In some ways Amazon's entshittification is others' gain. For example, Amazon used to be a place you could easily buy and download music files legally. But they entshittified their music product to the point where it was impossible to use. Others stepped in selling lossless format downloads with a good buyer experience and made nice businesses out of them. The same will happen in all other areas previously dominated by Amazon.
They hit “day two” years ago in order to meet quarterly Wall Street analyst targets, which is why they didn’t end commingling inventory until recently.
Amazon kindle books search is designed to show you authors other than the name you search on, to increase sales of "in the style of" which could have been a tickbox item, but no: they know it irritates, but it makes them more money.
If type "Charles dickens" in search, there should be a way to get works by Dickens exclusively. Even if you select the Web link author name, you get "in the style of"
A few weeks ago I bought a "new" coffee maker which arrived physically broken and with used coffee grounds in the hopper. I don't understand how this is even possible.
That's the last thing I'm buying on Amazon.
Amazon pre-COVID was amazing. But 2-day shipping is now 5+ day shipping. It's chock full of cheap/fraudulent junk. It's been interesting to watch it go downhill so fast.
Amazon's search results have been garbage from a really long time, I often wonder how come the executives or the team behind it never experience that themselves. I now to Amazon only if I know exactly what brand I am going to buy before opening Amazon.
I also quit Prime couple of years ago. Hardly miss it.
Amazon was simply superb in the early 2000 which made them so popular and dominating that most people will still buy from them even if they are rubbish and predatory. Why should they improve when people use them anyway?
I don't use Amazon often, but as a fan of puzzle games, I really appreciate the UX (which regularly changes, so as to not get stale) of trying to buy something without inadvertently signing up for Prime.
I am trying to buy a new Nintendo Switch, but it seems impossible.
Search results are polluted by refurbished products that you only realize are refurbished once you look at the details. This happens for me even after selecting "new" specifically.
At least it Germany it's mostly down to marketplace shenanigans. Ofc you can still get your refunds but now you sometimes get wrong articles. Return frauds are normalized and the only thing they seem to check before sending it out again is weight. You can't find brand items anymore because it's flooded with Chinese throwaway brands and Amazon fulfillment is just garbage... well at least the outsourced company in our region.
Amazon is a marketplace, and more and more different vendors came to that place selling cheaper, shady things. They seems to have an open door policy. It's somewhat understandable.
But that same strategy got adopted in many different places.
Decathlon on their website offer products from other vendors. It's really shady as they advertise hassle free returns everywhere but that only applies to products sold by them specifically, not to majority of products available in their shop.
Kaufland (if you're in US think Germany's Walmart) has the same thing going on.
Despite trying to instill a customer-centric culture, as soon as Bezos let his foot off the gas, his company just isn't as customer obsessed. Or, they changed their definition of customer from the buyer to the seller.
I dramatically lowered my buying from Amazon about 8 years ago, when I noticed that listings had reviews on items that were completely different than what was being listed. Apparently, sellers sell a known good product that gets good reviews, and then swap it out for something else, so that the new product can piggy back off of the good karma. Amazon just didn't shut this down for years. Also, when Fulfillment services by Amazon mixed the the official provider's inventory with 3rd party distributors and reseller inventories. Sometimes, people would get knock-offs. I knew then, Amazon would coast for at least a decade before the decline would be apparent.
I thought I'd buy more Shopify stock as a result. Dunno if I ever did.
Bezus checked out long before he moved to emeritus. Wanted to be a movie producer and shoot his rockets. Andy took over with all of the vision of a corporate franchiser running a Dollar Store.
I slowed down my Amazon purchases drastically when everything I shopped for seemed to be flooded with these thousands of identical products have seemingly randomly generated all-caps brand names like BHHSRE, VHYXZY, XIOU, DAUGHE, JXMOX, LANMU, IBERLS, GMJYC… (yes, these are all actual brands I’ve seen on Amazon).
Jeez, the least they can do is make it look like they are trying to curb abuse.
What bothers me more is Amazon limits the products you can see. When you search for a product type (say a USB Hub), it will show you constantly the same set of products. While you scroll, it repeats the products that are sponsored, sprinkling them here and there, and the mindless customer scrolls search results, seeing only the limited number of products Amazon wants to show you. Finally you‘ll order the one with the highest number of stars.
This is not a neutral listening of all available products. Although Amazon proposes has and knows all sorts of products. It will push the ones right in your face that it wants to promote.
So if you are into a purchase, do your research on other platforms first before you order on Amazon.
It may be that it's area, or customer specific, but Amazon is still great here. I'm ordering a computer overnight, so I hope I don't eat my praise on this one, lol. As a household we spend several thousand a month on average, so maybe we get put in the "keep-em-happy" file? One thing is, we only order if it ships from Amazon; never with someone who handles their own shipping.
Amazon is my last resort nowadays, because some things are only sold there and on alibaba. If I only find a thing I want on amazon, I'll search again for the vendor name to see if they have a site of their own and if so buy it there instead
It does help me buy less stuff because the process is so annoying nowadays
I bought a $120 book from Amazon a couple of months ago, internationally, and they sent the wrong book.
I told them, and they said they'd refund it, don't need to send it back, and they'd even add $15 credit.
The refund never arrived so a few weeks later I got in touch again and they said I need to send it back if I want a refund. They told me the previous CSR had lied to improve ratings. I asked who I can complain to and they said nobody and closed the chat. I reopened it, restarted the refund, it was accepted and then 2 hours later I got an email saying that unless I sent them ID my refund would be rejected and that I can "no longer contact them" about this refund. I ignored that email, sent the book back and got the refund.
Another time I bought a Samsung Fold and it cracked down the middle. I told Amazon and they said they'll refund it under warranty. I sent it back and got a warning that if I return anything else in "non original condition" I'd be banned. Even though it was a warranty return.
That level of service would have been totally unheard of for Amazon 5 years ago.
> I sent it back and got a warning that if I return anything else in "non original condition" I'd be banned.
I have a similar story, they "delivered" when I was out, hidden behind a wall in my garden
when I found the package two days later, the expensive books had been ruined by the rain
I explained to their CS, they issued the return authorisation
then after they received the return they threatened me for not returning in "original condition"
I was a customer since the early 2000s, a prime member since it started, with something like 2 returns total in that time, with tens of thousands of spending (to this exact address)
>They told me the previous CSR had lied to improve ratings
This was over chat? You have the transcript? I find it hard to believe they would say this. Amazon CSR have a very strict script they have to go by. But they do lie, get everything in writing.
My refund experience on Amazon (France) has been the best I've ever had. Just a wizard that led me through about 6 questions, at the end of which it said your refund is approved. Took about 5 minutes, all automated.
Amazon in India is truly a miracle service. Affordable, has the largest range of products with quick and easy returns. I think it’s basically impossible to compete with it.
Amazon works great for me. Everything from cheap Chinese stuff I want immediately to fresh produce in a couple of hours to grill grates. The return policy is good with simple instructions and I'm comfortable with the error rate.
I haven't read the article, but as a Swede I am stunned by the title.
I shop from Amazon a couple of times per month, with Prime subscription.
Delivery is always insanely fast (within 1-2 days), I always get exactly what I ordered, prices are always lowest compared to all competition, returns are convenient and human-free, and the additional Prime Videos is a nice bonus. I am honeslty worried of local Swedish business, becase they are getting the floor wiped. I haven't had a single issue some other people are mentioning.
in Japan I experience none of the problems that people in HN seem to have with Amazon in other countries. Never encountered fake products, return has always worked, and stuff that never arrived was also reimbursed. Maybe I'm an exception.
83 comments
[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 75.0 ms ] thread'Degradation' seems to carry most (all?) of the same meaning and doesn't have those downsides.
If type "Charles dickens" in search, there should be a way to get works by Dickens exclusively. Even if you select the Web link author name, you get "in the style of"
That's the last thing I'm buying on Amazon.
Amazon pre-COVID was amazing. But 2-day shipping is now 5+ day shipping. It's chock full of cheap/fraudulent junk. It's been interesting to watch it go downhill so fast.
I also quit Prime couple of years ago. Hardly miss it.
Amazon is a marketplace, and more and more different vendors came to that place selling cheaper, shady things. They seems to have an open door policy. It's somewhat understandable.
But that same strategy got adopted in many different places.
Decathlon on their website offer products from other vendors. It's really shady as they advertise hassle free returns everywhere but that only applies to products sold by them specifically, not to majority of products available in their shop.
Kaufland (if you're in US think Germany's Walmart) has the same thing going on.
I dramatically lowered my buying from Amazon about 8 years ago, when I noticed that listings had reviews on items that were completely different than what was being listed. Apparently, sellers sell a known good product that gets good reviews, and then swap it out for something else, so that the new product can piggy back off of the good karma. Amazon just didn't shut this down for years. Also, when Fulfillment services by Amazon mixed the the official provider's inventory with 3rd party distributors and reseller inventories. Sometimes, people would get knock-offs. I knew then, Amazon would coast for at least a decade before the decline would be apparent.
I thought I'd buy more Shopify stock as a result. Dunno if I ever did.
Jeez, the least they can do is make it look like they are trying to curb abuse.
This is not a neutral listening of all available products. Although Amazon proposes has and knows all sorts of products. It will push the ones right in your face that it wants to promote.
So if you are into a purchase, do your research on other platforms first before you order on Amazon.
It does help me buy less stuff because the process is so annoying nowadays
I told them, and they said they'd refund it, don't need to send it back, and they'd even add $15 credit.
The refund never arrived so a few weeks later I got in touch again and they said I need to send it back if I want a refund. They told me the previous CSR had lied to improve ratings. I asked who I can complain to and they said nobody and closed the chat. I reopened it, restarted the refund, it was accepted and then 2 hours later I got an email saying that unless I sent them ID my refund would be rejected and that I can "no longer contact them" about this refund. I ignored that email, sent the book back and got the refund.
Another time I bought a Samsung Fold and it cracked down the middle. I told Amazon and they said they'll refund it under warranty. I sent it back and got a warning that if I return anything else in "non original condition" I'd be banned. Even though it was a warranty return.
That level of service would have been totally unheard of for Amazon 5 years ago.
I have a similar story, they "delivered" when I was out, hidden behind a wall in my garden
when I found the package two days later, the expensive books had been ruined by the rain
I explained to their CS, they issued the return authorisation
then after they received the return they threatened me for not returning in "original condition"
I was a customer since the early 2000s, a prime member since it started, with something like 2 returns total in that time, with tens of thousands of spending (to this exact address)
I deleted my account
This was over chat? You have the transcript? I find it hard to believe they would say this. Amazon CSR have a very strict script they have to go by. But they do lie, get everything in writing.
I shop from Amazon a couple of times per month, with Prime subscription.
Delivery is always insanely fast (within 1-2 days), I always get exactly what I ordered, prices are always lowest compared to all competition, returns are convenient and human-free, and the additional Prime Videos is a nice bonus. I am honeslty worried of local Swedish business, becase they are getting the floor wiped. I haven't had a single issue some other people are mentioning.