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Comment by PaulHoule | Hacker News Reader

There is a basic problem that if you see an obvious problem with a product listing on AMZN but you didn't buy the product they could care less.

Sometimes the listing is obviously a scam, sometimes it is is just something that could be better: somebody is selling a box of assorted TTL ICs for $30 which were ill chosen for any use than testing your logic tester. (e.g. with $30 of quad-NANDs you can build a lot)

In the early 2000's I would avoid Staples to avoid crap brands like VTech and go online to seek out Plantronics instead. AMZN got a reputation as a fair dealer for things like HDMI cables compared to a place like Best Buy which might only stock a $99 monster cable.

Slowly AMZN got worse and I have less trust in the marketplace products than I did before,

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The thing that absolutely blows my mind is the way other retailers want to be like Amazon, so they've all added 3rd party sellers to their websites. It's impossible to find anything because search results are dominated by absolute garbage on every retailer's site. They've taken the worst part of Amazon and latched onto it like it's the magic sauce that's going to make them relevant again.

The other thing that I find super frustrating is that I'm willing to pay a bit extra to get something better quality. I don't care about $10 vs $30 when I'm buying a case for a $1000 iPad. However, on the Amazon market place that seems to translate into "Hey! This dumbass is willing to give us $30, so lets sell him the same $2 piece of plastic garbage with different branding." It's soooooo frustrating.

Wal-mart opened up their marketplace to 3PS, but it's really gated. They want to know your financials, DUNS number, and IIRC supply chain details.

But another trend that's pretty bad - dropshippers of garbage. Not all dropshippers do this, but a lot do. Formula boils down to slick Shopify theme + Alibaba + social media = profit

What is more frustrating is the search stinks. Pick something that most places have.... say a DVD. Top 3-5 results will NOT be what you are looking for (sponsored links) or links to amazons 'prime selection' where they charge for a digital copy (if I wanted digital I would buy that). Then maybe the middle 3-5 items might be what you are looking for and the bottom 3-5 items will be 'sponsored links'. Finding things has become a pain. You have to play a game of get the title exactly right or it will not show you the thing. I have had items I marked down to look at later (not using the wishlist). Come back 3-4 days later and it will not even pop on the search at all. Find the exact title and ta-da there it is. Amazon has really gone downhill fast.

> What is more frustrating is the search stinks.

German electronics retailer Conrad is so guilty on this one. I'm searching for a 1/8 inch outer diameter seal, 180 °C temp resistance with a specific interior diameter and 2.5mm thickness - but even going on the product category for seals, it's impossible to filter.

To make it worse: unlike in ye olde times, employees in the physical store also only have access to the website - they can't help you either.

And forget about Amazon, their listings are full of crap.

I'm with you here. I've often tried to update my minimum price to something that cuts out the crap, and half the results are the exact same thing under a slightly different listing.

I've come to the conclusion that the only way to shop for things is to check out suggestions on Reddit (which are starting to feel more astroturf-y) and then search for that exact item.

I agree, I try to use Target or Walmart's websites to buy direct from them (and their supply chain) when I don't trust Amazon's risk of getting a counterfeit. I'm not looking for 3rd party sellers.

Amazon seems to have the best shipping/logistics (with Prime membership) and it's not even close for any other retailer. Walmart is OK, but Target has some really confusing triple selection that is really off putting (choosing between In Store, Same Day, and Shipping).

> Target has some really confusing triple selection that is really off putting (choosing between In Store, Same Day, and Shipping).

Oh man, this is so aggravating. They can tell me that something is in-store by me and I can pick it up in 1 hour. Unfortunately, I'm not able to go to the store. But "delivery" means someone else will go to the store for me and drop it off at my house for an extra $10. OK, fine, let's do that. But some items, even ones that it says are in-stock at the store nearest me, can only be shipped from across the country, or picked up in-person at the store. WTF? If I can pick it up myself, why can't my delivery person also pick it up for me?

I buy my electronics on B&H. Other photography stores are probably as good.

Professional photographers buy from them, even if there's a premium, because they trust B&H. That's B&H competitive advantage; trust. If they screw that up they'll wither away.

I used to buy on Newegg, but when I bought my most recent computer build I realized most of it was from third party resellers. They screwed the order up, and it was a mess to get my return. Newegg used to be so good!

My wife recently bought something from Macy's, again, 3rd party without realizing it. They screwed up royally. They sold her something they don't have in stock, but sent her a "Package Delivered" message. Days later the item is still for sale, even though the person on the phone said that the item will not be available until Jan.

Well my wife has already bought a replacement and she wants her money back. The Macy's rep said that it's not Macy's problem since she purchased from a third party. My wife snapped back that she bought an item from Macy's on the Macy's website.

Man I hate modern shopping.

Your wife should file a chargeback. It's not a difficult process and it somewhat favors the cardholder.

Unfortunately we've had a very bad experience with our credit card lately (Capital One).

Last year for Christmas my wife bought me MotoGP tickets for us to enjoy in Austin during the spring of '20. The race got cancelled due to COVID and they refused to give us a refund. Eventually we asked for a charge back and the credit card refused saying the "organizer claims they settled it". Indeed, by promising us future tickets that are worthless to us (VR46 is retiring, we have kids and need to organize, etc). This was in the summer.

MotoGP just refunded us the tickets, a year after we purchased them. My wife probably spend over ten hours on the phone total and countless scanning documents, etc for the credit card.

I've totally given up on amazon, it is now impossible to know if what you are getting is of any quality - I wanted a good kitchen knife - but wading through the reviews and search was so painful. In the end I went to John Lewis and bought by price - hoping that gave me a good idea of quality and so far I am damn happy, which is far more than I can say for my last 20 or so amazon purchases.

I'm in a similar situation for the most part. If I remotely care about the quality of the item, I'm not buying it from Amazon. Otherwise, if pretty much any brand will suffice (such as dog waste bags), I might still pick it up on Amazon, but I have already chosen not to renew my Prime subscription based on the major drop in quality of sellers.

For a while I did that (my wife still does) but for any low value stuff it is nearly always cheaper on ebay or Aliexpress - there is literally no benefit to me buying from amazon any more.

My wife still buy a huge amount from there though, but returns a fair amount.

Amazon is still ok, but you have to know exactly what you're after. For example, if you want "kitchen knife" that's a no go. if you want "robert welch kitchen knife" there's a chance that it's cheaper on Amazon, but not by much, if at all. In other words, as a search platform to find items it doesn't work anymore, as a place to buy, sometimes. That's just my experience lately.

Even the last prime day was full of crap listings. I stopped spending much and moved to greener pastures (eg brick+mortar shopping, or used professional stuff on classified ads and even fixing stuff instead of rebuying...). Started to learn brazing and so on during lockdown for example.

When you find a good brand you stick to it. And if its a public company you can buy shares, and then tell everyone how good the products are and watch your investment go up, and earn money when they sell the goodwill.

I once reported multiple listings of problematic N-95 masks (some weren't N95, and one listing was using a certification that had been revoked). Last time I checked the listings were all still up with the fraudulent descriptions

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