Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#361

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 1:52 AM UTC

Frost1x wrote: post #100

TeMPOraL wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. Also the regular "optimization" (i.e. of costs, not value). For example, Miele was a decent brand of white-label goods, but I've read numerous commenters here claiming that they're succumbing to plasticpartisis and their products aren't as reliable as before. I also vaguely recall hearing that Anker isn't what it used to be. (Then there are brands spanning great many product categories - like Phillips. I'm hav…

I mean, once you get brand recognition and a market foothold, that's when you start optimizing on the cost quality tradeoffs. That seems to be the normal course of business in the US. Smart brands recognize there's a limit to gaming the margins before they lose trustworthiness and cut quality slowly and only to a certain point so as not to eliminate brand loyalty and recognition. If that margin gaming process gets to…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#362

Post by SkyMarshal » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 1:54 AM UTC

colejohnson66 wrote: post #348

SkyMarshal wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm going to end up merging parts from two systems to produce a watercooled variant anyway, so all I really care about is just getting the parts, in particular the 3080, at this point. Fwiw you still run a risk that the CPU heatsink or something similar will come dislodged during shipping, and tumble around inside like a wrecking ball, smashing up the CPU, 3080 and the other parts you want to keep. I learned this th…

ahem It’s “United Parcel Smashers”

Haha, I've seen both actually. There used to be a website for the movement, https://unitedpackagesmashers.com/, but it's no longer maintained.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#363

Post by bradgranath » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:05 AM UTC

You shouldn't need product reviews, manufacturer name, or country of origin to know that a $23 quadcopter is trash.

They sell $50 watches there too. Do you think they compare to a Rolex?

If Amazon is at fault here it's for destroying the concept of value in and of itself.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#364

Post by Schnitz » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:08 AM UTC

There’s really no way around this except avoiding third party sellers, except if it’s the producer themselves selling directly on Amazon. Unless you want the eBay experience, don’t buy in the Amazon marketplace.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#365

Post by jurassic » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:14 AM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #189

ethbr0 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've come full circle and only order books (usually used) or things I don't care if they're Chinese bargain-version off Amazon anymore. Target, or occasionally Walmart, gets what used to be Amazon's business from me.

B & H photos has done right by me so far. CDW seems okay. Newegg appears to have vendors reselling stuff from Amazon with markup. And while you can filter third party out, you quickly discover Newegg doesn’t have much inventory.

I 100% agree, B&H is my goto for anything photo or tech related.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#366

Post by biztos » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:19 AM UTC

quasse wrote: post #291

biztos wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just made a pretty big purchase decision in a field (cameras) where there is a lot of competition and reviews carry a lot of weight. In the end, the information that helped me make up my mind was from video reviews by mostly well-known photography vloggers on YouTube. This is also something that could be messed with by unscrupulous marketers, but there is a strong counterbalance to those anti-patterns: the vloggers…

> because "top photography vlogger" presumably pays better than 99% of all other work that involves photography. Just to be clear though (I work in a field that relies heavily on niche-specifc YouTubers for marketing) - the reason that being a "top niche blogger" pays so well is because companies pay them a lot to encourage favorable opinions of their product lines. I've seen amounts that are several multiples of my…

Yeah but aren't these contradictory goals for the "influencer?" At least for the ones who start to catch on?

Canon says "make us look better than Sony" and Sony says "make us look better than Canon" but at least in the stuff I watched, for photography, the really successful people were quite obviously prickly opinionated photo nerds who were not likely to risk their ever-increasing reputation and influence for a bit of payola.

I guess it probably varies a lot based on subject. Travel vloggers are pretty openly corrupt in that sense. And I have long dreamed of being a corrupt restaurant critic...

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#367

Post by randallsquared » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:21 AM UTC

ethbr0 wrote: post #139

coldpie wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've completely stopped ordering from Amazon, for three reasons: they have too much market power, they have serious ethics problems, and their 3rd party seller program has made the buying experience garbage. Welcome to the club.

I've come full circle and only order books (usually used) or things I don't care if they're Chinese bargain-version off Amazon anymore. Target, or occasionally Walmart, gets what used to be Amazon's business from me.

I would love to use Target or Walmart, but the killer feature that Amazon PrimeNow and Fresh still have for me over all the rivals is that they will not allow me to put something in my cart that they do not have.

That's it. Instacart, Shipt, Seamless (yes, I've bought groceries through Seamless in NYC...), this is all I want from you: let me know what I'm getting.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#368

Post by Izkata » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

opportune wrote: post #228

valuearb wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked for a startup that sold a food product direct, with a significant part of sales on Amazon. We decided to switch our standard size from 12 packs to 8 packs to better fit our customers consumption habits. But on Amazon that meant creating new listings for new SKUs, abandoning hundreds of positive comments/ratings on each 12 pack flavor SKU, which would crush sales for a while. So instead we let inventory run o…

Honestly if I were your customer I would probably really dislike this since I tend to put food products on subscriptions. Also the fact you were able to do this for something (I am assuming) was relatively innocent shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes.

> shows someone could do this for more nefarious purposes.

That's what happened with GGP, scammers get high ratings on some cheap product, then switch it with crap while keeping the high ratings.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#369

Post by Izkata » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:34 AM UTC

Tempest1981 wrote: post #165

Raed667 wrote: post #8

From the article listed (a toy drone) [1], reviews range from talking about car oil, stickers for kids, a plaque for finishing a race, honey, something about horses (?).. What is this mess !? And how is this not Amazon's top priority? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P14T1Z2

Unfortunately, Fakespot isn't catching it either: https://www.fakespot.com/product/taktoppy-drones-for-kids-uf... And the example from the article also got an A, but looks like Amazon may have fixed it? Only 54 reviews now: https://www.fakespot.com/product/shwd-ufo-drones-for-kids-ha...

ReviewMeta identifies it as untrustworthy, unable to give an adjusted star rating because it eliminates the only review: https://reviewmeta.com/amazon/B08P14T1Z2

Though, looks like there's only 1 review now, so I dunno what it would've done earlier.

Re: Amazon still hasn’t fixed its problem with bait-and-switch reviews

#370

Post by epmaybe » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 2:43 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #282

Skip the Amazon resellers and order direct from China on Alibaba. Their reputation system is less spammy than Amazon's. One of my areas to watch: solid state relays. Here we have yet another fake Fotek solid state relay on Amazon.[1] Note the "Made in China". Here's the real thing.[2] Note the "Taiwan made" from the real Fotek. Costs a lot more. That's because it will actually handle the rated current. The fakes are…

There are many times where I get going on a project and need to get some part (nobody in a 50mi radius supplies electronics unfortunately). I like to keep my momentum going, so I order from amazon because some of those resellers stock locally, and thus I get the product in 1-2 days.

Contrast to China/AliExpress, where it may take them 3-4 weeks for the product to reach me. At that point, my interest may have fizzled out or I get busy with real life.