Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad • Hacker News Board

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#411

Post by ceejayoz » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:37 PM UTC

chrsig wrote: post #12

bumby wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My shipping has deteriorated massively in the last couple of years. What used to be 2 day shipping as a prime member is now often as much as 10 days. That, plus all the knock-offs and bad product quality, has made me stop using Amazon for much.

anecdotally, it seems really bimodal for me. Either I can get something same day/overnight, or it'll take a week or more

They've built out small, local distribution centers that stock the more commonly ordered items. When you're in an area with one and pick the right item, it comes same or next day.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#412

Post by Terretta » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:41 PM UTC

s17n wrote: post #285

fmajid wrote: post #244

Amazon is the third largest advertising company after Google and Meta. Its ad revenue is $32B (and growing fast, the run rate is $40B). That is half the revenue of AWS, which is worth 70% of Amazon's market cap. The inescapable conclusion is that Amazon's advertising is worth the remaining 30% of Amazon's market cap and Amazon's e-commerce arm is deemed worthless by Wall Street , its only purpose being to support the…

> The other inescapable conclusion is that whenever the quality of the shopping experience on Amazon and the needs of Amazon's advertising business clash, advertising will win (just as it has on Google). Saying that the e-commerce arm is worthless isn't really the right way to think about it - the ads business only exists to due the e-commerce product. Both Amazon and Google are well aware that their ad revenues depe…

> Both of them know that long-term success requires them to prioritize user experience.

Of course user experience is prioritized: below advertiser experience.

Prioritization doesn't just mean things are on top, for everything but the top item it means things are below other things.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#413

Post by toofy » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:44 PM UTC

about 6 months ago i just stopped ordering physical products online entirely.

i noticed that i was needing to return way too much of the stuff i ordered.

clothes sizes were completely wrong or the material was just cheap.

cords and other accessories were cheap or just plain the wrong item.

household items _really_ didn’t match the pictures. scale was all wrong, etc…

it’s just so much easier to walk into a store, actually touch the product and literally walk away with it immediately knowing that it’s what i wanted.

it’s also just nice to be out and about.

i suppose im lucky that i live in a populated area and have physical stores i can go to tho. a lot of people don’t have that option.

it really is frustrating how low online shopping has sunk. but the amount of deception shops have turned to online is just an awful experience.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#414

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:46 PM UTC

MichaelCollins wrote: post #387

mancerayder wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't need to bribe anymore. Negative reviews get removed pretty easily. It's happened to me. It's the new normal. Airbnb is even worse, they used to (and still might) actually have customer service edit reviews. Your review will get removed with no notice, Amazon will let you know. If you remove some or most negative reviews but leave positive ones, what do you get.

Apparently Airbnb will delete any review that criticizes a property for something the property owner can't fix. Loud traintracks with trains blasting by at 3am every morning? That's not the property owner's fault, so that's a bad review. As if reviews exist only to give constructive feedback to property owners, rather than to warn other renters away from a bad experience!

“Apartment is great for early risers!” = it’s on a city bus route that rattles the windows

“Interesting locals in the area!” = homeless people on your doorstep

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#415

Post by hombre_fatal » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:47 PM UTC

prmoustache wrote: post #388

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…

My process for getting usable results on Amazon is to simply not use it. For any item you can think of there is an online shop dedicated to the specialty that is: - cheaper - easiest to search - do not sell knockoffs, counterfeits and fake products I know some people will raise the "you need to create another account for it annoyance" but it is not that annoying when you are using a password manager and the additionn…

I thought thus was the way to go into I ran into bad shipping schedule and bad return policies, esp the latter. Now I never order anywhere except Amazon. I learn this lesson every time I try to follow your pitch.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#416

Post by imglorp » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 9:48 PM UTC

astura wrote: post #37

imglorp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. The alternative is track down the original, individual vendor and deal with their custom sign up, shopping cart, shipping, and support on their site. Repeat with each different vendor for next purchase. As much as Amazon hates its customers and vendors, it's got a consistent experience.

What's wrong with target.com?

I try to patronize the original vendors. The large markets like Walmart and Target squeeze their suppliers hard to widen their margins. So if everything's about equal, I'd rather go to the source, especially if it's a mom and pop so they get a larger cut of the same money.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#417

Post by enraged_camel » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 10:00 PM UTC

dymk wrote: post #410

fmajid wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon will promote sellers who use their fulfilment service over those who DIY. https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/fulfillment-by-ama...

How is that not a violation of antitrust laws?

Laws are just words unless they are enforced.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#418

Post by chronogram » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 10:04 PM UTC

hgsgm wrote: post #368

ljm wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had to buy a replacement USB cable in a pinch the other week. Probably the first time since pre-COVID where I could justify next day delivery (where I would normally be happy to just wait however long it takes from a more local retailer). I knew exactly the kind to look for but I couldn't just search for that and pick the first item on the list. I could have easily bought the wrong thing in one click and not known…

what's wrong with getting the Amazon Basics version of whatever commodity?

I got a bunch of AmazonBasics cables last Christmas, but this year they don't seem to be available anymore. Don't know what the point of Amazon is in my local economy if they don't have those products anymore, since there's at least some market economics alive here.

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#419

Post by sgustard » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 10:05 PM UTC

Mistletoe wrote: post #34

It’s refreshing to see this in the Washington Post, owned by Bezos. Tiny beacon of hope going out into the darkness. Search ads on shopping websites are just capitalism taken to the natural end. Hopefully degradation of user experience will curb it somewhat. Our only other option is some sort of new Internet Bill of Rights being passed and I’m not optimistic lobbyists would ever allow it. We need some sort of fund fo…

If you walk into a store and say "I need a cat bed," and the store directs you to the most profitable cat bed ... is that a violation of your proposed law? How do you legislate around that? There are a thousand cat beds! They are all the same! The store that doesn't take bribes to hype certain brands goes out of business! And all we have left is Amazon! I mean, I guess that's already happened, so ... what more do they want? Does Amazon have no shame? What if they used their monopoly to sell stuff honestly? Would their whole business collapse?

Re: Almost everything on Amazon is becoming an ad

#420

Post by shellfishgene » Thu, Nov 24, 2022, 10:06 PM UTC

cunidev wrote: post #106

jabo wrote: post #53

I recently had to buy something mundane - a light bulb, with a specific lumen and color temperature spec. Weeding out all the junk listings, ads and clearly fake reviews, I ended up spending an hour trying to get to the one I wanted to buy. Had a very similar experience for another product as well. At this point, I hesitate to look up stuff on Amazon just considering the time it takes to find stuff. I much rather pre…

For most products, at least in Europe you can get the same cheap junk of Amazon listings from eBay at 20-40% lower prices, and usually (slightly) higher quality one from brick and mortar stores at the Amazon price. I avoid Amazon in principle since many years (unless I _really_ need a product there), but that has never been hard, considering that most smaller stores always offered me more convenient prices, less hass…

I ordered something from Amazon a few weeks ago, and didn't check the shipping time. I turned out that the thing was sent directly from China and took 2 weeks. The tracking that Amazon provides did not even work properly. There is really almost no reason anymore not to order the stuff on Aliexpress for 20% lower prices.