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Years ago, I felt like I could trust that the prices, selection, and quality of items I found on Amazon were relatively predictable. Now that it's a bazaar rat

Years ago, I felt like I could trust that the prices, selection, and quality of items I found on Amazon were relatively predictable. Now that it's a bazaar rather than a store, I can't trust anything and unless I want to get ripped off I have to apply an exhausting level of scrutiny to each item purchased. As a result, I don't shop there nearly as much as I once did. How is Amazon thriving? I don't get it. Don't other people have the same experience?

tedunangst 8y ago
People who get what they ordered aren't newsworthy? I buy all manner of stuff from amazon and haven't had much trouble. One time I got something that wasn't quite right (my two pack was missing one) but they immediately refunded the cost and I got to keep it. Reports of fraud have been somewhat concerning, but I see no reason to change anything. Their experiments with their own courier delivery service have been far more disruptive, but the great AI in the cloud has learned my address work best with UPS and everything is back on track.
reaperducer 8y ago
The vast majority of people still think it's the old days. Until all of seller fraud at Amazon hits the mainstream news, they will still believe that Amazon is a land of legitimate abundance and good deals.
culot 8y ago
I feel the same way about Amazon. What tipped me over the line was a counterfeit pair of Ecco shoes. I mean, seriously? You cannot safely buy air or water filters, SD cards, batteries, and so much more, but you have to even now be super cautious about buying shoes from Amazon? Its just not worth the convenience. It feels almost like an abusive relationship. I've started experimenting with Walmart to replace lots of the stuff I usually get from Amazon. Unsure about them yet. Unless Amazon ditches the 3rd party sellers, I won't be back.
- Gustomaximus 8y ago
  The solution doesn't have to be ditching 3rd parties as these can create great shopping value. Amazon should create a hurdle that keeps scammers away. While obvioudly there are better solutions than my off the cuff comment you could for example require a significant deposit for new sellers which is lost on sale of fake goods. Or payment terms are 120 days until you reach X reputation (supplier or item) allowing for full refunds to customers and zero payment to suppliers should fakes show up.
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    Solution is simple, create a filter to only show items shipped and sold Amazon.com, and never commingle inventory. But amazon wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to offload all that inventory risk into others and it wants its customers to pay the same or more as other retailers who you can trust to not sell counterfeit goods. A consumer’s only solution is to switch your purchases to actual retailers who are selling goods you can trust.
    - flotzam 8y ago
      > never commingle inventory At the very least, Amazon should mark the commingled vs. non-commingled status for each offer. Right now, you only see this once you hold the item in your hands - if there's a barcode starting with "X" on the package, it's non-commingled AFAIK. (But I wonder if Amazon actually authenticates X-labeled incoming merchandise, e.g. by requiring a shared secret on the package slip. Otherwise, if an attacker sends in a fake item that's X-labeled as if it came from an honest seller, they would still be able to tank the reputation of the honest seller. Maybe this could even be done from the position of an Amazon customer, i.e. they would apply the fraudulent X-label to a swapped "returned" item. Who would believe the honest seller in this circumstance?)
    - ReconBob 8y ago
      I agree commingling is a problem. The unknowing customer buys a branded counterfeit, the brand loses a customer, but Amazon does not. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/
maxxxxx 8y ago
Same here. I get really stressed when I go on Amazon because there is so much junk there. I also used to buy from Newegg a lot but since they started selling from third party suppliers it's also a mess. Nowadays I feel almsot more confident to buy on ebay from sellers that have thousands of ratings with a high positive percentage.
- barking 8y ago
  Yes, my first online purchases were from ebay, I then switched to amazon but now I mostly buy on ebay again. I trust its ratings more than amazon's and also ebay feels less creepy to me as a company.
- phil21 8y ago
  Amazon is problematic simply because they refuse to let you filter searches, and stop the ridiculous co-mingling practices. Newegg so far hasn't done either of those things, and I simply select "Sold by Newegg" as the only options I'll consider when looking. I also get annoyed at every damn e-store now being a giant import of some silly bazaar database - but at least Newegg still gives you the ability to ignore it.
ChuckMcM 8y ago
They do, however it is easy to miss the 'bulk' rush. Which is to say that the bulk of the people using Amazon aren't particularly careful so they just click the 'buy it' link and never think twice about it. As a result the services suffer, and they will continue to do so which then opens up a niche for a new seller to come along. Ebay has suffered the same cyle.
colechristensen 8y ago
It's not hard or unreasonable to restrict yourself to items shipped and sold by Amazon, and to do a little extra searching for things outside that bubble. (usually just fakespot and reading a few good and bad reviews)
- homero 8y ago
  As mentioned before, that doesn't help with comingled inventory, Amazon will sometimes ship inventory from another seller.
homero 8y ago
My brother ordered a 6 pack of tea boxes, seller "accidentally" sent 1. His reviews were full of the same complaint but I thought Amazon a2z guarantee was still around and would fix it. It wasn't, I couldn't even contact Amazon about it. All the order help would lead to emailing the seller.
- bitL 8y ago
  As somebody selling on Amazon MWS, this might be entirely Amazon's item matching issue - when you are uploading your item feed to Amazon, items on your feed are mapped automatically to Amazon's ASINs (basically their own IDs), and that matching often ignores when you specified pack quantity. I.e. sometimes your 6-pack gets matched as a single item and sometimes a single item gets matched as a 6-pack. They have that issue ~8 years already; I guess to them it's more important to invest elsewhere than to better algorithms...
  - homero 8y ago
    True but the price was definitely for 6
ReconBob 8y ago
Amazon profits from limited transparency and seller oversight. After analyzing over 160 million customer reviews of 2 million plus 3P sellers on Amazon- others are having a problem too. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/

tedunangst 8y ago

People who get what they ordered aren't newsworthy? I buy all manner of stuff from amazon and haven't had much trouble. One time I got something that wasn't quite right (my two pack was missing one) but they immediately refunded the cost and I got to keep it. Reports of fraud have been somewhat concerning, but I see no reason to change anything. Their experiments with their own courier delivery service have been far more disruptive, but the great AI in the cloud has learned my address work best with UPS and everything is back on track.

reaperducer 8y ago

The vast majority of people still think it's the old days. Until all of seller fraud at Amazon hits the mainstream news, they will still believe that Amazon is a land of legitimate abundance and good deals.

culot 8y ago

I feel the same way about Amazon. What tipped me over the line was a counterfeit pair of Ecco shoes. I mean, seriously? You cannot safely buy air or water filters, SD cards, batteries, and so much more, but you have to even now be super cautious about buying shoes from Amazon? Its just not worth the convenience. It feels almost like an abusive relationship. I've started experimenting with Walmart to replace lots of the stuff I usually get from Amazon. Unsure about them yet. Unless Amazon ditches the 3rd party sellers, I won't be back.

Gustomaximus 8y ago
The solution doesn't have to be ditching 3rd parties as these can create great shopping value. Amazon should create a hurdle that keeps scammers away. While obvioudly there are better solutions than my off the cuff comment you could for example require a significant deposit for new sellers which is lost on sale of fake goods. Or payment terms are 120 days until you reach X reputation (supplier or item) allowing for full refunds to customers and zero payment to suppliers should fakes show up.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Solution is simple, create a filter to only show items shipped and sold Amazon.com, and never commingle inventory. But amazon wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to offload all that inventory risk into others and it wants its customers to pay the same or more as other retailers who you can trust to not sell counterfeit goods. A consumer’s only solution is to switch your purchases to actual retailers who are selling goods you can trust.
  - flotzam 8y ago
    > never commingle inventory At the very least, Amazon should mark the commingled vs. non-commingled status for each offer. Right now, you only see this once you hold the item in your hands - if there's a barcode starting with "X" on the package, it's non-commingled AFAIK. (But I wonder if Amazon actually authenticates X-labeled incoming merchandise, e.g. by requiring a shared secret on the package slip. Otherwise, if an attacker sends in a fake item that's X-labeled as if it came from an honest seller, they would still be able to tank the reputation of the honest seller. Maybe this could even be done from the position of an Amazon customer, i.e. they would apply the fraudulent X-label to a swapped "returned" item. Who would believe the honest seller in this circumstance?)
  - ReconBob 8y ago
    I agree commingling is a problem. The unknowing customer buys a branded counterfeit, the brand loses a customer, but Amazon does not. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/

maxxxxx 8y ago

Same here. I get really stressed when I go on Amazon because there is so much junk there. I also used to buy from Newegg a lot but since they started selling from third party suppliers it's also a mess. Nowadays I feel almsot more confident to buy on ebay from sellers that have thousands of ratings with a high positive percentage.

barking 8y ago
Yes, my first online purchases were from ebay, I then switched to amazon but now I mostly buy on ebay again. I trust its ratings more than amazon's and also ebay feels less creepy to me as a company.
phil21 8y ago
Amazon is problematic simply because they refuse to let you filter searches, and stop the ridiculous co-mingling practices. Newegg so far hasn't done either of those things, and I simply select "Sold by Newegg" as the only options I'll consider when looking. I also get annoyed at every damn e-store now being a giant import of some silly bazaar database - but at least Newegg still gives you the ability to ignore it.

ChuckMcM 8y ago

They do, however it is easy to miss the 'bulk' rush. Which is to say that the bulk of the people using Amazon aren't particularly careful so they just click the 'buy it' link and never think twice about it. As a result the services suffer, and they will continue to do so which then opens up a niche for a new seller to come along. Ebay has suffered the same cyle.

colechristensen 8y ago

It's not hard or unreasonable to restrict yourself to items shipped and sold by Amazon, and to do a little extra searching for things outside that bubble. (usually just fakespot and reading a few good and bad reviews)

homero 8y ago
As mentioned before, that doesn't help with comingled inventory, Amazon will sometimes ship inventory from another seller.

homero 8y ago

My brother ordered a 6 pack of tea boxes, seller "accidentally" sent 1. His reviews were full of the same complaint but I thought Amazon a2z guarantee was still around and would fix it. It wasn't, I couldn't even contact Amazon about it. All the order help would lead to emailing the seller.

bitL 8y ago
As somebody selling on Amazon MWS, this might be entirely Amazon's item matching issue - when you are uploading your item feed to Amazon, items on your feed are mapped automatically to Amazon's ASINs (basically their own IDs), and that matching often ignores when you specified pack quantity. I.e. sometimes your 6-pack gets matched as a single item and sometimes a single item gets matched as a 6-pack. They have that issue ~8 years already; I guess to them it's more important to invest elsewhere than to better algorithms...
- homero 8y ago
  True but the price was definitely for 6

ReconBob 8y ago

Amazon profits from limited transparency and seller oversight. After analyzing over 160 million customer reviews of 2 million plus 3P sellers on Amazon- others are having a problem too. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/