Amazon Ruined Online Shopping • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#201

Post by jvagner » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 5:32 AM UTC

Simon_says wrote: post #113

jvagner wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I am involved with an outfit that sells licensed sports apparel on Amazon. We drop-ship directly from the manufacturer. Companies you are very familiar with. We have to work through counterfeit claims all week long... reviews, complaints, returns, etc.

Honest question: if you're dropshipping it, how do you know what the customer is receiving?

Well, I suppose Big Brand Apparel company doesn’t have their supply chain dialed in, but I also have previous experience with said manufacturers and their supply chain and factory logistics teams and know how much control and oversight they have.

That said, Amazon occasionally asks us to provide ordering proof of our lot.. an official invoice from Big Brahd Apparel company is good enough for them (it has to match across many points, to be sure). Plus, we inspect and review all returns.

It’s official product. In good shape.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#202

Post by bartread » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 8:08 AM UTC

Bluestrike2 wrote: post #175

bartread wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The scarier aspect (though the thought of the number of ways counterfeit ski bindings can fail and kill you is...alarming enough in itself) of counterfeit outdoors equipment is that it's probably more likely that beginners new to a sport are going to be buying equipment off Amazon. These are the people who don't yet have the specific knowledge to spot countefeits (unless they're blatantly obvious). And they may not k…

> it's probably more likely that beginners new to a sport are going to be buying equipment off Amazon. These are the people who don't yet have the specific knowledge to spot countefeits (unless they're blatantly obvious).

This is very true although, to be honest, even as a reasonably decent skier I'm not sure I could spot a counterfeit. In fact, except in the worst cases, I'm pretty sure I couldn't because I'm not enough of a gear-head in that arena.

I'm more confident with watches but, even then, it's only certain brands and models, and I'd have to do quite a bit of research and comparison to images of the real deal to spot a fake. For example, I'm not at all sure I could easily identify a fake G-Shock because there are so many different models, whereas I might do better on something like an SKX.

The sloppiness of a lot of counterfeits gives them away though: for example, I bought a Gamecube controller that turned up unbranded and (worse) with a USB connector. Of course, my old Wii - which I use for Gamecube games - was having none of it.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#203

Post by amalternative » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 8:15 AM UTC

I noticed that the discussion about Amazon's decreasing quality comes up quite regularly on HN. It seems to be a huge issue and a lot of people have negative stories to tell. The best solution would be to move away from the big bad A and buy from alternative stores. I know that this is not always possible but let's try...

Shameless plug: A few days ago I created the site amalternative.com [1] which lists alternative online stores. There is still a lot of work to do but I decided to launch as soon as I could.

And I guess it meets a lot of HN requirements:

- It's an MVP - It's a side project - There is no useless crap on the site - It's simple - It's fast (Static, on Netlify ;)) - It has an high information density (Okay, not yet. But I'm working on it)

Let me hear what you think :)

[1] https://www.amalternative.com/

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#204

Post by jstarfish » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 8:55 AM UTC

tedmiston wrote: post #134

roywiggins wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal solved that problem already though, right?

Not necessarily. Card theft, yes; bad/no product is fuzzy. If a shady seller can prove delivery of a package to the buyer, it becomes much harder for the buyer to get through winning a dispute irrespective of what the package's contents were. Particularly if the merchandise is counterfeit but definitely proving that it's counterfeit is difficult. Also with forum commerce for used things, it's difficult to sort out "t…

That is not my experience. Paypal always sides with the buyer independent of any evidence presented.

Having proof of delivery did not help any of my cases. Things were still claimed lost and I would be forced to eat the cost.

Paying for signature confirmation just changed the nature of the buyer's claims to concealed damage, or they just signed it illegibly, insist it wasn't them, and still claimed it lost.

All it helped were a few cases where I was able to make insurance claims with the carrier but it never got me anywhere with Paypal.

I hear power sellers get more credibility.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#205

Post by thirdsun » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 10:24 AM UTC

hirundo wrote: post #10

> But there’s a reason that we used to have shoe stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, bookstores, and all the rest: Those specialized retail spaces allow products, and the people with knowledge about them, to engage in specialized ways of finding, choosing, and purchasing them. There's a reason why so much commerce has moved online in general and to Amazon in particular: We often value price and convenience and o…

It's not just price. My problem is that brick and mortar stores often simply don't have the selection nor the knowledge I'd expect.

Of course the alternative doesn't have to be Amazon - there are countless shops that serve specific categories and niches way better than Amazon or your local store, if you even have one, ever could.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#206

Post by hirundo » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 12:13 PM UTC

p1necone wrote: post #164

hirundo wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A simple stainless steel skillet with some oil in it will perform just as well. I've got a stainless skillet. Every single time I fry eggs like that, without > 1T of fat per egg, it burns to the bottom. So you must have a better technique. I'm willing to switch to a more forgiving option rather than keep scraping off my mistakes. Every time.

Make sure the pan is pretty hot before you put the eggs in, if it's too cold they will probably stick even with lots of oil. Also, don't be afraid to use however much fat you need, it's not like you're actually going to eat it all - there's probably only going to be about 1/2 teaspoon of it left on the egg after cooking regardless of how much you put in the pan and that's (probably?) pretty negligible health-wise.

If the pan is hotter than medium heat butter will burn. Does not using non-stick mean you don't cook in butter?

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#207

Post by 4ad » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 1:11 PM UTC

hirundo wrote: post #206

p1necone wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make sure the pan is pretty hot before you put the eggs in, if it's too cold they will probably stick even with lots of oil. Also, don't be afraid to use however much fat you need, it's not like you're actually going to eat it all - there's probably only going to be about 1/2 teaspoon of it left on the egg after cooking regardless of how much you put in the pan and that's (probably?) pretty negligible health-wise.

If the pan is hotter than medium heat butter will burn. Does not using non-stick mean you don't cook in butter?

Ideally the fat is just a transfer medium for the heat. If you cook correctly, the fat doesn't reach the temperature of the pan, so it doesn't burn even when you use a hot pan, and even if you use butter.

The key is adding fat just moments before adding the food, and adding just the right amount of fat (which is more than people realize).

I cook eggs on high temperature in butter and steaks on high temperature in olive oil, and I never burn my fat. You can only do this for one portion though, if I use the same pan to prepare multiple batches, I switch to lard instead of butter/olive oil. I still like to finish my steaks in butter though, but I just do that as an extra step at the end.

As an unrelated note, I very much prefer lard or duck fat, or if they are unavailable then coconut oil or some other kind of saturated (?) fat, to vegetable oil. Not because of taste (lard is good though), but because the surface tension is different for these solid (at room temperature) fats and these fats coat the pan much better than any kind of vegetable oil. They coat the pan instead of pooling up.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#208

Post by hirundo » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 2:10 PM UTC

4ad wrote: post #207

hirundo wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the pan is hotter than medium heat butter will burn. Does not using non-stick mean you don't cook in butter?

Ideally the fat is just a transfer medium for the heat. If you cook correctly, the fat doesn't reach the temperature of the pan, so it doesn't burn even when you use a hot pan, and even if you use butter. The key is adding fat just moments before adding the food, and adding just the right amount of fat (which is more than people realize). I cook eggs on high temperature in butter and steaks on high temperature in oli…

So regular pans take more skill and attention to use without scortching. That's a pretty good reason to go with non-stick.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#209

Post by pps43 » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 5:22 PM UTC

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #199

pps43 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I belive that. For example, Amazon is selling "DOT approved" H11 LED headlights with good reviews. One problem is that they blind oncoming drivers (I know because I bought them and tried). The other problem is that DOT does not approve headlights, and FMVSS-108 says H11 is halogen, so this clearly violates 49 U.S. Code § 30112. I asked the seller and they did not respond, but when I tried to write a review Amazon wou…

Do you have any idea what action was considered a community guidelines violation?

No, they never told me.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#210

Post by ams6110 » Mon, Jan 21, 2019, 5:32 PM UTC

e40 wrote: post #106

finaliteration wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people like to disparage Best Buy but I’ve found the stores in my area to be excellent and the staff to always be friendly and helpful. They’ll also price match Amazon in most cases. Their PC components selection isn’t huge, but for things like consoles, games, peripherals, etc., I feel like they’re great. They also offer one-hour pickup and in some cases will even give you a discount if you choose that over…

For a lot of stuff, I agree. For certain things, though, Best Buy is a complete ripoff. I once went to get an HDMI cable and all that had was a $100 gold plated one. I walked up to the guy in that department and told him I knew this was a scam and he agreed. I told him I'd not buy anything from them and wait the 2 days to get a $5 one from Amazon. Best Buy isn't doing themselves any favors by this behavior. There's a…

Same thing mobile providers do. E.g. the phone is pretty reasonably priced but things like car charging cables, cases, etc are marked up 10x. They are relying on people not really looking at the cost of the accessories and/or immediate need (I lost my charging cable and need one now).