Price and quality issues aside- when I do go on Amazon it’s because I want to buy from Amazon. Not some random business shipping stuff from the other side of the country. Can’t stand how every store has a ‘marketplace’ of random overpriced AliExpress crap on their sites these days.
Amazon is still sketchy with legitimacy of product. Fake product can get mixed into legit bins of product if the main seller doesn’t pay extra for dedicated bins, separate from other sellers selling “the same” products.
Also, AmazonBasics is exactly as the name implies. If you buy an AmazonBasics XLR cable, you know it’s going to have two conductors not four and you know it’s not going to be super well shielded if at all.
And for anything that’s not semi-standardized or a long-existing design, it’s definitely a ripoff of a real item being sold there. Is that actually a thing with XLR or are you exaggerating? Not too familiar with XLR. I would guess you could skip the cold audio and get down to just hot and ground, but what’s the correct 4th conductor?
I’m not exaggerating. If you buy a Mogami XLR cable you know it’s going to have 4 conductors and it’s going to be shielded. I cut open my AmazonBasics 50 Ft XLR cable after it had failed (it started introducing a buzzing noise) and I saw it only had two conductors in it.
I don’t mind fulfilled by Amazon. I’m selective, but there’s still value there.
If I could permanently remove everything that isn’t in an Amazon warehouse from showing up in search results the platform would be way less annoying, though. De-emphasizing that nonsense is a huge value add as far as I’m concerned.
Because Amazon is shitty with the sellers, the good ones can’t make profit on the platform. All that’s left is the Chinese garbage sold at huge margins, where the seller doesn’t care if it gets returned.
That’s strange to me. I remember, and still think of, amazon as a marketplace. I bought used books and video games as my first purchases, waaaaay back when. You would have to sort out the prices and compare them to the listed ‘condition’ of the purchase, trying to figure out whether ‘like new’ condition was worth the $3 price jump over ‘good’ condition.
I think the reason they used to be so bad is because the sales people were commission based. They still have quotas to meet now but it’s pretty easy to do so.
I’ve been bitten by bad return policies when buying from businesses that sell directly, e.g. being refunded the purchase price but not their shipping, having to pay return shipping myself, or getting hit by some bogus restocking fee. Amazon return policy is pretty clear for items they’re selling or at least stocking in their warehouse. So I do prefer to buy Amazon-shipped items.
Only way I’m using most shopping sites is if I know they’re trustworthy and if they support PayPal or one of the major payment processors. I’m not going to type my CC number into a random website and trust that they aren’t hacked.
There are a lot of issues with PayPal, but at least it makes it easy for me to get a refund if the seller refuses. The last time I had to get a refund, it was because the seller told me I had to ship my $20 product back to China in order to get a 50% refund. This was despite the returns agreement explicitly requiring them to cover return shipping and that shipping it to China would have cost me about $150.
Only way I’m using most shopping sites is if I know they’re trustworthy and if they support PayPal or one of the major payment processors. I’m not going to type my CC number into a random website and trust that they aren’t hacked.
Price and quality issues aside- when I do go on Amazon it’s because I want to buy from Amazon. Not some random business shipping stuff from the other side of the country. Can’t stand how every store has a ‘marketplace’ of random overpriced AliExpress crap on their sites these days.
Amazon is still sketchy with legitimacy of product. Fake product can get mixed into legit bins of product if the main seller doesn’t pay extra for dedicated bins, separate from other sellers selling “the same” products.
Also, AmazonBasics is exactly as the name implies. If you buy an AmazonBasics XLR cable, you know it’s going to have two conductors not four and you know it’s not going to be super well shielded if at all.
And for anything that’s not semi-standardized or a long-existing design, it’s definitely a ripoff of a real item being sold there. Is that actually a thing with XLR or are you exaggerating? Not too familiar with XLR. I would guess you could skip the cold audio and get down to just hot and ground, but what’s the correct 4th conductor?
I’m not exaggerating. If you buy a Mogami XLR cable you know it’s going to have 4 conductors and it’s going to be shielded. I cut open my AmazonBasics 50 Ft XLR cable after it had failed (it started introducing a buzzing noise) and I saw it only had two conductors in it.
I don’t mind fulfilled by Amazon. I’m selective, but there’s still value there.
If I could permanently remove everything that isn’t in an Amazon warehouse from showing up in search results the platform would be way less annoying, though. De-emphasizing that nonsense is a huge value add as far as I’m concerned.
Because Amazon is shitty with the sellers, the good ones can’t make profit on the platform. All that’s left is the Chinese garbage sold at huge margins, where the seller doesn’t care if it gets returned.
That’s strange to me. I remember, and still think of, amazon as a marketplace. I bought used books and video games as my first purchases, waaaaay back when. You would have to sort out the prices and compare them to the listed ‘condition’ of the purchase, trying to figure out whether ‘like new’ condition was worth the $3 price jump over ‘good’ condition.
amazon is a marketplace, not a manufacturer
They are also a manufacturer.
Fucking best buy
Funny how I couldn’t stand Best Buy’s sales practices a decade ago and now, without changing, they’re basically the good guys
I think the reason they used to be so bad is because the sales people were commission based. They still have quotas to meet now but it’s pretty easy to do so.
I’ve been bitten by bad return policies when buying from businesses that sell directly, e.g. being refunded the purchase price but not their shipping, having to pay return shipping myself, or getting hit by some bogus restocking fee. Amazon return policy is pretty clear for items they’re selling or at least stocking in their warehouse. So I do prefer to buy Amazon-shipped items.
Only way I’m using most shopping sites is if I know they’re trustworthy and if they support PayPal or one of the major payment processors. I’m not going to type my CC number into a random website and trust that they aren’t hacked.
There are a lot of issues with PayPal, but at least it makes it easy for me to get a refund if the seller refuses. The last time I had to get a refund, it was because the seller told me I had to ship my $20 product back to China in order to get a 50% refund. This was despite the returns agreement explicitly requiring them to cover return shipping and that shipping it to China would have cost me about $150.
Virtual CC for the win ;-)