3 ms·

As an Australian who for many years never had or used Amazon, I never understood its appeal. It just reminds me of eBay but without the bidding options. It's a

As an Australian who for many years never had or used Amazon, I never understood its appeal. It just reminds me of eBay but without the bidding options. It's a massive swathe of low quality goods of which I can't trust the reviews, the website's UI is highly cluttered and I have to filter through the trusted brands that I know. I much prefer to just buy goods from individual vendors online or go in store.

Modified3019 3y ago
It’s one single place where you can search for most everything you could want, while also being only one place to hand out your monetary info and address to. It also heavily favors buyers (like ebay), so if there is an issue, it’ much more of a sure thing to get a no hassle refund. Entering your credit card into dozens of differently designed websites the owner of whom may or may not know how to even spell “security” and stores everything in plaintext, or just outright may be a scammer, requires more mental overhead and risk. Now, in reality amazon is basically an internet flea market, and those supplements you bought are probably either a fake knockoff of a brand and made with lead, or “genuine” but falsely reporting it’s contents with no oversight and also filled with lead, but it’s the idea of buying them through “a familiar and therefore trustworthy place” that matters. Also the 2 day “free” shipping with prime really brought a lot of people onboard.
- LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
  > Now, in reality amazon is basically an internet flea market That is the perfect description of Amazon. The internet’s flea market.
- NoPicklez 3y ago
  The idea of buying them through "a familiar and therefore trustworthy place" that matters, where products could be filled with lead? Doesn't sound like a very trustworthy place to me If I want to buy supplements, I will buy them from a trustworthy supplement store online that is popular and well known. If I want to buy a new TV I will go to popular and familiar online retailers that specialise in selling HiFi products. Amazon is quantity over quality. I want to be shown quality products, Visa and the consumer guarantee I get from reputable retailers is better than unknowingly buying lead filled supplements.
tuatoru 3y ago
I am always surprised that anyone ever used Amazon for anything other than books. Since 2010, other than e-books. Even with e-books, I only ever go there after identifying it as a last resort.
jjeaff 3y ago
I can order it and get 90% delivered by tomorrow afternoon and a lot of it before 10am. I hate that they are so far ahead of everyone else. I will order direct from specialty websites for higher quality foods when I can, but more often than not, that will end up taking 6-10 days to be delivered and will be a hassle.
tstrimple 3y ago
In the early days of Amazon Prime I ordered a grill and got it delivered literally the next day for cheaper than I could purchase it locally. Since then the delivery delays have extended and the knockoffs have increased dramatically and local retailers price match, so I no longer bother with Amazon. But for a short while, it was an amazing service.
ipaddr 3y ago
It comes the next day, shipping is free with prime, you can return it easily. An EBay listing often has buyers contacting you through email trying to do the transaction outside of ebay. The lower the price the higher the shipping cost. Forced to use paypal. Gambling you get the product listed not scammed and can fight your way through the dispute process. Individual vendors are great but you must do your own vetting. Going in and finding out they have no stock and you are directed online is getting more common.
justapassenger 3y ago
Quick delivery and extremely, convenient, easy free returns with no questions asked.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > extremely, convenient, easy free returns with no questions asked. Oh, how I wish that were my experience. That Amazon failed at this for me more than once was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Modified3019 3y ago

It’s one single place where you can search for most everything you could want, while also being only one place to hand out your monetary info and address to. It also heavily favors buyers (like ebay), so if there is an issue, it’ much more of a sure thing to get a no hassle refund. Entering your credit card into dozens of differently designed websites the owner of whom may or may not know how to even spell “security” and stores everything in plaintext, or just outright may be a scammer, requires more mental overhead and risk. Now, in reality amazon is basically an internet flea market, and those supplements you bought are probably either a fake knockoff of a brand and made with lead, or “genuine” but falsely reporting it’s contents with no oversight and also filled with lead, but it’s the idea of buying them through “a familiar and therefore trustworthy place” that matters. Also the 2 day “free” shipping with prime really brought a lot of people onboard.

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
> Now, in reality amazon is basically an internet flea market That is the perfect description of Amazon. The internet’s flea market.
NoPicklez 3y ago
The idea of buying them through "a familiar and therefore trustworthy place" that matters, where products could be filled with lead? Doesn't sound like a very trustworthy place to me If I want to buy supplements, I will buy them from a trustworthy supplement store online that is popular and well known. If I want to buy a new TV I will go to popular and familiar online retailers that specialise in selling HiFi products. Amazon is quantity over quality. I want to be shown quality products, Visa and the consumer guarantee I get from reputable retailers is better than unknowingly buying lead filled supplements.

tuatoru 3y ago

I am always surprised that anyone ever used Amazon for anything other than books. Since 2010, other than e-books. Even with e-books, I only ever go there after identifying it as a last resort.

jjeaff 3y ago

I can order it and get 90% delivered by tomorrow afternoon and a lot of it before 10am. I hate that they are so far ahead of everyone else. I will order direct from specialty websites for higher quality foods when I can, but more often than not, that will end up taking 6-10 days to be delivered and will be a hassle.

tstrimple 3y ago

In the early days of Amazon Prime I ordered a grill and got it delivered literally the next day for cheaper than I could purchase it locally. Since then the delivery delays have extended and the knockoffs have increased dramatically and local retailers price match, so I no longer bother with Amazon. But for a short while, it was an amazing service.

ipaddr 3y ago

It comes the next day, shipping is free with prime, you can return it easily. An EBay listing often has buyers contacting you through email trying to do the transaction outside of ebay. The lower the price the higher the shipping cost. Forced to use paypal. Gambling you get the product listed not scammed and can fight your way through the dispute process. Individual vendors are great but you must do your own vetting. Going in and finding out they have no stock and you are directed online is getting more common.

justapassenger 3y ago

Quick delivery and extremely, convenient, easy free returns with no questions asked.

JohnFen 3y ago
> extremely, convenient, easy free returns with no questions asked. Oh, how I wish that were my experience. That Amazon failed at this for me more than once was the straw that broke the camel's back.