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Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#371

Post by fmajid »

BetterGeiger wrote: post #352

I manufacture and sell one unique product. I started with direct sales, doing okay, but it was clear that Amazon is where the real action is, so I tried to sell there. Getting the listing up was a slow and painful experience due to horrible seller service (this is typical). Finally it's listed. Around 15% of revenue is fees. That's with me doing my own fulfillment! Hardly any sales at first, so I had no choice but to…

Amazon will promote sellers who use their fulfilment service over those who DIY.

https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/fulfillment-by-ama...

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#372

Post by hgsgm »

low_key wrote: post #323
candiddevmike wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applaud anyone who leaves a non 5 star review, gets contacted by the company with bribes to make it 5 stars, and updates their review to report the company doing that.

I've left negative reviews and they tend to get removed. I was once even warned by Amazon that my account could be deactivated for violation of the ToS after posting a review that pointed out all of the other fake reviews on a particular product. Apparently the ToS allow fake reviews and disallow shining a light on it.

No post body was provided.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#374

Post by fmajid »

yalogin wrote: post #306

Over the last few years Amazon has been overwhelmed by Chinese goods and over time the search results has become similar to aliexpress. I would have never heard the manufacturer’s name and will never remember them either. All of them have close to 5 star rating and there is no way to even judge if they are any good. You buy if you accept that. Feels like it’s time for this to be disrupted.

I buy my electronics from B&H Photo, or cut out the Amazon middleman and get the Chinese stuff from AliExpress if it's not time-critical. AliExpress customer service is also slow, but fair in my experience.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#376

Post by russdill »

sanitycheck wrote: post #246

My process for getting usable results on Amazon (.co.uk, presumably the others too): 1. Search for thing 2. Filter by department (necessary for 3) 3. Filter by Seller: only Amazon 4: Filter by reviews: 4 stars+ 5: Sort by price, Low > High 6: (Further filters as appropriate) 7: Look at only products with a high number of reviews 8: For every product, "See all reviews" and filter on "Verified purchase only" and "Show…

It's very frustrating the number of clicks that are necessary to get a list of reviews most recent first, and not just the first few.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#377

Post by fmajid »

avitous wrote: post #357
noncoml wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it came to shopping I used to blindly trust Amazon. Wouldn’t even check prices anywhere else. Now, it’s always the choice of last resort. I really don’t like it when I have to shop on Amazon. It feels like a combination of AliExpress and eBay. Delivery times are getting worse by the day too.

I used to trust them a whole lot more, too. But of late it seems Amazon is leaning toward a cesspool of price gouging, and I've noticed a lot more of the presented results are "Sponsored". Along with that, I stream movies on my TV, running clients, usually Netflix or Prime Video, on my xbox. Increasingly the Amazon prime video client wants to present me with options to "Rent or Buy" instead of free offerings (I am a…

The iPad or browser version offer a "free to me" option. Unfortunately they also count their ad-infested service as "free to me".

In my experience Amazon has the best streaming service now. There's nothing on Netflix I want to see and I'd have cancelled the service a long time ago if it were not for my wife and 10 year old daughter.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#378

Post by fmajid »

Beaver117 wrote: post #349
yalogin wrote: post #306

Over the last few years Amazon has been overwhelmed by Chinese goods and over time the search results has become similar to aliexpress. I would have never heard the manufacturer’s name and will never remember them either. All of them have close to 5 star rating and there is no way to even judge if they are any good. You buy if you accept that. Feels like it’s time for this to be disrupted.

Aliexpress products aren't bad. And although they're very cheap at the source, I'm willing to pay a gigantic markup to get it in 2 days with free refunds rather than 2 months.

I've had recourse to AliExpress customer service in cases where what was sent didn't match the product description or was lost in transit. It was also slow because they have this weirdly procedural arbitration process that feels like the judiciary, but they reimbursed me.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#379

Post by russdill »

yalogin wrote: post #306

Over the last few years Amazon has been overwhelmed by Chinese goods and over time the search results has become similar to aliexpress. I would have never heard the manufacturer’s name and will never remember them either. All of them have close to 5 star rating and there is no way to even judge if they are any good. You buy if you accept that. Feels like it’s time for this to be disrupted.

And 8 other identical looking products listed under a different manufacturer.
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