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Amazon is almost completely unusable for search at this stage. I think perhaps 3/4 of the results are sponsored ads. Three in four. Trying to find a good deal o

Amazon is almost completely unusable for search at this stage. I think perhaps 3/4 of the results are sponsored ads. Three in four. Trying to find a good deal on a product, even if you know precisely what you're looking for, is a real headache of trying to dodge the advertisement minefield.

gdulli 2mo ago
This plus the login-walled reviews is unfortunate because once I stopped buying from Amazon I'd continue to go there to browse before buying elsewhere.
- behringer 2mo ago
  The amount of review spam is so high that for a good portion of products the reviews are useless.
  - 0x262d 2mo ago
    They also keep making it more annoying to even get to and read the reviews. It feels like it gets more hidden at the bottom of the page every few months. What a shame! Imagine how useful it could be.
    - everybodyknows 2mo ago
      One reason they force lots of scrolling is to put friction between you and the more-trustworthy Sort By Recent and Critical Only buttons.
jbstack 2mo ago
Even without the ads, Amazon search is abysmal. It seems to ignore half the words you enter. I often resort to using Google or ChatGPT to find items on Amazon which I know are there, but which their search box doesn't surface.
- pessimizer 2mo ago
  I searched for "cayenne" and accidentally bought the hot pepper product that came up which was not cayenne. After going mildly buckwild on amazon after 3 years of not ordering a single thing (after a move to the country) I let the free month of prime I was using expire. This, and the counterfeit product I got (and had to spend 45 minutes on the internet and phone to get refunded) was decisive. I'll try again in 5 years.
  - happyopossum 2mo ago
    > and had to spend 45 minutes on the internet and phone to get refunded anecdata and all, but i've had the exact opposite experience - I've never spent more than a couple of minutes getting a refund, and it's always been less time and effort than returning something to a B&M store.
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
yuck39 2mo ago
I imagine most readers haven't tried tiktok shop (or similar Chinese consumer shopping platforms). ByteDance has reimplemented their now infamous video suggestion algorithm for shopping and it is _very_ effective. Once the infrastructure and logistics of the Chinese eCommerce platforms improve in the US, it will be so much better that I imagine that Bezos only recourse will be to have congress ban them (a la the Chinese EV ban). He will likely be successful in doing this and allow the US to slide further into modern technological irrelevancy at his own benefit.
- kccqzy 2mo ago
  I hate videos when shopping. Videos are not skimmable. I don’t want to watch and listen to a salesperson sell the product to me. I want at least a modicum of individual agency and choice. I already skip all product videos on Amazon. I hate the product images too as they have become too salesy and they sometimes no longer even show important facts printed on the packaging itself (like the ingredient list or Nutrition Facts / Supplement Facts).
  - yuck39 2mo ago
    Fair; While I can only speak to TikTok shop (as its the only one I've interacted with), the videos typically take the place where product photos would be on the product page. A swipe dismisses it and its replaced with the product photos. The core browsing experience does not show videos in lieu of product photos from what I have seen.
- Game_Ender 2mo ago
  Do you have some insight into in what areas it’s better and how that is?
  - yuck39 2mo ago
    Its hard to pin down specifically. As a general rule: When I land on the homepage of the TikTok shop, without touching my screen I _generally_ see something that I am interested in buying. Its like it predicts what I am there to search for, and its quite accurate. On the Amazon homepage that has never happened. It usually just shows some banner ad for prime day, new amazon tv show/movie, then maybe 4 little thumbnails of the last product I searched for or whatever. I have to initiate the shopping experience, I have to pique my own purchasing interest.
jordanpg 2mo ago
Also, even after you find precisely what you're looking for, there is no guarantee that what arrives will not be a cheap imitation or reduced-quality version of what you purchased.
- rokkamokka 2mo ago
  That's the real issue
nikole9696 2mo ago
Yeah, it's truly awful if you're looking for something specific. I tend to find things by finding something I don't want then clicking through 16 pages of "related to this item" ad nauseum. I find myself more often using ChatGPT to find things now because their search is sooo bad. Like, if I want petite clothes, I do not want clothes that are not petite, folks. Why is this hard?
- massysett 2mo ago
  I’m surprised that anyone would love Amazon so much that they resort to using third-party search so they can continue buying from Amazon. Rather than just shopping elsewhere! There are many product categories where I know that shopping on Amazon will be a miserable experience riddled with crap goods and useless search, so I go elsewhere. Never even occurred to me to use an LLM to make up for Amazon’s own deliberate decision to serve me crap.
  - nikole9696 2mo ago
    Eh, for me it's not about love, it's about no other retailers carrying what I want, at a price point I'll pay, with an easy return policy and easy checkout. I'm willing to put up with a lot of crap to find that, apparently. To be clear, when I do use LLM for search, I don't limit it to one site.
  - neutronicus 2mo ago
    Amazon's logistics are a cut above, both in terms of turnaround time and their drivers actually knowing how to deliver to my house.
  - Tangurena2 2mo ago
    Amazon purchased all of the companies/sites that handled the used book market. You cannot escape the clutches of Amazon if you're a book nerd like me.
anon7000 2mo ago
It’s wild. I was trying to find a cheap bookshelf with a specific style the other day. Firstly, I couldn’t filter by exact width. It autogenerated a width range (like 24-30”) which was different on subsequent searches and several inches away from what I wanted. Second, I found a product I liked but was the wrong size. As far as I could tell, they can’t even show you recommended similar products. They show you what other people clicked on or bought in the same order. But not just actually similar products in the same style.
- joshstrange 2mo ago
  I looked at well over 1000 listings when looking for a new desk. The filters are sick joke. This was pre-llm, today I'd write something to scrape the results and parse the product pages/images to filter out the crap.

gdulli 2mo ago

This plus the login-walled reviews is unfortunate because once I stopped buying from Amazon I'd continue to go there to browse before buying elsewhere.

behringer 2mo ago
The amount of review spam is so high that for a good portion of products the reviews are useless.
- 0x262d 2mo ago
  They also keep making it more annoying to even get to and read the reviews. It feels like it gets more hidden at the bottom of the page every few months. What a shame! Imagine how useful it could be.
  - everybodyknows 2mo ago
    One reason they force lots of scrolling is to put friction between you and the more-trustworthy Sort By Recent and Critical Only buttons.

jbstack 2mo ago

Even without the ads, Amazon search is abysmal. It seems to ignore half the words you enter. I often resort to using Google or ChatGPT to find items on Amazon which I know are there, but which their search box doesn't surface.

pessimizer 2mo ago
I searched for "cayenne" and accidentally bought the hot pepper product that came up which was not cayenne. After going mildly buckwild on amazon after 3 years of not ordering a single thing (after a move to the country) I let the free month of prime I was using expire. This, and the counterfeit product I got (and had to spend 45 minutes on the internet and phone to get refunded) was decisive. I'll try again in 5 years.
- happyopossum 2mo ago
  > and had to spend 45 minutes on the internet and phone to get refunded anecdata and all, but i've had the exact opposite experience - I've never spent more than a couple of minutes getting a refund, and it's always been less time and effort than returning something to a B&M store.
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]

yuck39 2mo ago

I imagine most readers haven't tried tiktok shop (or similar Chinese consumer shopping platforms). ByteDance has reimplemented their now infamous video suggestion algorithm for shopping and it is _very_ effective. Once the infrastructure and logistics of the Chinese eCommerce platforms improve in the US, it will be so much better that I imagine that Bezos only recourse will be to have congress ban them (a la the Chinese EV ban). He will likely be successful in doing this and allow the US to slide further into modern technological irrelevancy at his own benefit.

kccqzy 2mo ago
I hate videos when shopping. Videos are not skimmable. I don’t want to watch and listen to a salesperson sell the product to me. I want at least a modicum of individual agency and choice. I already skip all product videos on Amazon. I hate the product images too as they have become too salesy and they sometimes no longer even show important facts printed on the packaging itself (like the ingredient list or Nutrition Facts / Supplement Facts).
- yuck39 2mo ago
  Fair; While I can only speak to TikTok shop (as its the only one I've interacted with), the videos typically take the place where product photos would be on the product page. A swipe dismisses it and its replaced with the product photos. The core browsing experience does not show videos in lieu of product photos from what I have seen.
Game_Ender 2mo ago
Do you have some insight into in what areas it’s better and how that is?
- yuck39 2mo ago
  Its hard to pin down specifically. As a general rule: When I land on the homepage of the TikTok shop, without touching my screen I _generally_ see something that I am interested in buying. Its like it predicts what I am there to search for, and its quite accurate. On the Amazon homepage that has never happened. It usually just shows some banner ad for prime day, new amazon tv show/movie, then maybe 4 little thumbnails of the last product I searched for or whatever. I have to initiate the shopping experience, I have to pique my own purchasing interest.

jordanpg 2mo ago

Also, even after you find precisely what you're looking for, there is no guarantee that what arrives will not be a cheap imitation or reduced-quality version of what you purchased.

rokkamokka 2mo ago
That's the real issue

nikole9696 2mo ago

Yeah, it's truly awful if you're looking for something specific. I tend to find things by finding something I don't want then clicking through 16 pages of "related to this item" ad nauseum. I find myself more often using ChatGPT to find things now because their search is sooo bad. Like, if I want petite clothes, I do not want clothes that are not petite, folks. Why is this hard?

massysett 2mo ago
I’m surprised that anyone would love Amazon so much that they resort to using third-party search so they can continue buying from Amazon. Rather than just shopping elsewhere! There are many product categories where I know that shopping on Amazon will be a miserable experience riddled with crap goods and useless search, so I go elsewhere. Never even occurred to me to use an LLM to make up for Amazon’s own deliberate decision to serve me crap.
- nikole9696 2mo ago
  Eh, for me it's not about love, it's about no other retailers carrying what I want, at a price point I'll pay, with an easy return policy and easy checkout. I'm willing to put up with a lot of crap to find that, apparently. To be clear, when I do use LLM for search, I don't limit it to one site.
- neutronicus 2mo ago
  Amazon's logistics are a cut above, both in terms of turnaround time and their drivers actually knowing how to deliver to my house.
- Tangurena2 2mo ago
  Amazon purchased all of the companies/sites that handled the used book market. You cannot escape the clutches of Amazon if you're a book nerd like me.

anon7000 2mo ago

It’s wild. I was trying to find a cheap bookshelf with a specific style the other day. Firstly, I couldn’t filter by exact width. It autogenerated a width range (like 24-30”) which was different on subsequent searches and several inches away from what I wanted. Second, I found a product I liked but was the wrong size. As far as I could tell, they can’t even show you recommended similar products. They show you what other people clicked on or bought in the same order. But not just actually similar products in the same style.

joshstrange 2mo ago
I looked at well over 1000 listings when looking for a new desk. The filters are sick joke. This was pre-llm, today I'd write something to scrape the results and parse the product pages/images to filter out the crap.