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Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

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Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#191

Post by dade_ »

azinman2 wrote: post #18

So this was a lot about Amazon, but it leaves out comparisons to any other store. What do others do? Is this the common practice?

It is standard practice in the industry, and certainly any by any profitable retailer. In fact it was a story by an executive about how much money it was costing the company to manage returns, and it was far cheaper to just throw them away. It surprised me at first, but I came to learn that this is just how it is done.

I am disappointed by CBC making a click bait Amazon story, when it is actually the story of retail that our unconscious civilization ignores. CBC does mention this later in the article.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#192

Post by loeg »

emayljames wrote: post #166
loeg wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Levis in particular are just notoriously inconsistent in sizing. At a brick and mortar store you grab five pairs to try on if you want to buy one or two.

For mens sizes I find that very odd, as the size are defined units of measurement, unlike the headache that is womens sizes.

Men's sizes are only nominally dimensional; there are various sources of potential error, and correcting for them adds cost.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#193

Post by benhurmarcel »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #118
gambiting wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

Same here (France). I will actually pay a bit more for Amazon products because I never, ever had any problem. The closest I had to a problem was when I sent an email stating that a product is not functional after a year and a half. They replied that the 30 days return window is over and that I should contact the producer. I replied that according to the law, I have 2 years of warranty with zero costs from my side. Th…

It's not just Amazon US which is terrible for that. Since moving to Spain I've stopped ordering on Amazon also. At least half the products I've received from them were either counterfeit, or clearly already used. Add to this their terrible delivery service and I don't understand how they're still in business here.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#194

Post by pbhjpbhj »

gogopuppygogo wrote: post #180
sokoloff wrote: post #3

> 30 to 40 per cent of all online purchases are sent back That seems almost an order of magnitude higher than I’d expect. Setting aside kids shoes (which probably do get 50% returned), I can’t imagine sending back even 5% of my online purchases, let alone 30-40%. I think I’ve sent back exactly 1 Amazon order in the last year, out of nearly 100.

I never would have thought this till I started a relationship with a woman who buys several sizes of everything she shops for to ensure she gets the right fit. Women’s attire doesn’t have standard sizing so every brand is different. It’s a giant guessing game. Basically, the industry needs some standards to help with all this waste.

>Basically, the industry needs some standards //

They futz with sizing because it's a part of their marketing. Fashion targeting older/ fatter people will have smaller sizing to flatter the customers.

I think buying clothes that don't fit just because you want to say it's a particular size is far more a part of female culture (in my social circles in the UK): womens' clothes are in "sizes", men's clothes are in measurements (inches/cms).

I don't think the industry, nor many of the customers for female fashion want accurate measurement-based sizing.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#195

Post by Supermancho »

exolymph wrote: post #190
jiofih wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that’s completely different from ordering from Amazon, and not even considered a return per se. Zappos and Zalando operate under this model where you try out different sizes and return the ones that don’t fit.

No it isn't, you can order clothes on Amazon and many women (and men) do.

Can confim, my wife does this for me and herself.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#196

Post by Supermancho »

mypalmike wrote: post #151
gambiting wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

I order around the same number of items every as you from Amazon in America and have never had an issue like the ones mentioned in every hn discussion about the company. Bad experiences stick with people and they are more likely to write about it. Like the one time I ordered Harmon Kardon subwoofer from newegg like 15 years ago and it came entirely missing it's outer case, and neither newegg not Harmon Kardon (I went…

Of all the people I know order from Amazon (we'll say 200 people if you count all the people on slack channels at every place I've worked) in the last 3 years, I've heard of some computer parts being obviously repackaged twice. That's it. These horror stories of consistent problems is just not something that's common in major metropolitan areas of the west coast USA.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#197

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Ma8ee wrote: post #177
emayljames wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For mens sizes I find that very odd, as the size are defined units of measurement, unlike the headache that is womens sizes.

Take out a tape measure and measure the actual size of a few different brands of trousers. They are never even close to the size that's on the label. Maybe men's clothes are more consistent than women's, but the label is always wrong by several inches.

IME, except a couple of obvious mislabels, all men's clothes are with a couple of cms - I've never had an item more than a couple of cm out. Cut however, that's a different matter. Honestly some "designers" mustn't realise men have external genitalia.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#198

Post by lotsofpulp »

usefulcat wrote: post #160
gambiting wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always shocked when I read these comments on HN. I swear it must be just the American Amazon that's so shit, because I literally never had any problems nor know anyone with these problems here in UK. Just this year I'm on 108 orders and counting, every single one of them was fine, working, definitely not used, definitely not counterfeit and delivered within 1 day as promised with Prime. Last year I've had 140 ord…

Selection bias. Of course you don't hear anything about the myriad times people ordered something and it arrived more or less as expected. I've ordered at least hundreds, maybe thousands of items from amazon over the years. I won't say everything has been completely perfect, but I also don't recall the last time I needed to return anything.

Amazon's official policy is they will send you inventory that they didn't source themselves, meaning they don't even do the bare minimum for quality control. Even if this policy results in 99% good experience, I wouldn't want to waste my time with a business that is simply serving as an online flea market when I can go to Aliexpress.com and get the same for cheaper.

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#199

Post by spcebar »

A Staples by where I used to live threw anything returned away. Used to dumpster dive there and got all kinds of interesting things. Perfectly good stationary, an expensive suitcase, an office chair, a PC (which was on the of cash registers but still neat).

Re: Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up

#200

Post by dwild »

derefr wrote: post #136
ThePhysicist wrote: post #83

In Germany there are companies that buy up returns by the kilogram (mostly clothes), sometimes the e-commerce companies even pay them to take the goods off their backs. They then ship them to countries like Irak, Serbia or Lebanon to prevent those perfectly goood items to "flood" the European market. That way especially clothing brands protect their inflated prices.

So, then, why aren’t there companies doing the reverse: buying up the bulk clothing return boxes, not shipping them out of the country, but instead retailing them locally (and, indeed, “flooding” the domestic market in the process)? Seems like exactly the sort of competitive strategy I’d expect from the “off-price” stores (TJ Maxx in the US, Winner’s in Canada, etc.).

Many companies does that, they buy the pallets and sell the stuff, sometime even on Amazon directly. There's plenty of Youtube video talking about it. There's even a shop near I live that even clearly advertise that they sell returns from Amazon.

It's way scarier the stuff they send directly to landfill. I know someone that works in chemical waste disposal and they had a deal with Walmart to take care of it all (I'm pretty sure they still do). She was taking back some pretty nice stuff that could easily be sold pretty easily.

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