Cameras and secret trackers reveal where Amazon returns end up • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by rtsil » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:16 PM UTC

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…

Amazon may be awful elsewhere, but it's miles better than our local French online retailers. I've got a lost mouse (the package was delivered empty), Amazon immediately refunded. I had other packages not delivered at all with other retailers, and they wouldn't refund until they enquired with the delivery company, which had to do an internal investigation. And some of them wouldn't refund but gave vouchers instead.

Also, Amazon returns are refunded as soon as the package is scanned at the post office, not 2 or 3 weeks after.

I'd really like to buy from a French company, but every time I try, they go out of their way to send me back to Amazon.

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

#232

Post by tmoertel » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:23 PM UTC

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.

Online "try before you buy" shopping, where you return everything you don't like, is more common than you'd think. Amazon actually uses this phrase as their pitch for the Prime Wardrobe program [1]:

   """
   Try before you buy. Exclusively for Prime Members.
   1. Choose up to 8 items.
   2. Only pay for what you keep.
   3. Free and easy returns.
   """

[1] https://www.amazon.com/b?node=14807110011

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

#233

Post by polytely » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:28 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #84

nextos wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…

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'm guessing it's the end state of Amazon. They are still trying to take over European markets so they have to maintain quality to compete, but once there is no competition it will degrade until it's barely tolerable for the average consumer. You as a person who can spot fakes are an outlier, and a rounding error in their sales, so your boycot don't work.

Fake products are the necessary sacrifices we have to make in order to be fulfilled by Amazon. Quality control (like moderation or ethics) just doesn't scale, and we must maintain infinite growth at all cost.

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

#234

Post by 0xffff2 » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:32 PM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #84

nextos wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also stopped buying at Amazon after 15 years. Even consumables and small items are problematic. Just in the last year, I encountered many issues including: * Showerhead that came without box, and clearly used. It still had a lot of water inside! * Underwear from a brand that sells items inside a sealed bag and discards returns came used, without bag (yuck!) * A module of Samsung RAM had visible wear signs and di…

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 feel the same way, except I'm in the US so it's not a strictly regional thing. I expect it's just that you're far more likely to hear from extreme outliers in topics like this.

I will say that "definitely not counterfeit" is a very high bar these days. I have a pair of Ray Bans that I'm still on the fence about after several years.

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

#235

Post by Zancarius » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:35 PM UTC

brightball wrote: post #181

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’m in the US and we order off of Amazon all the time. I’ve had exactly one problem that apparently came from a vendor with tons of complaints (wrong item and a history of refusing refunds or trying to negotiate a partial due to return shipping costs). Aside from that, everything has been great but I also never order clothes from Amazon.

Similar experiences here. I'm no fan of Amazon, particularly with how they treat their workers. That said, some of their competition just doesn't offer the same range of products at a reasonable enough quality[1] making me suspect that a significant number of their items get returned or tossed.

In recent memory, I've had only one bad experience with a 3rd party seller not shipping the item I ordered. Oddly, I ordered twice before from them (through Amazon) and never had an issue. Something changed in the months leading up to the third purchase, because their reviews went from overwhelmingly positive to overwhelmingly negative, and I'm not sure COVID-19 would completely explain it (or maybe it does?). Two months after not receiving the purchase, I sent a dispute to Amazon and they refunded it in full. Can't complain.

I did have a product arrive damaged (actually a pack of two; one was fine). Amazon refunded the entire purchase price for both saying they couldn't do partial refunds (understandable).

Of the couple of other mistakes I can think of, they'd once sent the wrong item (a consumable) and also refunded without fuss, suggesting I should just dispose of the mistaken item as I saw fit. The other one was a carafe for frothing milk for cappuccinos that didn't arrive at all. IIRC, they refunded and sent a replacement the same day I emailed. Also had a hard drive show up with surface defects (placed in an unnecessarily large box and almost certainly got beat up during shipping), and I got a return label that same day with UPS showing up about a day later to pick it up. (Bonus: I know the usual UPS driver, so it was good to see him!)

Never have bought many clothing items from Amazon recently except for neck ties. Watching some YT channels that purchase from Amazon-related liquidators[2], the negative experiences with clothing and personal hygiene don't really surprise me. Worth watching, but be prepared to be somewhat terrified and maybe a little grossed out.

[1] I once bought a laptop cooling tray from Walmart out of curiosity. The quality was roughly what you'd expect. The USB cable failed after about a month of use (poorly terminated no doubt) and the tray is of the lowest quality manufacture you can imagine. Ironically, it was more expensive than better quality options off Amazon...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Xi9F_8Sr1-1bKRDlCO1ZA

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

#236

Post by Zancarius » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:37 PM UTC

mortehu wrote: post #152

grahamburger wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it might just be coastal US cities? I live in a flyover US state and my experience matches yours. Universally good, overall much better experience with products ordered on Amazon than purchased at the local Walmart. Not that Walmart is a particularly high bar, but still it sets an expectation.

We live in Manhattan and order even more stuff than GP (about 25 orders last month) and we've had like two issues this year: a missing knob on a puzzle for toddlers, and paint on three toy vehicles damaged during shipping.

I'm suspicious it must just be regional, because my experience is similar.

I live in NM and have had only half a dozen "major" (?) issues over the decade+ that I've ordered from Amazon. My experience is posted slightly up thread from yours.

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

#237

Post by cambalache » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:39 PM UTC

jolux wrote: post #214

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your sentiment, but men don't have accurate sizing either. S-M-L are completely inconsistent between brands and even within them. You have to be pretty aware of which brands vanity size, especially if your weight fluctuates. Buying something online is a crap-shoot, particularly if its from a company you've never purchased from before, or from a European or Asian brand.

Fortunately I’m one of the lucky women who has had the experience of buying both men’s and women’s clothing and I can tell you that the latter is unequivocally worse with regards to sizing consistency.

nice anecdote

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

#238

Post by Swenrekcah » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:40 PM UTC

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #133

kennywinker wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apparently destroying and dumping it’s the easiest and less resource consuming way to deal with returns. Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon . There is a massive environmental cost to the practice - it's just externalized. If the companies involved (amazon, the manufacturer) had to bare the full environmental cost, the calculation would often come out different.

> Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon. I suspect that cost is a much better approximation of resource consumption than what feels wasteful, especially because it forces you to factor human time as a resource, which many environmental activists like to treat as infinite and free.

Imagine the cost, in both time and work, to create all of the iron ore, coal and all the other natural resources that go into a single piece of crap sold on amazon.

If that were priced into the crap, I'm sure having some humans spend a few of their hours on repurpuosing it would make financial sense.

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

#239

Post by AdrianB1 » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:42 PM UTC

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 did a return, but I draw no conclusion from this statistical sample of one. I had no idea what is the percentage of returns, but I am quite disappointed by Amazon.

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

#240

Post by MattGaiser » Sat, Oct 10, 2020, 9:46 PM UTC

Swenrekcah wrote: post #238

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not the least resource consuming - the least costly to amazon. I suspect that cost is a much better approximation of resource consumption than what feels wasteful, especially because it forces you to factor human time as a resource, which many environmental activists like to treat as infinite and free.

Imagine the cost, in both time and work, to create all of the iron ore, coal and all the other natural resources that go into a single piece of crap sold on amazon. If that were priced into the crap, I'm sure having some humans spend a few of their hours on repurpuosing it would make financial sense.

It is priced in by the price of the item.