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Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

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Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#91

Post by klipt »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #85
bonestamp2 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also no sales tax at B&H for a lot of people. Of course, in some states, you're still supposed to pay the state sales tax directly when you do your income tax. I used to do this with amazon before they collected sales tax in my state. They allow you to download your purchase history (csv format) and see which items you didn't pay tax on so it's easy to calculate that line item on state taxes.

As a non-American this seems like a ridiculously complicated tax system.

It's because each of the 50 states administrates its own sales tax (or lack thereof).

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#92

Post by sam0x17 »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #56
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 re…

Yeah, for a while they did 30% off on all deli items, and we saved $100s with that, but otherwise it's like $1-$2.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#93

Post by vinay427 »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #85
bonestamp2 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also no sales tax at B&H for a lot of people. Of course, in some states, you're still supposed to pay the state sales tax directly when you do your income tax. I used to do this with amazon before they collected sales tax in my state. They allow you to download your purchase history (csv format) and see which items you didn't pay tax on so it's easy to calculate that line item on state taxes.

As a non-American this seems like a ridiculously complicated tax system.

1. This doesn't happen for the vast majority of sites, which charge the appropriate sales tax rate based on the shipping address location. Amazon individual sellers are inconsistent, but every major retailer handles it well within the bounds of the law. The issue came about partly because it was and is still often believed that one isn't obligated to pay sales tax if the shipper/seller isn't located in the same state, though the legality of this varies at best. Regardless, this isn't the "tax system" but rather the negligence of Amazon.

2. In the country where I currently live, if I order something from another country I am charged the tax on import plus a substantial processing fee that's usually much larger than the tax. I miss the US system in comparison...

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#94

Post by roywiggins »

lozenge wrote: post #67
throwawaymath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's nothing illegal about importing books. "The first sale doctrine, codified at 17 U.S.C. § 109, provides that an individual who knowingly purchases a copy of a copyrighted work from the copyright holder receives the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy, notwithstanding the interests of the copyright owner." Labels like "not for sale in the US" are aimed at distributers and stores,…

Grey market textbooks saved me pretty good money in college. But they're only good if you know that's what you're getting- the print quality is lower, usually not in color, worse paper. Still a good deal if you just want the content.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#95

Post by vinay427 »

klipt wrote: post #91
albertgoeswoof wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American this seems like a ridiculously complicated tax system.

It's because each of the 50 states administrates its own sales tax (or lack thereof).

Yes, but some cities and counties also have their own sales taxes, though this isn't why sellers don't charge sales taxes.

They don't charge them because they can get away with (or believe it is legal to) not charge sales tax for customers not in the state or area from which they operate.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#96

Post by finaliteration »

Johnny555 wrote: post #53

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 f…

A lot of people like to disparage Best Buy but I’ve found the stores in my area to be excellent and the staff to always be friendly and helpful. They’ll also price match Amazon in most cases. Their PC components selection isn’t huge, but for things like consoles, games, peripherals, etc., I feel like they’re great. They also offer one-hour pickup and in some cases will even give you a discount if you choose that over shipping.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#97

Post by gorgonian »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #85
bonestamp2 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also no sales tax at B&H for a lot of people. Of course, in some states, you're still supposed to pay the state sales tax directly when you do your income tax. I used to do this with amazon before they collected sales tax in my state. They allow you to download your purchase history (csv format) and see which items you didn't pay tax on so it's easy to calculate that line item on state taxes.

As a non-American this seems like a ridiculously complicated tax system.

It is. It’s really annoying.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#98

Post by guitarbill »

chias wrote: post #61
city41 wrote: post #26

Amazon makes it basically impossible to compare prices by unit of measure (ie $0.94 per gallon or what not). I’ve wanted to make a browser extension to attempt to fix that. I’ve always suspected this is intentional. But if I could compare prices this way and be confident I’m getting the best deal, I’d buy things on Amazon a lot more.

I find this especially infuriating -- they even do it within a single product! https://i.imgur.com/aeaeuT2.png That's $0.98 / oz, but if you switch from fruit punch to blue raz it becomes $15.18 / lb, and if you switch from the 60-serving pack to the 30-serving pack it's $24.58 / lb, but if you want to subscribe and save that's $0.93 / oz. WHY

Because US customary units are a pain? :D

Judging from shopping trips with housemates, I imagine most people don't look at those things, so putting more effort into that feature isn't worth it. But then again, Amazon's search is also notoriously bad, so maybe they simply don't have good metadata for products, and they're all derived in an ad-hoc way.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#99

Post by davidgay »

yholio wrote: post #83
NikolaNovak wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of trust as well. My parents generation, now in the 70's, has this implicit trust in salespeople. They know "in principle" that there are "bad apples", but if a salesperson shakes their hand, looks them in the eye, and says "Of course Mr. , we'll take care of you", they buy it wholesale. Which is how my dad bought $600 tires for $1800 at a dealership, a $1200 "DSLR camera" which was actually a superzoom…

In the small business dominated world of 40 years ago trust was a fundamental economic asset. A bad seller would immediately get a bad reputation and it would be known around the community. People trusted each other because that's how society has worked for millennia, to the point of tribalism, we are never allowed to scam "our" people for we might be ostracized and literally be in mortal peril outside the tribe. A h…

> In the small business dominated world of 40 years ago trust was a fundamental economic asset. A bad seller would immediately get a bad reputation and it would be known around the community.

Sorry, this is bogus. Salesmen for electronic goods have been terrible at least since the 70s - my father, who designed ICs used in TVs, used to rant about their incompetence and bald-faced lies...

My assumption is that they've always been awful.

Re: Amazon Ruined Online Shopping

#100

Post by njharman »

yholio wrote: post #83
NikolaNovak wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of trust as well. My parents generation, now in the 70's, has this implicit trust in salespeople. They know "in principle" that there are "bad apples", but if a salesperson shakes their hand, looks them in the eye, and says "Of course Mr. , we'll take care of you", they buy it wholesale. Which is how my dad bought $600 tires for $1800 at a dealership, a $1200 "DSLR camera" which was actually a superzoom…

In the small business dominated world of 40 years ago trust was a fundamental economic asset. A bad seller would immediately get a bad reputation and it would be known around the community. People trusted each other because that's how society has worked for millennia, to the point of tribalism, we are never allowed to scam "our" people for we might be ostracized and literally be in mortal peril outside the tribe. A h…

Good sellers are bad. The point is there is a seller and his manager and the space they sell to you. It is overhead. Prices increase to pay for all that. Nobody thinks they've been "had" in part because good sellers know how to sell and in part because its part of the system people expect a middleman markup cause how else is that middleman gonna earn enough to live.

We are in a post middleman economy. Its goining to be hard for people to adjust. But we aren't going back.

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