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There's a lot of talk about counterfeit goods in this discussion, but my problem is the amount of sellers selling the same thing, and using bad search terms to

There's a lot of talk about counterfeit goods in this discussion, but my problem is the amount of sellers selling the same thing, and using bad search terms to get their listing to the top, and generally making everything harder to find. Have you ever tried to search on something that doesn't have, like 3 or 4 really, really obvious market-leading options? And then sort by anything other than the default? It's impossible! God go with you if you ever sort by price, ascending! I've been a Prime member for several years, but the site has become so much less useful for me that I'm about to just let it lapse. I think it's creating opportunities for more-focused competitors, like Wayfair. I used to use NewEgg for electronics, but now they've started going the same route. I have to study every listing to make sure I'm getting it from a US warehouse, and not via a slow boat from China. I just ran into this today with a big-name monitor, even. I added 2 very-similar models to my cart, and went with the one that had free 2-day shipping. Why did the other one have free shipping, but took 5 days? I don't know! There was nothing about the listing that would have tipped me off that it was a non-Amazon retailer. I'm getting tired of playing this game.

ChuckMcM 10y ago
I agree completely and in my opinion this is not a 'customer focused' way of doing business because the customer's are getting tired of fighting these fights. That was why in my email I called him out on this, and specifically said, "If you believe your highest priority is to focus on the customer, and losing sight of the customer is a precursor to Day 2, then you must address the quality of the shopping experience." I too have been a Prime customer for years, but 2 day shipping doesn't mean as much if its 2 days to delivery, then a trip to the post office to return it, and another 2 days to get the replacement, and then another week before your account is credited with the returned one. As an egregious example I bought a replacement cable modem and the one I got had a 'property of time-warner cable' sticker on it! And yet advertised as new. They replaced it quickly but really? Why should I have to be the person to sort the crap? And if that responsibility does fall to me, the customer, then Amazon is not sticking to their policy of putting the customer first. And I agree with Jeff in his letter, if he gets into Day 2, the company can ride it for a very long time into the sunset (just look at Sears!).
RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 10y ago
> I think it's creating opportunities for more-focused competitors, like Wayfair. I was just looking for something that's nigh impossible to find anywhere except on Amazon and Wayfair, and I'd almost pulled the trigger. However, as I've never used or heard of Wayfair before, I decided to do a little research first, and it appears that Wayfair is primarily a drop-ship retailer. So their products come from third-parties as well. I'm not sure this is any more trustworthy than "fulfilled by Amazon".

ChuckMcM 10y ago

I agree completely and in my opinion this is not a 'customer focused' way of doing business because the customer's are getting tired of fighting these fights. That was why in my email I called him out on this, and specifically said, "If you believe your highest priority is to focus on the customer, and losing sight of the customer is a precursor to Day 2, then you must address the quality of the shopping experience." I too have been a Prime customer for years, but 2 day shipping doesn't mean as much if its 2 days to delivery, then a trip to the post office to return it, and another 2 days to get the replacement, and then another week before your account is credited with the returned one. As an egregious example I bought a replacement cable modem and the one I got had a 'property of time-warner cable' sticker on it! And yet advertised as new. They replaced it quickly but really? Why should I have to be the person to sort the crap? And if that responsibility does fall to me, the customer, then Amazon is not sticking to their policy of putting the customer first. And I agree with Jeff in his letter, if he gets into Day 2, the company can ride it for a very long time into the sunset (just look at Sears!).

RJIb8RBYxzAMX9u 10y ago

> I think it's creating opportunities for more-focused competitors, like Wayfair. I was just looking for something that's nigh impossible to find anywhere except on Amazon and Wayfair, and I'd almost pulled the trigger. However, as I've never used or heard of Wayfair before, I decided to do a little research first, and it appears that Wayfair is primarily a drop-ship retailer. So their products come from third-parties as well. I'm not sure this is any more trustworthy than "fulfilled by Amazon".