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E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

thirtybees.com

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Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart around 2009. When I returned to the US in 2012, I saw Amazon as the new Wal-Mart and stopped shopping there. I realize Target and Kroger probably implement the same tactics as WM now, same with eBay/Newegg sellers and Amazon, so I realize it's more symbolic than anything.

Do you have good resources in mind on Walmart's harmful practices? Yes, I can search internet but looking for long sophisticated essays or even good books on the topic that you may have come across. I am not from US but currently studying here and haven't thought much about this topic. Walmart, Walgreen and Amazon feel too convenient. I would love to learn more on the topic before it becomes a habit.

This wikipedia page[1] is a good start. In particular the last section about dead peasants insurance is the first story I encountered about Walmart's harmful practices.

> Critics, as well as the United States Internal Revenue Service, charge that the company was trying to profit from the deaths of its employees, and take advantage of the tax law which allowed it to deduct the premiums.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#172
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love paper books, I love seeing them in my shelf, but since I bought a Kindle I just stopped buying paper books. It is just too easy to buy a kindle book with one click. The process goes like this, someone recommends a book in HN, they provide an Amazon link, I read a couple of reviews, at this point I'm convinced about buying the book or not, or even if I'm not totally convinced, the price, and the easiness of jus…

I buy paper for books that I think are likely to be worth reading years down the road, long after Amazon has collapsed.

I see e-books as a fee for a one time read. I'm not likely to read them again and I can't hand it to my neighbor to borrow. A paper book - I can read it, donate it, lend it out - whatever. I do like how many e-books can fit in my pocket, but I'm finding fewer reasons to buy them and more reasons to own the book instead of owning the right to view the book on some specific platform.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart around 2009. When I returned to the US in 2012, I saw Amazon as the new Wal-Mart and stopped shopping there. I realize Target and Kroger probably implement the same tactics as WM now, same with eBay/Newegg sellers and Amazon, so I realize it's more symbolic than anything.

Do you have good resources in mind on Walmart's harmful practices? Yes, I can search internet but looking for long sophisticated essays or even good books on the topic that you may have come across. I am not from US but currently studying here and haven't thought much about this topic. Walmart, Walgreen and Amazon feel too convenient. I would love to learn more on the topic before it becomes a habit.

Wikipedia has a good summary with 180+ citations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Walmart

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#174
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found > the patent will expire and the technology behind it will be free to be used by any e-commerce site particularly specious. There is no "technology" behind it. It was a concept or busines process that the vaguaries of patent law deemed worthy of rewarding. Not to mention that any technology ("source code") Amazon used to implement the patent will remain under copyright essentially indefinitely.

Business process can be considered a technology, i.e. technical procedure. Also, since they got the patent, wouldn't they have to pass tests for previous works, novelty, and obviousness? And, why shouldn't something be patentable, just because it's easy to replicate?

Being easy to replicate often suggests that it is, in fact, _obvious_. Which is supposed to invalidate the patent.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#175
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you like retailers storing your card? You get all the convenience with none of the risk (if there's any fraud the merchant eats all of it!).

This is an astoundingly naive view of what credit card fraud costs. The merchants are not doing this charitably. Your cost will be amortized somewhere.

Of course the products are all marked up to cover the fraud, but it's not like you can opt out of that markup so you might as well take advantage of the convenience.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#176
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an astoundingly naive view of what credit card fraud costs. The merchants are not doing this charitably. Your cost will be amortized somewhere.

Of course the products are all marked up to cover the fraud, but it's not like you can opt out of that markup so you might as well take advantage of the convenience.

Surely you can see that an adoption of this strategy results in an inefficient allocation of resources...

It doesn't truly benefit you, hurts the merchant, increases prices for everyone.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#177
post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course the products are all marked up to cover the fraud, but it's not like you can opt out of that markup so you might as well take advantage of the convenience.

Surely you can see that an adoption of this strategy results in an inefficient allocation of resources... It doesn't truly benefit you, hurts the merchant, increases prices for everyone.

I would prefer a push based system like Bitcoin where I can assume 100% control and liability at near-zero cost but I know I'm in an extreme minority.

People love zero liability so that's where we are and we all have to pay for it.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#178
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what's happening today, offered by the only company with the scale to do it: Amazon (It's called FBA). Then when they see your products are selling particularly well, they stock them, undercut you, and put you out of business.

Amazon can't undercut manufacturers (not without becoming a manufacturer). If they undercut middlemen who weren't adding any value, what do I care?

The middlemen are adding value by making niche items available on the marketplace. If they are gone the diversity of products will shrink.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#179

The space (from my online shopping experience) seems to be divided between Amazon (with one click checkout, fast delivery etc) and everyone else (42 click checkout and one week delivery, if you're lucky). If the one-click patent was a major inhibitor of competition, I'd basically expect to see a lot of two-click check out options. Instead I find myself creating a million redundant user accounts, telling people that m…

> and everyone else (42 click checkout and one week delivery, if you're lucky) Certianly in the UK the friction of buying from "non-Amazon" websites exists ( create an account, enter payment etc ) but Amazon just uses the same delivery networks as everyone else. In fact a small company often dispatches faster in my experience than Amazon; for non-Prime at least they've been stretching the 'Dispatching Soon' timelines…

That's surprising to me as a US customer. Unless I'm notified at checkout that something is out of stock, I fully expect Prime deliveries to arrive within two days of ordering. In fact, I've seen items that took an extra day to process get shipped overnight to make up the day.

The US Amazon checkout shows an estimated delivery date for Prime items that includes processing time and is >95% reliable in my experience.

Re: E-commerce will evolve next month as Amazon loses the 1-Click patent

#180
post #59
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you like retailers storing your card? You get all the convenience with none of the risk (if there's any fraud the merchant eats all of it!).

"if there's any fraud the merchant eats all of it!" - not 100% true- see "fraud Liability Shift topics" Your card Issuer gets it if it's an EMV (ie chip was dipped) card-present transaction, merchant gets the liability if it was online or over the phone-Exception being if 3DS is used. Fraud is ultimately payed for either by your bank or by the merchant.

If the chip is present, then the merchant storing the card info is moot, no?
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