this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023

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The Downfall of Amazon: Dangerous Products, Fake Reviews & Vanishing Brands - Louis Rossman (www.youtube.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 107 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Which is weird. Because some reviews have a tag/label specifying "received product for free". So there must be some way to indicate it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I believe those are ones where it's a product sold by Amazon first-party and Amazon themselves sent it free, maybe as part of the Amazon Vine program.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So Amazon goes by the maxim of "rules for thee, but not for me". I can't say that I'm surprised :)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago

That's LITERALLY what their entire business is...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I always disclose in my reviews if the seller tried to bribe me and that I refused. I have yet to have one taken down for that, and I figure that's something people might want to know.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (4 children)

What are good alternatives to those sites these days?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (5 children)

your local store

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Ah yes, I'll just drop by my local Fry's...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 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.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago

I quit Amazon in 2019, turned back to eBay. Some stuff is still drop shipped from Amazon 🥲

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 10 months ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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..

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 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.

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Succeeding at buying from Amazon is easy:

Make sure that the local brick-and-mortar doesn't have the thing you want first.
Avoid products that have SEO titles ("fish bowl for fish container fish aquarium for fish"), or nonsensical manufacturer names (FDRTNHY).
Weep quietly because it's page 50 and there still aren't any listings that don't violate #2.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Or; 1. Don't.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 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 :(

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I received counterfeit of real brands on there....

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I guess I've been lucky but I also try to buy from the official brand seller.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Yeah, got some fake Wiimotes a few years back. Have to wonder how much other stuff was fake that I just didn't notice.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (9 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 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.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Aliexpress when you can't be bothered to wait

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

I don't think "Downfall" means what this dude thinks it does...

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