Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#451

Post by aschatten » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 9:19 AM UTC

dan_quixote wrote: post #211

mauvehaus wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I beg to differ. Rock Auto is where it's at for auto parts. The website is ugly as hammered shit, but it's fast, shows you the options grouped by rough quality level (economy/you cheapskate, daily driver, performance, etc), shows you what part to select so it ships from the same warehouse as the parts already in your cart and saves you shipping, and returns are painless (disclaimer: I've only ever done returns for co…

My nomination is McMaster-Carr (mcmaster.com) - They have a huge catalog of parts/tools yet somehow it's so intuitive to browse. I was a mechanical engineer in a previous life and McMaster's website was my bible. Step one for any new prototype design was to browse this site. Best case scenario, you could cobble together your prototype from various COTS (commercial off the shelf) McMaster parts. And if that wasn't an…

Can you use it as an i dividual or bussinesses only?

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#452

Post by zo1 » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 9:47 AM UTC

dangrossman wrote: post #101

bluetidepro wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It IS a dark pattern when they don't show you that cost until the final step after you have invested time getting there. You misunderstand, I'm not arguing that it costs money to ship things, I understand that to be true, I'm saying it's a shitty dark pattern when you aren't clear about that cost up front in the funnel. People can be honest, there is nothing stopping them from doing that.

They don't know the cost to ship you things until they know what's going to be in your cart and what address it's getting mailed to. Shipping costs are based on package dimensions, weight, and distance between the sender and recipient. This is the reason that in nearly every ecommerce platform, shipping costs get displayed at the second to last step of the checkout process, or in the shopping cart only if you provide…

Yeah but to be fair, nothing stops them from providing the "shipping cost" or an estimate of it, next to the price of the product. They make no effort to kinda tell you how much this thing would cost to deliver.

Heck, they could show you "current shipping cost" estimate next to your cart total. They could also show you the delivery cost total if you were to add this item, next to the item you intend to buy.

It can be a solved problem if they attempted to do so, and as technical people we should be able to identify their BS when we see it. Even giant/big retailers don't do it because they know that greater than zero amount of people will just say "fuck it, I spent all this time filling the cart, I'm not going to bargain shop shipping prices, might as well buy it from here."

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#453

Post by 72deluxe » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 10:12 AM UTC

larrik wrote: post #177

selykg wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out Sweetwater next time. They are significantly better. Their site actually shows you each guitar/bass they have in stock and they have an entire gallery Of photos for each. If you order one they’ll send a zip or the whole collection of photos. If you call and talk to the sales rep for you (you’re assigned one) they can usually knock 5-15% off. They also make sure each guitar/bass is setup to factory spec befo…

Never really heard of them before. Looks like everything I bought is out of stock anyway, but it's good to know there are alternatives.

Their YouTube channel has some good reviews of equipment and Mitch on there does some interesting informed interviews with musicians. I live in the UK so can't order from them but they look to be very good sellers.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#454

Post by schwartzworld » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 10:32 AM UTC

alyx wrote: post #426

Wistar wrote: post #323

Although the focus is somewhat narrower than amazon, for my professional needs I have had nothing but an excellent online experience with bhphotovideo. I have ordered hundreds of items worth tens of thousands of dollars from them starting about 2007. Their site can be a little frustrating, mostly from not narrow-enough categorization, but their app for iOS is very good. Their prices are usually as good and often bett…

Tried placing an order online Saturday afternoon, only to be informed that the website was not taking orders due to Shabbos. I very nearly skipped over to Adorama. The mind boggles trying to resolve why a server cannot accept an order while staff is respecting Shabbos.

B&H is run and staffed by Hasidic Jews. They have strict definitions of work that are forbidden on the Sabbath and they may not always be intuitive to outsiders, for example, for many religious Jews, pressing the elevator button is forbidden, but riding in an elevator that is programmed to just stop on every floor is fine.

Your mind is free to boggle, but Jews are entitled to close their businesses on the Sabbath just the same as Christians. In the county I grew up in, everything but supermarkets is closed on Sunday, for example.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#455

Post by boomboomsubban » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 11:20 AM UTC

yibg wrote: post #427

boomboomsubban wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Did I steal those $10? Yes. You have acquired it without the intentional consent of the owner, who presumably thought it was your $10. I don't think it's a crime nor would I find you personally responsible.

That’s a weird definition of theft. By this definition if I pick up a quarter off the sidewalk I’m stealing too.

If you picked up a hundred dollar bill in the same situation and didn't have any intention of returning it, would you consider that stealing?

My definition of theft doesn't presume it was legally or morally wrong, so many innocent actions would still be theft.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#456

Post by wmeredith » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 11:58 AM UTC

markkanof wrote: post #106

ebg13 wrote: post #23

I tried ordering some things from Home Depot the other day, and they silently cancelled half of my order while still charging me the same amount for delivery from the store and while saying that some things can only be delivered from a warehouse and that some things can only be delivered from a specific store and that delivery from each store has a $45 minimum purchase before they'll even consider delivery despite th…

I'm really surprised to hear so many horrible experiences with Home Depot ordering online. Over the past 2-3 months I have placed multiple orders for things that are shipped to my house, and that has gone off without a hitch. I've also placed an order for "express delivery" which seems to be a HD delivery driver coming from either a store or a local warehouse. I placed an order for a bunch of screws, insulating foam,…

I have also placed maybe a dozen Home Depot orders over the years with no issue. Including a fridge that was delivered last month. I also like their app.

Apparently I’m an outlier.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#457

Post by tomohawk » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 12:02 PM UTC

monksy wrote: post #252

ebg13 wrote: post #23

I tried ordering some things from Home Depot the other day, and they silently cancelled half of my order while still charging me the same amount for delivery from the store and while saying that some things can only be delivered from a warehouse and that some things can only be delivered from a specific store and that delivery from each store has a $45 minimum purchase before they'll even consider delivery despite th…

Let's face it Home Depot is garbage. From my experience they fail completely when at the store (employees running away from you, ignoring you, trying to avoid being asked for help, etc). The store, the way it's setup, tries to agressively cut corners. (The default for checking out is self checkout) I went to menards and I found the experience really rewarding. It's great. They're not a great company ecologically, lab…

Home Depot was pretty good until 2 things.

They used to hire people with actual experience in the building trades as well as regular store clerk types. The store clerks launched a lawsuit saying they were being discriminated against, and won. This was basically the end of being able to attract talent from the building trades as the settlement required clerks to have the same opportunities as skilled people.

The other thing was the hiring of the guy who used to run Burger King, who put the final nail in the coffin.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#458

Post by non-entity » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 1:00 PM UTC

The thing about Amazon though, was the luxury of being able to order stuff and have it by my door the next day. This was especially great for products where the traditional brick and mortar retail died out a long time ago for that industry (i.e. electronic components) or stuff that you want / need regularly but isnt carried in stores near you.

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#459

Post by _benj » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 1:12 PM UTC

ganoushoreilly wrote: post #159

sosborn wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this recommendation. Sweetwater is great and their sales reps know what they are talking about.

I third it! Every guitar I buy from them has come with personal images of the exact guitar, you can even view everything before you buy it! Sweetwater reps are also really competitive on pricing. I like reverb for hard to find used gear, but I always end up shooting over prices from there to my Sweetwater rep, not once have they not beat it.

I fourth it! I came across sweetwater years ago and can't remember buying music gear anywhere else. I'd get amazing deals from my "sales engineer", from bundling guitar and case at the price of the guitar alone to just cutting 10% of the price just because I asked. Their shipping is next day and free if you are relatively close to IN, but never more than 2 days (even to Puerto Rico!)

Re: Amazon Isn’t the Only Shop Online

#460

Post by op00to » Tue, Apr 07, 2020, 1:12 PM UTC

alyx wrote: post #426

Wistar wrote: post #323

Although the focus is somewhat narrower than amazon, for my professional needs I have had nothing but an excellent online experience with bhphotovideo. I have ordered hundreds of items worth tens of thousands of dollars from them starting about 2007. Their site can be a little frustrating, mostly from not narrow-enough categorization, but their app for iOS is very good. Their prices are usually as good and often bett…

Tried placing an order online Saturday afternoon, only to be informed that the website was not taking orders due to Shabbos. I very nearly skipped over to Adorama. The mind boggles trying to resolve why a server cannot accept an order while staff is respecting Shabbos.

Adorama is run by observent Jewish people as well.