Buyin' stuff on Amazon

Prime Visa is awesome. I use it on everything.

As someone who at first glance is in that category I have always struggled to find clothes that fit properly and comfortably. This is my commiserating whinge.

If it wasnā€™t my butt being a size ahead of my waist so I never had a waistband that fit properly, it was my torso being slightly too long for business shirts so Iā€™d be constantly retucking. I remember before slimfit shirts became a big thing, and anything fitting my shoulder looked like a sail at my waist.

Lack of length in shirts generally has probably been one of the highest day to day mild stressors of my life. It drives me nuts.

On the otherside of this, add in some pandemic weight, Iā€™m now going through the fun experience of every thing I bought a size up to allow a bit of wiggle room now being way too snug, and having to rebuy a size up again.

2 Likes

Amazon is a mess. With electronics, you usually find the same product just slightly different look, different capacity etc. Try to find your way through the jungleā€¦They donā€™t seem to care much, they just leave it a mess.
Most items just ship in their cardboard sleeve, no bubble wrap (most countries seem to get bubble wrap sleeves, we donā€™t), but I pretty much gave up going to shops four years ago.

I had no problem biking 15 km to a shop at the other end of town, but more often than not, I didnā€™t find what I was looking for. The big electronic stores seem to go to great length in order to make it appear as if theyā€™re stuffed with different items. Look closer at the shelf and there are two choices.
Thatā€™s for the shops that did not close already years ago. Usually I donā€™t need any advice when shopping, I know what I want. I canā€™t imagine what itā€™s like for people that need a little help. Not that Amazon reviews are more helpful most of the timeā€¦

Speaking of Amazon reviews. They recently deleted all the reviews my wife wrote over the year. She sometimes spent hours on a review, because she genuinely wanted to help others.
I guess they didnā€™t like the negative things she had to say. Idk, we first thought it was a bug that caused it or something like that, but later found out it happens to other users with very detailed long reviews as well.

I still shop music gear, bike parts, clothes/shoes locally, go to the hardware store, drug store, try to buy furniture second hand (my wife sometimes reacts to the fumes from new furniture really badly), cat stuff etc. but electronicsā€¦that ship sailed.

Btw, didnā€™t Jeff Bezos say in an interview (please correct me if Iā€™m wrong) that their strategy was to provide unmatched service to bring Amazon to the top, but since that is so costly, later gradually reduce service? Seems everything went according to plan.

5 Likes

That is really sad, i always read the user reviews, and i write them sometimes too.

1 Like

My friend ordered a nit comb on Amazon when his daughter got lice from someone at school. The comb came used with hair and dead lice in it. This pretty much sums up how I feel about Amazon.

Youā€™ve got to be mental to order food from them. Iā€™d say half the stuff I have ordered from them has been a knockoff.

3 Likes

Thatā€™s still less disgusting than Amazons web design.

Iā€™ve used used Amazon for reading product reviews for the last decade, but for some reason I find it completely incomprehensible if I was to try and buy something.

1 Like

Can be useful if I need something next day, but more often than not, If I search for something specific, I often get page after page of something random or unrelated.

Itā€™s pushing stuff to the top of the search listing crap that a company is probably trying to offload rather the things I want.

Itā€™s the equivalent of some guy with an open suitcase trying to convince you that heā€™s got just what you need.

Think carefully before buying material, letā€™s say sensualā€¦

The only Amazon boxes that are in my house were obtained by buying used goods, I put these boxes upside down in my attic so that the smile is in the real good way.

3 Likes

Amazonā€™s ā€œbazaarā€ model optimizes for worthless junk, and theyā€™re well willing to give these scammers the tools to thrive since most scam victims just feel stupid and donā€™t push back.

2 Likes

The funny part is when you look for the reviews of a product and the reviews themselves mention a totally different thing. Like you are looking for a computer part and people are saying this saucepan is great for cooking whatever dish.

Iā€™ve only used them recently to buy replacement smartphone screens because it shipped faster than aliexpress and my job gave me a voucher. Usually I stay away from them, their search is broken and you can usually find cheaper, faster and almost as fast shipped from an online store specialized in the kind of things you are looking for. Besides I buy almost everything second hand these days. Buying new is stupid and hurt the planet, there are enough idiots to create waste for the smart ones to do the right thing even if the environmental effect is marginal.

Back when Yelp had their IPO and people bothered to pay attention to reviews, I reported a few obviously fake reviews, all had photos grabbed from ā€œforeign brideā€ service photographs.

One had a review of a local gay bar about the ā€œgreat foodā€, oh honey the only people being fed are at a gloryhole.

Naturally, reporting this to their operations team got a ā€œthis is a real person and a real reviewā€ response.

Yeahā€¦ ok.

IIRC Amazon has recently made a specific deal with China-based sellers to provide them with free (or nearly free) shipping to western countries. I was reading an explainer on this recently but forgot where it was, will post if I find it.

So basically you can get products directly from the factory in Shenzen or wherever and not pay markups to western companies importing them. YMMV when it comes to quality control, of course. Itā€™s pretty funny to see the most valuable American company become ali express in real time. As long as they keep their good return policy I guess I donā€™t care.

What, to replace e-packets?