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I now trust Walmart [jet.com] and Bestbuy more than Amazon. Walmart / Jet have made great strides in their online experience and I trust them more than Amazon n

I now trust Walmart [jet.com] and Bestbuy more than Amazon. Walmart / Jet have made great strides in their online experience and I trust them more than Amazon now. I don't really care about the branding Jet or Walmart is fine. And for my rant/last straw with Amazon: My most recent Amazon frustration: I ordered a Ryzen processor "shipped and sold by Amazon" and got an opened and obviously installed processor. Pins were bent. I have had a few other bad items like that in the last year. I just don't trust them any more. I want actual single source suppliers that vet their suppliers and supplies. Microcenter is great for a small range of computing products, but you have to go to the store to pick many things up [at least you can see what you are getting and don't have to wait for weeks of turn around]. Amazon's current solution is just automated returns with no acknowledgement they did something really shady. Guess it is time to vote with my wallet.

bonestamp2 6y ago
I was with you on walmart for awhile but now they're doing the same marketplace bullshit that amazon is doing and all expectations of quality and authenticity are lost again. If I want something used I'll go to ebay and if I want something drop-shipped from china I can go to aliexpress myself. So now I'm using Target.com whenever possible. It's often cheaper than amazon anyway. I actually started using walmart.com over amazon a number of years ago when two things I ordered on Amazon arrived in walmart.com boxes. The resellers were just doing arbitrage and sure enough my $20 orders were an average of $6 cheaper at walmart.
- jm4 6y ago
  The marketplace is the reason I don’t use Walmart. The marketplace and commingled stock is Amazon’s biggest problem and Walmart appears to be playing catch-up rather than forging their own path. We don’t need another Amazon. I’ve been using Target, eBay, Best Buy and random sites lately. The Target experience is great even if they don’t have the same selection Amazon does.
  - bitexploder 6y ago
    Yeah, I have noticed that as well. Newegg is another one that went down the "Market place" approach and is why I didn't list them. I just use Micro center now. A little bit less selection, but not much and they will order almost anything for you and get it quickly.
    - cosmie 6y ago
      TigerDirect[1] is a solid alternative to Newegg, that doesn't appear to have succumbed to the easy buck of the marketplace model. [1] http://www.tigerdirect.com/ http://www.tigerdirect.com/
      - Ididntdothis 6y ago
        Funny that TigerDirect is now the solid alternative to Newegg. Ten years ago it was the complete opposite. Sad to see how Newegg have destroyed themselves.
      - freeopinion 6y ago
        TigerDirect has a terrible interface for trying to find the product you want. For instance, if you are looking for a laptop you can filter by price and by brand--that's it. MicroCenter has sophisticated filtering ala Newegg, but in laptops for example, there is exactly 1 model that sports any AMD processor at all. After more than 20 years of ecommerce growth, it is discouraging how bad things are.
    - A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
      Agreed on Newegg. I am currently dealing with two separate issues for items sold by 3rd party. Thankfully, both items were low cost so even if it ends up being a loss, it is not the end of the world, but I used to swear by Newegg. By comparison, Ebay is all third parties, but they have some way to discourage bad actors. Newegg and Amazon are a disappointment lately. I never thought I would not say it these days, but Ebay has gotten better ( comparatively speaking; maybe others just gotten worse ).
- tspike 6y ago
  I agree the marketplace stuff sucks. FWIW you can pretty reliably filter the retailer to 'Walmart.com' and only see first-party stuff.
- downvoteme1 6y ago
  Walmart has a quick option to filter out marketplace items. On the desktop site, on the left hand site, just select retailer = Walmart and it will only show Walmart items .
v77 6y ago
This should be Walmart's lane: no third-party sellers, just the best place to buy branded, verified products.
- choward 6y ago
  But they do have 3rd party sellers which is the main reason I won't use them.
  - nojito 6y ago
    It’s simply a toggle on the we page to hide all of them.
    - tfehring 6y ago
      The same is true of Amazon, but in Amazon's case it doesn't make a difference because of inventory commingling. It looks like Walmart just launched its third-party fulfillment service a few months ago [0], but if they don't explicitly commit to not commingling inventory with third-party sellers, they'll have all the same issues as Amazon. [0] https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/walmart-ecommerce-fulfillment-marketplace/572924/ https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/walmart-ecommerce-fulfi...
- coldpie 6y ago
  There has to be _someone_ who wants to be the high-quality seller. Even Newegg went down the eBay path. I understand it's profitable, but surely being a very successful #2 is OK too?
  - gandalfian 6y ago
    IKEA.
    - freehunter 6y ago
      I could name a hundred niche sellers too, but the allure of Walmart and Amazon is that they sell basically everything. I can buy a Macbook and Gatorade plus some brand name AA batteries for my RC car that I bought all in the same shopping trip. IKEA has good products but they don't come close to general merchandise stores like Amazon or Walmart.
duxup 6y ago
I ordered two items from Amazon recently. Both got in this weird state where the tracking showed they were shipped. Great, then they both hit this location where they were "delayed". I got a notice about that. Then Amazon has this weird status where Amazon says "You can request a replacement or refund in X days." then it says something about "It might be lost." And it stays in that state for days ... But only if you check app do you see any of this additional status do you know any of this. Otherwise for all I know this stuff would just sit in that state forever, they keep my money, and just roll on... I had yet another shipment that entered the same state but obviously had NEVER been shipped, there was no tracking, the tracking number was generated but it was never picked up. It also entered the same limbo state where Amazon doesn't tell me anything, but hey they took my money so I guess they don't care. Having said all that I'm less interested in Amazon BECAUSE their site seems more like Walmart every day. Pushing items that are a dollar cheaper but clearly garbage quality. At this point I'm just hitting up Target and other random online retailers to compare / use more often.
- ganstyles 6y ago
  With Amazon this exact chain of events happened to me. And also confirmed that they don't really give you that status unless you click through the app. In the end, it took five days to get something I ordered as same day delivery.
mncharity 6y ago
> I want actual single source suppliers that vet their suppliers and supplies. I bought a beard trimmer, at a local Walmart store, in an unopened package. And found hairs and grime on the blade. Bought new DJI goggles from B&H Photo. Which turned out to be a DJI factory refurb. But it also turned out there were then only refurbs in the supply chain for that being-phased-out model. So no-surprises supply is perhaps more nuanced and difficult than 'avoid Amazon'. With my own taste in tech becoming more esoteric, less Amazon or AliExpress and more Alibaba, I've been feeling that personal supply chain quality management is becoming my new normal. Hmm, perhaps, just as we should be teaching personal financial management in school, we should also be teaching supply chain management? :)
- kayfox 6y ago
  B&H shipped me used Anton Bauer 90Wh batteries when I bought new ones at the tail end of that particular model. So I imagine thats what they end up doing. The real fun was when I ranted about it on Twitter, their director of social media tried to shame me by saying I was being "too picky" or something. Because I really don't like the idea of a 90Wh+ battery having some unknown issue that happened before I owned it and catching fire in the most gloriously explosive way. The whole lithium ion battery industry kinda drives me up the wall. I'd love to just order some cells from Digikey, but no can do.
- bitexploder 6y ago
  I do agree, but the prevalence of Amazon's practices are very well known. Returned products being put back on a shelf or back into supply will obviously happen, but I have seen it happen almost zero with the retailers I mentioned (We have also been using target.com, costco.com, etc.). It definitely takes some effort and a little more shopping around, but it has mostly been working for us (in my household).
innagadadavida 6y ago
I switched to Walmart after Amazon’s recent knuckle headed moves. Unfortunately, the Walmart app is not as good. Even worse, it connects to the following trackers: doubleclick.net, app-measurement.com, braze.com, googlesyndication.com, google tag services.com. This is shocking and super scary and Walmart needs to get some decent tech talent to fix their junk.
- freehunter 6y ago
  All of those except Braze are just one company: Google.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  You mostly named Google
jen20 6y ago
> I want actual single source suppliers that vet their suppliers and supplies. This is particularly ironic given that Jet's original premise was to be _entirely_ a marketplace which did not complete with the merchants on it. That plan was soon abandoned however and the warehouse network and first-party products introduced.
mnm1 6y ago
Amazon's current solution also includes shutting down your account, even if it's prime, and telling you to fuck off because you returned too many of its fake or garbage products.
- onemoresoop 6y ago
  It’s their loss. Eventually the momentum will build up and Amazon will loose a big chunk of their customers, and these door slammed customers will never go back no matter what Amazon will be trying to do. It seems to me Amazon is on its path to self destruction and will rip of a lot of their customers on the way, because it still so large and the numbers are still good to them. That is bound to change sooner or later. I personally avoid them at all costs.
- hiram112 6y ago
  So what happens when you've basically stored your digital life on Amazon's accounts, many times with purchases from their own site? I've got tons of music - mp3 songs and albums, hundreds of both purchased Kindle books and uploaded personal ones, Audible audio books, years worth of pictures that was part of some hardware deal, etc? Its even worse than the problem of Google just shutting down your account since most of these victims weren't paying for anything.
  - dialamac 6y ago
    “Doctor, it hurts when I do this!”
  - mnm1 6y ago
    I think the kindle books are still available if you login at the right url. They were for a bit, long enough for me to download them. It's difficult though. You're just fucked. I have like four kindles though and they work fine without an Amazon account. Never even need to turn the wifi on. Getting books on there with a USB cable is slightly annoying but not really. I don't know about any other product. I recommend avoiding all drm content for this reason. Luckily kindle books can have their drm easily removed. Not that I'd ever do that cause it's illegal. Lol.
torartc 6y ago
I have a very hard time believing that. Walmart has always been an awful company and Jet has always been junk.

bonestamp2 6y ago

I was with you on walmart for awhile but now they're doing the same marketplace bullshit that amazon is doing and all expectations of quality and authenticity are lost again. If I want something used I'll go to ebay and if I want something drop-shipped from china I can go to aliexpress myself. So now I'm using Target.com whenever possible. It's often cheaper than amazon anyway. I actually started using walmart.com over amazon a number of years ago when two things I ordered on Amazon arrived in walmart.com boxes. The resellers were just doing arbitrage and sure enough my $20 orders were an average of $6 cheaper at walmart.

jm4 6y ago
The marketplace is the reason I don’t use Walmart. The marketplace and commingled stock is Amazon’s biggest problem and Walmart appears to be playing catch-up rather than forging their own path. We don’t need another Amazon. I’ve been using Target, eBay, Best Buy and random sites lately. The Target experience is great even if they don’t have the same selection Amazon does.
- bitexploder 6y ago
  Yeah, I have noticed that as well. Newegg is another one that went down the "Market place" approach and is why I didn't list them. I just use Micro center now. A little bit less selection, but not much and they will order almost anything for you and get it quickly.
  - cosmie 6y ago
    TigerDirect[1] is a solid alternative to Newegg, that doesn't appear to have succumbed to the easy buck of the marketplace model. [1] http://www.tigerdirect.com/ http://www.tigerdirect.com/
    - Ididntdothis 6y ago
      Funny that TigerDirect is now the solid alternative to Newegg. Ten years ago it was the complete opposite. Sad to see how Newegg have destroyed themselves.
    - freeopinion 6y ago
      TigerDirect has a terrible interface for trying to find the product you want. For instance, if you are looking for a laptop you can filter by price and by brand--that's it. MicroCenter has sophisticated filtering ala Newegg, but in laptops for example, there is exactly 1 model that sports any AMD processor at all. After more than 20 years of ecommerce growth, it is discouraging how bad things are.
  - A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
    Agreed on Newegg. I am currently dealing with two separate issues for items sold by 3rd party. Thankfully, both items were low cost so even if it ends up being a loss, it is not the end of the world, but I used to swear by Newegg. By comparison, Ebay is all third parties, but they have some way to discourage bad actors. Newegg and Amazon are a disappointment lately. I never thought I would not say it these days, but Ebay has gotten better ( comparatively speaking; maybe others just gotten worse ).
tspike 6y ago
I agree the marketplace stuff sucks. FWIW you can pretty reliably filter the retailer to 'Walmart.com' and only see first-party stuff.
downvoteme1 6y ago
Walmart has a quick option to filter out marketplace items. On the desktop site, on the left hand site, just select retailer = Walmart and it will only show Walmart items .

v77 6y ago

This should be Walmart's lane: no third-party sellers, just the best place to buy branded, verified products.

choward 6y ago
But they do have 3rd party sellers which is the main reason I won't use them.
- nojito 6y ago
  It’s simply a toggle on the we page to hide all of them.
  - tfehring 6y ago
    The same is true of Amazon, but in Amazon's case it doesn't make a difference because of inventory commingling. It looks like Walmart just launched its third-party fulfillment service a few months ago [0], but if they don't explicitly commit to not commingling inventory with third-party sellers, they'll have all the same issues as Amazon. [0] https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/walmart-ecommerce-fulfillment-marketplace/572924/ https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/walmart-ecommerce-fulfi...
coldpie 6y ago
There has to be _someone_ who wants to be the high-quality seller. Even Newegg went down the eBay path. I understand it's profitable, but surely being a very successful #2 is OK too?
- gandalfian 6y ago
  IKEA.
  - freehunter 6y ago
    I could name a hundred niche sellers too, but the allure of Walmart and Amazon is that they sell basically everything. I can buy a Macbook and Gatorade plus some brand name AA batteries for my RC car that I bought all in the same shopping trip. IKEA has good products but they don't come close to general merchandise stores like Amazon or Walmart.

duxup 6y ago

I ordered two items from Amazon recently. Both got in this weird state where the tracking showed they were shipped. Great, then they both hit this location where they were "delayed". I got a notice about that. Then Amazon has this weird status where Amazon says "You can request a replacement or refund in X days." then it says something about "It might be lost." And it stays in that state for days ... But only if you check app do you see any of this additional status do you know any of this. Otherwise for all I know this stuff would just sit in that state forever, they keep my money, and just roll on... I had yet another shipment that entered the same state but obviously had NEVER been shipped, there was no tracking, the tracking number was generated but it was never picked up. It also entered the same limbo state where Amazon doesn't tell me anything, but hey they took my money so I guess they don't care. Having said all that I'm less interested in Amazon BECAUSE their site seems more like Walmart every day. Pushing items that are a dollar cheaper but clearly garbage quality. At this point I'm just hitting up Target and other random online retailers to compare / use more often.

ganstyles 6y ago
With Amazon this exact chain of events happened to me. And also confirmed that they don't really give you that status unless you click through the app. In the end, it took five days to get something I ordered as same day delivery.

mncharity 6y ago

> I want actual single source suppliers that vet their suppliers and supplies. I bought a beard trimmer, at a local Walmart store, in an unopened package. And found hairs and grime on the blade. Bought new DJI goggles from B&H Photo. Which turned out to be a DJI factory refurb. But it also turned out there were then only refurbs in the supply chain for that being-phased-out model. So no-surprises supply is perhaps more nuanced and difficult than 'avoid Amazon'. With my own taste in tech becoming more esoteric, less Amazon or AliExpress and more Alibaba, I've been feeling that personal supply chain quality management is becoming my new normal. Hmm, perhaps, just as we should be teaching personal financial management in school, we should also be teaching supply chain management? :)

kayfox 6y ago
B&H shipped me used Anton Bauer 90Wh batteries when I bought new ones at the tail end of that particular model. So I imagine thats what they end up doing. The real fun was when I ranted about it on Twitter, their director of social media tried to shame me by saying I was being "too picky" or something. Because I really don't like the idea of a 90Wh+ battery having some unknown issue that happened before I owned it and catching fire in the most gloriously explosive way. The whole lithium ion battery industry kinda drives me up the wall. I'd love to just order some cells from Digikey, but no can do.
bitexploder 6y ago
I do agree, but the prevalence of Amazon's practices are very well known. Returned products being put back on a shelf or back into supply will obviously happen, but I have seen it happen almost zero with the retailers I mentioned (We have also been using target.com, costco.com, etc.). It definitely takes some effort and a little more shopping around, but it has mostly been working for us (in my household).

innagadadavida 6y ago

I switched to Walmart after Amazon’s recent knuckle headed moves. Unfortunately, the Walmart app is not as good. Even worse, it connects to the following trackers: doubleclick.net, app-measurement.com, braze.com, googlesyndication.com, google tag services.com. This is shocking and super scary and Walmart needs to get some decent tech talent to fix their junk.

freehunter 6y ago
All of those except Braze are just one company: Google.
skinnymuch 6y ago
You mostly named Google

jen20 6y ago

> I want actual single source suppliers that vet their suppliers and supplies. This is particularly ironic given that Jet's original premise was to be _entirely_ a marketplace which did not complete with the merchants on it. That plan was soon abandoned however and the warehouse network and first-party products introduced.

mnm1 6y ago

Amazon's current solution also includes shutting down your account, even if it's prime, and telling you to fuck off because you returned too many of its fake or garbage products.

onemoresoop 6y ago
It’s their loss. Eventually the momentum will build up and Amazon will loose a big chunk of their customers, and these door slammed customers will never go back no matter what Amazon will be trying to do. It seems to me Amazon is on its path to self destruction and will rip of a lot of their customers on the way, because it still so large and the numbers are still good to them. That is bound to change sooner or later. I personally avoid them at all costs.
hiram112 6y ago
So what happens when you've basically stored your digital life on Amazon's accounts, many times with purchases from their own site? I've got tons of music - mp3 songs and albums, hundreds of both purchased Kindle books and uploaded personal ones, Audible audio books, years worth of pictures that was part of some hardware deal, etc? Its even worse than the problem of Google just shutting down your account since most of these victims weren't paying for anything.
- dialamac 6y ago
  “Doctor, it hurts when I do this!”
- mnm1 6y ago
  I think the kindle books are still available if you login at the right url. They were for a bit, long enough for me to download them. It's difficult though. You're just fucked. I have like four kindles though and they work fine without an Amazon account. Never even need to turn the wifi on. Getting books on there with a USB cable is slightly annoying but not really. I don't know about any other product. I recommend avoiding all drm content for this reason. Luckily kindle books can have their drm easily removed. Not that I'd ever do that cause it's illegal. Lol.

torartc 6y ago

I have a very hard time believing that. Walmart has always been an awful company and Jet has always been junk.