Amazon shopping has gotten worse and less reliable thanks to ads

[Hotlynx16]

The ads are easy to skip even for the most tech illiterates, because they can read it's not the item they were looking for. What's really tricky and deceiving is the add to cart or buy now option from a vendor (other than Amazon itself), that sells the product even for a $100 more than the lowest offer. Most people will add/buy now without ever noticing there are other vendors, mostly because this option is somewhat hidden in the right corner, right below the add/buy buttons, surrounded by other things to make it look cluttered and uninteresting.

If something is out of stock or not available the third party vendors will price gouge the items! I looked for a Mugan 5 B heatsink for my brother and third party vendor wanted $133 for a $56 heat sink!!

 

[Hotlynx16]

Amazon search results have been crap for a long, long, long time. One has to be wary of what is clicked on in Amazon search results lest you end up buying some crap you did not want. Amazon really ought to change their name to "Bait and Switch". I have come to avoid Amazon for most things. Amazon is not always a bargain either. Sometimes, their prices are higher than other online stores. Using Amazon - Buyer beware - very ware.

I have actually found a few of the same items that had two amazon listings and one would be two or three dollars cheaper! Makes me wonder if they are jacking the prices on prime users??

 

[BadThad]

The article points out absolute fact. I have been seeing this for a few years. The Amazon search is garbage and little more than a giant ad for "preferred suppliers".

Even more disturbing is Amazon's business tactics. If product is a huge seller, they will copy and sell it themselves under the "Amazon brand" effectively destroying the other's business. THAT IS ULTRA SHADY!

 

[Neatfeatguy]

Talk about poor packaging! I bought a bottle of vitamins and it came USPS in a plastic bag, no packing whatsoever. The bottle was glass and was broken on each end with the pills all in the bottom of the bag. Contacted the vendor first and sent him pictures.He had Amazon refund my money and told me to throw it away!

I wanted an 8TB HDD for my Plex server. My local Micro Center didn't have anything of that size in stock (this was 3 or 4 years ago) so I was left with sourcing out to an online site. I checked out newegg, b&h photo and then amazon. Amazon and newegg carried a drive that interested me and Amazon was a good $25 cheaper.

I placed my order. The hard drive shows up in a plastic bag, nothing else, just loose in a plastic bag. I know it's not going to work, but curiosity got the best of me. I tried it, it was detected in Windows, but the HDD just clicked and clicked and clicked....

I sent the drive back, asked for a replacement.
Got a new one.....loose in a plastic bag. I didn't even open it. Sent it back for a replacement.
Got a new one.....loose in a plastic bag. I asked for a refund.

I spent an extra $25 or so on the HDD from Newegg - it showed up packed in a box designed to house a loose HDD.

 

[Feng Lengshun]

> educate yourself
> research

and just like that, you've lost me

 

[trparky]

I tried it, it was detected in Windows, but the HDD just clicked and clicked and clicked....

I sent the drive back, asked for a replacement.
Got a new one.....loose in a plastic bag. I didn't even open it. Sent it back for a replacement.
Got a new one.....loose in a plastic bag. I asked for a refund.

Wow, three HDDs that were destroyed all because the people at the Amazon warehouse didn't understand that putting a delicate piece of electronics inside a simple plastic bag for shipping was going to be detrimental to the product in question. That's three hard drives that are now dead, three times that they have to pay for shipping. I'd call these people assclowns but clowns are supposed to be funny, what Amazon did was pathetic.

 

[Fastturtle]

I do tend to buy from Amazon frequently but the way I do it is to place it into a wish list and wait a few months. One thing I have noted is that Amazon does have cheaper prices for the stuff I look for - pepper corns for my grinder, bowls and mixing lids for my mixer so I'm still happy with them.

Amazon Search? What Search, it's been broken for the last two decades and I never use it. Even Google is better though I've been looking for a better search engine that handles Amazon as even Google is crappier then it used to be. Hell Bing is better and that's saying a lot.

 

[Hodor]

"Top quality snake oil, cures all diseases. Verified and recommended by Amazon"

"Top quality cannabis oil, cures all diseases, even those not yet invented. Verified and recommended by Amazon"

 

[Sheepdogss]

Amazon has gotten to being a terrible company to shop compared to what it used to be in so many ways. One of my biggest gripes are the numbers of sellers on the platform that sell counterfeit products. Amazon could police this but they don’t because it makes them money. Do you think they care? THEY DON’T CARE! There are so many things I have seen change on Amazon for the worse and nothing for the benefit on the consumer and their customers. The final straw for me is now all you get from consumer services is a foreign country representative whose in most cases the English is not good and aren’t helpful. You can no longer be transferred to a U.S. representative that’s enough for me.