6 ms·

What you get by shopping at Amazon isn't just the pricing, it's the convenience not to enter your details again and again and again for the sake of getting a si

What you get by shopping at Amazon isn't just the pricing, it's the convenience not to enter your details again and again and again for the sake of getting a single item. I'd love if someone could solve it and instead of 'sign up here' I'd get 'pay with superDuperSingleSolutionForAllECommerce' and it's done. Maybe I should ask for VC money and start working on it?..

willj 5y ago
Isn’t this the same as “pay with PayPal/Amazon pay/etc”?
- nanis 5y ago
  > Isn’t this the same as “pay with PayPal/Amazon pay/etc”? There is always the issue of how well the integration performs. It is not uncommon for merchants software to get confused in the process and ship your order to the billing address or for other things to go wrong. When that happens, you now have to deal with customer service of varying quality. In most cases, the purchase decision is easier for me to make on Amazon than anywhere else. I've been a customer since almost the first days and while I can count a lot of minor irritations, there isn't anything better.
mdaniel 5y ago
The very problem that PayPal solves, and why Elon now builds rockets (and Google Pay, and Pay with Amazon, to come full circle). However, inevitably the vendor wants your details in their own database and now you're back to having to interact with their terrible UX, just with the benefit of a breach no longer exfiltrating your credit card info That's not even mentioning the network effect, where a service has to have enough adoption or demand to "force" other merchants to accept it
- cosmodisk 5y ago
  I understand the vendor wants my details,I'd want it too, but the reality is that the buyer is voting for convenience and going to Amazon instead. Paypal kind of does it,but only to a degree-I'd love wider spectrum of payment methods+ some flexibility on what the vendor can/can't do with my data,similar to how app permissions work on Android. If it's some 'local brooms and stick', they only get my address for delivery,but if it's some specialist store with fountains of knowledge,then yes,sure,send me texts,emails and so on.
- hedora 5y ago
  Pay pal doesn’t solve the low transaction friction problem at all. They’re less convenient than entering credit card info over and over again. The last time I logged into my account, their site was half-down. On top of that, you could fill a large book with descriptions of esoteric con jobs that only work on PayPal. Elon builds rockets because of a well-timed exit, followed by lots of hard work and success building Tesla.
  - tjr225 5y ago
    I don’t know when you last used PayPal but it is an incredibly convenient way to pay on vendor websites. I use it 75% of the time I do online shopping. I would almost always prefer to click “pay with PayPal” than start some new account or fill in details on a given vendors site. I would go so far as to say that if large enough retailers who already have storefronts were savvy enough, PayPal could make Amazon obsolete.
    - davchana 5y ago
      I too, on usps.com, on domain websites, on subscriptions, basically everywhere non-Google properties. On Google I use the card itself, because Chrome has all of my cards saved in.
    - SpelingBeeChamp 5y ago
      Amazon is more than minimal-friction payment, though. It’s also discovery.
      - tjr225 5y ago
        I don’t like their discovery, personally. I know I don’t represent the average shopper- but I generally know what I want before I buy it online or I am using a specialty retailer for discovery.
      - mgoetzke 5y ago
        And a sensible history of sales, search across it, and find out how sold me what.
mrnaught 5y ago
> it’s the convenience not to enter your details again... With more and more adoption of ApplePay and GooglePay to power the checkout experience this advantage might away..
CincinnatiMan 5y ago
I’ve seen a good number of sites recently where you can pay with your Amazon account or PayPal. Also with browsers auto filling everything these days including credit card numbers, I haven’t found it too troublesome purchasing one-offs from stores online.
- lobocinza 5y ago
  I entered my credit card on a small online store, they are legit, but got hacked and didn't even know. Months later I got three Netflix subscriptions and a few hundreds 'Uber Eats' billings on my credit card invoice. Got the money back but wasted a lot of energy.
  - emodendroket 5y ago
    Yeah exactly. It's the vetting, not the actual entering of information.
heavyset_go 5y ago
I don't notice because Bitwarden takes care of entering my details for me.
wasmitnetzen 5y ago
Klarna does this quite well here in Sweden. Almost too well, it often loads an Iframe with my information filled in already on a checkout page of a random store, without any input from me.
- MonaroVXR 5y ago
  Wasn't there a data leak with Klarna?
mattm 5y ago
Also their return policy. I recently purchased something from Amazon rather then the producer's website because they only offered a 2 week return policy plus I'd need to be responsible for the shipping. I know how returns work with Amazon. If I buy directly, are they going to give me the run around if there's a problem?
- sidlls 5y ago
  The return policy also leads to inflated prices. Since there is (effectively) no way to dispute a buyer's return, sellers must eat the cost when it happens--and they're out fees already charged in the purchase transaction. The result is exactly as you'd expect: the items sold by third party sellers on amazon have a large markup just to produce break-even margins. Source: my wife, who ran a business including third-party selling on Amazon for a while.
  - robbiemitchell 5y ago
    > no way to dispute a buyer's return This is another hidden benefit of shopping on Amazon: they see my (egregiously long) shopping history. I'm sure they have some risk profile on me that suggests I'm not buying and returning a bunch of stuff to rip off sellers. If I say something some pack of kids underwear is the wrong size, or a $15 LED light didn't arrive, or a pair of boots needs to get exchanged, it's dealt with in maybe 60 seconds of clicking on their site.
  - prostoalex 5y ago
    There's a bunch of liquidator/clearance sites promising lower prices with the caveat of "all sales are final". My guess is that people buying high-end headphones are just not comfortable with such setup.
- julianlam 5y ago
  Of course they will. I bought a product from a seller on their website once, but mistakenly ordered the wrong colour. Upon reaching out to them, I was told I had to ship it back myself (at a multiple of the item's cost), or buy a new one. Meanwhile the product was listed on Amazon for the same price. Did I also mention that when I ordered the product initially, it came from an Amazon facility? Why does the seller get to benefit from Amazon's logistics but I get stiffed on the return?
mmcgr 5y ago
Are you referring to autofill?
twobitshifter 5y ago
On safari you’ll see the Apple Pay button, which automatically fills in your details on sites which offer it. It’s super convenient when it’s offered.
- bombcar 5y ago
  Apple Pay and PayPal when integrates properly can handle it all - address, billing, etc. But most sites simply tack it on at the end as a payment option and ask for an account, address, etc beforehand.
emodendroket 5y ago
Also someone you trust to intercede if things go wrong. Who knows what happens when I buy from some site I've never heard of and don't get my stuff or have problems with it. I prefer to deal with large, well-known sites for this reason.

willj 5y ago

Isn’t this the same as “pay with PayPal/Amazon pay/etc”?

nanis 5y ago
> Isn’t this the same as “pay with PayPal/Amazon pay/etc”? There is always the issue of how well the integration performs. It is not uncommon for merchants software to get confused in the process and ship your order to the billing address or for other things to go wrong. When that happens, you now have to deal with customer service of varying quality. In most cases, the purchase decision is easier for me to make on Amazon than anywhere else. I've been a customer since almost the first days and while I can count a lot of minor irritations, there isn't anything better.

mdaniel 5y ago

The very problem that PayPal solves, and why Elon now builds rockets (and Google Pay, and Pay with Amazon, to come full circle). However, inevitably the vendor wants your details in their own database and now you're back to having to interact with their terrible UX, just with the benefit of a breach no longer exfiltrating your credit card info That's not even mentioning the network effect, where a service has to have enough adoption or demand to "force" other merchants to accept it

cosmodisk 5y ago
I understand the vendor wants my details,I'd want it too, but the reality is that the buyer is voting for convenience and going to Amazon instead. Paypal kind of does it,but only to a degree-I'd love wider spectrum of payment methods+ some flexibility on what the vendor can/can't do with my data,similar to how app permissions work on Android. If it's some 'local brooms and stick', they only get my address for delivery,but if it's some specialist store with fountains of knowledge,then yes,sure,send me texts,emails and so on.
hedora 5y ago
Pay pal doesn’t solve the low transaction friction problem at all. They’re less convenient than entering credit card info over and over again. The last time I logged into my account, their site was half-down. On top of that, you could fill a large book with descriptions of esoteric con jobs that only work on PayPal. Elon builds rockets because of a well-timed exit, followed by lots of hard work and success building Tesla.
- tjr225 5y ago
  I don’t know when you last used PayPal but it is an incredibly convenient way to pay on vendor websites. I use it 75% of the time I do online shopping. I would almost always prefer to click “pay with PayPal” than start some new account or fill in details on a given vendors site. I would go so far as to say that if large enough retailers who already have storefronts were savvy enough, PayPal could make Amazon obsolete.
  - davchana 5y ago
    I too, on usps.com, on domain websites, on subscriptions, basically everywhere non-Google properties. On Google I use the card itself, because Chrome has all of my cards saved in.
  - SpelingBeeChamp 5y ago
    Amazon is more than minimal-friction payment, though. It’s also discovery.
    - tjr225 5y ago
      I don’t like their discovery, personally. I know I don’t represent the average shopper- but I generally know what I want before I buy it online or I am using a specialty retailer for discovery.
    - mgoetzke 5y ago
      And a sensible history of sales, search across it, and find out how sold me what.

mrnaught 5y ago

> it’s the convenience not to enter your details again... With more and more adoption of ApplePay and GooglePay to power the checkout experience this advantage might away..

CincinnatiMan 5y ago

I’ve seen a good number of sites recently where you can pay with your Amazon account or PayPal. Also with browsers auto filling everything these days including credit card numbers, I haven’t found it too troublesome purchasing one-offs from stores online.

lobocinza 5y ago
I entered my credit card on a small online store, they are legit, but got hacked and didn't even know. Months later I got three Netflix subscriptions and a few hundreds 'Uber Eats' billings on my credit card invoice. Got the money back but wasted a lot of energy.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  Yeah exactly. It's the vetting, not the actual entering of information.

heavyset_go 5y ago

I don't notice because Bitwarden takes care of entering my details for me.

wasmitnetzen 5y ago

Klarna does this quite well here in Sweden. Almost too well, it often loads an Iframe with my information filled in already on a checkout page of a random store, without any input from me.

MonaroVXR 5y ago
Wasn't there a data leak with Klarna?

mattm 5y ago

Also their return policy. I recently purchased something from Amazon rather then the producer's website because they only offered a 2 week return policy plus I'd need to be responsible for the shipping. I know how returns work with Amazon. If I buy directly, are they going to give me the run around if there's a problem?

sidlls 5y ago
The return policy also leads to inflated prices. Since there is (effectively) no way to dispute a buyer's return, sellers must eat the cost when it happens--and they're out fees already charged in the purchase transaction. The result is exactly as you'd expect: the items sold by third party sellers on amazon have a large markup just to produce break-even margins. Source: my wife, who ran a business including third-party selling on Amazon for a while.
- robbiemitchell 5y ago
  > no way to dispute a buyer's return This is another hidden benefit of shopping on Amazon: they see my (egregiously long) shopping history. I'm sure they have some risk profile on me that suggests I'm not buying and returning a bunch of stuff to rip off sellers. If I say something some pack of kids underwear is the wrong size, or a $15 LED light didn't arrive, or a pair of boots needs to get exchanged, it's dealt with in maybe 60 seconds of clicking on their site.
- prostoalex 5y ago
  There's a bunch of liquidator/clearance sites promising lower prices with the caveat of "all sales are final". My guess is that people buying high-end headphones are just not comfortable with such setup.
julianlam 5y ago
Of course they will. I bought a product from a seller on their website once, but mistakenly ordered the wrong colour. Upon reaching out to them, I was told I had to ship it back myself (at a multiple of the item's cost), or buy a new one. Meanwhile the product was listed on Amazon for the same price. Did I also mention that when I ordered the product initially, it came from an Amazon facility? Why does the seller get to benefit from Amazon's logistics but I get stiffed on the return?

mmcgr 5y ago

Are you referring to autofill?

twobitshifter 5y ago

On safari you’ll see the Apple Pay button, which automatically fills in your details on sites which offer it. It’s super convenient when it’s offered.

bombcar 5y ago
Apple Pay and PayPal when integrates properly can handle it all - address, billing, etc. But most sites simply tack it on at the end as a payment option and ask for an account, address, etc beforehand.

emodendroket 5y ago

Also someone you trust to intercede if things go wrong. Who knows what happens when I buy from some site I've never heard of and don't get my stuff or have problems with it. I prefer to deal with large, well-known sites for this reason.