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Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

kurtisknodel.com

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Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#221

Post by blagie »

jaclaz wrote: post #94
fasthands9 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For my DIY hobby I buy a ton of stuff off Amazon - usually small parts under $15 dollars. I just checked and this year I've made 602 total purchases and, after checking the return e-mails they send, I've made 287 returns this year. I just click "bought by mistake each time". If there is a social credit score based on number of returned items I still haven't hit it.

Excuse me, but do you believe this is "normal"? I mean, if you returned 287/602=48% of the items you ordered, either there is something wrong in what you order or - more likely - your supplier (Amazon) is not reliable. On the other side, if 48% of items (particularly if low value ones) are returned, the costs of shipping/returning/handling must be enormous.

I almost never return, but there are domains with business models build upon massive numbers of returns.

This includes some parts of fashion. You buy online. If it doesn't fit, you return and buy another. There are hobbies which are similar. You buy extra parts, and return what you don't use.

The price factors in the 50+% return rate. If they didn't allow returns, no one would buy.

I don't know if that's what OP is doing, but I'm not ready to judge unless I know it's not.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#222

Post by ceejayoz »

amelius wrote: post #137
josephcsible wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amazon accepts the return with no questions and/or charges But remember that Amazon keeps what's basically a social credit score on you that drops every time you return something, and then they permanently ban you (including from non-retail things like AWS and Prime Video) if it ever gets too low.

Yeah banning your customers seems like a great strategy /s

Banning your rare, abberantly unprofitable customers who may be abusing the return system is a good strategy, yes.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#223

Post by [deleted] »

kennend3 wrote: post #170
dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon tracks your returns, but if you're within their model, which is not particularly tight, you don't have anything to worry about. It's mostly targeted toward people who are egregious, and more importantly, lose Amazon money. If you return a few too many DSLRs, Apple laptops or other high end gear you'll quickly find yourself on the rocks, or decide you're going to start a drop-shipping business from your Prime a…

> Instead, she spent 2+ years returning every since book she purchased for her Kindle, well over 100, when she realized she could buy a book and immediately return it, but turn off the Kindle internet connection while she finished reading it, before it was removed. They banned her from ever doing another Kindle return but she otherwise uses her Kindle normally. Out of curiosity what goes through someones mind to thin…

[deleted]

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#224

Post by fmajid »

programmer_dude wrote: post #184
PeterStuer wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon does SKU aggregation in their warehouses for all the sellers that use Amazon fulfillment. Every delivery of that SKU, by whomever, gets thrown into the same pile from witch they pick whenever someone orders said SKU through whoever is selling that stuff on Amazon. This means that the product you receive from seller X was probably not delivered to the warehouse by seller X, but would be part of a batch delivere…

How does Amazon do this SKU aggregation? It must use some kind of product identifier (barcode / QR code / RFID tag etc.)? Why not include vendor information with it? Please stop using this tired excuse. It is not a difficult problem to solve if you have the intent.

Google “Amazon stickerless commingled inventory” for the gory details.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#225

Post by fmajid »

notRobot wrote: post #118
NavinF wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock Origin blocks sponsored search results by default because like you said they're just ads. (Amazon will still return a duplicate result for the same product in the correct place further down the list so you're not missing out on anything by blocking sponsored search results)

Man I love uBO so fucking much.

Which is precisely why Google is knifing the baby with Manifest V3.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#226

Post by fmajid »

esses wrote: post #31

I think there's one thing that should be clarified from the article. "Sponsored" does not mean that the product is "sponsored by Amazon" as italicized in the article. It means the seller paid money to be at the top of the search query. Perhaps it is a healthy dose of old aged jadedness, but I have a habit of trying to avoid Sponsored items.

Fun fact: Amazon is the 3rd largest ad company after Google and Meta/Facebook, $32B a year in revenues that are near pure profit. I suspect the market cap of their advertising business would eclipse that of thei e-commerce side if it were reported separately.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#227

Post by fmajid »

neilv wrote: post #66
noncoml wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably you know that already but you can buy Sandisk SDs straight from the Western Digital website (they bought Sandisk sometime back). Tried them a couple of times and delivery was prompt and free! Highly recommend it.

Thanks! I will absolutely try this! I did have a poor experience recently with what I thought was D2C with another quality brand name. I thought I was buying server RAM from Micron (not marketplace), but shipping info looked like it might've been "some random guy's kitchen table moonlighting business", and they actually shipped non-ECC initially, even though the order was for ECC compatible with a particular mobo mod…

They also have great deals on Black Friday.

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#228

Post by fmajid »

JamesAdir wrote: post #90
noncoml wrote: post #20

In the future if you want to avoid counterfeit/scams try: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

+1 for B&H for top notch service and super helpful staff both online and onsite.

Also their search doesn’t consider my search keywords as mere suggestions to be ignored (e.g. returning flash drives of all random sizes if you search for “usb flash drive 128gb”), and in many categories they have specific filtering dimensions, e.g. for flash drive they will have one filtering dimension that is USB-C vs USB-A vs Lightning. Amazon’s UI is complete garbage in comparison

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#229

Post by fmajid »

wombat-man wrote: post #10
Arch485 wrote: post #2

Are there any good alternatives to Amazon that don't prominently feature fake products?

For electronics I've been reasonably happy with Best Buy. Plus you can do store pickup if you need it ASAP. Most stuff ships free in my experience.

B&H Photo, Adorama, Target, Dell.com, direct from the manufacturer

Re: Top USB Drives on Amazon are a Scam

#230

Post by themadturk »

neilv wrote: post #39
noncoml wrote: post #20

In the future if you want to avoid counterfeit/scams try: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/

When I was learning photojournalism, I loved B&H service and prices so much. I've recently started adding B&H to where I shop for electronics, alongside Amazon and a local brick&mortar (Microcenter). I no longer check Newegg much, though recently they did have the best price on a particular 1U chassis that I wanted. I'd welcome more direct-to-consumer sales from the brands themselves. I hate buying USB or SD flash de…

I took a chance a couple of years ago and got a 500GB dual USB-A/C flash drive with the brand name "Thalar" from Amazon. It's not fast, but it has been utterly reliable. But you never know -- some brands just seem fishier than others.
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