Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor(foxbusiness.com)
foxbusiness.com
Amazon raised Prime Day prices, misleading consumers, says vendor
http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/24/amazon-jacked-up-prime-day-prices-misleading-consumers-says-vendor.html
288 comments
Over and over again I've realized just before or after buying an item from Amazon that I paid way too much. I have finally broken the ingrained habit of leaping before looking. That can't be good for Amazon if too many people do that.
On another note, I am beyond tired of the craptacular deals that are >80% fly-by-night products with astroturf reviews. The gold box deals used to be a favorite bookmarked stop.
On another note, I am beyond tired of the craptacular deals that are >80% fly-by-night products with astroturf reviews. The gold box deals used to be a favorite bookmarked stop.
This is another big one. Amazon is filled with garbage products. It can be very hard to tell what's quality, anymore, and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be.
I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.
I used to read reviews on Amazon religiously even if I was buying somewhere else. That habit has kinda faded, though it's still one of the better sources of real world product knowledge.
> and the reviews aren't trustworthy the way they used to be
You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've already used the knife and found out it wasn't very sharp (my >5 year old knife of a different brand was still sharper), so I thought "be careful what you ask for, 'cause you may get it" and gave them an honest 3 star review. Not even 2 hours later I get an email from their rep apologizing for a "faulty item" and offering either send me another one or issue a refund and I can keep the knife in both cases. I realized what was the catch, but opted for a refund and removed my review when they asked me on the next email (obviously). So now this knife is still sold on Amazon, with 100 reviews and counting, only one 4 star review and the rest of them 5 stars.
You can say that again. I recently bought a kitchen knife with Amazon Prime that had ~100 reviews, an average of 5 stars. It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap. Just after I bought it the seller sent me one of those nagging emails asking for a review which I ignored. A week after they sent me another email, a copy of the first one. By the time I've already used the knife and found out it wasn't very sharp (my >5 year old knife of a different brand was still sharper), so I thought "be careful what you ask for, 'cause you may get it" and gave them an honest 3 star review. Not even 2 hours later I get an email from their rep apologizing for a "faulty item" and offering either send me another one or issue a refund and I can keep the knife in both cases. I realized what was the catch, but opted for a refund and removed my review when they asked me on the next email (obviously). So now this knife is still sold on Amazon, with 100 reviews and counting, only one 4 star review and the rest of them 5 stars.
So you just helped continue the fraud? Things aren't gonna improve by complaining on HN.
It's not his job to fix Amazon's fraud issues. Amazon has billions of dollars at its disposal, it should invest some in quality control.
Of course it isn't his job. As it isn't his job to help an old blind woman to cross the street.
I am not intending to emit a moral judgement, just to point out that he was sufficiently outraged to complain about it and to use such strong vocabulary as "fraud", and yet he acquiesced.
Helping (a little bit) to fix the problem wouldn't have been that much of an inconvenience, and if we customers were more like that this kind of behaviour wouldn't be possible, or at least harder.
I am not intending to emit a moral judgement, just to point out that he was sufficiently outraged to complain about it and to use such strong vocabulary as "fraud", and yet he acquiesced.
Helping (a little bit) to fix the problem wouldn't have been that much of an inconvenience, and if we customers were more like that this kind of behaviour wouldn't be possible, or at least harder.
Your statement assumes that Amazon isn't investing anything in quality control. If you have evidence of this, please post it. Otherwise, you're just a troll.
I could probably write a script in 5 minutes that would scan the database and pull the products with 5 star only reviews like this one. No matter how good a product is somebody will always be unhappy with it because people are people and that's normal. We can't afford to be that naive to believe in a 5 star only product because that is the actual trolling.
No matter how good a product is somebody will always be unhappy with it
If nothing else, someone almost without fail will leave a one-star review that has nothing to do with the item itself. "Package was damaged, one star." "UPS left it in the rain..." If Jesus asked for reviews at Mount Olive (the loaves and fishes thing), there'd be a one-star review somewhere, "fish was a little dry, and I don't like sourdough bread. Better miracles at Joe's House of Wonder, one star." (Though I guess even in reality he got one star from the Pharisees: "shouldn't be doing miracles on Sabbath; one star.") Nothing and nobody, even Jesus, gets nothing but five star reviews.
IOW, your suggestion would be as good as anything Amazon has right now.
If nothing else, someone almost without fail will leave a one-star review that has nothing to do with the item itself. "Package was damaged, one star." "UPS left it in the rain..." If Jesus asked for reviews at Mount Olive (the loaves and fishes thing), there'd be a one-star review somewhere, "fish was a little dry, and I don't like sourdough bread. Better miracles at Joe's House of Wonder, one star." (Though I guess even in reality he got one star from the Pharisees: "shouldn't be doing miracles on Sabbath; one star.") Nothing and nobody, even Jesus, gets nothing but five star reviews.
IOW, your suggestion would be as good as anything Amazon has right now.
My own two eyes?
At least ~30%+ of Amazon's products are cheap Chinese garbage resold from Albiaba under 10+ different "brands." (private label) There's are also tons of very obvious fake and counterfeit products that could be spotted with a simple human review of new listings.
At least ~30%+ of Amazon's products are cheap Chinese garbage resold from Albiaba under 10+ different "brands." (private label) There's are also tons of very obvious fake and counterfeit products that could be spotted with a simple human review of new listings.
No, things will improve when Amazon gives >0 fucks and cracks down on the practice.
His other option was letting them keep the money. Surely that's worse?
The point of the fraud is to make money. He denied them that money.
The point of the fraud is to make money. He denied them that money.
And allowed them to continue to make future money.
There's no point in debating the moral issues when our world is anything but. It's like condemning engineers for enabling governments and corporations to spy on us and constantly erode our privacy. In this particular situation the interaction was between me and the seller. Reviews are written, edited, removed by a person that owes nothing to other potential customers.
Seems contradictory to buy a low quality item based on unfair reviews, complain about that fact, then go on saying that reviewers owe nothing to anyone. They obviously owe a modicum of honesty and objectivity to other potential buyers. Why would you leave a review if not to inform other buyers ?
Well in this case I left a review because the seller was hassling me for one. Personally I have little trust in reviews. By the way, I wasn't complaining in my original post, just stating facts.
I would have just updated my review with the relevant info that they gave you a free replacement and then followed up by asking you to remove your review.
The other reason for a review is to complain to the seller. And it worked beautifully, he got his money back, and the seller lost money.
I wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, it was indeed a faulty item
> by a person that owes nothing to other potential customers
Yet you feel jaded by the other reviewers. You don't owe me anything, but I would encourage you to go back and leave a negative review if the product isn't worth the price. I'm in the market for a cooking knife and would appreciate good reviews. Thanks.
Yet you feel jaded by the other reviewers. You don't owe me anything, but I would encourage you to go back and leave a negative review if the product isn't worth the price. I'm in the market for a cooking knife and would appreciate good reviews. Thanks.
Just buy a thin bladed one from ikea along with a ceramic roller sharpener.
Don't use it on frozen stuff.
If money is no object get a global along with the global specific ceramic roller sharpener.
Yes there are better things out there but for the cost Ikea is very good.
Don't use it on frozen stuff.
If money is no object get a global along with the global specific ceramic roller sharpener.
Yes there are better things out there but for the cost Ikea is very good.
Again.. Amazon is like eBay on crack .. you can and will come across quality - you will - and when you do - you'll be that much more apt to go back for more - no??
If you just need a small set, I highly recommend the Wusthof Studio set. I got mine for under $100 and they work really well.
> It's like condemning engineers for enabling governments and corporations to spy on us and constantly erode our privacy.
I don't agree with your actions, but I definitely agree with your statement. It's like judging people for paying less taxes via loopholes, yet it's perfectly legal. We focus on judging the action, rather than fixing the problem.
In this case, judging you for using a broken system, akin to tax loopholes, may not be "good" - but it's certainly not the root of the problem. Judging you would, at best, just cause one more "victim" (for lack of a better word), and completely ignore the root cause.
We as a nation need to - at the very least - focus equally on the root cause as much as those doing something we don't like. In this case, the company and/or Amazon are far more meaningful and fruitful subjects to lay blame on. Forcing one person to keep an item is not going to fix anything but ensure they have a wasted money, and have 1 bad review in a likely sea of reviews. A possibly insignificant digit. Yet, if the company is accurately called out, if Amazon are accurately called out, we may see real change.
I assume we blame you because it's easy. "Don't dodge taxes!" we scream. Yet, it's our laziness that enables tax dodgers due to ultimately ignoring and not fixing the root problems.
I don't agree with your actions, but I definitely agree with your statement. It's like judging people for paying less taxes via loopholes, yet it's perfectly legal. We focus on judging the action, rather than fixing the problem.
In this case, judging you for using a broken system, akin to tax loopholes, may not be "good" - but it's certainly not the root of the problem. Judging you would, at best, just cause one more "victim" (for lack of a better word), and completely ignore the root cause.
We as a nation need to - at the very least - focus equally on the root cause as much as those doing something we don't like. In this case, the company and/or Amazon are far more meaningful and fruitful subjects to lay blame on. Forcing one person to keep an item is not going to fix anything but ensure they have a wasted money, and have 1 bad review in a likely sea of reviews. A possibly insignificant digit. Yet, if the company is accurately called out, if Amazon are accurately called out, we may see real change.
I assume we blame you because it's easy. "Don't dodge taxes!" we scream. Yet, it's our laziness that enables tax dodgers due to ultimately ignoring and not fixing the root problems.
> In this case, judging you for using a broken system, akin to tax loopholes, may not be "good" - but it's certainly not the root of the problem
Wouldn't the greed of man be the true root of the problem? It just so happens that we can't actually fix it in a practical manner so the next best thing we can do is to be make it so it's difficult to take advantage of others.
Wouldn't the greed of man be the true root of the problem? It just so happens that we can't actually fix it in a practical manner so the next best thing we can do is to be make it so it's difficult to take advantage of others.
> It just so happens that we can't actually fix it in a practical manner so the next best thing we can do is to be make it so it's difficult to take advantage of others.
I mean, I think we can. In the case of tax loopholes, they should be plugged. The corruption in politics that created, and also support the loopholes, should be prosecuted. The list goes on and on.
Sure, you are correct, the "greed of man" is to blame - but my point is systems shouldn't be set up where greedy people can freely exploit, and good people exist solely to be taken advantage of.
Systems, laws and limitations should exist to mitigate the damage done by greedy individuals as best possible. The water in the boat may be a pressing concern, but it'll just keep coming back if our main focus is to just bucket the water out of the boat. It needs to be a combined focus, or we only delay eventually being overtaken completely.
Theft is a crime, and laws exist to punish the bad actors. Yet, we still have locks on doors to mitigate who can steal from us.
I mean, I think we can. In the case of tax loopholes, they should be plugged. The corruption in politics that created, and also support the loopholes, should be prosecuted. The list goes on and on.
Sure, you are correct, the "greed of man" is to blame - but my point is systems shouldn't be set up where greedy people can freely exploit, and good people exist solely to be taken advantage of.
Systems, laws and limitations should exist to mitigate the damage done by greedy individuals as best possible. The water in the boat may be a pressing concern, but it'll just keep coming back if our main focus is to just bucket the water out of the boat. It needs to be a combined focus, or we only delay eventually being overtaken completely.
Theft is a crime, and laws exist to punish the bad actors. Yet, we still have locks on doors to mitigate who can steal from us.
We do owe those around us.
We are a society built on good will. The kindness of others has given me everything I value in life. It is my responsibility to pay into it.
Sometimes we cannot afford to. That is fine. A lifetime of good deeds covers moments of necessary selfishness. If this was one such moment for you, don't feel bad about it. But if you could afford to take the time and wealth to make the world better, do.
We are a society built on good will. The kindness of others has given me everything I value in life. It is my responsibility to pay into it.
Sometimes we cannot afford to. That is fine. A lifetime of good deeds covers moments of necessary selfishness. If this was one such moment for you, don't feel bad about it. But if you could afford to take the time and wealth to make the world better, do.
> There's no point in debating the moral issues when our world is anything but.
Some people have not given up on having a moral society and believe that there is great benefit in debating the issues. Because you are not open to debate doesn't mean the debate has no value, but I appreciate your perspective.
Some people have not given up on having a moral society and believe that there is great benefit in debating the issues. Because you are not open to debate doesn't mean the debate has no value, but I appreciate your perspective.
Why not just leave the honest review up?
A dull knife is fraud? Seriously?
Knives are meant to me sharpened. The cheapest knife can be sharpened to razor blade sharpness. Sometimes new knives come sharpened somewhat, but in my experience all mass-produced knives need sharpening when new, even $250 knives.
I genuinely can't comprehend the complaint. What next, buy a new car and complain it didn't come with the tank full?
Knives are meant to me sharpened. The cheapest knife can be sharpened to razor blade sharpness. Sometimes new knives come sharpened somewhat, but in my experience all mass-produced knives need sharpening when new, even $250 knives.
I genuinely can't comprehend the complaint. What next, buy a new car and complain it didn't come with the tank full?
>What next, buy a new car and complain it didn't come with the tank full?
Yes. You should complain if you buy a new car and it doesn't come with a full tank of gas, or needs new tires, or needs an oil change right from the dealership. Those are things you expect from a new car, and they're the reasons you buy a new car.
If I bought a used knife, I'd expect to sharpen it. If I buy a brand new knife, I expect it to be sharp right from the factory. If it's not, I could have saved money and just bought a steel rod and made my own knife out of it. A knife has one purpose: to be sharp. If it's not, it's not a knife. It's a cheap hunk of thin steel that they told you was a knife.
There is zero reason a brand new product needs immediate maintenance before it can be used.
Yes. You should complain if you buy a new car and it doesn't come with a full tank of gas, or needs new tires, or needs an oil change right from the dealership. Those are things you expect from a new car, and they're the reasons you buy a new car.
If I bought a used knife, I'd expect to sharpen it. If I buy a brand new knife, I expect it to be sharp right from the factory. If it's not, I could have saved money and just bought a steel rod and made my own knife out of it. A knife has one purpose: to be sharp. If it's not, it's not a knife. It's a cheap hunk of thin steel that they told you was a knife.
There is zero reason a brand new product needs immediate maintenance before it can be used.
> Those are things you expect from a new car, and they're the reasons you buy a new car.
Those are thing you expect from a new car, and they most certainly are not the reason I would buy a new car.
> If I buy a brand new knife, I expect it to be sharp right from the factory.
You might expect that, but the practical reality is that knives don't really come truly pre-sharpened, and there are many reasons for that. People don't realise that this is the case, because most people, in general, have really, really dull knives, so even a mediocre edge will seem comparatively sharp. But it isn't, it's just mediocre and once you have used a really sharp knife the difference becomes very apparent.
There isn't one way to sharpen a knife. Some people prefer an asymmetric edge, some people hate asymmetric edges. Some people prefer shallow angles, some people prefer steep angles. Some people prefer knives sharped for slashing, some people prefer knives sharpened for slicing. There is no right way to sharpen a knife, it is something extremely user-specific and personal and there cannot be a way to pre-sharpen them that would satisfy all people.
Because it is such a personal issue, I fully expect that I need to sharpen a new knife the way I want it, just as I fully expect I need to installs the apps I want and configure a new phone before I can use it.
> I could have saved money and just bought a steel rod and made my own knife out of it.
This is just hyperbole.
> There is zero reason a brand new product needs immediate maintenance before it can be used.
And yet many products are like that. For example DSLR cameras come without SD/CF cards. The user has to buy them and put them in the camera before he can use it.
Those are thing you expect from a new car, and they most certainly are not the reason I would buy a new car.
> If I buy a brand new knife, I expect it to be sharp right from the factory.
You might expect that, but the practical reality is that knives don't really come truly pre-sharpened, and there are many reasons for that. People don't realise that this is the case, because most people, in general, have really, really dull knives, so even a mediocre edge will seem comparatively sharp. But it isn't, it's just mediocre and once you have used a really sharp knife the difference becomes very apparent.
There isn't one way to sharpen a knife. Some people prefer an asymmetric edge, some people hate asymmetric edges. Some people prefer shallow angles, some people prefer steep angles. Some people prefer knives sharped for slashing, some people prefer knives sharpened for slicing. There is no right way to sharpen a knife, it is something extremely user-specific and personal and there cannot be a way to pre-sharpen them that would satisfy all people.
Because it is such a personal issue, I fully expect that I need to sharpen a new knife the way I want it, just as I fully expect I need to installs the apps I want and configure a new phone before I can use it.
> I could have saved money and just bought a steel rod and made my own knife out of it.
This is just hyperbole.
> There is zero reason a brand new product needs immediate maintenance before it can be used.
And yet many products are like that. For example DSLR cameras come without SD/CF cards. The user has to buy them and put them in the camera before he can use it.
That read as a satire of a hacker news response. It's a relatively expensive knife, it's not unreasonable to expect it to arrive with a sharp edge.
No offense, but it's a very cheap knife. Not saying at all you need or you might even want expensive knives, in fact yesterday I made a post on reddit about some very good cheap knives: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/6pet6k/cooks_whats....
However, that price point is the bottom of the bottom of the lowest end when it comes to knives and should be reviewed as such.
However, that price point is the bottom of the bottom of the lowest end when it comes to knives and should be reviewed as such.
No offense, but you seem to be someone who is very into knives and is proud of that. Most of us aren't. So what's "very cheap" to you is well above the price point of many people.
I mean, a BMW may be a high quality car, but most people are going to just get a base model Toyota Corolla and they're just fine with that choice. I can buy a kit car that makes me supply my own engine and tires and exhaust and electrics and it will be custom fit to my exact needs, but for the Toyota Corolla owners, they want to buy a car that already has all of those things and can be driven off the lot.
I'm not criticizing your choices, you seem very knowledgable. I'm just trying to help you understand that when you say "a knife shouldn't come sharp from the factory" and "that $45 knife is the bottom of the lowest end", it makes you seem incredibly out of touch with how most people buy knives.
If I bought a knife that wasn't sharp, I would return it to the store and get a different one.
I mean, a BMW may be a high quality car, but most people are going to just get a base model Toyota Corolla and they're just fine with that choice. I can buy a kit car that makes me supply my own engine and tires and exhaust and electrics and it will be custom fit to my exact needs, but for the Toyota Corolla owners, they want to buy a car that already has all of those things and can be driven off the lot.
I'm not criticizing your choices, you seem very knowledgable. I'm just trying to help you understand that when you say "a knife shouldn't come sharp from the factory" and "that $45 knife is the bottom of the lowest end", it makes you seem incredibly out of touch with how most people buy knives.
If I bought a knife that wasn't sharp, I would return it to the store and get a different one.
Knives and knife sharpening is a hobby for some people. These people are going to think any knife under $500 is garbage and any knife they didn't sharpen themselves is dull. They have their mind made up already.
If it was a ceramic knife, would it still make sense for a customer to figure out how to sharpen one of those?
No, I would expect a ceramic knife to be sharp and I would expect it to remain sharp throughout its life.
Unfortunately that's not possible, ceramic knives dull differently (the accumulate lots of tiny nicks or chips along the edge), but you can certainly sharpen them on a diamond stone, or with a dedicated sharpener, or in some cases send them back to the manufacturer[1].
1: http://www.kyoceraknife.com/how-to-sharpen-ceramic-knives.ht...
1: http://www.kyoceraknife.com/how-to-sharpen-ceramic-knives.ht...
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> It cost £33, so wasn't particularly cheap
Not that I doubt your assessment of the knife but..
As far as kitchen knives go this is cheap, although you can still get very good and sharp knives for this price like the Tojiro DP Gyuto or Victorinox Fibrox.
Usually people don't judge a knife by it's out of box sharpness but the sharpness after sharpening, ease of sharpening, edge retention, balance, and overall craftsmanship.
Not that I doubt your assessment of the knife but..
As far as kitchen knives go this is cheap, although you can still get very good and sharp knives for this price like the Tojiro DP Gyuto or Victorinox Fibrox.
Usually people don't judge a knife by it's out of box sharpness but the sharpness after sharpening, ease of sharpening, edge retention, balance, and overall craftsmanship.
>Usually people don't judge a knife by it's out of box sharpness
Maybe knife connoisseurs don't, but normal people certainly do. I don't know the names of any knives, those names you mentioned might as well be brands of washing machines. But if I buy a knife and it's not sharp, what's the point? Why can the factory not sharpen it before selling it to me?
Maybe knife connoisseurs don't, but normal people certainly do. I don't know the names of any knives, those names you mentioned might as well be brands of washing machines. But if I buy a knife and it's not sharp, what's the point? Why can the factory not sharpen it before selling it to me?
Disclaimer: I would rather have a sharp knife out of the box. But:
Using knives makes them not sharp, so the ability to sharpen is the definition of the knife not being junk. A dull knife is not a garbage knife that needs replacement, it is just a knife that needs sharpening.
I use a Lansky sharpener [1] and it is the cat's meow. Just takes a couple of minutes to put a great edge on.
[1]: http://lansky.com/index.php/products/dlx-5-stone-system/
Using knives makes them not sharp, so the ability to sharpen is the definition of the knife not being junk. A dull knife is not a garbage knife that needs replacement, it is just a knife that needs sharpening.
I use a Lansky sharpener [1] and it is the cat's meow. Just takes a couple of minutes to put a great edge on.
[1]: http://lansky.com/index.php/products/dlx-5-stone-system/
This is weird. It's like complaining about corruption and accepting a bribe at the same time.
Why not get your refund, and then reinstate your review along with your experience of them getting your review removed.
It shouldn't be hard for Amazon to detect such behavior and improve it's reviews or scores. Why don't they do that?
> It shouldn't be hard for Amazon to detect such behavior and improve it's reviews or scores. Why don't they do that?
Amazon doesn't benefit financially from negative or average reviews, but they do benefit from the positive reviews, regardless of their legitimacy, as the parent poster demonstrated.
Amazon doesn't benefit financially from negative or average reviews, but they do benefit from the positive reviews, regardless of their legitimacy, as the parent poster demonstrated.
Of course Amazon benefits from negative reviews. In a brick-and-mortar shop I can physically inspect the product before buying to judge its quality. Online shops don't have that, so you either have to trust the shop, brand or review system. Since Amazon allows everyone on their platform, the review system is the only reason you can still buy noname products there.
A good review system translates to trust, which enables sales.
A good review system translates to trust, which enables sales.
You can't really "inspect" most items in a B+M store. For example, if I buy a slow cooker I can see it in its package and see the display model. So? I don't know how well it cooks my fav dish.
They haven't realized it's an existential threat yet.
And to be fair, at scale, given that most people are idiots and don't know astroturf reviews exist, it might never be for them.
But they are definitely in danger of losing the people who told everyone else about "that Amazon thing."
And to be fair, at scale, given that most people are idiots and don't know astroturf reviews exist, it might never be for them.
But they are definitely in danger of losing the people who told everyone else about "that Amazon thing."
Why didn't you leave the review?
Probably the best thing would be to edit or replace it and then in addition to the criticisms, mention how they were very proactive about replacing/refunding for the item
I’ve mostly stopped buying new books directly from Amazon because they sometimes seem to send crappy quality printed-on-demand copies, and I have no easy way of predicting if I’ll get one of those beforehand. (Sadly much of the book industry is moving this direction even if you buy directly. For example, the past few years of Springer math books are all terrible printing quality.)
I’m mad that they now hide book reviews that aren’t from “verified purchasers” unless you spend several clicks hunting for them.
It’s really unfortunate that there’s no independent page for book reviews with a big enough community to be remotely comprehensive.
I’m mad that they now hide book reviews that aren’t from “verified purchasers” unless you spend several clicks hunting for them.
It’s really unfortunate that there’s no independent page for book reviews with a big enough community to be remotely comprehensive.
But where do you look? Everywhere else is ad-hoc market places that you'd have to know about, such as Newegg for tech.
But what's the Newegg of other stuff?
But what's the Newegg of other stuff?
I've had good luck just googling (now duck duck go) the part I needed. There are thousands of tiny specialty suppliers and most provide value beyond the gadget I need.
nailgunsdirect.com had the odd sized nails I needed for a project that were not stocked locally, they also have buyers guides which helped me decide a interesting new nailgun wasn't right for me. toolpartsdirect.com had the switch I needed for my drill, and a wiring diagram so I knew how to hook it up. Racketballworld.com had shoes in my size, and a lot of advice to step up my game. Those are just a few of places I've ordered from - there are many others that that I each which instead of selling everything and making me choose based on reviews only stocks quality products so I cannot go wrong.
nailgunsdirect.com had the odd sized nails I needed for a project that were not stocked locally, they also have buyers guides which helped me decide a interesting new nailgun wasn't right for me. toolpartsdirect.com had the switch I needed for my drill, and a wiring diagram so I knew how to hook it up. Racketballworld.com had shoes in my size, and a lot of advice to step up my game. Those are just a few of places I've ordered from - there are many others that that I each which instead of selling everything and making me choose based on reviews only stocks quality products so I cannot go wrong.
The reason I shop on Amazon is so I don't have to give shady vendors any of my personal information. I'm willing to pay a few bucks extra for the security that Amazon afford, as long as I'm getting genuine merchandise. Which I can't be guaranteed at Nail Gun Depot either.
You seem to be suggesting amazon is more likely to give you genuine merchandise. This doesn't fit with what I've been seeing lately where people complain about counterfeit merchandise all the time.
I find when going to small sites there are lots of signs that they are not shady: they generate own reviews and advice that is more than marketing. A little poking around will tell a lot. And of course I buy with a credit card so I'm protected against loss in the worst case.
I find when going to small sites there are lots of signs that they are not shady: they generate own reviews and advice that is more than marketing. A little poking around will tell a lot. And of course I buy with a credit card so I'm protected against loss in the worst case.
I'm suggesting Amazon can be trusted with my credit card, and implying I would use them over any other merchant as long as I am reasonably sure I am getting something genuine. Prime or Fulfilled By Amazon are pretty good determinations that I'm either getting something legit or I have a very clear path to return the item and get my money back.
I can't say the same thing for a billion other little shops online. If you can't trust that a product on Amazon is legit, how can you trust some no-name site? I can't see how "www.Totally-Legit-Nail-Gun-Depot.info" can be any more deserving of trust than the largest online retailer in the world who has a better-than-world-class return policy.
That's like saying "I've been burned by bad doctors in the past, I'm going to have my brain surgery performed by this guy in an alley". I don't care how many patient referrals Alley Guy has, or that I have life insurance in case he kills me.
Better the devil you know, right?
I can't say the same thing for a billion other little shops online. If you can't trust that a product on Amazon is legit, how can you trust some no-name site? I can't see how "www.Totally-Legit-Nail-Gun-Depot.info" can be any more deserving of trust than the largest online retailer in the world who has a better-than-world-class return policy.
That's like saying "I've been burned by bad doctors in the past, I'm going to have my brain surgery performed by this guy in an alley". I don't care how many patient referrals Alley Guy has, or that I have life insurance in case he kills me.
Better the devil you know, right?
Ordering directly from the manufacturer is usually a good option if you know exactly what you want.
Gold box (and so much of prime day) seemed like warehouse spring cleaning days.
If you really want to save money on household type items, go shopping in the 'market' area at your local IKEA store. Compare that with Amazon prices for pretty much everything and you'll be blown away by how cheap IKEA is.
Depends how much you value your time. At least at my local Ikea it is very difficult to get in and out in less than an hour even when I know exactly what I want.
Don't know about the US but here in Germany Ikea has an online store, too. Shipping for non-giant non-superheavy things is 3.90€ so pretty okay. They're not as fast as Amazon, though.
..or you can order online then go to shop and collect your order for free. It's usually the fastest method (except going to the shop and look for things yourself). I hate shopping so this is my preferred way of getting things locally.
Cost and selection aside,the no-way-out store layout (forcing you to traverse the entire floorplan) drove me away.
To be fair, Amazon never claimed the lowest prices, that's Walmart's motto I believe. Amazon strikes for best customer experience, I think it tries to achieve the best balance of convenience, value and service.
Eh, it's dropping the ball to be honest.
Of recent purchases on Amazon (sold by others, but dispatched and warehoused by Amazon) 50% have been faulty and needed to be returned ... that's put friction into the process because they don't do any QC on what they're stocking.
I've also had an instance recently of something shipped by Amazon that was meant to be with me next day not turning up and needing to be re-ordered. They only admitted it was lost days later, so I didn't re-order sooner. OK, I got a free month of Prime for my troubles, but it's not the amazing friction free experience it used to be.
Of recent purchases on Amazon (sold by others, but dispatched and warehoused by Amazon) 50% have been faulty and needed to be returned ... that's put friction into the process because they don't do any QC on what they're stocking.
I've also had an instance recently of something shipped by Amazon that was meant to be with me next day not turning up and needing to be re-ordered. They only admitted it was lost days later, so I didn't re-order sooner. OK, I got a free month of Prime for my troubles, but it's not the amazing friction free experience it used to be.
> it's not the amazing friction free experience it used to be
It is if you avoid third party sellers like the plague. I only order from a small handful of third party sellers I trust; otherwise it better be shipped and sold by Amazon or I'm looking elsewhere.
It is if you avoid third party sellers like the plague. I only order from a small handful of third party sellers I trust; otherwise it better be shipped and sold by Amazon or I'm looking elsewhere.
Yep, but - still to be fair - please list the last three items that you could find (locally or online) at a lower price but that you decided to buy from Amazon instead because of the superior customer expereince.
I won't enumerate the three items, but I do but things from Amazon that I know I could buy for a bit cheaper either in some local store or online. I so it because I value my time and looking around for the best deal takes time too
I'm sure I could find the last automotive cleaner, diet foods, and more locally, if I cared to spend the time driving to places that might have it and checking. I'm also pretty sure they'd be cheaper there.
I've also bought games and computer parts on Amazon instead of NewEgg because I dislike NewEgg's shipping system and customer service. I'd rather pay a little more and have a nicer experience. And if I have to return it, I know it'll be easy to return to Amazon without a restocking fee or shipping charge.
I've also bought games and computer parts on Amazon instead of NewEgg because I dislike NewEgg's shipping system and customer service. I'd rather pay a little more and have a nicer experience. And if I have to return it, I know it'll be easy to return to Amazon without a restocking fee or shipping charge.
I wasn't clear, my bad.
For "locally" I meant "at the shop just around the corner", or however in a "convenient, known, usual, place" not a "drive in search of the lowest price across the city".
I have no experience whatever with NewEgg, from what I have seen around they seem on par with other online shops, and I - maybe I am just lucky - never needed the customer service of either Amazon of other vendors, what I can say is that at least here (Italy) Amazon is usually very fast in delivering (but all in all not that much faster than other online retailers, maybe there is a slight advantage for orders on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday).
For "locally" I meant "at the shop just around the corner", or however in a "convenient, known, usual, place" not a "drive in search of the lowest price across the city".
I have no experience whatever with NewEgg, from what I have seen around they seem on par with other online shops, and I - maybe I am just lucky - never needed the customer service of either Amazon of other vendors, what I can say is that at least here (Italy) Amazon is usually very fast in delivering (but all in all not that much faster than other online retailers, maybe there is a slight advantage for orders on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday).
I don't mean "lowest price". I mean at all.
For instance, I recently wanted to buy "Goo Gone Automotive" to get something off my car windshield. I'd read up online about it, and determined it was what I wanted.
My wife went to Target and the closest thing she found was "Automotive Glass Cleaner". Target has a dedicated automotive section, and I was pretty sure they'd have it or something like it, but they didn't.
In the end, I ended up buying it on Amazon rather than go from local shop to local shop hoping to find something close. (I could also have called first, but that's also very distasteful.) It was much easier to go on Amazon and just pay what they were asking.
For instance, I recently wanted to buy "Goo Gone Automotive" to get something off my car windshield. I'd read up online about it, and determined it was what I wanted.
My wife went to Target and the closest thing she found was "Automotive Glass Cleaner". Target has a dedicated automotive section, and I was pretty sure they'd have it or something like it, but they didn't.
In the end, I ended up buying it on Amazon rather than go from local shop to local shop hoping to find something close. (I could also have called first, but that's also very distasteful.) It was much easier to go on Amazon and just pay what they were asking.
Interesting. I also find myself picking up tech from NewEgg more often than Amazon. And I recently ordered most of the supplies for a cocktail party I was having at Walmart and Bed Bad and Beyond.
Amazon prices might beat local retail, but they are only sometimes competitive with other (often more specizlized) online retailers at this point.
Also, at least for me, shipping New Egg, Walmart and BBAB was faster than Amazon. I don't have Prime however.
Amazon prices might beat local retail, but they are only sometimes competitive with other (often more specizlized) online retailers at this point.
Also, at least for me, shipping New Egg, Walmart and BBAB was faster than Amazon. I don't have Prime however.
The issue I have with NewEgg is returns. There's always some condition, or expensive fee for return shipping. By comparison, Amazon makes it very easy
The flip side to Amazon's easy returns is that I regularly receive used/returned merchandise from Amazon that was advertised as new.
If the product clearly appears to be used I'd say that's a problem with Amazon's quality control for returns (though I never experienced those problems). However what do you think happens to returned items? You don't expect them to be thrown out, do you?
Maybe I'm way off, but I was always under the impression that those returned items are re-packaged (if necessary) and sold as new.
And I think that's fine since I really don't see any other way to handle it. Think about europe, where every shop has to offer a free 14 day return policy, regardless of if you're Amazon or a small Shopify seller.
If the item can't be sold as new, that means the customer overstepped and should be held accountable.
Maybe I'm way off, but I was always under the impression that those returned items are re-packaged (if necessary) and sold as new.
And I think that's fine since I really don't see any other way to handle it. Think about europe, where every shop has to offer a free 14 day return policy, regardless of if you're Amazon or a small Shopify seller.
If the item can't be sold as new, that means the customer overstepped and should be held accountable.
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Of course there is another way for retailers to re-sell customer returns. They can list them with labels such as "Used - Like New" or "Open Box" or whatever applies.
For example, go into any Best Buy and ask them where the open box deals are, or look on their website.
Or go to a Fry's Electronics store. They put returned items on the shelf with new ones, but there is a special label on the package noting this and generally offering a small discount.
Lenovo has a factory outlet separate from their main website where they sell customer returns. Unopened returns may be listed as new; opened returns are listed as used or refurbished.
Amazon lists returned products under "Amazon Warehouse Deals" in the New and Used section of a product listing, with the product condition noted in the description.
For most product categories, Amazon prohibits a returned item from being resold as "New":
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
> New: Just like it sounds. A brand-new, unused, unopened item in its original packaging, with all original packaging materials included. Original protective wrapping, if any, is intact. Original manufacturer's warranty, if any, still applies, with warranty details included in the listing comments.
There are some different policies in certain product categories; the page above lists them.
Of course, third-party sellers on Amazon may well re-sell customer returns as "new". But if they don't comply with the rules on this page, they are violating their seller agreement.
For example, go into any Best Buy and ask them where the open box deals are, or look on their website.
Or go to a Fry's Electronics store. They put returned items on the shelf with new ones, but there is a special label on the package noting this and generally offering a small discount.
Lenovo has a factory outlet separate from their main website where they sell customer returns. Unopened returns may be listed as new; opened returns are listed as used or refurbished.
Amazon lists returned products under "Amazon Warehouse Deals" in the New and Used section of a product listing, with the product condition noted in the description.
For most product categories, Amazon prohibits a returned item from being resold as "New":
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...
> New: Just like it sounds. A brand-new, unused, unopened item in its original packaging, with all original packaging materials included. Original protective wrapping, if any, is intact. Original manufacturer's warranty, if any, still applies, with warranty details included in the listing comments.
There are some different policies in certain product categories; the page above lists them.
Of course, third-party sellers on Amazon may well re-sell customer returns as "new". But if they don't comply with the rules on this page, they are violating their seller agreement.
It wouldn't be such a big deal, except that the last three times I ever ordered from NewEgg, I got the wrong product entirely once, a damaged product once (that was listed as new, yet the CPU socket pins on the motherboard I'd ordered were bent -- hard to do without opening the box), and had something where I paid for two-day shipping arrive after several weeks.
In those three cases.... * I returned the incorrect product in exchange for the item I'd actually ordered, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I returned the damaged motherboard in exchange for an undamaged one, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I contacted support about the slower-than-paid-for shipping, and was told, effectively "it'll get there eventually; no refund on shipping speed."
Those three experiences burned me on Newegg entirely. I'll pay the extra $10-20 to get the product somewhere else with less headache, especially since the restocking fees mean I come out close to break-even on price.
In those three cases.... * I returned the incorrect product in exchange for the item I'd actually ordered, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I returned the damaged motherboard in exchange for an undamaged one, and was charged a restocking fee despite it being Newegg's error. * I contacted support about the slower-than-paid-for shipping, and was told, effectively "it'll get there eventually; no refund on shipping speed."
Those three experiences burned me on Newegg entirely. I'll pay the extra $10-20 to get the product somewhere else with less headache, especially since the restocking fees mean I come out close to break-even on price.
Is that new? I don't remember ever having that experience, but I haven't had to return anything in a long time.
If you have an American Express card Newegg participates in ShopRunner and ShopRunner is free if you have an American Express card. ShopRunner provides free two day shipping both ways on eligible items (all items I've ever bought have been eligible).
I buy from NewEgg whenever I can to show my support for their active patent troll hunting efforts. That's a worthwhile cause even if their prices are slightly higher.
And, NewEgg also generally has excellent customer service, in my experience. So, it's not like I'm trading away convenience or confidence in the vendor. I've bought hundreds of more items at Amazon than NewEgg in the past several years, but I'd bet my gross dollar spend is similar at NewEgg because I've bought a half dozen servers and computers.
Agreed, NewEgg customer service is excellent. Easy returns. I've probably spent more in raw dollars at NewEgg than at Amazon, even though I've made maybe 10x as many Amazon purchases.
Edit: I have NewEgg Premier though, so I get free shipping on certain items and free RMAs. Cheaper than Amazon Prime. I'm always amazed NewEgg doesn't get more love around here.
Edit: I have NewEgg Premier though, so I get free shipping on certain items and free RMAs. Cheaper than Amazon Prime. I'm always amazed NewEgg doesn't get more love around here.
My newegg account got permamently banned so I shop at Amazon. I don't even know why.
I do remember I had to jump through a couple of hoops to get something (about $8000 worth of something) shipped to an address not on file with my credit card, which is not something Amazon has ever done (I'm always shipping to weird places because I travel mostly full-time in an RV), but it wasn't too traumatic.
I can't imagine why they'd ban someone permanently. I mean, they want money, right? That seems weird. But, also sucks.
I can't imagine why they'd ban someone permanently. I mean, they want money, right? That seems weird. But, also sucks.
The weird thing is that it occured after all my transactions happened. I wasn't buying anything from the account. It was really weird.
even I noticed this and I'm in India. I buy second hand books now from an Indian startup. It has high quality second hand books for low prices & I don't mind second hand as long as there is no compromise on quality. I got 11 books for 1148 eight of John Grisham and rest are other authors
lol dude - you're paying for convenience - and that's alls there is to it - sit your fat ass down on a couch and blabber whatever you want at Alexa - then... THE SHIT SHOWS UP - this is why u pay more no??
I have saved thousands of dollars thanks to Amazon. Not because I bought from them. No, but because I use their app to compare items and get a price match. Nearly every major store (Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Staples, Office Max/Depot) match or beat Amazon. With Amazons app I can instantly scan all my products at a store. I may only save 2-5 dollars per item, but I do it every time I shop.
The other day I save $40 on a price gun from Staples. It was 89 in store, and 49 on on Amazon.
The other day I save $40 on a price gun from Staples. It was 89 in store, and 49 on on Amazon.
So Amazon gets a list of everything you're interested in offline as well, even if you don't buy from them. Sounds like win/win for them!
At least customers get paid for giving them that information (in the form of the discount that the price-matcher gives). I've done it, too, at Fry's when I needed some hard disks and a laptop on short notice. Saved about $100 in one trip (they were expensive hard disks), just by pulling up Amazon and pointing at the price for the service rep.
Competition is good.
Competition is good.
I can't believe so few people know about this. Fry's and Best Buy both price match reputable online retailers ("Sold by Amazon" or whatever they say when Amazon is the retailer and distributor) and I just get all of my hardware like that. For the cost of gas, I get it instantly and can instantly return DOAs instead of waiting for RMA or Amazon returns. In the case of lower cost products like USB cables, which have been the target of counterfeiters and fraud on Amazon, it prevents damage to other devices because the physical retailers are generally more careful about sourcing.
Even if the store didn't price match, you can get the price match from using a credit card that has a good price protection (like Discover) and submitting a claim (very easy in my experience).
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They're already pretty good at determining that without scanning items in a store.
Not really. He bought the product from someone else. If Amazon didn't need the money and just wanted the analytics, it would have undercut the physical store. The value of the analytics would be in the sale to another company to market to this person, but they fulfilled their need for the product when Amazon acquired the information. So it didn't benefit Amazon and by the time they could have sold it to a third-party, it was useless.
Simply by looking at a product will build a user profile. It's not about making this sale, but maybe about the next 100 sales.
Sure, but money isn't quantum physics. If he doesn't spend any money on Amazon or any other online retailer, how are they monetizing his time on the site?
They see he likes products x y and z. Another 20 customers like products x and y, so nudge them towards buying product z
No, what they see is that he looked at x, y and z and didn't buy anything. Why would it nudge the next guy towards z? "Other people who did not convert also did not convert after seeing THIS!"?
Ok so my example was obviously too simplified
Users a b and c all at some point search for information on products x y and z. Many users, many products.
User d comes along and has previously looked at product z and is now searching for product y. It's now worth putting product x in the "you may also be interested in" segment. It might land a sale, it might not. That data can then be added to the pool to decide if they should show product x to people who search similar products
Why bother at all if they didn't purchase? You don't know why they didn't purchase. Maybe they were shopping around, maybe they were price matching, maybe they just don't have the cash right now.
It's machine learning, not if statements.
Users a b and c all at some point search for information on products x y and z. Many users, many products.
User d comes along and has previously looked at product z and is now searching for product y. It's now worth putting product x in the "you may also be interested in" segment. It might land a sale, it might not. That data can then be added to the pool to decide if they should show product x to people who search similar products
Why bother at all if they didn't purchase? You don't know why they didn't purchase. Maybe they were shopping around, maybe they were price matching, maybe they just don't have the cash right now.
It's machine learning, not if statements.
Adding a bunch of non-converting user behavior to your machine learning model won't help you or anyone else make a single sale. Best Buy got the sale. They got all the meaningful analytics along with it.
All you got from this person is that they looked at two products. Maybe those two products are related, but maybe they aren't. Adding this to your model is just adding noise to the "people who liked this also liked" references, and Amazon surely already has better qualified data for that (i.e. actual conversions).
All you got from this person is that they looked at two products. Maybe those two products are related, but maybe they aren't. Adding this to your model is just adding noise to the "people who liked this also liked" references, and Amazon surely already has better qualified data for that (i.e. actual conversions).
Home depot does not price match IME. I tried to buy a portable AC a few weeks ago and they wouldn't price match against anyone.
YMMV, but Home Depot absolute does match prices in-store if you bring in a printed page from a major retailer. They have plenty of carve-outs: no auctions (eBay), club stores (Costco) or 3rd party sellers (Amazon marketplace, Walmart marketplace). But it's basically the same most price-match policies at Staples, Best Buy, Fry's, etc.
http://www.homedepot.com/c/PM_New_Lower_Price
http://www.homedepot.com/c/PM_New_Lower_Price
Home Depot does price match, but you do have to watch out for the carve outs. I most recently tried to save quite a bit of money on my kitchen appliances. However, they only price match "in stock" merchandise. They had to order these units so no price match for me.
So it appears in practice Amazon is cheaper, at least until local stores price match.
On some items, yes.
I'm worried / interested in what happens when Amazon starts in Australia. At the moment, I can get a limited selection of products delivered here in about a week and a half, often at a saving of 25-50% from the local price. Other things aren't even sold here - I think the last thing I encountered was trying to find a 4K HDMI switch - only available on Amazon US. I wonder whether my available selection will increase or decrease when Amazon "officially" starts here.
Where do you wind up going instead? I frequently wouldn't even know where to go to buy, say, a pair of lacrosse balls and adjustable sprinkler nozzles for a better price. I'm sure there's better deals to be had somewhere, but is there a go-to? Or a search engine that does particularly well deal-hunting?
Maybe that's a sign they've trapped me.
Maybe that's a sign they've trapped me.
I dunno. I don't shop for that stuff, generally. For sporting equipment, I usually go to craigslist as it's often really cheap and I like to reuse for environmental reasons, but for consumable items, it probably only makes sense to buy new. But, I've bought weights and the like from craigslist sellers.
Electronics is really my only big/expensive habit and NewEgg gets a lot of my business. I bought my last laptop directly from Dell Outlet during a sale and saved about $300 off of the same refurbished machine from Amazon. Though the ordering process from Dell was stupidly inconvenient as I had to get an agent involved to apply the discount and to deal with payment, as for some reason my business debit card wouldn't work. It took half a day, so it's not something I would do for less than a significant discount.
And, as I mentioned, Walmart is often a better choice for regular stuff, and they now have a quite large online selection including stuff that is not stocked in stores.
Oh, yeah, I buy truck stuff, parts and the like for my old pickup. I buy about half from Amazon market sellers and half direct from diesel specialty dealers. And parts for my old RV, same story. Big items never come from Amazon, though; my rooftop AC replacement was purchased from a local dealer for $240 less than the Amazon price.
I guess Google Shopping is how I've found most of the specialty shops.
Electronics is really my only big/expensive habit and NewEgg gets a lot of my business. I bought my last laptop directly from Dell Outlet during a sale and saved about $300 off of the same refurbished machine from Amazon. Though the ordering process from Dell was stupidly inconvenient as I had to get an agent involved to apply the discount and to deal with payment, as for some reason my business debit card wouldn't work. It took half a day, so it's not something I would do for less than a significant discount.
And, as I mentioned, Walmart is often a better choice for regular stuff, and they now have a quite large online selection including stuff that is not stocked in stores.
Oh, yeah, I buy truck stuff, parts and the like for my old pickup. I buy about half from Amazon market sellers and half direct from diesel specialty dealers. And parts for my old RV, same story. Big items never come from Amazon, though; my rooftop AC replacement was purchased from a local dealer for $240 less than the Amazon price.
I guess Google Shopping is how I've found most of the specialty shops.
Depending on the item, I almost always price compare either Newegg vs. Amazon or Walmart vs. Amazon. The Walmart ecommcerce experience is drastically improved to what it was 4 years ago... prices are good.. and the new shipping and ready to reorder feature.. its so hard not to comparison shop.
With Walmart drastically increasing their instore pay and providing better than retail avg. advanced scheduling + Amazons poor pay and working conditions for distro workers Amazon doesn't even even have a moral advantage. (According to my radio Walmart distro workers even start at above 16.50/hr, and thats in a rural area...)
With Walmart drastically increasing their instore pay and providing better than retail avg. advanced scheduling + Amazons poor pay and working conditions for distro workers Amazon doesn't even even have a moral advantage. (According to my radio Walmart distro workers even start at above 16.50/hr, and thats in a rural area...)
Is there an easy way to comparison shop on Amazon?
I saw ads for chrome extensions but I don't know if they are good.
I saw ads for chrome extensions but I don't know if they are good.
I've been happily using the Camelizer for years: https://camelcamelcamel.com/
You can visit the site and/or install a plugin.
You can visit the site and/or install a plugin.
Been using the Camelizer for years! It's a great tool.
I would love if one of the extensions mentioned in sister replies would include a feature that hides the "regular price" so that you can't be falsely anchored (and duped into thinking you're getting a good deal).
All you'd see is the price you're being asked to pay, so you can evaluate whether it's worth that price or not.
All you'd see is the price you're being asked to pay, so you can evaluate whether it's worth that price or not.
I've been using the Honey extension on Amazon for the past few months. Averaged out, it has saved me a little under 10% of what I would have spent, so I am happy with it. At least this way some of that marketing money is coming back to me. It has also incidentally shown me just how often Prime items are jacked in price.
Honey made Firefox extremely slow when I tried it out a few months ago. I was using PriceBlink but their latest update also slowed down Firefox considerably.
I can report that it is well-behaved in Chrome, at least.
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As a long time customer I'm sick of having Prime constantly shoved down my throat. I use amazon, I'm a paying customer, stop bothering me. I've been getting a lot of Walmart. The shipping is great, the prices are competitive, and as someone else said, the whole experience has improved drastically in the past few years. Of course they don't have quite the selection that Amazon does though.
Another such change: charging more and more for Prime on the grounds that it now includes a lot of stuff I don't want, like videos. That might make it a better deal for some people, but I canceled it.
I've fallen for Newegg's slightly lower prices a few times, last two new items i ordered, both were opened up. 2nd one missing crucial parts that someone poked all of them out through the bag inside of the device's box.
2nd item was through a reseller though.
I don't use Amazon too often these days, but Newegg's lost me from these last few experiences. Their support basically said "meh" about both cases.
2nd item was through a reseller though.
I don't use Amazon too often these days, but Newegg's lost me from these last few experiences. Their support basically said "meh" about both cases.
For a really long time (over a year) I was trying to get my oders to be shipped to an address in California, Daly City. I had 30% success rate. I have called Amazon several times but they gave me bullshit. I figured out that the delivery guy was stealing all of the shippment and I could prove it. Amazon did not care. After a while I just stopped ordering anything because it is impossible to get delivery there. All of the shippments were arriving to a different address few miles from that one. Funniest part that the shipping company was actually owned by Amazon.
Were your orders being stolen or were they being shipped to another address? You comment was a little conflicting.
Being stolen. Reported delivered all the time. Once I went and followed the delivery truck and checked when the guy reported it delivered. When I confronted the driver he said he got lost.
you missed the item condition?
on Amazon it's the same if you buy from anything that doesn't say "sold and shipped by amazon". quality and return policy is a crapfest.
on Amazon it's the same if you buy from anything that doesn't say "sold and shipped by amazon". quality and return policy is a crapfest.
Condition was listed as "new", via Newegg. Both times.
I agree Amazon has dropped the ball, but I still prefer to buy from Amazon compared to literally every other site because of the superior UI.
Compared to other major retailers (Walmart, NewEgg) the experience is just so much more smoother on Amazon.
Sometimes speciality items are cheaper on manufacturer's website. But that requires me to make an account and fill a bunch of forms! Some websites allow guest checkout, but there's often some fuckup happening with that and then I can't even complain properly and/or have a good reference number without an account. And even without an account I still have to fill all those terrible, terrible forms.
Plus it always takes longer to receive my merchandise from random websites than amazon. Even if I pay for the super-quick option, which, by the way, is usually more expensive than the equivalent option on Amazon, I still get my merchandise later because the small store will more likely ship tomorrow while Amazon will gladly do night operations.
Compared to other major retailers (Walmart, NewEgg) the experience is just so much more smoother on Amazon.
Sometimes speciality items are cheaper on manufacturer's website. But that requires me to make an account and fill a bunch of forms! Some websites allow guest checkout, but there's often some fuckup happening with that and then I can't even complain properly and/or have a good reference number without an account. And even without an account I still have to fill all those terrible, terrible forms.
Plus it always takes longer to receive my merchandise from random websites than amazon. Even if I pay for the super-quick option, which, by the way, is usually more expensive than the equivalent option on Amazon, I still get my merchandise later because the small store will more likely ship tomorrow while Amazon will gladly do night operations.
> I can't help but think that having more of their longtime customers starting to comparison shop is a bad thing.
Amazon's goal is to make that well-nigh impossible.
Amazon's goal is to make that well-nigh impossible.
I use Amazon now as an eBay replacement for specific hard to find items. I wanted a heavy duty cabana-style beach umbrella. Amazon was the best place to find it by far.
For just about everything else, Amazon doesn't really offer a great price and the "convenience" value isn't really worth it anymore to me. I can't order lots of routine stuff due to the fraud issues. Even books are usually cheaper at the local bookstore these days.
For just about everything else, Amazon doesn't really offer a great price and the "convenience" value isn't really worth it anymore to me. I can't order lots of routine stuff due to the fraud issues. Even books are usually cheaper at the local bookstore these days.
That makes me curious, does the US not have any good comparison shopping websites? Personally Prisjakt[1] (PriceSpy[2] in the UK) is pretty much always my starting point when I'm looking for something, just because their search and discovery tools are so much better than any stores I've seen.
For example, let's look at laptops. Here's a list from PriceSpy of 15"-18" 1080p laptops with AMD graphics, 16+GB of RAM, SSDs, and 3+ USB ports.[3] For comparison, Webhallen[4] and Inet[5] (enthusiast shops, comparable to Newegg) only let you filter by class, screen size, or a few manufacturers. Elgiganten[6] and Media Markt[7] (similar to Best Buy in the US) have a few free-form options, but still nothing even close to the organization or breadth offered by Prisjakt. There are also few to no sliders or groups, instead you're stuck either approving individual screen sizes or predefined buckets of CPU series. Oddly, Elgiganten lets you filter for Intel's CPU price classes (i3/5/7) but not generations.
Amazon seems to follow the same recipe as Elgiganten/MM, which definitely leaves me wondering how Americans shop for computers. Or perhaps that's why so many seem to give up and praise Apple's "simple" lineup...
[1]: https://www.prisjakt.nu/
[2]: https://pricespy.co.uk/
[3]: https://pricespy.co.uk/category.php?m=s320733439
[4]: https://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/datorer_och_tillbehor/barbar...
[5]: https://www.inet.se/kategori/81/15-16
[6]: https://www.elgiganten.se/catalog/datorer-tillbehor/se_barba...
[7]: http://www.mediamarkt.se/sv/category/_b%C3%A4rbar-dator-5103...
For example, let's look at laptops. Here's a list from PriceSpy of 15"-18" 1080p laptops with AMD graphics, 16+GB of RAM, SSDs, and 3+ USB ports.[3] For comparison, Webhallen[4] and Inet[5] (enthusiast shops, comparable to Newegg) only let you filter by class, screen size, or a few manufacturers. Elgiganten[6] and Media Markt[7] (similar to Best Buy in the US) have a few free-form options, but still nothing even close to the organization or breadth offered by Prisjakt. There are also few to no sliders or groups, instead you're stuck either approving individual screen sizes or predefined buckets of CPU series. Oddly, Elgiganten lets you filter for Intel's CPU price classes (i3/5/7) but not generations.
Amazon seems to follow the same recipe as Elgiganten/MM, which definitely leaves me wondering how Americans shop for computers. Or perhaps that's why so many seem to give up and praise Apple's "simple" lineup...
[1]: https://www.prisjakt.nu/
[2]: https://pricespy.co.uk/
[3]: https://pricespy.co.uk/category.php?m=s320733439
[4]: https://www.webhallen.com/se-sv/datorer_och_tillbehor/barbar...
[5]: https://www.inet.se/kategori/81/15-16
[6]: https://www.elgiganten.se/catalog/datorer-tillbehor/se_barba...
[7]: http://www.mediamarkt.se/sv/category/_b%C3%A4rbar-dator-5103...
>Walmart often has better prices on everyday items and I can have it immediately.
But isn't the value in not having to travel to Walmart, select the item, wait in line, pay for the item, and transporting the item back to your home worth something?
I assume you already go to the grocery store, so picking up tweezers isn't much effort. But what about something that isn't sold at a grocery store?
But isn't the value in not having to travel to Walmart, select the item, wait in line, pay for the item, and transporting the item back to your home worth something?
I assume you already go to the grocery store, so picking up tweezers isn't much effort. But what about something that isn't sold at a grocery store?
> But isn't the value in not having to travel to Walmart, select the item, wait in line, pay for the item, and transporting the item back to your home worth something?
No. At least not for me, and I imagine a large chunk of other users.
The value of amazon was
1. Reviews: I can see feedback on the item in a way that's simply not possible with local stores
2. Selection: I have access to far more products than I do at a local store.
3. Price: Amazon used to essentially do the price matching work for me, they would always be around the same dollar price (and sometimes far lower) than local stores.
I would much rather go to a store and purchase an item because it does away with the hassle of waiting. But I used to value the reviews and increased selection size more than the immediacy of the purchase, and the price is just a great bonus.
As a previous heavy user of Amazon, my usage has essentially tanked over the past year because I no longer trust reviews.
Are some fake reviews easy to spot? sure. Are all of them? hell no.
Couple that with rapidly increasing prices and I'm thoroughly disillusioned. Finally, a lot of the larger local chains now have to-store shipping for less frequently bought items. I can hop on HomeDepot's site and have them ship a rare item to a local store, and pick it up in a few days. Often at a better price than Amazon.
Frankly, I loved prime 4 years ago. Not a big fan today.
No. At least not for me, and I imagine a large chunk of other users.
The value of amazon was
1. Reviews: I can see feedback on the item in a way that's simply not possible with local stores
2. Selection: I have access to far more products than I do at a local store.
3. Price: Amazon used to essentially do the price matching work for me, they would always be around the same dollar price (and sometimes far lower) than local stores.
I would much rather go to a store and purchase an item because it does away with the hassle of waiting. But I used to value the reviews and increased selection size more than the immediacy of the purchase, and the price is just a great bonus.
As a previous heavy user of Amazon, my usage has essentially tanked over the past year because I no longer trust reviews.
Are some fake reviews easy to spot? sure. Are all of them? hell no.
Couple that with rapidly increasing prices and I'm thoroughly disillusioned. Finally, a lot of the larger local chains now have to-store shipping for less frequently bought items. I can hop on HomeDepot's site and have them ship a rare item to a local store, and pick it up in a few days. Often at a better price than Amazon.
Frankly, I loved prime 4 years ago. Not a big fan today.
OP is talking about Walmart's online store, which has been giving Amazon competition for the last year or two.
Walmart is the largest Grocery Store chain in the US... So that kinda mutes your argument...
There were real deals on Amazon hardware devices (Echo, Fire, etc). Most everything else was "meh".
camelcamelcamel.com is your friend to research how good of a deal it really is. (no affiliation, just a happy user)
camelcamelcamel.com is your friend to research how good of a deal it really is. (no affiliation, just a happy user)
I second the recommendation for 3camels, and not just for Prime Day. I bought quite a bit on Prime Day - all of which I'd had in my cart / wish list for months and all of which were well below their actual price (per 3camels).
I also saw quite a few products that were well above their normal prices, while showing as "80% off" because the prices were raised a week before. I didn't see anything that drastic from Sold-By-Amazon products. They were generally 3rd-party vendors.
I also saw quite a few products that were well above their normal prices, while showing as "80% off" because the prices were raised a week before. I didn't see anything that drastic from Sold-By-Amazon products. They were generally 3rd-party vendors.
I use "keepa" for inline price graphs on amazon pages. Camel is also great, just like having the graphs appear within each amazon page.
https://keepa.com/#!addon
https://keepa.com/#!addon
Pretty much anything I don't need immediately, I set an alert for with 20% of the lowest price in the past year and just wait. If it never gets that low I usually just forget about it, if it does get that low or even lower it usually the best deal I'm going to get online.
camelcamelcamel is indeed a great resource. Also, you can set up a Workflow workflow on iOS to get a quick price history via the 'share' button from within the Amazon app.
Great idea! Do you happen to have a Workflow to share? I'm heavily interested in getting this.
https://workflow.is/workflows/e194d7fdef0343649b6d037293b18c...
(There was a bug for a while where you had to insert an alert before opening the web page to make it work, but it seems to have been fixed recently so I've taken this out).
(There was a bug for a while where you had to insert an alert before opening the web page to make it work, but it seems to have been fixed recently so I've taken this out).
Thank for you for following this back!
One good deal was topping up on Amazon credit. There was a $5 Prime Day bonus, plus the other $10 for topping up $100. 15% for free can cover for prices that aren't necessarily the cheapest, especially when prime shipping fees are considered.
waatcher has a nice graph too
Not only is this not new for traditional vendors, it's not even new for the internet. Scummy sellers on Steam do the same thing right before sales every single year. Oh well. At least some quite nice Anker stuff was actually on sale. You can never have enough USB chargers these days.
Just like in the case of Steam, I'm more apt to believe it's sellers that are doing this than Amazon. While both stand to benefit, sellers stand to benefit much more overall.
Although it's never going to be perfectly accurate, I recommend anyone who shops Amazon for expensive stuff use a price tracking service, like CamelCamelCamel, to see exactly how good a deal on Amazon really is. Again, not perfect, but at least you can then get some context for what the price is currently showing up as.
Just like in the case of Steam, I'm more apt to believe it's sellers that are doing this than Amazon. While both stand to benefit, sellers stand to benefit much more overall.
Although it's never going to be perfectly accurate, I recommend anyone who shops Amazon for expensive stuff use a price tracking service, like CamelCamelCamel, to see exactly how good a deal on Amazon really is. Again, not perfect, but at least you can then get some context for what the price is currently showing up as.
Their prices are not the lowest, just experienced this recently. Here is a bike i wanted to buy
https://www.amazon.com/GMC-Denali-Large-63-5cm-Frame/dp/B00F... ($220)
Ended up buying on walmart ($170) https://www.walmart.com/ip/25-700c-GMC-Denali-Men-s-Bike-Whi...
So much for paying $99 to get prime. I have noticed of late that lot of items are cheaper on Walmart and they offer free 2 day shipping.
https://www.amazon.com/GMC-Denali-Large-63-5cm-Frame/dp/B00F... ($220)
Ended up buying on walmart ($170) https://www.walmart.com/ip/25-700c-GMC-Denali-Men-s-Bike-Whi...
So much for paying $99 to get prime. I have noticed of late that lot of items are cheaper on Walmart and they offer free 2 day shipping.
Off-topic, but that's a truly terrible bike. I know a few people who've gotten it or similar GMC's as "the first result on Amazon for road bike" and they've all had problems with chains breaking or very poor fit of components. I'd recommend http://www.bikesdirect.com/ for cheap bikes online if you're comfortable with assembly and tuning.
Another happy bikesdirect customer here - a bunch of coworkers over the years have gone that route and been pleased as well. They're cheap, but definitely usable, safe, and a good value.
You don't even need to be comfortable with assembly and tuning -- just take it to a local bike shop and they'll do it for a small fee ($50 - $100)
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Whenever I need to buy things from Amazon, I always cross shop at Walmart. I've found them to be cheaper in many cases, and sometimes considerably, particularly when it comes to food related items.
Is that actually the same bike? Walmart seems to sell things under the same name as other retailers, but with some 'cost reducing' features... at least they have in the past.
Also, I presume GMC doesn't actually make these, any idea who does?
Also, I presume GMC doesn't actually make these, any idea who does?
Wouldn't that be fraud?
Walmart often sells not-quite-same models of things.
One, they often sell main items at below cost, because they make their money on accessories and groceries and whatnot before people check out. Computers and TVs are big ones. They will often take a big loss on a TV because they expect to sell DVDs and cables and such.
Two, I didn't click this product but often they will have a submodel of a popular brand. Like an imaginary Dell Laptop-XX-XD might normally be $599. Walmart sells a Dell Laptop-XX-SP where the RAM is soldered on and the network card is a Chinese knockoff and so on for $499. Same company, same-ish model, Walmart special.
One, they often sell main items at below cost, because they make their money on accessories and groceries and whatnot before people check out. Computers and TVs are big ones. They will often take a big loss on a TV because they expect to sell DVDs and cables and such.
Two, I didn't click this product but often they will have a submodel of a popular brand. Like an imaginary Dell Laptop-XX-XD might normally be $599. Walmart sells a Dell Laptop-XX-SP where the RAM is soldered on and the network card is a Chinese knockoff and so on for $499. Same company, same-ish model, Walmart special.
Yes exactly. Costco often does the same thing... for example, they'll have a WD Passport 2TB USB 3.0 Passport drive, same specs as you'd find at Amazon, Best Buy, etc. except the packaging is different (one of those "stand up cardboard placards with blisterpack" things) and maybe it's also missing a case. /BUT/ it will also be a different model number. And also sometimes the warranty is different.
Sometimes you care about the differences, sometimes you don't. But consumers should realize the point you made (the not-quite-same aspect).
Sometimes you care about the differences, sometimes you don't. But consumers should realize the point you made (the not-quite-same aspect).
It can cut the other way. I have a Best Buy only Lenovo laptop with a bigger MMC than the official model.
It would be fraud if it's the same model number, AFAIK.
Some people drop ship things from Walmart via amazon.
Bed bath and beyond too. We ordered some cleaning product on Amazon that was delivered by BBB recently so I checked the price. We paid 3x on Amazon.
It's clear to any layperson willing to do research that they did so - I looked up several items on a few price history websites, and found that while they did have lower than normal prices, it was more like a 4% discount off the bottom instead of the 40% they claimed. The Yeti microphones seemed to be the absolute worst - they have never ever been $150, more like $90, and they were on sale for $85 or so.
don't they always do that?
Although your larger point may be right you're incorrect about the Yeti microphones. They are usually $129.
https://camelcamelcamel.com/Blue-Yeti-USB-Microphone-Silver/...
I bought one on sale for $100 last summer, and according to CamelCamelCamel, it was a good deal at the time.
https://camelcamelcamel.com/Blue-Yeti-USB-Microphone-Silver/...
I bought one on sale for $100 last summer, and according to CamelCamelCamel, it was a good deal at the time.
It looks like the average price from 2011-2013 was at around $100 - maybe they've improved the model, but it seems like they've pegged it at $130 in mid-2014 but it appears it still regularly dips below $100. Add in 3rd party, it USED to be $100, but is now $129.
Wirecutter found an improvement over last year (0.54% of deals good value vs 0.008%).
https://twitter.com/wirecutter/status/884900863218769920
Will have to wait for their full write up but there genuinely were a lot of quality items for the lowest price ever.
https://twitter.com/wirecutter/status/884900863218769920
Will have to wait for their full write up but there genuinely were a lot of quality items for the lowest price ever.
0.008%? Wow. I almost wonder if they went through the legal department and asked them "how small can we make our discounts before it becomes illegal to claim they are discounts?" Apparently, that small.
"Order within the next 5 hours and receive free next day shipping".
Hmm. OK. click
"Please review your order. $8.99 for next day shipping or free two day shipping."
Uh, OK. 'Check two day shipping. Submit'
"Your order has been placed. Delivery date - 5 days from now"
Hmm. OK. click
"Please review your order. $8.99 for next day shipping or free two day shipping."
Uh, OK. 'Check two day shipping. Submit'
"Your order has been placed. Delivery date - 5 days from now"
This happens so often to me. I'll be expecting a package one day and 8pm rolls around and I check the order status and it says 'expected delivery: tomorrow' - when I was sure the delivery was today at the time I placed the order.
It makes me feel like I'm going crazy, but I'm sure there's some sort of bug during the checkout process which switches me back to two-day shipping after I've selected one-day.
It makes me feel like I'm going crazy, but I'm sure there's some sort of bug during the checkout process which switches me back to two-day shipping after I've selected one-day.
> I'll be expecting a package one day and 8pm rolls around and I check the order status and it says 'expected delivery: tomorrow'
Is the carrier LaserShip? They're well known for lying in order to meet daily delivery numbers.
Is the carrier LaserShip? They're well known for lying in order to meet daily delivery numbers.
Shipping with prime has gotten much less appealing lately. It used to be seeing that logo meant it was coming tomorrow, or maybe the next day - now it's almost useless, as even third party sellers can show up as prime shipping. Lots more "available if you spend 30 dollars" prime choices now too, where that 30 dollars has to be in similar tier prime level products.
Trying to win free shipping as a paying prime member is now often a game of trying to be clever - the game they really, really want you to play. I'm growing more and more tired of it, but for now - the time saved going to places locally or site-hopping to find the best deal is still worth more to me, but "for now" means that it's basically under review - that game playing is really making me evaluate that convenience/cost balance..
Trying to win free shipping as a paying prime member is now often a game of trying to be clever - the game they really, really want you to play. I'm growing more and more tired of it, but for now - the time saved going to places locally or site-hopping to find the best deal is still worth more to me, but "for now" means that it's basically under review - that game playing is really making me evaluate that convenience/cost balance..
[deleted]
That's pretty standard for what I call the "scam economy" that is the US for the past 20 years. Watch any commercial.
Lest anyone not take you seriously, I noticed this when I first immigrated to the US, and every time I've returned from a multi-week trip: the first time I see a TV again I'm just flabbergasted at how nasty the advertizing is. When you're not used to it, it just seems especially manipulative and very negative towards the competition compared to other the other countries I've spent time in (which primarily other countries heavily influenced by the UK).
It's pretty shocking even if you are used to it. I can't believe people pay for cable given how terrible of an experience it is.
Weird. It's always on when I click the button.
I pay for cable to enjoy baseball games, primarily, as there is no other way to watch "in-market" otherwise. For certain demographics, it's just the most sense.
I mean, TV is TV. If I spend a little bit more to never have to deal with buffering, or a laggy UI, it's worth it to me. I think a lot of non-cord-cutters would agree.
Re: cord cutting; I've tried, I really have.
I pay for cable to enjoy baseball games, primarily, as there is no other way to watch "in-market" otherwise. For certain demographics, it's just the most sense.
I mean, TV is TV. If I spend a little bit more to never have to deal with buffering, or a laggy UI, it's worth it to me. I think a lot of non-cord-cutters would agree.
Re: cord cutting; I've tried, I really have.
I totally get the always on thing; especially for baseball. My point was more that ads are the driving force for me, and i am sure others, to abandon the platform; it feels a little like someone invading your home to yell at you if you're not used to it.
But this applies to YouTube too; cable cutting is hardly a panacea to avoid intrusive ads.
But this applies to YouTube too; cable cutting is hardly a panacea to avoid intrusive ads.
Personally, ads are easy enough for me to skip with a DVR (so long as you don't mind a lag between the live event and you watching it happen - avoiding results on the Internet isn't always easy) - but I don't even get the always-on thing. I had outages just as often as I do with Internet (actually more so), and I've had events not broadcasted when advertized. NBC Sports has been especially bad with this and F1 coverage - they outbid a motorsport-specific channel to get exclusive access to more niche events, and then those events get bumped to the bottom of the priority list in any scheduling conflict. So if you are DVR'ing it, you better check on it at least daily with other sources of information otherwise you're out of luck several times a season. Which wouldn't even be so bad if the only way to get NBC Sports and the other channels they move it to wasn't buying a 200 channel package and tripling my bill. So I just withdrew entirely.
"which primarily other countries heavily influenced by the UK"
UK, which until recently, had to abide strict EU mandated consumer protection protection laws. You cannot make unsubstantial claims even in ads. Companies had been sued and fined heavily for that.
UK, which until recently, had to abide strict EU mandated consumer protection protection laws. You cannot make unsubstantial claims even in ads. Companies had been sued and fined heavily for that.
Only the last 20 years? Only the US?
The particular issue described above (raising "base" prices to show a larger discount) is common in USA but illegal and thus very rare pretty much everywhere else. I'm quite sure that amazon.de and amazon.co.uk didn't apply this practice.
There's a rather common set of "truth in advertising" laws (e.g. to show a "x % off", the base price can't be made up ("recommended price") but you must have sold this item for certain amount of time for that old price already, the sale can't last for more than x months (in that case, that becomes the base price), etc, etc. USA has chosen not to adopt such laws.
There's a rather common set of "truth in advertising" laws (e.g. to show a "x % off", the base price can't be made up ("recommended price") but you must have sold this item for certain amount of time for that old price already, the sale can't last for more than x months (in that case, that becomes the base price), etc, etc. USA has chosen not to adopt such laws.
is this really the case in practice, though? Are there websites to measure it for amazon.co.uk/.de?
Asking honestly as I always assume they get around those regulations in some way.
As noted above you can check with camelcamelcamel even on .de. or .uk links.
Advertising and 'sales' are quite strict in the EU and consumer protection is very strong.
Advertising and 'sales' are quite strict in the EU and consumer protection is very strong.
Other countries often have much stronger advertising standards regulation and consumer protection laws.
In the US the attitude seems to be more "will I get sued over this"?
That said the FTC does seems to be on the case in this instance.
In the US the attitude seems to be more "will I get sued over this"?
That said the FTC does seems to be on the case in this instance.
My issue with Amazon lately isn't just the prices no longer being the lowest, it's that a big chunk of their products are counterfeits. I honestly have no idea how they haven't tamped down on that. If I shop at Wal-Mart, Target, Footlocker, etc, etc I know the products I buy aren't going to be fakes; no so with Amazon. I have started buying less stuff on there after a number of products have come back as fakes. I use Prime Video more than any other service now, but there's only maybe 2 shows I even care about on there.
> a big chunk of their products are counterfeits
The solution is to purchase products shipped and sold by Amazon. Avoid third party sellers unless you either know the seller well or if the seller is the manufacturer of the product.
And remember: "SHIPPED by Amazon" isn't enough since Amazon assists third party sellers by storing and shipping products on their behalf under Amazon's fulfillment program. The product has to be "SOLD by Amazon" as well in order for the above advice to apply.
The solution is to purchase products shipped and sold by Amazon. Avoid third party sellers unless you either know the seller well or if the seller is the manufacturer of the product.
And remember: "SHIPPED by Amazon" isn't enough since Amazon assists third party sellers by storing and shipping products on their behalf under Amazon's fulfillment program. The product has to be "SOLD by Amazon" as well in order for the above advice to apply.
Third party sellers get commingled with Amazon inventory so buying sold by Amazon doesn't fix the problem.
Amazon stores and ships products on behalf of third party sellers under their FBA program, but Amazon isn't listed as the seller in this circumstance.
The SOLD part of "Shipped and sold by Amazon" is just as important as the SHIPPED part when shopping.
The SOLD part of "Shipped and sold by Amazon" is just as important as the SHIPPED part when shopping.
You're not understanding how comminging works here.
Say I'm shady seller X, I'm sending in fakes to FBA (lol). Yes, I'd like to sell "Product Y."
I'll list Product Y and enable "commingling," and send in fakes.
Now when Amazon sells Product Y, Amazon will choose an item from it's shelves in a warehouse. Since shady seller X said "commingle my inventory" Amazon may choose the product(s) shady seller X's sent from it's shelves.
Say I'm shady seller X, I'm sending in fakes to FBA (lol). Yes, I'd like to sell "Product Y."
I'll list Product Y and enable "commingling," and send in fakes.
Now when Amazon sells Product Y, Amazon will choose an item from it's shelves in a warehouse. Since shady seller X said "commingle my inventory" Amazon may choose the product(s) shady seller X's sent from it's shelves.
What kinds of things are you buying where counterfeits are a problem? Genuinely intrigued.
Everything.
Just like the root poster, I am disgusted by clusters of knockoffs and increasingly more weary of seeing them. Just about anything common you run across on Amazon is probably not original (is there such a thing as an uncommon product these days?) The worst part is that I can't get myself to trust any reviews - good or bad - which was my go-to for feeling assured about a purchase. A knockoff competitor may review or pay reviewers to ding someone else's version of the product, and boost their own, and they've created a scorched earth of uncertainty from this seller ecosystem.
For example, if you look up can openers, you'll see a bunch of ones that look exactly alike but are labeled as different brands. They contain slightly altered stock photos, but almost certainly all are stemming from the same original product. Mixed reviews give you cautions for some products, but not for others that are identical. Does it stay sharp, or doesn't it? Does it fail after 10 uses, or doesn't it? Does it work with lipped cans or doesn't it?
If you look carefully, you can probably guess in which order a product imitation was born in, based on the progressively more distorted JPEGs of the cover photo.
Look for a wire brush and you'll see same photo of the same product, "manufactured" by different companies. Senkary, Sucool, Tekton, eBoot, ABN, and a few dozen seemingly randomized names. I think I don't care about wire brush manufacturing consistency as long as it doesn't arrive wrapped in 1/4 lb of plastic and foam, and dripping with machine oil (I chuckled when I got it).
On the other hand, I do care whether a sprinkler head I get is actually pressure regulated and calibrated to 30 PSI, that the variable arc nozzle is built to spec and won't decompose in sunlight and clog rest of the irrigation system, and I do care whether a phone charger might burn my house down. Unless I order those three products directly from the known manufacturer, I won't trust that it's genuine.
Just like the root poster, I am disgusted by clusters of knockoffs and increasingly more weary of seeing them. Just about anything common you run across on Amazon is probably not original (is there such a thing as an uncommon product these days?) The worst part is that I can't get myself to trust any reviews - good or bad - which was my go-to for feeling assured about a purchase. A knockoff competitor may review or pay reviewers to ding someone else's version of the product, and boost their own, and they've created a scorched earth of uncertainty from this seller ecosystem.
For example, if you look up can openers, you'll see a bunch of ones that look exactly alike but are labeled as different brands. They contain slightly altered stock photos, but almost certainly all are stemming from the same original product. Mixed reviews give you cautions for some products, but not for others that are identical. Does it stay sharp, or doesn't it? Does it fail after 10 uses, or doesn't it? Does it work with lipped cans or doesn't it?
If you look carefully, you can probably guess in which order a product imitation was born in, based on the progressively more distorted JPEGs of the cover photo.
Look for a wire brush and you'll see same photo of the same product, "manufactured" by different companies. Senkary, Sucool, Tekton, eBoot, ABN, and a few dozen seemingly randomized names. I think I don't care about wire brush manufacturing consistency as long as it doesn't arrive wrapped in 1/4 lb of plastic and foam, and dripping with machine oil (I chuckled when I got it).
On the other hand, I do care whether a sprinkler head I get is actually pressure regulated and calibrated to 30 PSI, that the variable arc nozzle is built to spec and won't decompose in sunlight and clog rest of the irrigation system, and I do care whether a phone charger might burn my house down. Unless I order those three products directly from the known manufacturer, I won't trust that it's genuine.
> Everything.
The solution is to purchase products shipped and sold by Amazon. Avoid third party sellers unless you either know the seller well or if the seller is the manufacturer of the product.
The solution is to purchase products shipped and sold by Amazon. Avoid third party sellers unless you either know the seller well or if the seller is the manufacturer of the product.
Sounds like you know exactly which kind of sprinkler head you need, but not a wire brush.
After seeing some other replies, I think we use Amazon differently.
After seeing some other replies, I think we use Amazon differently.
A few that I have experienced recently that have really turned me off of Amazon.
- Charging cables, iOS and Android. - Memory cards, were supposed to be san disk but obviously were fake and didn't work well. - GoPro batteries.
I am pretty much 100% skeptical of anything I buy on Amazon now, which is why I have drastically cut back my purchasing from them. Like most who are posting here I mostly go to Walmart and Costco or look for local retailers for my needs.
- Charging cables, iOS and Android. - Memory cards, were supposed to be san disk but obviously were fake and didn't work well. - GoPro batteries.
I am pretty much 100% skeptical of anything I buy on Amazon now, which is why I have drastically cut back my purchasing from them. Like most who are posting here I mostly go to Walmart and Costco or look for local retailers for my needs.
Colognes, shoes, and watches, in my experience. I don't care much if a charging cable is a knock off, I usually buy a reputable cheap brand...but if I'm buying a cologne, or shoes they sure as hell better be legit.
Er, is this not illegal in the USA? It is in Canada:
The Act prohibits false or misleading representations to the public as to the ordinary selling price of a product, in any form whatsoever. Ordinary selling price is validated in one of two ways: either a substantial volume of the product was sold at that price or higher, within a reasonable amount of time (volume test); or the product was offered for sale, in good faith, for a substantial period of time at that price or a higher price (time test).[0]
[0] http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/02...
The Act prohibits false or misleading representations to the public as to the ordinary selling price of a product, in any form whatsoever. Ordinary selling price is validated in one of two ways: either a substantial volume of the product was sold at that price or higher, within a reasonable amount of time (volume test); or the product was offered for sale, in good faith, for a substantial period of time at that price or a higher price (time test).[0]
[0] http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/02...
>Simpson says Amazon is breaking Section 5 (a) of the FTC Act that prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices."
>“It’s strategy called ‘Price-anchoring.’ It’s pretty common across the board. Now as far as it being against the law or breaking any rules or regulations, it could be considered false and deceptive marketing under the FTC Section 5,” Kelly adds.
Many States call this practice out specifically as an unfair trade practice in their laws as well.
>“It’s strategy called ‘Price-anchoring.’ It’s pretty common across the board. Now as far as it being against the law or breaking any rules or regulations, it could be considered false and deceptive marketing under the FTC Section 5,” Kelly adds.
Many States call this practice out specifically as an unfair trade practice in their laws as well.
I think this practice mostly falls under state-level regulations. The government of California in particular seems to have gone after a slew of major retailers (including Amazon) for similar practices. Thus making your username doubly appropriate, I guess. It's hard to follow the outcomes in the hits I'm seeing, though.
Sort of. There are some rules. Note that this varies by state as well, federal law is probably nonexistent.
An old state law which for all I know was repealed ages ago or whatever was that an item couldn't be marked as on sale for half the year or more. You couldn't say it was 40% off for 300 days out of 365, that sort of thing. The easy workaround was to make it 40% off for three months, then have it on no sale at all but mark the sale price as the original price for the next three months, and switch back and forth whenever you want. So long as the item wasn't always marked "on sale" you were fine.
I don't think the US has ever had real evidence based tests like that, except in major class action suit which have largely ceased to exist thanks to mandatory arbitration clauses.
An old state law which for all I know was repealed ages ago or whatever was that an item couldn't be marked as on sale for half the year or more. You couldn't say it was 40% off for 300 days out of 365, that sort of thing. The easy workaround was to make it 40% off for three months, then have it on no sale at all but mark the sale price as the original price for the next three months, and switch back and forth whenever you want. So long as the item wasn't always marked "on sale" you were fine.
I don't think the US has ever had real evidence based tests like that, except in major class action suit which have largely ceased to exist thanks to mandatory arbitration clauses.
When I worked at a very large bricks/ecommerce retailer, the FTC had their eye on us for decades, so we had very complex pricing rules to make sure that we established "regular price" for a certain number of days before an item could be put on sale, and could only stay on sale for a certain percentage of on-sale days, then once "marked down" or "clearance" could never have the price raised again.
I'm guessing the FTC will have their eye on Amazon pricing soon.
I'm guessing the FTC will have their eye on Amazon pricing soon.
Given the current political climate, it's more likely the FTC will be dismantled first. That is unless The Washington Post pisses off the POTUS enough.
If you look at revenue and profit analysis from Amazon, it's clear that they are still customer focused. It's just that advertisers are now a bigger customer than the "real" customers. Amazon makes more money off of sponsored listings than selling the item sponsored. Kinda crazy.
Does that imply that, overall, people are making less from selling things than it costs to advertise them?
Back at an old startup when I had a lot of data from clothing retail websites, including historical prices and sale status, I ran some queries out of curiosity to look for this.
I'm pretty cynical but I was still shocked at the number of results. This seems to be a completely normal practice. Price and being on "SALE" seemed to be optimized or A/B tested almost separately. And the "regular price" field on sale items was garbage data that correlated with nothing.
I'm pretty cynical but I was still shocked at the number of results. This seems to be a completely normal practice. Price and being on "SALE" seemed to be optimized or A/B tested almost separately. And the "regular price" field on sale items was garbage data that correlated with nothing.
I saw a lot of comments saying "Prime Day" was really "Prime Marketing Day". Seems that was the case.
Prime Day is essentially a farce at this point, giving customers really great prices on only their own products like the Fire Tablet and Echo, which allow the customer to easily spend more on Amazon. I bet they would love it to be like Singles Day on Alibaba but all the marketing in the world can only help it along so fast.
I use Google Shopping ( http://shopping.google.com/ ) to compare prices. We saved over $300 on a King-sized bed when we wanted to upsize our bed.
I suspect RRP/ MSRP have nearly always been useless. Comparison is the only way to get a true sense of what a regular market price is for something. Too often I will see something on a 50%+ off sale which might just be matching the market or actually 5-10% off where the rest of the market is at.
After all, why would a retailer ever discount more than 10-20% off what everyone else is charging, outside of a clearance?
After all, why would a retailer ever discount more than 10-20% off what everyone else is charging, outside of a clearance?
Note that producers can't contractually force independent retailers to obey certain prices under antitrust rules. Hence MSRPs being merely "suggested".
It sounded to me like what the company objected to was Amazon claiming that the MSRP was higher than it actually was.
So, just like every other store, before the sale, they jack up the prices to make the markdown look more extreme.
What, have people never shopped in Sears/Macys/Mervyns or any other department store since the beginning of time?
Seriously, the only response I can come up with to this news is "Well... duh."
What, have people never shopped in Sears/Macys/Mervyns or any other department store since the beginning of time?
Seriously, the only response I can come up with to this news is "Well... duh."
> just like every other store
This is illegal in many countries, so waving it off as "everyone does it" is not only morally weak, but factually inaccurate.
This is illegal in many countries, so waving it off as "everyone does it" is not only morally weak, but factually inaccurate.
For me, Amazon used to be synonymous with quality, convenience and peace of mind. That has now changed, it is now merely convenient and subject to increasing competition. This last year I cancelled my Amazon Prime and now using Amazon far less than I used to.
Amazon has dropped the ball.
Amazon has dropped the ball.
Not really newsworthy. This is one of the oldest tricks in the book. "Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it." -Publilius Syrus (1st century BC)
This is newsworthy and should be called out every time, especially when it is such a trusted seller as Amazon.
"trusted seller"? What does that mean? What makes Amazon a "trusted seller", and why should we expect them to be different than any other seller?
Marketing and great PR buy a lot of things.
Someone got shot by police? Not newsworthy, happens all the time.
Politicians taking bribes? Not newsworthy, been happening forever.
Politicians taking bribes? Not newsworthy, been happening forever.
I regret writing "not newsworthy" now. Although the point I made still stands: this is nothing new.
I still consider that attitude a bad one, because it detracts from the seriousness of the issue. When people say "this is not new" many of those who read that will go "well, I guess I shouldn't be that outraged about it" - even if they were super-outraged a minute ago. The only thing that changed is that they learned that "it's not new", which implies "they can't do anything about it anyway, so they should just settle down".
I've seen a lot of these comments post-Snowden revelations, even though they were false, and that the mass-scale on which the NSA surveillance operated was indeed new - at least a decade new, but even newer if you consider how many people knew about it until then.
I've seen a lot of these comments post-Snowden revelations, even though they were false, and that the mass-scale on which the NSA surveillance operated was indeed new - at least a decade new, but even newer if you consider how many people knew about it until then.
For some reason, I can't take this seriously coming from fox news. They seem to be having an agenda with the current president, and Amazon has been getting hit as a collateral for feuds against the Washington post.
Either way, the article concludes with the vendor saying he think its just an issue with tweaking their algorithms, and not an actual tactic from Amazon.
Is there any other source that claim the same?
Either way, the article concludes with the vendor saying he think its just an issue with tweaking their algorithms, and not an actual tactic from Amazon.
Is there any other source that claim the same?
Udemy does this as well for all of their products.
Indeed. They pretty have an eternal "sale" for $10.
Quick check: yep. $10. "Set Yourself Apart - Keep your competitive edge with courses for $10—ends 7/31!"
Pretty sure by 8/3, there will be another sale for $10.
Quick check: yep. $10. "Set Yourself Apart - Keep your competitive edge with courses for $10—ends 7/31!"
Pretty sure by 8/3, there will be another sale for $10.
Hmmm. I seem to recall that Sears was sued for running "sales" more than six months out of the year, and lost. I feel like that would apply here?
There is an administrative code in my state that says that "furniture retailers may only have one 'closing down'/'final' sale per year"...
Amazon created a second black friday. I'm impressed by Jeff Bezos!
And they both offer fake discounts, too! The attention to detail in the replication of Black Friday is amazing!
Off topic but I just picked up those shoe deodorizers for $10 at the container store and they have actually knocked down the stench emanating from my hiking shoes.
I bought a Brother laser printer with toner for $80 shipped in two days. Happy Amazon consumer here. You'll have to rip Prime out of my cold dead hands.
Agreed.
People are just complaining to complain. It's also kinda cool right now to hate Amazon. It's gotten too big, ya know. They're evil, lol.
People are just complaining to complain. It's also kinda cool right now to hate Amazon. It's gotten too big, ya know. They're evil, lol.
I feel the same based on price of items I watched. I'm curious any site like camelcamelcamel can help quantify this "scam" :)
aka these Labor Day, Black Friday, and other annual sales by your nearest retailer. Same old.
There were good deals on shoes. I bought shoes for $36.20 (New Balance) that retail for $51.
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Article is worth reading. Imo the upping of price after demand increase is awful.
Also, i do not think those addicted to Amazon care about these types of things. They keep ordering and ordering. Convenience is the name of their game
Also, i do not think those addicted to Amazon care about these types of things. They keep ordering and ordering. Convenience is the name of their game
> Imo the upping of price after demand increase is awful.
What? This is economics 101 of supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, the price will increase. [0]
Just look at the stupidity of video card prices recently if you want a concrete, non-sale example of why price increases when supply cannot meet demand.
[0] http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3....
What? This is economics 101 of supply and demand. When demand exceeds supply, the price will increase. [0]
Just look at the stupidity of video card prices recently if you want a concrete, non-sale example of why price increases when supply cannot meet demand.
[0] http://www.investopedia.com/university/economics/economics3....
From the article: "It’s not like they’re bumping it by a buck and making a little bit more money. They are really tanking sales and it kind of has a ripple effect to us, being a small company trying to do demand planning"
The relevant Econ 101 buzzword isn't "supply and demand," it's "agency problem".
Amazon is "tanking sales" unilaterally, while the supplier manages stock on assumptions of higher sales at the regular, lower price point.
The relevant Econ 101 buzzword isn't "supply and demand," it's "agency problem".
Amazon is "tanking sales" unilaterally, while the supplier manages stock on assumptions of higher sales at the regular, lower price point.
Keepa is a great extension for price tracking on Amazon directly embedded into the page.
https://keepa.com/
https://keepa.com/
Amazon bumped the price of a $20 Britta water filter by $15 when I went to purchase it a second time. Odd how that can happen.
haha, this is similar to what JD do in China.
FOX is fishing for how Amazon could be hurting consumers so as to get anti trust litigation going. It is not illegal to be a monopoly but if it is hurting consumers it is fair game.
My opinion Amazon is NOT hurting consumers but rather Trump and the Republicans want to hurt it. YMMV
My opinion Amazon is NOT hurting consumers but rather Trump and the Republicans want to hurt it. YMMV
Conservatives can be looking to hurt Amazon and Amazon can be hurting consumers at the same time. I don't see how you can argue that lieing to consumers is not hurting them
Yup. As much as I dislike RNC and Foxnews right now, it doesn't mean Amazon ain't being a bad company.
FoxNews can be right once in a full moon.
FoxNews can be right once in a full moon.
Surprised that there isn't more of a discussion about how this link is from Fox news... and right after Trump tweets about Amazon.
What is the problem about the link being from Fox News?
Fox has a serious reputation for conservative bias
Which I'm not saying is necessarily a problem... just interesting. Thought it would be more of a conversation point.
The rest of the media is the opposite, and they get linked all the time.
Yes. That is why a post from Fox is interesting. I was not making a value judgement, but if you're trying to coerce one, here it is. In addition to having a conservative slant, Fox News is evil.
I'll see your bait and raise you a "whatever."
I think you forgot the /s
A few years ago, the word on the street was that bezos agreed to boost prices to reward the longtime shareholders/hedge funds/etc. And as expected, the prices on amazon have noticeably increased and the shares are at all-time highs.
Amazon is large enough now that they have a "captive market".
Amazon is large enough now that they have a "captive market".
Maybe I'm in the minority here but I don't have a problem with this. If they raise the price based on demand, and I still deem it a good price, then who was harmed here? Sure I paid more than I needed to but I still paid less than I felt it was worth to me.
I don't know if anyone was harmed per se - it's just a dick move.
If you had a friend that had been trying to sell his car on Craigslist and manipulated the price right before offering to sell it to you "at a discount", I think you'd be pretty disappointed with your "friend".
Sure, Amazon isn't your friend, but I think it's short-sighted when corporations engage in sociopathic behavior and are hostile to their customers. Especially when their business model is predicated on customer loyalty.
If you had a friend that had been trying to sell his car on Craigslist and manipulated the price right before offering to sell it to you "at a discount", I think you'd be pretty disappointed with your "friend".
Sure, Amazon isn't your friend, but I think it's short-sighted when corporations engage in sociopathic behavior and are hostile to their customers. Especially when their business model is predicated on customer loyalty.
They didn't raise the price based on demand. They raised the price so that they could "discount" it and make it look like a good deal when it wasn't.
If a product is normally $10, and then it's sold as "discounted 50% for Prime Day, now only $10," that's fraudulent.
If Amazon decides to charge more and people are willing to pay it, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when they lie to make people think they're getting more of a deal than they are.
If a product is normally $10, and then it's sold as "discounted 50% for Prime Day, now only $10," that's fraudulent.
If Amazon decides to charge more and people are willing to pay it, there's nothing wrong with that. The problem is when they lie to make people think they're getting more of a deal than they are.
But that's not what they did. Their algorithms automatically raised those prices based on demand. The demand just happened to be driven by being part of prime day.
Meaning that the algorithms were raising the non-discounted prices automatically because the discounts were driving demand?
If they're going to offer discounts that compare to the original price, that original price needs to actually be an original price, not something that's being changed while the discount is still in effect. If Amazon didn't do this, they're either utterly incompetent or they're letting it happen because they know it will trick people.
If they're going to offer discounts that compare to the original price, that original price needs to actually be an original price, not something that's being changed while the discount is still in effect. If Amazon didn't do this, they're either utterly incompetent or they're letting it happen because they know it will trick people.
I can tell you that for the first year of Prime, my wife and I never thought twice about the price when buying items on Amazon compared to the price we would pay locally. It seemed as if just about everything was comparable in price so why not take advantage of the convenience of having it shipped to our door.
Now i'm starting to question whether or not we're getting a good deal.
Now i'm starting to question whether or not we're getting a good deal.
Go to a brick and mortar jewelry store, everything is 100% off.
100% off is free, no matter what the base price is, so that's clearly not true. (Though, oddly, it's not uncommon online, with a “just pay (inflated) shipping and handling charge” proviso.)
The guy meant 100% of the new price off from the old price. It's a bit of a reverse temporal brain fart, but it is a valid statement. For some reason I just instinctively knew that this is what he meant.
Hey, any reason to downvote someone into oblivion is a cause worth fighting for.
- Someone with too much time and too much karma.
- Someone with too much time and too much karma.
I mean, if you go into a jewelry store with a gun and declare that everything is free you can get everything for 100% off (probably just the one time, though).
Can't do that with jewelry on Amazon.
Can't do that with jewelry on Amazon.
> I mean, if you go into a jewelry store with a gun and declare that everything is free you can get everything for 100% off (probably just the one time, though).
Maybe not even that; they are obvious targets, and as such precautions are common.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-05-08/news/010508027...
> Can't do that with jewelry on Amazon.
You can try, once you learn where the fulfillment warehouse is.
Maybe not even that; they are obvious targets, and as such precautions are common.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-05-08/news/010508027...
> Can't do that with jewelry on Amazon.
You can try, once you learn where the fulfillment warehouse is.
I mean, Amazon is still a very good customer experience, but when I'm buying something big I always comparison shop now. As recently as a couple years ago, I would just buy it. No thought to whether it might be cheaper elsewhere. The convenience of Prime, plus the reasonable confidence that the price would be competitive with everybody else, was enough to where I didn't bother comparison shopping.
Obviously, Amazon isn't hurting. But, I can't help but think that having more of their longtime customers starting to comparison shop is a bad thing.