers). The only way to win is not to play, i.e. don't provide a platform for mass reach in the first place. Mass media is really a type of monoculture, with all the same weaknesses.

Unrelated: how do you plan to solve the problem of identifying and classifying essentially every product in existence? Resolving duplicates, slight variants, etc. is a very hard problem, as is categorization.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#142

Post by b3b0p »

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…

It's gotten to the point that it feels like a version or intermediary for Aliexpress.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#143

Post by CamelCaseName »

jhall1468 wrote: post #137
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.

Definitely a product description error.

The product description field should never comment on the new/used/refurbished nature of the product being purchased because different conditions can (usually) be sold on the same listing.

What probably happened is someone copied and pasted the description from somewhere else where the listing was specifically for refurbished chairs, or the very first seller of this item was selling it refurbished and wanted to call it out explicitly.

Amazon detail pages are confusing, but honestly, I don't know how to improve them. I get loads of returns for people claiming they bought something used that was sold as new, even though the condition is clearly marked as used and a lengthy description next to it about the condition.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#144

Post by toufiqbarhamov »

hirundo wrote: post #101
jrgaston wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Actually a properly seasoned cast iron pan is about as non-stick as it gets, but it’s heavy and people worry about dealing with it. For getting crusty stuff off pans though, nothing beats a thick layer of bicarbonate of soda, sprayed liberally all over with white vinegar and left for 5 minutes. Very little doesn’t wipe right off after that!

Mostly though I agree with your point that it makes little sense to spend big money on an omelette pan. The coating is going to be pitted within a year or two, and that’s that. A good guide to how you should buy these things is found in the restaurant industry which does what you do now; buy them and toss them.

That also leads to the best advic I can give here... buy your pots and pans from restaurant surplus stores or closing sales! I bought half a dozen omelette pans from one of those for $35 bucks, and I just swap them out every two years.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#145

Post by CamelCaseName »

gnicholas wrote: post #64

> On top of that, Amazon is more than willing to fix its errors. In my experience, this is less true than it used to be. For example, my mom ordered a DVD in early December to be given as a Christmas gift. It was a Prime item, and she is a Prime subscriber. For some reason, it wasn't showing that it would be delivered until just before Christmas. Even though this was odd — and arguably a breach of the Prime agreement…

I can't comment on the other points, but I can reply to this:

>The other big problem is that they now want each return put in its own box — even if it was shipped to us with multiple other items that are also being returned. We have been Prime customers for years, but perhaps not for much longer

The reason for this is because each seller can set their own return address. I receive all returns to ensure that they are destroyed and that no customer accidentally buys something new and receives a customer return.

Beyond minimizing costs for Amazon/sellers, this also reduces waste and environmental impact because each good only has to be shipped once.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#146

Post by Havoc »

city41 wrote: post #26

Amazon makes it basically impossible to compare prices by unit of measure (ie $0.94 per gallon or what not). I’ve wanted to make a browser extension to attempt to fix that. I’ve always suspected this is intentional. But if I could compare prices this way and be confident I’m getting the best deal, I’d buy things on Amazon a lot more.

I wrote some code that does something like that. Learned very quickly that it's essentially impossible without a lot of manual data capturing - specifically is this a pack of 6 or 10 etc.

Still for the bits where it worked I was surprised how big the variances per unit were

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#148

Post by bartread »

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…

Ditto on ski gear and watches or other jewellery. For any kind of outdoor gear the counterfeit vs. genuine problem becomes a serious safety issue. As you say, Amazon aren't taking it nearly seriously enough.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#149

Post by smacktoward »

neuronic wrote: post #33
koboll wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> until we have a federal government that is no longer slavish prostituted to business interests If you lend an ear to some contemporary ideas about how technology changes our societies, there might be a chance we will see this happening in our life times. Current government models, democratic and authoritarian alike, seem to grow ever less capable of coping with technology and how it reshapes society. Yuval Noah Har…

At least Merkel has a sense of humor about it: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/06/europe/angela-merkel-shit...

:-D

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#150

Post by adetrest »

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…

There is also the issue of genuine items sold as new which are actually very well repackaged returns. Amazon does minimal (if any?) checking of returns and I have frequently received items that had obviously been opened and used then returned and sold to me as new. I very fondly recall opening the package for Wahl electric clippers and having a bunch of hairs fall out of the box, but it's far from the only occurrence. Of course, the item was shipped and sold by Amazon.

Also see the cases where houses burned down because of hover boards sold by Amazon. These items didn't meet the standards to be sold in North America and burnt a family's house down. They went to court and amazon won because "they're only a market place and your beef is with the manufacturer, and we can't tell you who they are or how to contact them because they're some fly by night company in China."

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