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Amazon is not a secret weapon, poison pill maybe? This is a company that is actively shooting itself in the foot on all fronts and by the time they realize it’
by ActionHank 2y ago
Amazon is not a secret weapon, poison pill maybe?
This is a company that is actively shooting itself in the foot on all fronts and by the time they realize it’s gone too far they won’t be able to turn the ship fast enough.
- godzillabrennus 2y agoAmen. I have had so many issues with orders from Amazon recently that they told me I’m on a watch list for returns and could have my account terminated. I’ve been a customer for about 20 years with this account. I’ll be shopping at other retailers now.
- bitexploder 2y agoRemember ~70% of their profit is AWS. The consumer business gives them massive revenues but costs dramatically more to operate.
- CamperBob2 2y agoHave you actually been returning an unusual amount of stuff?
- Spooky23 2y agoThey look at certain categories and punish you for their fraud. I got on the naughty list after returning 4 chromebooks. Each had an issue as a result of Amazon’s shady practices. One was returned, sold as new. The replacement was defective. So I ordered another model. First was damaged in transit. Second was a return that another OEMs charger. I said “fuck this” and went to Best Buy, paid approximately the same price and had an actual, new, working Chromebook for my son.
- bell-cot 2y agoMy bet: Statistically, and adjusted for Amazon's relentless enshittification of the products they sell, he has not done that. But since Amazon's optimal strategy - short-term - is to just keep dialing up their shit, and dialing down their tolerance for people returning their shit...
- leghifla 2y agoI am on a watch-list too because of a recent problem with a broken package with only one item out of two inside. It was clearly a too light packaging for a heavy item with sharp corners. The only other problem I had was a warranty claim 5 years ago. My account is not closed (but they "reserve the right to close it" anytime). I am glad I have no kindle or DRM stuff... I tried to get an explanation, but just got a robot email. I will never buy there anymore. Even if some stuff are hard to find elsewhere
- pinko 2y agoIf you had asked me five years ago if I'd be regularly ordering from walmart.com instead of amazon.com, I'd have thought it unlikely. But here I am -- I don't have to worry about counterfeits as long as it's sold & shipped by Walmart, and I can get same-day delivery (usually within an hour or two) for the cost of a tip. Their inventory is different (many more consumer staples, at better prices; many fewer random long-tail products), but it's replaced maybe 1/4 of my Amazon purchases. I also order from target.com once in a while; I never ever used to. Amazon has not lost, but it is definitely losing its unique edge.
- e40 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41304337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41304337 My first use of Walmart.com and I won’t be going back.
- syntheticnature 2y agoWorth noting that the comment you reply to calls out buying only "sold & shipped by Walmart" items, as opposed to those from other vendors like your case.
- e40 2y agoFair. When I bought the item I wrote about, I had no idea it wasn't direct from Walmart. IMO, as bad as Amazon does, they make who you are buying from very clear.
- dylan604 2y agoOut of sheer curiosity because it is such a different experience to mine, what are you shopping for online that you have so many returns?
- godzillabrennus 2y agoI bought and returned: - Meta Quest headset / it arrived in a shipping box that was dented, with the quests product box damaged, and when I went to try it the system wouldn’t launch apps - a usb memory card reader that advertised support for older Sony memory sticks but wouldn’t read them - an electric kettle that burned my hand to pour water out of at a normal angle for use and despite high reviews on the product page Those are three examples in the last couple of months…
- AlanYx 2y ago>they told me I’m on a watch list for returns and could have my account terminated Do they actually use such direct language? I received a passive-aggressive message from Amazon implying I was returning things too frequently (which was unfair IMHO; I had just returned three items that I had purchased as part of a bundle, but which might have made my return stats for the year look bad). But they haven't escalated it yet for me with more direct language.
- bluedino 2y agoAmazon seems to be solving this problem. I've noticed a lot of things I've ordered recently are non-returnable
- electronbeam 2y agoIve been caught out by this, very annoying, but if you open a support chat you can often get a refund
- BadHumans 2y agoPeople desperately want Amazon to be failing but it just isn't. They made 30 billion in profit in 2023. The rumors of Amazon's demise are greatly exaggerated.
- ActionHank 2y agoIt’s not that people are wanting them to fail, just that they are being so anti everything whilst their competitors amass. I’ve got friends who’ve moved from AWS-centric roles to Azure-centric, prime is a dead product walking, twitch is unprofitable, Alexa is dead, and their original business is squeezing users, drivers, and employees. A strong viable Amazon.com alternative and they are done.
- amadeuspagel 2y agoSure, a store where you can buy literally everything and have it delivered in days, and they're done.
- ActionHank 2y agoYou've just described a whole slew of online stores, their logistics aren't on par yet, but they will be.
- jdiez17 2y agoLogistics is definitely Amazon's biggest moat. Second biggest would probably be their customer service.
- gkimmerling 2y agoHow is the company actively shooting itself?
- MangoCoffee 2y agoDoes designing custom chips to meet specific needs amount to self-sabotage? It appears to be a reasonable strategy, as seen with Apple's successful introduction of the M1 chip, which set them apart from other PC makers.