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I think jet.com was a foolish acquisition (at a foolish price), and will be written off in 5 years. Having said that, I think amazon has left a glaring gap in

I think jet.com was a foolish acquisition (at a foolish price), and will be written off in 5 years. Having said that, I think amazon has left a glaring gap in their armor: you cannot trust your purchases from them anymore, and more and more people are figuring it out. I have known for a few years to save my high-dollar purchases for more reputable retailers. I bought an all-clad pan from amazon that I am convinced is a factory 2nd. Now, if I want a new Le Creuset, I get it from Williams-Sonoma or Macy's or someplace I can trust. More recently, however, I realized even low-end purchases are not worth my time. I wanted to buy some frosting tips. After half an hour on Amazon, reading reviews accusing products of being shoddy knock-offs that rust, warp, etc., I realized it's much faster to just drive to a store and buy them. That's what I did, drove to Michael's and bought a set for close to the same price. I will not be renewing my Amazon Prime membership this year. There's just not enough left that I am willing to buy there to bother. This is all surprising, cause Bezos is an absolute beast. In fact, if you told me I had to compete against one of the top tech CEOs, I would pray it wasn't him (I would hope for Larry Page...). How he is missing something so big, this sowing of mistrust, I can't understand. Or it's possible I don't see the bigger game.

bitmapbrother 9y ago
I agree. The acquisition seemed more like desperation than something grounded in logic. Jet was never going to compete with Amazon so the smart play would have been to just sit back and let them burn through their runway and then buy them on the cheap.
lotsofpulp 9y ago
Same here, canceled my Prime and now am doing my shopping at target/staples/lowes/nordstroms/newegg Only hard part is making an account, but that only takes a few seconds and much more efficient than sorting through whatever Amazon calls it's search and filtering system.
coffeevradar 9y ago
I think to the extent there's a bigger game it's that Amazon wants to present to its customers a minimally curated selection of products (and sellers) that includes the full gamut of what is available in the wider world. If they are seen to offer this selection, shoppers will at least begin their product searches on Amazon. Even if many customers opt to eventually buy elsewhere, Amazon will end up with a substantial share of the purchases that result from the initial searches.
thirdsun 9y ago
I never liked the way Amazon has been opening up its platform to thirdparty sellers and used goods. If I was fine with a wild west ecommerce experience and used goods for a better deal (and in some cases I am), I'd use eBay. When shopping with Amazon I expect to find nothing but quality products from solid to remarkable brands for a reasonable price. More important than the lowest price is the certainty that I'll receive the product the next day with Prime. The necessity to filter results based on who's selling them and which shipping options they offer has no place on Amazon.
thatwebdude 9y ago
> wanted to buy some frosting tips. After half an hour on Amazon, reading reviews accusing products of being shoddy knock-offs that rust, warp, etc., I realized it's much faster to just drive to a store and buy them. That's what I did, drove to Michael's and bought a set for close to the same price. Would you feel the same way if the rating system was right there in-store on a tag? I understand taking the ratings as a deciding factor; but when I buy odd-things I'm no expert on; I tend to go with gut and middle-of-the-road and I'm hardly disappointed. But that's something I learned from shopping at brick-and-mortar.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  They are saying that Michael's brand reputation (as compared to Amazon) was the deciding factor. The reviews are just evidence that Amazon isn't protecting their reputation very well.
  - thatwebdude 9y ago
    Gotcha, I tend to think of Amazon as another Walmart; specializing in nothing but maybe the online experience. I kinda feel the same about their software/devices. It's only really good at selling you more of their products; for a tablet, it's no iPad. Perhaps the move will be towards specialty stores; as these may be the only competition Amazon may have.
  - dharmon 9y ago
    Yes. I bought the same brand name (Ateco) that I was looking at on Amazon, but the Amazon products' authenticity was dubious, whereas I trusted I was getting the real deal from Michael's.
dustintownsend 9y ago
Well the third party sellers provide Amazon a lot of value. They are able to have much larger inventories with much lower risk for one. And I think maybe a bigger value is the data Amazon is collecting about these third party sellers products and businesses. Amazon has launched many brands that they own. (Private Label) and I can guarantee they are making the decisions on these new products from data they gather from third party sellers. You likely already know about the Amazon Basics brand, but it is not the only brand that is owned by Amazon. I don't know if they will ever remove third party sellers. Just due to the inventory benefits they get from them. And also due to competition from Alibaba (like the Aliexpress site). I think Bezos is more worried about Alibaba than Walmart at this point. Aliexpress is all third party sellers (I believe). I really think they have a good thing going in terms of allowing for new products to be sold on a large marketplace. It's really great for entrepreneurs and startups with physical products. But, the issue of knock offs is something that needs to be addressed. Many of the knockoffs are so good (or from the same factory) you can't tell the difference. I guess if enough people cancel their memberships because of this and stop using the site maybe they will do something. But, I think for now the benefits for them are outweighing the problems. Personally I don't buy name brand stuff on Amazon that is from third party sellers. If you look carefully you can tell if it is sold by Amazon or just being fulfilled by them (unless the third party is the brand owner). So far I haven't had any issues with items that are sold directly from Amazon. Sometimes you have to pay more for the item sold by Amazon vs a third party. Some what unrelated. My biggest rant about Amazon right now is they are doing their own deliveries and they are always late for me. I even had one package lost. I've been shopping on Amazon for a decade I think and never had anything lost before. If I see the tracking number as an Amazon one I'm thinking well who knows if I'll get it.

bitmapbrother 9y ago

I agree. The acquisition seemed more like desperation than something grounded in logic. Jet was never going to compete with Amazon so the smart play would have been to just sit back and let them burn through their runway and then buy them on the cheap.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

Same here, canceled my Prime and now am doing my shopping at target/staples/lowes/nordstroms/newegg Only hard part is making an account, but that only takes a few seconds and much more efficient than sorting through whatever Amazon calls it's search and filtering system.

coffeevradar 9y ago

I think to the extent there's a bigger game it's that Amazon wants to present to its customers a minimally curated selection of products (and sellers) that includes the full gamut of what is available in the wider world. If they are seen to offer this selection, shoppers will at least begin their product searches on Amazon. Even if many customers opt to eventually buy elsewhere, Amazon will end up with a substantial share of the purchases that result from the initial searches.

thirdsun 9y ago

I never liked the way Amazon has been opening up its platform to thirdparty sellers and used goods. If I was fine with a wild west ecommerce experience and used goods for a better deal (and in some cases I am), I'd use eBay. When shopping with Amazon I expect to find nothing but quality products from solid to remarkable brands for a reasonable price. More important than the lowest price is the certainty that I'll receive the product the next day with Prime. The necessity to filter results based on who's selling them and which shipping options they offer has no place on Amazon.

thatwebdude 9y ago

> wanted to buy some frosting tips. After half an hour on Amazon, reading reviews accusing products of being shoddy knock-offs that rust, warp, etc., I realized it's much faster to just drive to a store and buy them. That's what I did, drove to Michael's and bought a set for close to the same price. Would you feel the same way if the rating system was right there in-store on a tag? I understand taking the ratings as a deciding factor; but when I buy odd-things I'm no expert on; I tend to go with gut and middle-of-the-road and I'm hardly disappointed. But that's something I learned from shopping at brick-and-mortar.

maxerickson 9y ago
They are saying that Michael's brand reputation (as compared to Amazon) was the deciding factor. The reviews are just evidence that Amazon isn't protecting their reputation very well.
- thatwebdude 9y ago
  Gotcha, I tend to think of Amazon as another Walmart; specializing in nothing but maybe the online experience. I kinda feel the same about their software/devices. It's only really good at selling you more of their products; for a tablet, it's no iPad. Perhaps the move will be towards specialty stores; as these may be the only competition Amazon may have.
- dharmon 9y ago
  Yes. I bought the same brand name (Ateco) that I was looking at on Amazon, but the Amazon products' authenticity was dubious, whereas I trusted I was getting the real deal from Michael's.

dustintownsend 9y ago

Well the third party sellers provide Amazon a lot of value. They are able to have much larger inventories with much lower risk for one. And I think maybe a bigger value is the data Amazon is collecting about these third party sellers products and businesses. Amazon has launched many brands that they own. (Private Label) and I can guarantee they are making the decisions on these new products from data they gather from third party sellers. You likely already know about the Amazon Basics brand, but it is not the only brand that is owned by Amazon. I don't know if they will ever remove third party sellers. Just due to the inventory benefits they get from them. And also due to competition from Alibaba (like the Aliexpress site). I think Bezos is more worried about Alibaba than Walmart at this point. Aliexpress is all third party sellers (I believe). I really think they have a good thing going in terms of allowing for new products to be sold on a large marketplace. It's really great for entrepreneurs and startups with physical products. But, the issue of knock offs is something that needs to be addressed. Many of the knockoffs are so good (or from the same factory) you can't tell the difference. I guess if enough people cancel their memberships because of this and stop using the site maybe they will do something. But, I think for now the benefits for them are outweighing the problems. Personally I don't buy name brand stuff on Amazon that is from third party sellers. If you look carefully you can tell if it is sold by Amazon or just being fulfilled by them (unless the third party is the brand owner). So far I haven't had any issues with items that are sold directly from Amazon. Sometimes you have to pay more for the item sold by Amazon vs a third party. Some what unrelated. My biggest rant about Amazon right now is they are doing their own deliveries and they are always late for me. I even had one package lost. I've been shopping on Amazon for a decade I think and never had anything lost before. If I see the tracking number as an Amazon one I'm thinking well who knows if I'll get it.