Amazon still isn't doing enough to stop bait-and-switch reviews • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by cube00 » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 12:55 PM UTC

jiggawatts wrote: post #59

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…

I get unusually annoyed by fake movie trailers. The type that edit together random scenes from previous movies and get 17M views. Like… wtf. If an actual content creator uploads something they filmed in their own garage but there’s a sliver of a poster in the background with Mickey Mouse in it, it’s instantly flagged as a copyright violation. Straight up reposting of 5 minutes of a movie pretending I be a new one? Fi…

Lots of ad dollars to be made on 17M views so I'm not surprised they really take their time to carefully consider and weigh up the opposing arguments of removal, free speech and what not /s

Meanwhile the one with 200 views gets their channel banned along with their Google account.

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

#152

Post by op00to » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 12:57 PM UTC

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…

You need to use professional tools to get a professional result when precision counts. My last coax prep tool cost over a hundred bucks. It works only with one type of coax. Yet every time with professional tools the cable comes out perfect with as much waterproofing as one can get.

The Amazon bullshit tools I bought just made a mess.

Now, all the cheap Amazon wrenches and stuff? I leave em all over!

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

#153

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

JKCalhoun wrote: post #141

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

Amazon ought to spin off an "amazon3rdparty.com" where all the riff-raff can go to live, clean up their own site.

Amazon's own retail operations ("sold and shipped by Amazon.com") are simply a mechanism to keep people paying for recurring Amazon Prime subscriptions. Retail profit margins are 2% to 4%, and Amazon has expanded beyond it to businesses with much higher profit margins such as AWS, media (music/tv/movies), logistics, and as a platform for other sellers.

Amazon's market cap is $1.7T, and Walmart's is $391B. And Walmart's retail business is much larger than Amazon's. Compared to Amazon's non retail businesses, Amazon's retail business is worth only as much as it keeps people subscribed to Amazon prime.

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

#154

Post by Ensorceled » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

leejo wrote: post #115

It feels like Amazon is at a place where eBay was about, what, a decade ago? At least from a shopper point of view. In other words it feels like you're overwhelmed by choice but much of that choice makes you feel uneasy. It seems to be full of dodgy sellers using questionable practices like those described in the post, the feedback (review) system is utterly broken, getting in touch with a real person is near impossi…

> getting in touch with a real person is near impossible

The secret seems to be to leave a balanced, well written negative review ... then they contact you pretty quickly.

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

#155

Post by ctchocula » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

devoutsalsa wrote: post #143

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…

Speaking of quality, I bought a 4+ star review can opener from Amazon that couldn’t open a single can I used it on. Good times.

You should try one of these P-38 can openers they use in the army [1]. A bit challenging to get the hang of, but they'll last the rest of your life and inexpensive to boot.

[1] https://burnsarmysurplus.com/product/p38/

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

#156

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

noduerme wrote: post #88

chaostheory wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shop at Target online regularly. I don’t see very many products being sold by 3rd party sellers. If I did start seeing them, I would slowly move on to another online merchant like I did with Amazon.

This is a reason I invested heavily in Target. They seem to have a much better formula for vetting and regulating third party sellers, and they've invested a lot in building up a marketplace that's somewhat more trustworthy.

It is unfortunate that Target even got into the 3rd party retailer game, as customers are now at risk of Target starting to commingle inventory like Amazon.

But at least Target and Walmart allow you to filter search results for items sold only by Target and Walmart, hopefully restricting to items sourced directly by Target and Walmart.

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

#157

Post by the_real_me » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:08 PM UTC

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…

Could you please share a couple of scams/knock-offs from Amazon? I would like to know what to avoid, otherwise your below quote is rather incendiary.

> Amazon is what Canal Street was in the 90s - somewhere to buy fakes, stolen goods, and electronics that might catch fire.

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

#158

Post by ceejayoz » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:11 PM UTC

Ensorceled wrote: post #154

leejo wrote: post #115

It feels like Amazon is at a place where eBay was about, what, a decade ago? At least from a shopper point of view. In other words it feels like you're overwhelmed by choice but much of that choice makes you feel uneasy. It seems to be full of dodgy sellers using questionable practices like those described in the post, the feedback (review) system is utterly broken, getting in touch with a real person is near impossi…

> getting in touch with a real person is near impossible The secret seems to be to leave a balanced, well written negative review ... then they contact you pretty quickly.

We had a power strip catch fire. I left a review with a photo of the scorched strip and started getting bombarded with off-Amazon contact requests to "make it right" if I'd take the photo down.

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

#159

Post by nerdponx » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:14 PM UTC

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'm so glad someone else is noticing this.

I am noticing it everywhere: clothing, furniture, cooking equipment, dishes & cutlery, even houseplant pots.

I wonder if this is a phenomenon similar to "shrinkflation", or if it's just the long-term corporate master plan.

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

#160

Post by paulryanrogers » Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 1:14 PM UTC

wheels wrote: post #101

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…

This has had a significant impact on my buying habits as well. For luxury items, I tend to order them from a large department store chain, which is pricey, but more predictable quality, and for cheap knock offs, I just go to the source and get them from AliExpress for 1/3 the price they are on Amazon. Nowadays, you see almost the exact same stuff there without some rando brand I've never heard of attached to it.

I intentionally bought a higher end, brand name, cable modem from Best Buy. It stopped working within 48h. Sadly the quality drop isn't limited to counterfeits, or big box retailers are selling them too.