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My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought

My only real complaint with those ads that follow you around the internet is that they're nearly always trying to sell you something you already own. I bought one of those GoPro cameras that you mount on your surfboard a while back, and was punished with six months of nonstop ads telling me how awesome my life would be if only I'd purchase a GoPro camera. It was annoying to the point where I actually dropped down that little menu in the hope that it had an option for "OK, I bought it already. Please stop now." It's the same problem with any recommendation engine. Amazon/Netflix/Lovefilm are constantly recommending things I already own, since my buying history shows they're related. "Hey, I notice you bought Series 2 through 8 of 24! You should totally check out Series 1 of 24!" Thanks. Now stop.

robinjfisher 14y ago
Agreed. At the moment, I'm frequently seeing ads for Chargify (already a customer) and Indochino (I buy suits infrequently and have in fact just bought from them). My main issue with Amazon is it recommending items connected to presents I bought for other people. My brother is a keen photographer so I have purchased memory cards etc. from Amazon but I now keep receiving recommendations for lenses/cases.
- jrabone 14y ago
  You can say "Don't use this purchase for recommendations" and "Not interested / already own it" on Amazon. It's clearly not well-exposed, given the number of people making your complaint.
- Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
  You can say to Amazon don't use this for recommendations for this sort of situation. It's under "Improve my recommendations".
pbhjpbhj 14y ago
>an option for "OK, I bought it already. Please stop now." // That would be incredibly useful info for the advertising network - you'd be able to chose to advertise to people who already own a particular product. That must be high value (for sellers, advert networks) and probably provides good targetting for those who find that a benefit.
Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
I like Amazon's "you bought a SatNav, perhaps you'd be interested in these other 8 SatNavs"... Possibly the answer is that the algorithms aren't close to good enough. That "might be interested in" isn't good enough.
- smcl 14y ago
  Another one of Amazon's which frustrated me was that after a few years of buying similar items (programming books, computer odds and ends etc) it started recommending reasonable things. Then I put in an order for two children's books for my mother (who teaches young kids), and from that moment on Amazon somehow only recommended kids books to me. It's never really recovered, however since I bought a blackberry cover a year or so ago it has started recommending other blackberry covers so I guess it's sort of improved.
  - MrMember 14y ago
    Amazon has an option to remove items you've purchased or looked at from their recommendation engine. I don't know exactly where it is as I don't use it very often, but with some poking around you should be able to find it.
    - ktsmith 14y ago
      Depending on where the recommendation is being displayed it will typically a have a "fix this recommendation" button right under the item. Then you can select that you are't interested, already own it, bought it as a gift, or simply mark it to not be used for recommendations. The problem with this is, it seems to take ten or fifteen minutes of effort to get the system to go back to showing somewhat relevant items after purchasing a few gifts, or browsing some atypical items. Who wants to spend that kind of time pruning advertisements. It's easier to just ignore them.
- thaumasiotes 14y ago
  I remember seeing Amazon's recommendations as I hit the homepage and thinking "wow, those are all exactly the sort of thing I'd want. Their recommendation system is nailing it!" On further inspection, the secret turned out to be... that all of those items had been lifted from my wishlist.
thenomad 14y ago
I've had the same thing of late. I host my websites through WP Engine, and I'm tremendously enthusiastic about them - but nonetheless, Google Adwords keep trying to tell me I'd be better off hosting through this scrappy, enthusiastic startup called WP Engine instead... (For bonus points - the retargeting often means that Adwords is advertising WP Engine to someone who already uses WP Engine, with the ads displayed on the site that they are in fact hosting on WP Engine.)
- corkill 14y ago
  I think this has more to do with the setup, I'm pretty sure it's possible to add a tracking pixel to their payment page, which will stop paying users from seeing the ads. I agree that this is the annoying part of it at least for me. Seeing ads for stuff you already bought.
loceng 14y ago
I agree that re-targeting isn't used well.
prof_hobart 14y ago
Amazon (at least in the UK) does have the "I already own this" option - along with an "I'm not interested in this" one. Some of their suggestions are a little odd at times - I've no idea how many different coffee machines they think I might want own - but they are mostly pretty good, and are probably the only place I've ever regularly bought recomendations from.

robinjfisher 14y ago

Agreed. At the moment, I'm frequently seeing ads for Chargify (already a customer) and Indochino (I buy suits infrequently and have in fact just bought from them). My main issue with Amazon is it recommending items connected to presents I bought for other people. My brother is a keen photographer so I have purchased memory cards etc. from Amazon but I now keep receiving recommendations for lenses/cases.

jrabone 14y ago
You can say "Don't use this purchase for recommendations" and "Not interested / already own it" on Amazon. It's clearly not well-exposed, given the number of people making your complaint.
Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
You can say to Amazon don't use this for recommendations for this sort of situation. It's under "Improve my recommendations".

pbhjpbhj 14y ago

>an option for "OK, I bought it already. Please stop now." // That would be incredibly useful info for the advertising network - you'd be able to chose to advertise to people who already own a particular product. That must be high value (for sellers, advert networks) and probably provides good targetting for those who find that a benefit.

Tyrannosaurs 14y ago

I like Amazon's "you bought a SatNav, perhaps you'd be interested in these other 8 SatNavs"... Possibly the answer is that the algorithms aren't close to good enough. That "might be interested in" isn't good enough.

smcl 14y ago
Another one of Amazon's which frustrated me was that after a few years of buying similar items (programming books, computer odds and ends etc) it started recommending reasonable things. Then I put in an order for two children's books for my mother (who teaches young kids), and from that moment on Amazon somehow only recommended kids books to me. It's never really recovered, however since I bought a blackberry cover a year or so ago it has started recommending other blackberry covers so I guess it's sort of improved.
- MrMember 14y ago
  Amazon has an option to remove items you've purchased or looked at from their recommendation engine. I don't know exactly where it is as I don't use it very often, but with some poking around you should be able to find it.
  - ktsmith 14y ago
    Depending on where the recommendation is being displayed it will typically a have a "fix this recommendation" button right under the item. Then you can select that you are't interested, already own it, bought it as a gift, or simply mark it to not be used for recommendations. The problem with this is, it seems to take ten or fifteen minutes of effort to get the system to go back to showing somewhat relevant items after purchasing a few gifts, or browsing some atypical items. Who wants to spend that kind of time pruning advertisements. It's easier to just ignore them.
thaumasiotes 14y ago
I remember seeing Amazon's recommendations as I hit the homepage and thinking "wow, those are all exactly the sort of thing I'd want. Their recommendation system is nailing it!" On further inspection, the secret turned out to be... that all of those items had been lifted from my wishlist.

thenomad 14y ago

I've had the same thing of late. I host my websites through WP Engine, and I'm tremendously enthusiastic about them - but nonetheless, Google Adwords keep trying to tell me I'd be better off hosting through this scrappy, enthusiastic startup called WP Engine instead... (For bonus points - the retargeting often means that Adwords is advertising WP Engine to someone who already uses WP Engine, with the ads displayed on the site that they are in fact hosting on WP Engine.)

corkill 14y ago
I think this has more to do with the setup, I'm pretty sure it's possible to add a tracking pixel to their payment page, which will stop paying users from seeing the ads. I agree that this is the annoying part of it at least for me. Seeing ads for stuff you already bought.

loceng 14y ago

I agree that re-targeting isn't used well.

prof_hobart 14y ago

Amazon (at least in the UK) does have the "I already own this" option - along with an "I'm not interested in this" one. Some of their suggestions are a little odd at times - I've no idea how many different coffee machines they think I might want own - but they are mostly pretty good, and are probably the only place I've ever regularly bought recomendations from.