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Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

theatlantic.com

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Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#51

Post by malnourish »

notable_user wrote: post #50
pkulak wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like you have a problem with Yorkshire Gold, not Amazon. The product says "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com". If the company is screwing up their product for the American market, then going to eBay and buying strait from the UK seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, but that's not Amazon's fault.

Even “ships from and sold by amazon.com” products are comingled with potentially conterfeit products, unless a brand pays extra money for them not to be. No way for the end user to know if they’re getting comingled product.

Is there any way to determine if they've paid for no commingling?

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#53

Post by Johnny555 »

Amazon made online shopping feel safe and comfortable, at least mechanically, where once the risk of being scammed by bad actors felt huge

Maybe this was true once, but now Amazon has brought back that fear and confusion of getting scammed.

You used to be able to count on reviews for some idea of the quality of the product, but now you need to do research at someplace like www.fakespot.com to see if the reviews are fake.

And even if the product is legit and works well and it's fulfilled by Amazon, when you get the product you need to check it carefully to see if it's a counterfeit knockoff that some vendor sold through amazon's commingled inventory.

I've switched to https://www.bhphotovideo.com/ for most of my computer/electronics purchases now - they seem to price match Amazon automatically (or maybe amazon price matches them, many products have an identical price) and delivery is almost always within 2 - 3 days. I used to go to newegg, but have had a few issues with their third party sellers (product never shipped after ordering) so stopped going there.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#54

Post by throwawaymath »

JJMcJ wrote: post #52

I order from specialty merchants or manufacturers when I can. Books I trust from Amazon. The rest, not so much.

In my experience, many of the books I've purchased from Amazon are actually illegally exported reprints from India. Those books tend to not make that fact obvious or even known.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#55

Post by tjr225 »

hirundo wrote: post #10

> But there’s a reason that we used to have shoe stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, bookstores, and all the rest: Those specialized retail spaces allow products, and the people with knowledge about them, to engage in specialized ways of finding, choosing, and purchasing them. There's a reason why so much commerce has moved online in general and to Amazon in particular: We often value price and convenience and o…

> There's a reason why so much commerce has moved online in general and to Amazon in particular: We often value price and convenience and oodles of consumer reviews and easy access to competition and related info more than we value meat space salespeople with specialized knowledge laying on personalized sales pressure.

I've stopped shopping on amazon for years now and perhaps the best thing they've done is make the online shopping experience better on every other website, purely out of necessity. I think any convenience in amazon has an advantage with is mostly perceived at this point. Also, their review system had become so huge and untrustworthy even the stars next to an item are basically meaningless.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#56

Post by tvanantwerp »

Dowwie wrote: post #31

Evidently, Amazon is ruining Whole Foods at breakneck speeds, too. The one near me was re-designed to a cold, commercial feel. Many items were removed. No more freshly roasted coffee on-site. etc. Cashier asked me if I was a prime member. No thanks, Amazon.

Agreed, Whole Foods' quality is suffering under Amazon. It's a crap-shoot now whether I'll actually find what I'm looking for.

They've also implemented the most frustrating customer rewards program I've ever seen in a grocery store. You have an app with a QR code that you scan at PoS--but the scanners they've got almost never detect the code! Probably 60-80% of the time, the cashier has to scan it herself with the regular barcode scanner. I tried using my phone number once--a common practice at other store that always works--but it couldn't detect that I was a Prime member, despite my phone number being very clearly entered into my Amazon account. Even when I do finally get scanned in as a Prime member, I usually save less than $2. It's so much frustration that I often don't bother. Whoever was in charge of creating and implementing that program should be fired.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#57

Post by pbhjpbhj »

anoncoward111 wrote: post #28
80mph wrote: post #12

I recently went down the rabbit hole of trying to buy Yorkshire Gold tea on Amazon (I am in the US). I encountered so many bad reviews of users complaining about the quality, and the flavor being weakened, or not the authentic YG flavor, that I gave up. It was impossible to tell to which seller each bad review was attributable. I went on Ebay, found decent UK sellers in less than 5 minutes, and ordered my tea. Downsi…

>at least I know what I'm getting Lorddddd I am holding back laughter right now. Ebay is the original defintion of online scamming and counterfeiting. The real way to do this would be for someone to buy a bulk order from the manufacturer, import it, and then sell it piecemeal with a social media profile that demonstrates legitness and quality of product. Ebay's fees and lack of quality control add negative value to t…

IME product details given in eBay listings refer to that product from that seller, rather than a similar product from anyone of a number of current or past sellers (as Amazon appears to).

Thus ratings are useful, as are reviews.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#58

Post by pbhjpbhj »

80mph wrote: post #24
mhb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the products which I have ordered frequently and with which I didn't expect any problems. Almost all the reviews are good, the price is good and I've been subscribing and saving for years. So I'm genuinely curious why you thought Amazon wasn't good for this item. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XEV9YE

This is my 1st time trying it. I want the authentic Yorkshire Gold, made for UK flavor standards, not one re-formulated for American taste buds (as some of the reviews allege).

Perhaps the USAmerican reviewers can't make tea?

(They just chuck it in harbor full of water and wonder why it's salty and weak?)

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#60

Post by Scoundreller »

sehugg wrote: post #43
80mph wrote: post #12

I recently went down the rabbit hole of trying to buy Yorkshire Gold tea on Amazon (I am in the US). I encountered so many bad reviews of users complaining about the quality, and the flavor being weakened, or not the authentic YG flavor, that I gave up. It was impossible to tell to which seller each bad review was attributable. I went on Ebay, found decent UK sellers in less than 5 minutes, and ordered my tea. Downsi…

If you absolutely need a single 4116 16kbit DRAM chip right now (well, in several days) eBay is the place.

That’s what’s the most amazing about EBay: just how niche the parts get.

Either internal components, or people parting out a broken system, you can find it all.

Need one screw for your iMac? It’s there.

Need some random resistor size? You can buy 1000. In through-hole or different SMT sizes.

Need a power supply for a particular TV? It’s there.

Need a USB male to male 4’ cable? It’s there.

Need a 5V to 18V 2A power supply? Etc.

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