The Downfall of Amazon: Dangerous Products, Fake Reviews & Vanishing Brands
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  • psycho_driver@lemmy.world
    1081·
    11 months ago

    Amazon has enacted a rather dumb rule with regard to paid product reviews. I was contacted about a year ago by a chinese company I have bought a lot of electronics from and left positive reviews for in the past. They offered me deep discounts (via rebate) on products if I left reviews after purchasing and using them for a while (no ‘has to be positive’ strings attached). I reviewed a couple of their products last year and put a disclaimer about being partially compensated for the review at the top. One of the products wasn’t great (it was a bottom of the barrel budget phone) and I gave it a middling review.

    I didn’t hear from them for a while, then about 3 months ago they reached out with two more products they were asking me to review. Same deal. I submitted reviews this time and they got rejected because it is apparently now against Amazon’s policies to publish compensated reviews. I resubmitted the reviews with my disclaimer removed and they published them. Kinda crappy on their part that they won’t allow reviewers to divulge that information.

  • DragonAce@lemmy.world
    80·
    11 months ago

    Amazon seems to be following in the footsteps of TigerDirect and NewEgg. Both were amazing sites in the beginning, great deals, great customer service, etc… Then they started allowing fake knockoff brands, direct to consumer products from china, scammers, resellers, fake reviews, terrible refund policies, etc… and it slowly brought down the overall quality of the site and overwhelmed their support staff and eventually fucked over their reputation. The difference with Amazon is they aren’t limited to just tech, the fact that they now carry pretty much everything under the sun basically protects them from this same fate, sadly.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
          71·
          11 months ago

          Even local stores are allowing 3rd party sellers now. A lot of them make it really difficult to figure out what they have in store or not when you look at their website. I hate the way online shopping has gone.

        • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
          51·
          11 months ago

          It’s all made overseas anyway. Might as well pay less and have it dropped at my doorstep. There is very little non-food that I get from a “local store” for less or at better quality.

          Returning stuff at stores with understaffed front ends is more annoying than dropping off returns at wholefoods as well.

          I’ll go back to Brick and Mortar when they go back to being the customer service models they’re supposed to be.

        • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
          31·
          11 months ago

          You have a local store that ships to your house in two days? Actually, you’re probably going to need several of these to cover all of the different products.

  • excitingburp@lemmy.world
    52·
    11 months ago

    Succeeding at buying from Amazon is easy:

    1. Make sure that the local brick-and-mortar doesn’t have the thing you want first.
    2. Avoid products that have SEO titles (“fish bowl for fish container fish aquarium for fish”), or nonsensical manufacturer names (FDRTNHY).
    3. Weep quietly because it’s page 50 and there still aren’t any listings that don’t violate #2.
      • Herbal Gamer
        7·
        11 months ago

        I never did, until I moved into a very remote area where travel expenses mean every trip needs to count so if the shops don’t have it you’re screwed. Or if they do have it, it often is too expensive compared to online offers :(

  • FatLegTed@feddit.uk
    52·
    11 months ago

    I’m finding more things cheaper elsewhere. Even brand name stuff. I was looking for some Gorilla glue and it turned out cheaper in my local supermarket (Tesco UK) than Amazon.

    Had a few crappy quality things/lost items. Have started buying elsewhere now before even looking there.

    My sales are going to break Jeff Bezos but it (hopefully) might be a sign of the times.

    • GONADS125@lemmy.world
      28·
      11 months ago

      I noticed this Black Friday, almost all name brand items totally disappeared, and most deals were garbage Chinese knockoffs/non-name brand. Then immediately after Black Friday, I saw a huge return of name brands in their featured products/deals.

      I also bought a new Microsoft Surface Slim Pen 2 (for $90) recently and got a total Chinese knockoff piece of shit in a package labeled “fashion jewelry.” Total wish.com trash listed as name brand.

      Amazon didn’t publish my review (I’m assuming because I said this was becoming a rampant issue on Amazon. Did refund me, but the Chinese knockoff listed as a Slim Pen 2 is still listed on Amazon.

      I went and paid the same price on ebay for a factory-sealed brand new legit one. What a change we have undergone when eBay is a safer marketplace than Amazon…

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        2·
        11 months ago

        This shit was all over the place on Black Friday. Some items I followed dropped in price, but were crappy versions of the same thing. Others were cheaper earlier in the month and increased on BF.

        I notice prices shot up on 9/1 so they could be “reduced” by BF. It was a clear attempt to justify “50% off the average price”.

    • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      11 months ago

      I’ve noticed the same thing here in the US. I looked at getting some toothpaste my kids like and it was about $7 on Amazon. Got it at my local Target store via an online order for under $4.

    • fireweed@lemmy.world
      91·
      11 months ago

      “Everyday” products have always been expensive on Amazon. Things like food, pharmacy items, “junk drawer” items, basically anything you can expect to find at your local grocery store. A few years ago I was shocked that that didn’t have a pair of scissors for less than $12 (at the time they were probably half that at Target). I don’t know if this is because the logistics of these items is more expensive to do online, or if they’re price gouging under the assumption that if you’re buying a gluestick online it’s because you live in a super remote area or are too unable/lazy to go to a store in-person. It’s like Staples in reverse: Staples figured out that if you’re buying electronics in a store it’s probably because you need it right fucking now and can’t afford to wait to order it online (or you’re not tech savvy enough to shop/price compare online) so they can get away with making you pay through the nose.

      • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
        3·
        11 months ago

        It’s the cost of the lumped in “free shipping.” I find the prices are good when I buy bulk. Like I’ll buy 3 packs of my deodorant and toothpaste and then the price is better than all my local stores. For whatever reason, none of the stores carry the scent I like in deodorant. They only carry antiperspirant, which I didn’t want, causing me to research my options online.

    • phar@lemmy.world
      6·
      11 months ago

      I have found for small basic stuff, it’s always cheaper at Walmart, home depot, target, etc. Plus depending what it is, you benefit from seeing it first.

  • AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world
    423·
    11 months ago

    It is bloated with poor quality no name products but it’s fine if you stick with known brands. Reviews do suck tho. Fake reviews have made the rating system is useless.

  • kamenoko
    142·
    11 months ago

    Their fulfillment centers are where joy goes to die. $15 an hour to be a human robot for 40-60 hours per week doesn’t sound like a great way to spend your time on this planet.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
      81·
      11 months ago

      Read about PIP, Focus, and Pivot, and you’ll see that their corporate centers aren’t much better.

      Imagine that every year, regardless of layoffs and people quitting, your employer tries to fire 5-10% of the entire corporate workforce. On top of this, as some people naturally manage to perform well when under pressure, imagine the number of threatened people doubling or even tripling. Now, imagine that every single year.

      It’s no wonder that some tech companies don’t like hiring people that used to work at Amazon, particularly managers.

    • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
      716·
      11 months ago

      Amazons $19 starting pay is well above industry standard as well as the health care day one. You could do much much worse.

      • Isthisreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
        81·
        11 months ago

        It’s people like you that make everything suck. Fucking “Race to the bottom” cheerleaders

          • Isthisreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
            31·
            11 months ago

            Let me guess, your someone who makes well north of $19/hr telling the plebs to be happy they have cake?

            • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
              12·
              11 months ago

              No I pointed out that Amazon is a poor example. If you are stuck in a shit situation they are one of the better no experience needed jobs always in demand. You get better than average healthcare and wages compared to fast food or other shittier warehouse jobs.

      • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
        6·
        11 months ago

        I just left a job that paid $50/hr for one that pays $17/hr and I’ve never been happier. If the work conditions suck the money just isn’t worth it.

  • Vaggumon@lemm.ee
    10·
    11 months ago

    Not saying this isn’t happening, but the same shit has been said about Walmart for 30 years.

  • Adderbox76@lemmy.caEnglish
    178·
    11 months ago

    I don’t think “Downfall” means what this dude thinks it does…

  • hubobes
    8·
    11 months ago

    A bit hailcorporate but in Switzerland we have Galaxus and they expanded into Germany a few years ago, so if anyone here is German, maybe try them once in a while, great customer service, none of the issues Amazon has.

    • GhostMatter@lemmy.ca
      1·
      11 months ago

      This really is it. Apart from that, for me it’s really to get specific gluten-free foods that I can’t find easily.

  • Chakravanti
    212·
    11 months ago

    How do I get into a lawsuit for a fraudulent sword that is definitively prove, in my own hands, NOT the High Manganese steel it CLAIMED to be?

    And further…is a deadly breakage of high likelihood when strking a TREE (tree is gorramn near dead anyway). If I had struken it normally said brade could have flipped over and stabbed me, potentially killing ME, if I hadn’t been stabbing said tree on its third strike.

    Three strikes to break a High Manganese steel sword. Shit is fraudulent NOT what is claimed to be. I already made it be for removal. They refused. It is still for sale to kill someone who buy’s said again.

  • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
    3049·
    11 months ago

    I swear to God you people on lemmy (and reddit) just find a few isolated stories and pretend like it’s hard or dangerous to use Amazon lol.

    I’ve ordered well over 50k over the years and have like two or three minor minor fuck ups. They are fantastic. That’s why they are popular.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      283·
      11 months ago

      I mean… even if it still works or hasn’t fucked up it’s still a cheap knockoff. The cheap knockoffs I get from Amazon usually work fine, but I don’t go there to find cheap knockoffs, I need a specific brand usually. Where I get frustrated is when I search for a specific item I need and I get a hundred cheap knockoffs listed first. Maybe other people don’t care, but I don’t want a genuine Sorny or Pantafonix.

      • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world
        431·
        11 months ago

        I have never seen this. It just doesn’t happen that often on US Amazon stores. There entire thing, at least in the US, is over blown.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
          171·
          11 months ago

          Literally just did this to prove it to you. I searched for “Wireless phone charger”. Something that’s not technical, that most people with wireless charging have at least thought about buying. First page is shown here. Feel free to point out any brands that you recognize.

          I’ve tried 2 so far from amazon. Both garbage. 1 didn’t work out of the box and the other worked for about a month then crapped out. Amazon hosts just garbage now. I’ve gone back to buying from retail whenever possible.

          After about 12 results I finally get to a brand name one, the Apple wireless charger here. So, I guess what I’m saying isn’t that offbrands are bad, I love buying third party stuff and modifying it. This isn’t that though, it’s cheap knockoff garbage where they manipulate the rankings and put their crap above anything that might actually be useful. The site is so flooded with this crap that it’s barely usable for me. (You can see I’m using extensions to help try to adjust the ratings too, because they also flood the reviews with fake garbage)

        • ImpossibilityBox@lemmy.world
          121·
          11 months ago

          It happens every single time I ever search for anything on Amazon in the US. I have to search through pages and pages of shit knockoff items with fake reviews from other product listing created by “brands” with names that look like a cat walked across the keyboard.

          Most the time the items are unrelated to what I’m actually looking for and are only showing up because their titles are “CIGNHKA Road Bike saddle seat chair seat comfort adjustment bike seat mountain seat, gravel, ideal, perfect use universal, black.” And then the description has even more word salad.

          If you bother taking the time you can find 17 other brands selling the same identical item with the same markings and the same specs (sometimes with the same reviews) with the only change being the name on the product.

          If I didn’t live in a very rural area that Amazon somehow still covers with their free shipping I would never shop their. I only shop on Amazon when I can find a specific item from a specific well known brand.

        • MalachaiConstant@lemmy.world
          4·
          11 months ago

          Nah, my search results look this like this. Even when I search for a specific brand, very rarely does that make it to the top of the list. Far more often than not, I have to go digging for what I want. It sounds like you have a different experience of Amazon and I honestly envy it. It used to be great

    • Isthisreddit@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      11 months ago

      It’s worth pointing out the cracks in a service everyone uses - some of those cracks have been there for a long time and Amazon has been doing a poor job combating it - if they even are. Amazon seems to make knockoffs themselves of best selling items, but that’s another topic.

      To your point though, depends what you buy - when I was looking for really good headphones a few years ago, there were warnings on review sites about ordering Sony brand headphones and getting fakes. Apparently there were also sites dedicated to help identify fake headphones bought from Amazon (Sony MDR-7506). One would be correct to say counterfeits were around since before Amazon, but you wouldn’t expect to get a counterfeit if you pay full price from a brand name store - which is the new problem.

      Also buying SD cards, specialized batteries, etc has been a big problem on Amazon for years, and Amazon doesn’t seem able to really address it (inb4 someone says they have made it worse)

    • kreynen@kbin.social
      6·
      11 months ago

      I used eBay for years buying everything from computers to expensive bikes. I even helped a friend who bought a car from eBay.

      Now? Full of knock offs and scams. My last transactions were garbage designed to last long enough for a product photo shoot. Using any of these products for their intended purpose is a real safety risk and returns require a back and forth with automated systems designed to try to make you give up before you get any $$ back.

      I haven’t used eBay in ~8 and likely never will again. The thing about critical mass and network effect is it has as much (if not more) of an impact during a service’s decline.

    • minorninth@lemmy.world
      5·
      11 months ago

      I think there are different aspects to it.

      Amazon’s delivery service is better than ever. You get products in half the time, with less packaging, and fewer miles traveled to deliver it to you, without any significant increase in delivery fees.

      Price is still competitive when you take into account delivery cost and speed. If you don’t care about those, Amazon isn’t the cheapest.

      Search and reviews are down the tubes. It’s like Amazon no longer cares if their site is overrun with crap products as long as people are buying them.

      Amazon still works great if you only buy name-brand products that are fulfilled by Amazon.

      • fireweed@lemmy.world
        7·
        11 months ago

        Once upon a time I had Prime and their two-day delivery was extremely reliable. Then it started slipping and became “probably two-day delivery.” At a certain point it became “sometime in the next week delivery,” so combined with the nightmare changes they made to what used to be the best search GUI ever, I decided to cancel Prime for good. This was a few years ago; has the delivery situation improved? Because I know the search situation is still utter garbage.

        • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          3·
          11 months ago

          I think it must vary by location. I’ve heard your extract situation and I’ve had exactly one package take more than two days. I live twenty minutes from the nearest store which is a Walmart and anything else is an hour drive each way. I buy almost everything from Amazon. My first order was in 2006 and I started racking up hundreds of orders a year by 2009 on. I just ordered a couple countertop drink dispensers for a party coming up. I ordered them this morning and they are getting delivered today before 9pm. I’ve had six defective products in all that time and only once did I even need to worry about returning the item (grab bar for my golf cart). In every other instance it was simply refunded to repurchase or use for whatever. Their support is exceptional and I’d never abuse it. I’m big on cash back cards also so anytime I can get 5% cash back that’s a nice bonus. The only thing I don’t buy from them is computer parts, id rather go to micro center for that kind of stuff.