Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#41

Post by klodolph » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:01 PM UTC

dark12222000 wrote: post #20

This really just seems like the author is searching for things to gripe about. Has he tried buying most things in a major store? His points about Amazon's UI are also missing me. The UI seems perfectly adequate and friendly - which is not to say it's the best UI/UX experience ever, but that is never the only business requirement.

Have you tried shopping at B&H, for example? I have a much easier time finding things there. Newegg is also pretty decent. I get frustrated by Amazon's UI fairly often, by comparison.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#42

Post by brewdad » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:02 PM UTC

lmorris84 wrote: post #9

His complaint about returns is curious, not sure if it's country specific. I returned something to Amazon a couple of weeks ago in the UK due to some missing parts. I printed out the label, put it in the box and the next day a delivery guy showed up, slapped his own label on the outside and took it away. I had the refund applied 2 days later. I've never returned anything to Amazon before so was surprised at how well…

The last time I had to return something to Amazon, the refund was issued starting from the moment UPS scanned my box into their system. I had my money before Amazon even received my box.

There are complaints to be made, but the returns process is not one of them.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#43

Post by dkrich » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:03 PM UTC

I think this is a perspective that makes sense for somebody who lives in suburbia. I don't know that it would make sense to do your everyday shopping online if you have to drive to the store for other items or to return things that you bought online.

However if you live in an urban area, it's an entirely different comparison. First of all, let's face it- taping a label to a box isn't as hard as this guy describes. Second, to return it, you only have to find the closest UPS or FedEx store, which, again, in an urban environment is probably closer to you than the closest Starbucks.

That said, larger box items are almost always cheaper on Amazon than from other retailers in my experience.

So, a more appropriate title might be Amazon kind of sucks if you live in the suburbs and are trying to buy groceries or items that would retail for under three bucks.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#44

Post by r00fus » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:04 PM UTC

lmorris84 wrote: post #9

His complaint about returns is curious, not sure if it's country specific. I returned something to Amazon a couple of weeks ago in the UK due to some missing parts. I printed out the label, put it in the box and the next day a delivery guy showed up, slapped his own label on the outside and took it away. I had the refund applied 2 days later. I've never returned anything to Amazon before so was surprised at how well…

That's the way it used to be for me, but now Amazon asks me to go to a UPS store to drop off.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#45

Post by Someone1234 » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:04 PM UTC

Amazon.com is just ruined by third party sellers. Hard to find anything throughout the mess, and the sellers do things like inflate their sales to push them up the popularity rankings (now called "featured" rankings, so Amazon can inject paid adverts). I often just search for things, pick the department, then select "Only sold by Amazon.com" to escape the nonsense.

I'd happily use another site, but who? Target.com and Walmart.com are both worse sites with odd offline customer service (and meh shipping policies). NewEgg used to have better search/sort but also got third party seller ruined (plus return issues). I hear a few peeps about this Jet.com site, but they've extremely new and have had some issues so far.

I want a site with Amazon's amazing customer services, Amazon's shipping polices, but with a better site design. If they're going to do filtering in the search results then having them actually work correctly would be appreciated (they often don't on Amazon).

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#46

Post by mattmaroon » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:07 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #45

Amazon.com is just ruined by third party sellers. Hard to find anything throughout the mess, and the sellers do things like inflate their sales to push them up the popularity rankings (now called "featured" rankings, so Amazon can inject paid adverts). I often just search for things, pick the department, then select "Only sold by Amazon.com" to escape the nonsense. I'd happily use another site, but who? Target.com an…

My experience with Jet.com has so far been great. I started using it maybe a month ago (right after they ditched membership fees).

Their sorting actually works. Their prices are comparable to big box stores. Their shipping is fast and free (with a minimum order, of course). It's what Amazon used to be before it started kinda sucking.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#47

Post by dap » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:09 PM UTC

He completely nailed the problem I've had with his description of looking for an iPad. If I know exactly what I want already (e.g., a book by title, or an electronic device by model number), it's usually easy. (In that case, though, I usually found what I wanted from some other source, and I purchase it there.) If I want to actually shop -- that is, survey several models of the same broad kind of item, there are quite often far too many to sift through, with few useful tools for narrowing it down. Even when I know exactly what I want, there's usually no way to filter for it.

Brick-and-mortar stores don't exactly solve this problem -- they just have far fewer choices, and you're relying on something like curation (based on expected sales). It's not always great, but it's generally preferable.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#48

Post by gabemart » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:09 PM UTC

lmorris84 wrote: post #9

His complaint about returns is curious, not sure if it's country specific. I returned something to Amazon a couple of weeks ago in the UK due to some missing parts. I printed out the label, put it in the box and the next day a delivery guy showed up, slapped his own label on the outside and took it away. I had the refund applied 2 days later. I've never returned anything to Amazon before so was surprised at how well…

I'm also in the UK. I will willingly pay a premium at Amazon for tech products just because the returns process is so painless relative to other online retailers.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#49

Post by exogen » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:09 PM UTC

Amazon needs to quit filling their product database with absolute garbage and show that they actually care about the customer experience. In trying to sell absolutely everything they've made it harder to find what you're looking for.

Yesterday I was shopping for an electrical box cover. The first result I clicked on was categorized as a musical instrument (specifically, a timbale). The second one I clicked on was categorized as a pair of pliers (specifically, snap-ring pliers).

Sure, customers could misplace a few things in a physical store – but Amazon has complete control here, and they're showing us they just don't give a shit.

I love the checkout and shipping experience on Amazon. The amount of reviews is great (although many reviewers are clearly morons or just fake – that sucks too). But everything leading up to making the purchase is terrible.

Re: Amazon Kind of Sucks and We’ve All Just Come to Accept It

#50

Post by mattmaroon » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:10 PM UTC

lincolnq wrote: post #3

Yes. I actually do accept this, and it's OK with me. Prime has saved me so much time -- and, arguably more valuable, attention -- obtaining objects I need. I literally do not care about the price difference between a $1 and a $5 roll of tape: as long as I don't need it sooner than 2 days from now, it's comin' on amazon, because the alternative is either searching online and actually thinking about it, or leaving my h…

I wonder where everyone lives where stopping into a store is so much time. Nowadays you can order and pay for things online. I walk into the store, give them my name, sign for something, and I'm done. Everyone here is like "I drive 30 minutes to the store...". I guess maybe HN has a lot of users who live in Alaska?

I'd suspect if people calculated their hourly rate on doing so they'd go right back to stores.

But that wasn't the point anyway. The point was that Amazon's high prices and sucky UI have opened the door to a competitor. I'm not sure it'll be Jet. I'm not even sure it'll be someone. I mean, they can just lower their prices and fix their sorting. But either way we end up better off.

If there were a site as convenient as Amazon, with comparable service, but lower prices and a better UI, wouldn't you use it? I think that's possible. I don't know if it will be Jet long-term. But it's possible, and that's interesting.