5 ms·

Is there a way to filter out such books when you browse Amazon? They should at least tell you it's an "on-demand" printed book before you order?

by GeoSys 7mo ago

toofy 7mo ago
i don’t know of a way. but even if you can, it will almost certainly be done away with. i’m so jaded im sure it would end up like trying to filter out shorts on youtube. click the “show me less of this” only for it to show you more.
- ahartmetz 7mo ago
  There are uBlock Origin filter rules for shorts. They work :)
  - tharmas 7mo ago
    I concur!
  - layer8 7mo ago
    Not in the mobile app.
    - ahartmetz 7mo ago
      You don't even have the problem if you use NewPipe or PipePipe as the app for YouTube. That's with F-Droid on Android, don't know about iOS.
aerhardt 7mo ago
I haven't found one, like I mention in the article; I'll edit it if someone proves me wrong. I'm starting to get a feel for a pattern - the books tend to be more expensive, and also take longer on average to deliver (a few weeks, instead of a few days). The latter would be normal for rare editions and some third-party sellers, but if I'm ordering a popular book and it takes longer than usual to deliver I can kinda smell the dead rat. But the only way to know for sure is to open the box in disappointment.
- RobGR 7mo ago
  I've ordered books that were print-on-demand and had them arrive in 3 days. Some of the Amazon ones will have the exact date in the back, and I can see they were printed the day I ordered it. For what it's worth, I think print-on-demand is a win overall, while there are lots of low quality stuff out there, the ability of small authors to get published and readers to find rarer stuff out weighs that.
wussboy 7mo ago
Not only am I sure there isn't one, I'm sure there will never be one. That might reduce profits for Amazon slightly.
SilverElfin 7mo ago
Not that I can tell. It’s probably an intentional choice, just like how they don’t let you filter by country of origin.
everybodyknows 7mo ago
Why not just go to a better online seller? One of the books mentioned: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-problems-of-philosophy-warbler-classics-annotated-edition-bertrand-russell/9a1abb58089e8681?ean=9781962572255&next=t https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-problems-of-philosophy-warb...
- AdamN 7mo ago
  They don't work for Germany unfortunately.
- delecti 7mo ago
  I can't necessarily speak for that specific book, but a youtuber I follow (who has POD books as one of her particular bugbears) has stopped recommending bookshop.org after personally getting POD copies from there.

Is there a way to filter out such books when you browse Amazon? They should at least tell you it's an "on-demand" printed book before you order?

by GeoSys 7mo ago

Is there a way to filter out such books when you browse Amazon? They should at least tell you it's an "on-demand" printed book before you order?

toofy 7mo ago

i don’t know of a way. but even if you can, it will almost certainly be done away with. i’m so jaded im sure it would end up like trying to filter out shorts on youtube. click the “show me less of this” only for it to show you more.

ahartmetz 7mo ago
There are uBlock Origin filter rules for shorts. They work :)
- tharmas 7mo ago
  I concur!
- layer8 7mo ago
  Not in the mobile app.
  - ahartmetz 7mo ago
    You don't even have the problem if you use NewPipe or PipePipe as the app for YouTube. That's with F-Droid on Android, don't know about iOS.

aerhardt 7mo ago

I haven't found one, like I mention in the article; I'll edit it if someone proves me wrong. I'm starting to get a feel for a pattern - the books tend to be more expensive, and also take longer on average to deliver (a few weeks, instead of a few days). The latter would be normal for rare editions and some third-party sellers, but if I'm ordering a popular book and it takes longer than usual to deliver I can kinda smell the dead rat. But the only way to know for sure is to open the box in disappointment.

RobGR 7mo ago
I've ordered books that were print-on-demand and had them arrive in 3 days. Some of the Amazon ones will have the exact date in the back, and I can see they were printed the day I ordered it. For what it's worth, I think print-on-demand is a win overall, while there are lots of low quality stuff out there, the ability of small authors to get published and readers to find rarer stuff out weighs that.

wussboy 7mo ago

Not only am I sure there isn't one, I'm sure there will never be one. That might reduce profits for Amazon slightly.

SilverElfin 7mo ago

Not that I can tell. It’s probably an intentional choice, just like how they don’t let you filter by country of origin.

everybodyknows 7mo ago

Why not just go to a better online seller? One of the books mentioned: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-problems-of-philosophy-warbler-classics-annotated-edition-bertrand-russell/9a1abb58089e8681?ean=9781962572255&next=t https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-problems-of-philosophy-warb...

AdamN 7mo ago
They don't work for Germany unfortunately.
delecti 7mo ago
I can't necessarily speak for that specific book, but a youtuber I follow (who has POD books as one of her particular bugbears) has stopped recommending bookshop.org after personally getting POD copies from there.