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Maybe they need to spend even more to figure out how to show Adidas shoes when I search “Adidas shoes”. Seems that’s a really hard CS problem. Once they have t

Maybe they need to spend even more to figure out how to show Adidas shoes when I search “Adidas shoes”. Seems that’s a really hard CS problem. Once they have that, maybe they can show products ordered by price when I select “Sort by price low to high”.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
You must have some sort of poisoned history with amzn. I just tried what you describe, and it works perfectly.
- snewman 3y ago
  Tossing another anecdote onto the pile, I just searched "Adidas shoes". The first four hits are not for Adidas shoes, after that they all are. All four of those non-Adidas hits are "Sponsored" results, but that's not particularly easy to notice (for one of them it's almost impossible). I would agree with GP that Amazon product search often leaves much to be desired. It's hard to search for X without getting accessories for X, competitors to X, products that can be connected to X. This is annoying at best, and crippling if you want to, say, sort by price (all the cheapest matches will be accessories or otherwise not what you wanted).
  - jknoepfler 3y ago
    It's just classical enshitification. Now that Amazon has captured user-share, they will (ineluctably) abuse user good-will (by padding search results with ad-placed products the user does not want) until they reach some marginal breaking point. The users that remain are either oblivious or cursed with a lingering taste of bad-faith and bullshit. Eventually the giant will strangle itself in its sleep, but that's probably 50+ years out given how these things go.
- nickstinemates 3y ago
  Same exact experience.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    Yep, here's mine, sorted low->high: https://imgur.com/hZ2Zbx2.png https://imgur.com/hZ2Zbx2.png
- Capricorn2481 3y ago
  Poisoned History is a term I've never heard before, when it's really just algorithms and sponsored products pushing company interests over the users
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    What I mean by it is that some previous interaction with amzn has left behind some state that leads to a markedly different search result than for other people. I can see (because I was there discussing it back in 95) what the appeal of personalized search results could be for both sellers and consumers. But a few decades of that BS have fairly convincingly made the case that it is a horrible idea.
zamadatix 3y ago
One thing I absolutely cannot understand is the "price range" functionality seems to be broken as well. Maybe it's the same root cause and/or change which broke price sorting but when I put in a range of say $100-$200 searching for "network switch" the first result is $240, the 2nd result $90, and the 3rd result $120 and legitimate results go on for tens of pages. So it's not that there isn't anything for sale in that range, it's not that there weren't enough results to display so they needed to pad the numbers, and it's (seemingly?) not that they are just trying to push a higher dollar sale... it's just plain broken?
- _kulang 3y ago
  Probably the preferred suppliers/partners or sponsored products that are close to the asked range that show up and are prioritised
  - flakes 3y ago
    Then call the category ~200. IMO This is prime enshitification. You cant search for anything reliably any more. You dont get to see what youre actually searching for.. just whatever a company thinks they can make more profit off of.
    - _kulang 3y ago
      Yep. Google did it with their search and now it’s just what makes the world turn. And they have to be disingenuous about it or else people wouldn’t use it. I think it’s pretty plain and simple - realise this is the case, then vote with your feet I’ve stopped trying to save by online ordering, within reason. If a store has what I need + points me in the right direction and demonstrates they are knowledgeable, they will get my business. 5-10 dollars is not worth saving at the expense of fuelling the enshittification machine. If that makes a huge difference to you, then reevaluate if you actually need the item You’ll end up with less stuff, better stuff, with less hassle and noise, and a relationship to a vendor which may speed up returns and maintenance. As always, pick your poison
- Sai_ 3y ago
fooker 3y ago
It is a human problem, there's not necessarily a technical solution. How do you define a Adidas shoe? Something with the same name could easily be fake
- rqtwteye 3y ago
  An Adidas shoe is a shoe produced by Adidas.
  - fooker 3y ago
    Awesome, is your suggestion for the algorithm just : $query = $producer ? Can you see where this would not work, or how it can be exploited ?
- rovr138 3y ago
  This isn't eBay. They have partners. They can require things from them. They can boot them if they aren't real or fake. The problem is, they don't.
  - fooker 3y ago
    They boot sellers all the time.
- lotsoweiners 3y ago
  Regardless of fakes, I would rather see fake Adidas show up when I search Adidas shoes than see a bunch of Nikes and New Balance.
  - fooker 3y ago
    You would, yes. Would you believe what drives more sales and what you think you want could be different?
    - foofie 3y ago
      I don't think your argument holds water. A while back I read some article about how search is handled in companies like Amazon and surprisingly one requirement they have is appeasing key sellers. There were major political battles driving the decision on what search results should be boosted in specific search keywords just because a representative for company A insisted quite strongly that should be the expected result, while rep from company B had a very different point of view. I'm sure Amazon does optimize results based on conversion, but only fools believe search results are optimal based on concrete criteria. Also, some search results are clearly awful. Once I saw canned fish items showing up while searching for USB drives.
lefstathiou 3y ago
Top of my wishlist is a “remove duplicates” feature that lets me see unique items for a search rather than a 100 derivations of the same thing.
- ClassyJacket 3y ago
  Yes. I was looking for a vegetable dicer yesterday and gave up and just got one at Kmart, because Amazon was page after page of the exact same one over and over that had horrible reviews.
dogcomplex 3y ago
They could probably try and make some sort of filter so fake products cant be autouploaded via chatgpt too: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/01/lazy-use-of-ai-leads-to-amazon-products-called-i-cannot-fulfill-that-request/ https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/01/lazy-use-of-ai-leads-to-a...
justinclift 3y ago
Their search doesn't even seem to understand negative search terms either. eg searching for 25GbE network cards shows a bunch of 2.5GbE network cards, and no amount of -"2.5GbE" nor "NOT 2.5GbE" options (and variations) gets rid of them. :( Ebay though seems to work ok. :)
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago

You must have some sort of poisoned history with amzn. I just tried what you describe, and it works perfectly.

snewman 3y ago
Tossing another anecdote onto the pile, I just searched "Adidas shoes". The first four hits are not for Adidas shoes, after that they all are. All four of those non-Adidas hits are "Sponsored" results, but that's not particularly easy to notice (for one of them it's almost impossible). I would agree with GP that Amazon product search often leaves much to be desired. It's hard to search for X without getting accessories for X, competitors to X, products that can be connected to X. This is annoying at best, and crippling if you want to, say, sort by price (all the cheapest matches will be accessories or otherwise not what you wanted).
- jknoepfler 3y ago
  It's just classical enshitification. Now that Amazon has captured user-share, they will (ineluctably) abuse user good-will (by padding search results with ad-placed products the user does not want) until they reach some marginal breaking point. The users that remain are either oblivious or cursed with a lingering taste of bad-faith and bullshit. Eventually the giant will strangle itself in its sleep, but that's probably 50+ years out given how these things go.
nickstinemates 3y ago
Same exact experience.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  Yep, here's mine, sorted low->high: https://imgur.com/hZ2Zbx2.png https://imgur.com/hZ2Zbx2.png
Capricorn2481 3y ago
Poisoned History is a term I've never heard before, when it's really just algorithms and sponsored products pushing company interests over the users
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  What I mean by it is that some previous interaction with amzn has left behind some state that leads to a markedly different search result than for other people. I can see (because I was there discussing it back in 95) what the appeal of personalized search results could be for both sellers and consumers. But a few decades of that BS have fairly convincingly made the case that it is a horrible idea.

zamadatix 3y ago

One thing I absolutely cannot understand is the "price range" functionality seems to be broken as well. Maybe it's the same root cause and/or change which broke price sorting but when I put in a range of say $100-$200 searching for "network switch" the first result is $240, the 2nd result $90, and the 3rd result $120 and legitimate results go on for tens of pages. So it's not that there isn't anything for sale in that range, it's not that there weren't enough results to display so they needed to pad the numbers, and it's (seemingly?) not that they are just trying to push a higher dollar sale... it's just plain broken?

_kulang 3y ago
Probably the preferred suppliers/partners or sponsored products that are close to the asked range that show up and are prioritised
- flakes 3y ago
  Then call the category ~200. IMO This is prime enshitification. You cant search for anything reliably any more. You dont get to see what youre actually searching for.. just whatever a company thinks they can make more profit off of.
  - _kulang 3y ago
    Yep. Google did it with their search and now it’s just what makes the world turn. And they have to be disingenuous about it or else people wouldn’t use it. I think it’s pretty plain and simple - realise this is the case, then vote with your feet I’ve stopped trying to save by online ordering, within reason. If a store has what I need + points me in the right direction and demonstrates they are knowledgeable, they will get my business. 5-10 dollars is not worth saving at the expense of fuelling the enshittification machine. If that makes a huge difference to you, then reevaluate if you actually need the item You’ll end up with less stuff, better stuff, with less hassle and noise, and a relationship to a vendor which may speed up returns and maintenance. As always, pick your poison
Sai_ 3y ago

fooker 3y ago

It is a human problem, there's not necessarily a technical solution. How do you define a Adidas shoe? Something with the same name could easily be fake

rqtwteye 3y ago
An Adidas shoe is a shoe produced by Adidas.
- fooker 3y ago
  Awesome, is your suggestion for the algorithm just : $query = $producer ? Can you see where this would not work, or how it can be exploited ?
rovr138 3y ago
This isn't eBay. They have partners. They can require things from them. They can boot them if they aren't real or fake. The problem is, they don't.
- fooker 3y ago
  They boot sellers all the time.
lotsoweiners 3y ago
Regardless of fakes, I would rather see fake Adidas show up when I search Adidas shoes than see a bunch of Nikes and New Balance.
- fooker 3y ago
  You would, yes. Would you believe what drives more sales and what you think you want could be different?
  - foofie 3y ago
    I don't think your argument holds water. A while back I read some article about how search is handled in companies like Amazon and surprisingly one requirement they have is appeasing key sellers. There were major political battles driving the decision on what search results should be boosted in specific search keywords just because a representative for company A insisted quite strongly that should be the expected result, while rep from company B had a very different point of view. I'm sure Amazon does optimize results based on conversion, but only fools believe search results are optimal based on concrete criteria. Also, some search results are clearly awful. Once I saw canned fish items showing up while searching for USB drives.

lefstathiou 3y ago

Top of my wishlist is a “remove duplicates” feature that lets me see unique items for a search rather than a 100 derivations of the same thing.

ClassyJacket 3y ago
Yes. I was looking for a vegetable dicer yesterday and gave up and just got one at Kmart, because Amazon was page after page of the exact same one over and over that had horrible reviews.

dogcomplex 3y ago

They could probably try and make some sort of filter so fake products cant be autouploaded via chatgpt too: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/01/lazy-use-of-ai-leads-to-amazon-products-called-i-cannot-fulfill-that-request/ https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/01/lazy-use-of-ai-leads-to-a...

justinclift 3y ago

Their search doesn't even seem to understand negative search terms either. eg searching for 25GbE network cards shows a bunch of 2.5GbE network cards, and no amount of -"2.5GbE" nor "NOT 2.5GbE" options (and variations) gets rid of them. :( Ebay though seems to work ok. :)

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]