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Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

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Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#221

Post by albeebe1 »

jedberg wrote: post #219

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I don't have a problem with this. If they raise the price based on demand, and I still deem it a good price, then who was harmed here? Sure I paid more than I needed to but I still paid less than I felt it was worth to me.

I can tell you that for the first year of Prime, my wife and I never thought twice about the price when buying items on Amazon compared to the price we would pay locally. It seemed as if just about everything was comparable in price so why not take advantage of the convenience of having it shipped to our door.

Now i'm starting to question whether or not we're getting a good deal.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#222

Post by EADGBE »

ReverseCold wrote: post #68
janesvilleseo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have saved thousands of dollars thanks to Amazon. Not because I bought from them. No, but because I use their app to compare items and get a price match. Nearly every major store (Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Staples, Office Max/Depot) match or beat Amazon. With Amazons app I can instantly scan all my products at a store. I may only save 2-5 dollars per item, but I do it every time I shop. The other day I…

So Amazon gets a list of everything you're interested in offline as well, even if you don't buy from them. Sounds like win/win for them!

They're already pretty good at determining that without scanning items in a store.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#223

Post by ryandvm »

jedberg wrote: post #219

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I don't have a problem with this. If they raise the price based on demand, and I still deem it a good price, then who was harmed here? Sure I paid more than I needed to but I still paid less than I felt it was worth to me.

I don't know if anyone was harmed per se - it's just a dick move.

If you had a friend that had been trying to sell his car on Craigslist and manipulated the price right before offering to sell it to you "at a discount", I think you'd be pretty disappointed with your "friend".

Sure, Amazon isn't your friend, but I think it's short-sighted when corporations engage in sociopathic behavior and are hostile to their customers. Especially when their business model is predicated on customer loyalty.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#224

Post by freehunter »

4ad wrote: post #163
ikurei wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you just helped continue the fraud? Things aren't gonna improve by complaining on HN.

A dull knife is fraud? Seriously? Knives are meant to me sharpened. The cheapest knife can be sharpened to razor blade sharpness. Sometimes new knives come sharpened somewhat, but in my experience all mass-produced knives need sharpening when new, even $250 knives. I genuinely can't comprehend the complaint. What next, buy a new car and complain it didn't come with the tank full?

>What next, buy a new car and complain it didn't come with the tank full?

Yes. You should complain if you buy a new car and it doesn't come with a full tank of gas, or needs new tires, or needs an oil change right from the dealership. Those are things you expect from a new car, and they're the reasons you buy a new car.

If I bought a used knife, I'd expect to sharpen it. If I buy a brand new knife, I expect it to be sharp right from the factory. If it's not, I could have saved money and just bought a steel rod and made my own knife out of it. A knife has one purpose: to be sharp. If it's not, it's not a knife. It's a cheap hunk of thin steel that they told you was a knife.

There is zero reason a brand new product needs immediate maintenance before it can be used.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#226

Post by thewhitetulip »

SwellJoe wrote: post #46

I've become more and more disillusioned by Amazon over the years. Prices are now almost never the best; I only buy from them when I need something quickly (and can't get it locally). NewEgg (nearly) always has better tech prices. Walmart often has better prices on everyday items and I can have it immediately. I just bought a pair of tweezers at my local grocery store for two bucks that was $6 on Amazon for the same m…

even I noticed this and I'm in India. I buy second hand books now from an Indian startup. It has high quality second hand books for low prices & I don't mind second hand as long as there is no compromise on quality. I got 11 books for 1148 eight of John Grisham and rest are other authors

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#227

Post by bluGill »

threatofrain wrote: post #126
ballenf wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over and over again I've realized just before or after buying an item from Amazon that I paid way too much. I have finally broken the ingrained habit of leaping before looking. That can't be good for Amazon if too many people do that. On another note, I am beyond tired of the craptacular deals that are >80% fly-by-night products with astroturf reviews. The gold box deals used to be a favorite bookmarked stop.

But where do you look? Everywhere else is ad-hoc market places that you'd have to know about, such as Newegg for tech. But what's the Newegg of other stuff?

I've had good luck just googling (now duck duck go) the part I needed. There are thousands of tiny specialty suppliers and most provide value beyond the gadget I need.

nailgunsdirect.com had the odd sized nails I needed for a project that were not stocked locally, they also have buyers guides which helped me decide a interesting new nailgun wasn't right for me. toolpartsdirect.com had the switch I needed for my drill, and a wiring diagram so I knew how to hook it up. Racketballworld.com had shoes in my size, and a lot of advice to step up my game. Those are just a few of places I've ordered from - there are many others that that I each which instead of selling everything and making me choose based on reviews only stocks quality products so I cannot go wrong.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#228

Post by EADGBE »

partiallypro wrote: post #212

My issue with Amazon lately isn't just the prices no longer being the lowest, it's that a big chunk of their products are counterfeits. I honestly have no idea how they haven't tamped down on that. If I shop at Wal-Mart, Target, Footlocker, etc, etc I know the products I buy aren't going to be fakes; no so with Amazon. I have started buying less stuff on there after a number of products have come back as fakes. I use…

What kinds of things are you buying where counterfeits are a problem? Genuinely intrigued.

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#229

Post by freehunter »

rifung wrote: post #216
neverminder wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've alre…

> It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap Not that I doubt your assessment of the knife but.. As far as kitchen knives go this is cheap, although you can still get very good and sharp knives for this price like the Tojiro DP Gyuto or Victorinox Fibrox. Usually people don't judge a knife by it's out of box sharpness but the sharpness after sharpening, ease of sharpening, edge retention, balance, and overall craftsma…

>Usually people don't judge a knife by it's out of box sharpness

Maybe knife connoisseurs don't, but normal people certainly do. I don't know the names of any knives, those names you mentioned might as well be brands of washing machines. But if I buy a knife and it's not sharp, what's the point? Why can the factory not sharpen it before selling it to me?

Re: Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor

#230

Post by ubertaco »

untog wrote: post #64
illegal_in_ca wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I also find myself picking up tech from NewEgg more often than Amazon. And I recently ordered most of the supplies for a cocktail party I was having at Walmart and Bed Bad and Beyond. Amazon prices might beat local retail, but they are only sometimes competitive with other (often more specizlized) online retailers at this point. Also, at least for me, shipping New Egg, Walmart and BBAB was faster than Am…

The issue I have with NewEgg is returns. There's always some condition, or expensive fee for return shipping. By comparison, Amazon makes it very easy

It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that the last three times I ever ordered from NewEgg, I got the wrong product entirely once, a damaged product once (that was listed as new, yet the CPU socket pins on the motherboard I'd ordered were bent -- hard to do without opening the box), and had something where I paid for two-day shipping arrive after several weeks.

In those three cases.... * I returned the incorrect product in exchange for the item I'd actually ordered, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I returned the damaged motherboard in exchange for an undamaged one, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I contacted support about the slower-than-paid-for shipping, and was told, effectively "it'll get there eventually; no refund on shipping speed."

Those three experiences burned me on Newegg entirely. I'll pay the extra $10-20 to get the product somewhere else with less headache, especially since the restocking fees mean I come out close to break-even on price.

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