Amazon is fine in terms of customer service and stuff like that.
What kills me is their abysmal searching functionality. Filters that don’t work, sorts that don’t work, keywords that don’t work, etc…
I mean, I can go out and search for “20 degree down sleeping bag” and click the brands Big Agnes, Mountain Hardwear and Kelty, and end up with results for synthetic 50 degree sleeping bags from Coleman.
And that’s not even mentioning the 40-60% of no-name cheap Chinese crap brand products that infest every search I do, even with the brand or price filters chosen.
The signal to noise ratio on their searching is stupendously low and frustrating, unless you’re looking at something like books or movies which don’t have janky Chinese versions or multiple configurations.
My go-to method these days is to do googling and research to come up with a short-list, and then search those things directly in Amazon. Even though I’ll still get 50 search returns, 48 of which will not be relevant, the two that are at the top are usually what I’m looking for.
I was looking for a Yeti-type drinking mug to keep my water cold during the day. I actually found it cheaper at Walmart.com than Amazon, and I just drove to the store to pick it up.
I have shopped with some success on Walmart.com but keep going back to Amazon. I find it harder to dodge the third-party sellers on Walmart, but that’s probably just because I am not as used to their site. Also I never have credit card declines on Amazon, but I have gotten them a couple times on Walmart.com. It’s my bank’s fraud detection fault I suppose, but still annoying.
But the third-party sellers, why do online stores do this? If I go to Amazon.com, I want to buy from Amazon. If I go to Walmart.com, I want to buy from Walmart.
I use hpb.com for used books, but still use Amazon for other items.
No kidding. Half the time it’s the sellers’ adding tags that don’t actually apply, but the other half it’s like “Why TF did you include this on my results?”
Yeah, and then Amazon broke down and decided to emulate that successful model, so now 80% of their offerings are from “outside sellers” who are just brick-and-mortar shoppes using them (as well as eBay) as additional avenues to market their inventory.
And when I logged-in to rakuten a couple weeks ago (after a long absence) I was notified that they are now part of an umbrella group that shares members. So, in case I hadn’t already been a member, I gained access to Walmart, Amazon, NewEgg, Monoprice, WayFair, and several other sites via the same user credentials. Wonderful :dubious:
For books, though, I look to Powells Books in Portland Oregon (actually I find them on-line since it’s a major drive from here).
Yes, it’s even bad when you search for a specific model number. Search for Epson ink cartridge T078120. The search results start off ok for the first 4 results. The aftermarket replacements don’t interest me but that’s personal preference. But the 5th result is Epson T277920-S, a completely different cartridge for a completely different printer that IMO has no business in the search results. Even when I search for the exact model number, Amazon search results seem so determined to give me something and I am always paranoid about ordering the wrong thing.
Thank you for all the replies, I had written a very long and complicated message, six to seven hundred words, what I call a pre-post, I use a word processor and then copy and paste. I was quite proud of myself that I didn’t post that long message.
The reason I was/am tired of Amazon was that I couldn’t log due to password difficulties and I had a very difficult time to work my way through Amazons help menus. It took over two months to resolve the issue.
I know it’s possible to shop on Amazon as a guest, but I much prefer to be logged in.
I was aware of the various allegations leveled against several large online companies, but I think it better to keep off that subject.
Thank you and respectfully yours, Zuercoli
Agreed. I love Amazon, but the search function is complete shit. If I search for “60 amp breaker general electric panel” why do I get results for 20 amp breakers and breakers for other panels? You can never be sure that you are ordering the correct thing from Amazon.
I’ll make some more remarks:
Yes, I believe it has become much more difficult to use Amazon due to the search feature, it doesn’t take you where you want to go even when you are very specific about what you want.
I prefer to go and look at things, look at 'em, handle 'em if possible, astronomically better than online shopping.
Most of the things I order from Amazon are just the things that aren’t readily available elsewhere.
I wanted some 2X long-sleeve tee shirts, I wasn’t able to find any such a thing in these parts. I bought a Victorio strainer, it would be at least a 30-mile round trip to the closest place likely to have one. Try to find a 150mm steel rule. Try to find a metric micrometer, or just about any metric system percussion instrument. Want a glass or plastic one-gallon jar, good luck finding something like that within a 25-mile radius. Lathe tool holders cheaper than a wholesale house. Milling Cutters. Carbide inserts. Etc., etc., etc.
Yeah, my examples aren’t common items, but that’s the point, drive all you like, if you do find what you want, you will have used up your gasoline and the item plus gasoline will be anywhere from 125% to 200% the Amazon cost.
Local brick-and-mortars can often order in items they don’t have in stock.
You’ll probably still have to pick up at the store; but if you know what you want, and sometimes if you only know what you want to do with it, you can probably do the ordering part over the phone.
Even before Amazon existed, some of the examples you gave are the kind of things that you would have gotten from a mail-order company, perhaps using a paper catalog.
Another vote for (or rather against) Amazon’s sucky searches and filters. If I’m looking for a chromebook with a 14" or larger screen, at least a 64gb storage drive, with an HDMI out port and a built in card reader, there is no way to search that doesn’t include a bunch of crap that isn’t any of those things.