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Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

theguardian.com

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Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#51

Post by vladvasiliu »

wiether wrote: post #24
ggm wrote: post #9

Amazon kindle books search is designed to show you authors other than the name you search on, to increase sales of "in the style of" which could have been a tickbox item, but no: they know it irritates, but it makes them more money. If type "Charles dickens" in search, there should be a way to get works by Dickens exclusively. Even if you select the Web link author name, you get "in the style of"

> If type "Charles dickens" in search, there should be a way to get works by Dickens exclusively. I tried it: - on the website from the home page - in the Kindle category - on my Kindle directly All I got was books by Dickens. There was the usual "sponsored" items but they are explicitly displayed as it. I don't know if it's a country issue, but I don't have the same experience as you. Furthermore, I read regularly o…

I'm in France, too. I don't know about fake products, I rarely buy "premium" stuff on Amazon. However, a few months ago I received a bag sold as new which had clearly been used, since I found a face mask and a random receipt in one of the pockets.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#52

Post by typpilol »

tjwebbnorfolk wrote: post #17

A few weeks ago I bought a "new" coffee maker which arrived physically broken and with used coffee grounds in the hopper. I don't understand how this is even possible. That's the last thing I'm buying on Amazon. Amazon pre-COVID was amazing. But 2-day shipping is now 5+ day shipping. It's chock full of cheap/fraudulent junk. It's been interesting to watch it go downhill so fast.

I live in rural Michigan and almost all of my stuff is next day. Hell some stuff is even same day if you order early

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#53

Post by rkomorn »

zeroq wrote: post #43

side note: Amazon is a marketplace, and more and more different vendors came to that place selling cheaper, shady things. They seems to have an open door policy. It's somewhat understandable. But that same strategy got adopted in many different places. Decathlon on their website offer products from other vendors. It's really shady as they advertise hassle free returns everywhere but that only applies to products sold…

Unfortunately, a "marketplace" is precisely what I don't want from a lot of the commerce sites that include them on top of their "first party" inventory, and they're seemingly becoming ubiquitous.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#54

Post by zargon »

iamwil wrote: post #46

Despite trying to instill a customer-centric culture, as soon as Bezos let his foot off the gas, his company just isn't as customer obsessed. Or, they changed their definition of customer from the buyer to the seller. I dramatically lowered my buying from Amazon about 8 years ago, when I noticed that listings had reviews on items that were completely different than what was being listed. Apparently, sellers sell a kn…

> Or, they changed their definition of customer from the buyer to the seller.

s/seller/shareholder/

I almost never buy from Amazon any more. For certain things it is difficult because Amazon has destroyed so much logistics and has such a stranglehold that a lot small/medium sized companies only sell through Amazon now. I ordered some kitchen gadget a few months ago from the company's own website, thinking I was avoiding Amazon, and it was delivered by an Amazon driver.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#55

Post by p1dda »

mnsc wrote: post #26
p1dda wrote: post #20

Amazon was simply superb in the early 2000 which made them so popular and dominating that most people will still buy from them even if they are rubbish and predatory. Why should they improve when people use them anyway?

You should read the article. :)

It's behind a pay wall

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#56

Post by quantummagic »

It may be that it's area, or customer specific, but Amazon is still great here. I'm ordering a computer overnight, so I hope I don't eat my praise on this one, lol. As a household we spend several thousand a month on average, so maybe we get put in the "keep-em-happy" file? One thing is, we only order if it ships from Amazon; never with someone who handles their own shipping.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#57

Post by Maxion »

submeta wrote: post #49

What bothers me more is Amazon limits the products you can see. When you search for a product type (say a USB Hub), it will show you constantly the same set of products. While you scroll, it repeats the products that are sponsored, sprinkling them here and there, and the mindless customer scrolls search results, seeing only the limited number of products Amazon wants to show you. Finally you‘ll order the one with the…

They also tend to show a very narrow selectio of items, if you search for a synonym of the product you're looking for you often end up finding other items that even contain the original search phrase in the item title and description.

It's very very frustrating.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#58

Post by notrealyme123 »

wiether wrote: post #45
ggm wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just did it on Web and got Emily Bronte, and Oscar Wilde as well as Dickens. I did it for "Philip kerr" and I get Richard wake and mark oulton. John le carre and I get Andrew Brown. These are "in the style of" clone authors.

I can see how annoying your experience must be in that case! I don't know what (who?) caused this, but I'm certain that I don't want to have the same experience...

The Amazon-Basic version of Charles Dickens

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#59

Post by FiveOhThree »

napo wrote: post #29
6ak74rfy wrote: post #19

Amazon's search results have been garbage from a really long time, I often wonder how come the executives or the team behind it never experience that themselves. I now to Amazon only if I know exactly what brand I am going to buy before opening Amazon. I also quit Prime couple of years ago. Hardly miss it.

Amazon search looks bad for us because it is designed to sell ads. Its goal is to make company pay the most money to show articles. Iirc, when this was proposed, Jeff Bazos said that this was the most stupid idea he ever heard. I think the reason why it was introduced, and why Executives don't want to change it, is that it generates a ton of money for Amazon. I'd personally love if in the end this would be the reason…

Unfortunately the store's primary revenue source seems to be from advertisers bidding on sponsored search result slots instead of the actual product sales.

Re: Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

#60

Post by dartharva »

nullhole wrote: post #2

Maybe I'm prudish, but I really dislike the term 'enshittification'. It sounds ugly, and it makes what would otherwise be polite discussions vulgar. 'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.

American English prefers more slang in general. The context here is largely American.
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