6 ms·

Amazon today is a street side flea market. You really don't know what you'll get. I've started ordering more stuff from traditional retailers. Their online oper

Amazon today is a street side flea market. You really don't know what you'll get. I've started ordering more stuff from traditional retailers. Their online operations these days are really good, and at most a few dollars more than Amazon. Clothes from macys.com, home goods from homedepot.com and target.com, and so on. You're not flooded with choices with these stores that are mostly garbage, instead you get only 1-3 choices that are reputable.

jimmaswell 5y ago
These days I'll order certain things from Wal Mart if I'm wary of what I see on Amazon.
m463 5y ago
I think ordering on amazon has become a little like getting your car towed. Towing companies appear to be a large shell game where your $200 tow is handled my one or more middlemen who eventually get some poor independent towtruck driver to tow you for $75 Amazon should do something that would allow partnering with decent brands. Customers would be happy, brands could keep their reputation, amazon could get a reasonable cut, and they would still sell stuff via flea-market brands and the made up word-salad amazon brands
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Tow drivers make a lot of money. They do a lot of subcontracting and mutual aid type arrangements.
  - weq 5y ago
    Towys in my country are usually connected to some kind of mafia. Never met an altruistic one like like matts offroad recovery in my travels.
    - alvah 5y ago
      Same here (Western Australia) and it's closer to $2500 than the $200 mentioned above.
    - kwhitefoot 5y ago
      The only time I had my car towed was in Devon, SW England, in 2020. I hit a pothole and blew out a tyre. The company that towed my car took it to their workshop, and took me to my hotel. The next day I spoke to them to organize getting a pair of new tyres. That was a challenge because I had winter tyres on as I was intending to return to Norway before the spring and no one stocks winter tyres in Southern England. It took them another two days to get the tyres. They charged me for the tyres and fitting and that was it, no charge for the ten mile tow.
- amelius 5y ago
  I'd like to see an economist's view on how the free market is failing here, and what we can do about it.
  - mlindner 5y ago
    I'd say it's working just fine, by causing people to switch away from using Amazon. Amazon continued to lower their brand's quality and as the name becomes less and less trusted, their products are worth less and less.
    - mitchdoogle 5y ago
      Is that actually happening though? I know there's lots of anecdotes around here, but there are still many people using Amazon frequently. I wonder if their numbers have actually gone down
  - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
    Your regular reminder that theoretical free market assumes perfectly rational and informed consumer, no lies and no misleading or withholding information In other news a car has infinute milage on a frictionless surface in a vacuum
    - greedo 5y ago
      First imagine a spherical cow...
  - throwaway48375 5y ago
    Most people are still happy to shop with Amazon despite it's failings. I'm sure Amazon has analyzed the data and are coming out ahead.
  - zorpner 5y ago
    I mean, roughly, there's no such thing as an ideal free market, and in all real markets all the ways in which it's not an ideal free market are being exploited by people to collect the margin. The concept of an ideal free market is promulgated by the same people who are making money off those margins. As far as what you can do about it, you could start with preventing those people from interacting with markets. I leave the mechanism as an exercise for the reader.
- Wistar 5y ago
  > I think ordering on amazon has become a little like getting your car towed. Apparently especially in Ontario… https://www.thedrive.com/news/44749/inside-the-tow-truck-mafia-how-organized-crime-took-over-canadas-towing-industry https://www.thedrive.com/news/44749/inside-the-tow-truck-maf...
bubblethink 5y ago
This seems to be the classic underdog problem. The traditional retailers that you like today will become third party marketplaces tomorrow if they grow. So the issue is that we only get good service from underdogs and it is destined to fail once the underdog is not an underdog anymore.
- verve_rat 5y ago
  That doesn't follow. Just because an online retailer grows it doesn't mean they have to start allowing third-party sellers. In fact, seeing what is happening to Amazon's reputation, that seems like a bad long term move. Short termisum might win out, but it is not a foregone conclusion.
  - lamontcg 5y ago
    The mechanism is the managers that take over at companies who focus on the short term bottom line (trimming support today, to juice profits tomorrow, to lose credibility years down the road after the bonuses have long landed in their bank account). And the problem is that Amazon's growth profile (retail-side anyway) is going to be pretty constrained going forwards because they own too much of the available pie right now. So the result is that managers are going to have to look for other ways to trim costs to make numbers. If you're starting from 0.001% of the retail market and trying to grow 10x it is much easier to do that just by having really good customer service.
    - lupire 5y ago
      "short term bottom line" is a comically absurd way to describe Amazon, which has been growing consistently for 25 years.
      - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
        This comment is peak short-termism! It is comically absurd to refer to 25 years as a long time! There are companies that have been around for 300 years, in fact prior to rise of venture capital moat companies were multi-generational family business and you would consider how a decision would reflect on your children.
14 5y ago
Agreed. Last example was LED grow light I purchased and description said had a grounded plug. When it arrived there was only a 2 prong plug. I’m weary of everything I buy there now and try find a manufacturer direct order when possible. Fulfilled by Amazon should read as a warning sign.
- whiddershins 5y ago
  Just FYI weary = tired … wary = suspicious.
  - 14 5y ago
    thank you for letting me know I hate to use words incorrectly
  - couchand 5y ago
    FWIW I'm weary of everything I buy
bsder 5y ago
> Amazon today is a street side flea market. You really don't know what you'll get. There are two time when I will use Amazon nowadays: 1) If there is an official store there Anker is a good example of this. It seems like Amazon doesn't commingle inventory if there is an official store. 2) If I want something faster than Alibaba/Aliexpress Quite often I can find the exact Chinesium equivalent on Amazon and I get the benefit of returnability if what is advertised is completely out of whack. This has to be costing Amazon money, but, it's their funeral.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  > It seems like Amazon doesn't commingle inventory if there is an official store. Is there any confirmation of this? I've seen assertions both ways.
  - lupire 5y ago
    No. Amazon doesn't commingle inventory when... the manufacturer doesn't sell through any other channels, so there is no one to commingle with.
    - mitchdoogle 5y ago
      Unless there are counterfeits
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    As I understand it, Amazon charges a fee to avoid commingling. Any seller can pay it and have their items isolated.
SemiNormal 5y ago
Too bad Wal Mart murdered Jet.com
aceazzameen 5y ago
Yep. I've been ordering from Target, Best Buy, and Walmart much more often these days. I just assume the product descriptions and reviews on Amazon are all lies.
- gkilmain 5y ago
  Interesting. I would have lumped them all together. Why do you trust reviews on Target but not Amazon?
  - wombatpm 5y ago
    Target and Walmart take online returns at their stores, which no one in the supply chain likes. They will take bad suppliers to the woodshed if too many returns of an item. Hence they have skin in the game to carry quality products
  - aceazzameen 5y ago
    I didn't say I trust reviews on Target. Paid reviews exist everywhere. But if I have to choose, I'd trust Target's first. Amazon's extensive 3rd party marketplace is set up in a way that encourages vendors to game their system. Amazon does nothing about it because it's good for business. And I trust Target's products are genuine and what you receive is what's in the product description, because they sell them in stores.
- brimble 5y ago
  Target and Wal-Mart also sell third party shit. It's easier for me to just buy directly from brands I like, or to shop for them on a couple outlet sites I trust (so far) to sell legit (overstocked or lightly damaged) top-quality stuff and not lower-quality second- or third-tier versions (as some outlet stores do), than figure out how to avoid or disable displaying third party sellers on a bunch of different sites. By the time you factor in the time and frustration for that, any savings (which isn't even guaranteed) doesn't look like great ROI anyway. Plus, even Amazon often won't carry the full range of a brand's products, so I get more options shopping this way.
  - 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jimmaswell 5y ago

These days I'll order certain things from Wal Mart if I'm wary of what I see on Amazon.

m463 5y ago

I think ordering on amazon has become a little like getting your car towed. Towing companies appear to be a large shell game where your $200 tow is handled my one or more middlemen who eventually get some poor independent towtruck driver to tow you for $75 Amazon should do something that would allow partnering with decent brands. Customers would be happy, brands could keep their reputation, amazon could get a reasonable cut, and they would still sell stuff via flea-market brands and the made up word-salad amazon brands

Spooky23 5y ago
Tow drivers make a lot of money. They do a lot of subcontracting and mutual aid type arrangements.
- weq 5y ago
  Towys in my country are usually connected to some kind of mafia. Never met an altruistic one like like matts offroad recovery in my travels.
  - alvah 5y ago
    Same here (Western Australia) and it's closer to $2500 than the $200 mentioned above.
  - kwhitefoot 5y ago
    The only time I had my car towed was in Devon, SW England, in 2020. I hit a pothole and blew out a tyre. The company that towed my car took it to their workshop, and took me to my hotel. The next day I spoke to them to organize getting a pair of new tyres. That was a challenge because I had winter tyres on as I was intending to return to Norway before the spring and no one stocks winter tyres in Southern England. It took them another two days to get the tyres. They charged me for the tyres and fitting and that was it, no charge for the ten mile tow.
amelius 5y ago
I'd like to see an economist's view on how the free market is failing here, and what we can do about it.
- mlindner 5y ago
  I'd say it's working just fine, by causing people to switch away from using Amazon. Amazon continued to lower their brand's quality and as the name becomes less and less trusted, their products are worth less and less.
  - mitchdoogle 5y ago
    Is that actually happening though? I know there's lots of anecdotes around here, but there are still many people using Amazon frequently. I wonder if their numbers have actually gone down
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  Your regular reminder that theoretical free market assumes perfectly rational and informed consumer, no lies and no misleading or withholding information In other news a car has infinute milage on a frictionless surface in a vacuum
  - greedo 5y ago
    First imagine a spherical cow...
- throwaway48375 5y ago
  Most people are still happy to shop with Amazon despite it's failings. I'm sure Amazon has analyzed the data and are coming out ahead.
- zorpner 5y ago
  I mean, roughly, there's no such thing as an ideal free market, and in all real markets all the ways in which it's not an ideal free market are being exploited by people to collect the margin. The concept of an ideal free market is promulgated by the same people who are making money off those margins. As far as what you can do about it, you could start with preventing those people from interacting with markets. I leave the mechanism as an exercise for the reader.
Wistar 5y ago
> I think ordering on amazon has become a little like getting your car towed. Apparently especially in Ontario… https://www.thedrive.com/news/44749/inside-the-tow-truck-mafia-how-organized-crime-took-over-canadas-towing-industry https://www.thedrive.com/news/44749/inside-the-tow-truck-maf...

bubblethink 5y ago

This seems to be the classic underdog problem. The traditional retailers that you like today will become third party marketplaces tomorrow if they grow. So the issue is that we only get good service from underdogs and it is destined to fail once the underdog is not an underdog anymore.

verve_rat 5y ago
That doesn't follow. Just because an online retailer grows it doesn't mean they have to start allowing third-party sellers. In fact, seeing what is happening to Amazon's reputation, that seems like a bad long term move. Short termisum might win out, but it is not a foregone conclusion.
- lamontcg 5y ago
  The mechanism is the managers that take over at companies who focus on the short term bottom line (trimming support today, to juice profits tomorrow, to lose credibility years down the road after the bonuses have long landed in their bank account). And the problem is that Amazon's growth profile (retail-side anyway) is going to be pretty constrained going forwards because they own too much of the available pie right now. So the result is that managers are going to have to look for other ways to trim costs to make numbers. If you're starting from 0.001% of the retail market and trying to grow 10x it is much easier to do that just by having really good customer service.
  - lupire 5y ago
    "short term bottom line" is a comically absurd way to describe Amazon, which has been growing consistently for 25 years.
    - ClumsyPilot 5y ago
      This comment is peak short-termism! It is comically absurd to refer to 25 years as a long time! There are companies that have been around for 300 years, in fact prior to rise of venture capital moat companies were multi-generational family business and you would consider how a decision would reflect on your children.

14 5y ago

Agreed. Last example was LED grow light I purchased and description said had a grounded plug. When it arrived there was only a 2 prong plug. I’m weary of everything I buy there now and try find a manufacturer direct order when possible. Fulfilled by Amazon should read as a warning sign.

whiddershins 5y ago
Just FYI weary = tired … wary = suspicious.
- 14 5y ago
  thank you for letting me know I hate to use words incorrectly
- couchand 5y ago
  FWIW I'm weary of everything I buy

bsder 5y ago

> Amazon today is a street side flea market. You really don't know what you'll get. There are two time when I will use Amazon nowadays: 1) If there is an official store there Anker is a good example of this. It seems like Amazon doesn't commingle inventory if there is an official store. 2) If I want something faster than Alibaba/Aliexpress Quite often I can find the exact Chinesium equivalent on Amazon and I get the benefit of returnability if what is advertised is completely out of whack. This has to be costing Amazon money, but, it's their funeral.

InitialLastName 5y ago
> It seems like Amazon doesn't commingle inventory if there is an official store. Is there any confirmation of this? I've seen assertions both ways.
- lupire 5y ago
  No. Amazon doesn't commingle inventory when... the manufacturer doesn't sell through any other channels, so there is no one to commingle with.
  - mitchdoogle 5y ago
    Unless there are counterfeits
- HWR_14 5y ago
  As I understand it, Amazon charges a fee to avoid commingling. Any seller can pay it and have their items isolated.

SemiNormal 5y ago

Too bad Wal Mart murdered Jet.com

aceazzameen 5y ago

Yep. I've been ordering from Target, Best Buy, and Walmart much more often these days. I just assume the product descriptions and reviews on Amazon are all lies.

gkilmain 5y ago
Interesting. I would have lumped them all together. Why do you trust reviews on Target but not Amazon?
- wombatpm 5y ago
  Target and Walmart take online returns at their stores, which no one in the supply chain likes. They will take bad suppliers to the woodshed if too many returns of an item. Hence they have skin in the game to carry quality products
- aceazzameen 5y ago
  I didn't say I trust reviews on Target. Paid reviews exist everywhere. But if I have to choose, I'd trust Target's first. Amazon's extensive 3rd party marketplace is set up in a way that encourages vendors to game their system. Amazon does nothing about it because it's good for business. And I trust Target's products are genuine and what you receive is what's in the product description, because they sell them in stores.
brimble 5y ago
Target and Wal-Mart also sell third party shit. It's easier for me to just buy directly from brands I like, or to shop for them on a couple outlet sites I trust (so far) to sell legit (overstocked or lightly damaged) top-quality stuff and not lower-quality second- or third-tier versions (as some outlet stores do), than figure out how to avoid or disable displaying third party sellers on a bunch of different sites. By the time you factor in the time and frustration for that, any savings (which isn't even guaranteed) doesn't look like great ROI anyway. Plus, even Amazon often won't carry the full range of a brand's products, so I get more options shopping this way.
- 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]