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I agree fully. Add in the blatantly fake reviews that are plaguing Amazon (my wife recently got screwed by this on a purchase, thinking it was highly-rated) an

I agree fully. Add in the blatantly fake reviews that are plaguing Amazon (my wife recently got screwed by this on a purchase, thinking it was highly-rated) and Amazon is losing what, IMHO, is a core piece of what got them to where they are. Namely, trust and reduction of risk. They had great reviews that were actually helpful, and if there was an issue they'd take care of it. Increasingly, this is not the case, but it may matter less for them now that they dominate the market. Today, I increasingly make major home purchases from Bed Bath & Beyond of all places because of their policies. Even if I order it online, I can have it shipped to the store and return it in store for free, with a damn near unlimited return due date. I've even returned a pillow I slept on previously, no questions asked. Add to that the fact I can physically look at the item (absolutely critical for determining color match, build quality, etc.) and for some purchases Amazon just doesn't provide the necessary experience yet (despite having a retail location now). On the other side of this story, people trying to be Amazon resellers are plaguing every entrepreneur-related forum I used to visit. Between that and subscription boxes they are clearly the next big "Get Rich Quick!" scheme. I can't wait till they die off.

GFischer 11y ago
"I can physically look at the item (absolutely critical for determining color match, build quality, etc.) " Would watching it on live video be "good enough"? (I'm building that, so I'm pretty interested in the answer :) )
- elorant 11y ago
  Asos.com has that for pretty much every item in their store. It looks nice if you ask me but I guess doesn't really substitute the real thing.
  - GFischer 11y ago
    Didn't know of them, thanks !
- shostack 11y ago
  A video can't show me how a fabric will look under certain light, or how it will compare against my rug. A video can't tell me that while the piece of furniture looks nice, the drawers are really cheaply made and don't slide nicely. A video can't tell me that what looks like a nice finish actually feels like cheap plastic. If you have suggestions for how to tackle that, I'd be very interested. There's some things though I just can't see myself ever buying online, and unfortunately retailers are trying to shift more and more of their purchases there without the benefits of things like free in-store shipping/returns. If they did that and I could see it in-store, and return it free, I'd totally do that in a heart beat. I bet the shipping rates and warehousing costs would be low enough to be worth it.
  - GFischer 11y ago
    Thanks for the answer. I've seen some solutions using Augmented Reality, but they still don't substutute for the real thing. I'm convinced there's a % of purchases that are still better done in person, but video could be useful to narrow down purchases :)
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  Video / images can be reasonably good, but only in a subset of cases. I find that there's frequently no real substitute for seeing the real thing. There are reasons Amazon initially focused on books: highly uniform, online competes favourably with storefront on selection, quality is not usually a distinguishing element. Except that sometimes it is. I'd recently ordered a book by an author I've just discovered and like greatly. When it arrived (ordered through a bookstore), I was disappointed to find it was printed on pulp rather than acid-free paper. Small details can matter, and if I'm investing in a physical artifact, I'd like it to last. That said, there's some low-hanging fruit / reasonable use-cases which might help direct your efforts. I've often been hugely frustrated by how poor existing product descriptions and images are. Simply ensuring that accurate and useful information are presented is hugely useful. Images need to be big, they need to be detailed, they need to be well lit, and if at all possible, they should offer 360 views -- rotation or front, side, and back shots, plus angles. On that last: I've been looking at a particular piece of furniture, actually made several trips to storefront locations hoping it might be present. It's online-only. And the only view presented is a front-oblique, at about 30 degrees left and vertical. Yes, I get an impression of the object, but for a $1500 purchase, you'd think the vendor would invest just slightly more in presenting the piece. I've opted not to purchase it. Either having a piece custom-built, or refinishing an existing older piece, are preferable alternatives. These aren't technical problems, they're process problems. Get vendors to address this shit. The other place images are useful is for repeat purchases. If I've bought item X, then the picture's going to help confirm that I'm buying what I'd wanted. Here video's not so critical as just having clear product shots. But as a general rule, I find the online shopping experience a strong negative.
  - GFischer 11y ago
    Thank you for all the suggestions. Yes, 360 views of items are on my to-do list :) As you mention, some sellers care (but might not have the technical tools, and that's where I come in), but others don't. I'm absolutely convinced that the shopping experience can and must be improved :) , thanks again for the feedback.
    - dredmorbius 11y ago

GFischer 11y ago

"I can physically look at the item (absolutely critical for determining color match, build quality, etc.) " Would watching it on live video be "good enough"? (I'm building that, so I'm pretty interested in the answer :) )

elorant 11y ago
Asos.com has that for pretty much every item in their store. It looks nice if you ask me but I guess doesn't really substitute the real thing.
- GFischer 11y ago
  Didn't know of them, thanks !
shostack 11y ago
A video can't show me how a fabric will look under certain light, or how it will compare against my rug. A video can't tell me that while the piece of furniture looks nice, the drawers are really cheaply made and don't slide nicely. A video can't tell me that what looks like a nice finish actually feels like cheap plastic. If you have suggestions for how to tackle that, I'd be very interested. There's some things though I just can't see myself ever buying online, and unfortunately retailers are trying to shift more and more of their purchases there without the benefits of things like free in-store shipping/returns. If they did that and I could see it in-store, and return it free, I'd totally do that in a heart beat. I bet the shipping rates and warehousing costs would be low enough to be worth it.
- GFischer 11y ago
  Thanks for the answer. I've seen some solutions using Augmented Reality, but they still don't substutute for the real thing. I'm convinced there's a % of purchases that are still better done in person, but video could be useful to narrow down purchases :)
dredmorbius 11y ago
Video / images can be reasonably good, but only in a subset of cases. I find that there's frequently no real substitute for seeing the real thing. There are reasons Amazon initially focused on books: highly uniform, online competes favourably with storefront on selection, quality is not usually a distinguishing element. Except that sometimes it is. I'd recently ordered a book by an author I've just discovered and like greatly. When it arrived (ordered through a bookstore), I was disappointed to find it was printed on pulp rather than acid-free paper. Small details can matter, and if I'm investing in a physical artifact, I'd like it to last. That said, there's some low-hanging fruit / reasonable use-cases which might help direct your efforts. I've often been hugely frustrated by how poor existing product descriptions and images are. Simply ensuring that accurate and useful information are presented is hugely useful. Images need to be big, they need to be detailed, they need to be well lit, and if at all possible, they should offer 360 views -- rotation or front, side, and back shots, plus angles. On that last: I've been looking at a particular piece of furniture, actually made several trips to storefront locations hoping it might be present. It's online-only. And the only view presented is a front-oblique, at about 30 degrees left and vertical. Yes, I get an impression of the object, but for a $1500 purchase, you'd think the vendor would invest just slightly more in presenting the piece. I've opted not to purchase it. Either having a piece custom-built, or refinishing an existing older piece, are preferable alternatives. These aren't technical problems, they're process problems. Get vendors to address this shit. The other place images are useful is for repeat purchases. If I've bought item X, then the picture's going to help confirm that I'm buying what I'd wanted. Here video's not so critical as just having clear product shots. But as a general rule, I find the online shopping experience a strong negative.
- GFischer 11y ago
  Thank you for all the suggestions. Yes, 360 views of items are on my to-do list :) As you mention, some sellers care (but might not have the technical tools, and that's where I come in), but others don't. I'm absolutely convinced that the shopping experience can and must be improved :) , thanks again for the feedback.
  - dredmorbius 11y ago