this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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It's almost like the writing on the wall was trying to tell us something! Amazon is a bloated poorly self-regulated market with a low barrier to entry that prioritizes convenience over quality, while obfuscating the truth of the seller you do business with.
I sincerely can’t figure out how to use Amazon anymore and I’m very tech literate. Top that off with their labor practices literally being criminal and you have a spicy pizza pie.
It takes a bit of effort to avoid amazon, and it does cost a bit more in money and convenience, but it is possible to not buy from them.
(It's virtually impossible not to use their web services though unless you are a member of an uncontacted tribe in the, you guessed it, Amazon jungle).
I like when you pay extra to avoid them, and the other site just orders from Amazon anyway and has it shipped to you.
Ha, here in Austria the government has effectively made it impossible for small vendors to sell their stuff. Amazon is pretty much all that's left.
What did the government do to cause that?
It's a new packaging law. Every non-Austrian merchant who wants to ship goods to Austria has to have a local notary acting as a representative who has to register the packaging used for shipments with the local authorities and is personally held liable for this. There are local notaries that offer this service for foreign merchants for about €800 per year. However, Austria is such a small market that this most likely eats up all of the revenue from Austrian customers for small merchants, so most just stopped shipping to the country. Of course, large merchants like Amazon easily can handle that fee.
That would go against the EU rules about Free Movement of people and goods (because it treats sellers from other countries differently from austrian sellers).
Maybe it only applies to sellers from outside the EU?!
It also affects merchants from inside the EU. People here are pretty sure that it does violate Free Movement, but since those proceedings for violations can take a few years, for now we’re stuck with it.
In 2025 the EU wants to introduce a similar system for the whole Union, but unified (so one representative for the whole EU). When that comes, the Austrian system will probably be disbanded, and since the EU is significant enough of a trading partner, the whole issue will probably be fixed. However, until then we're stuck with a law-enforced Amazon monopoly.
Wow, that sucks…
Can you believe they're so powerful they have bought a jungle with uncontacted tribes in it?
(/s)
haha, in germany it often times is just cheaper to order elsewhere these days
I can't figure out how they facilitate fraud and violate consumer laws, en mass, and nothing's been done about it... I mean, apart from the blatant capitalist oligarchies we live in.
Because we have a soft spot for monopsony for some reason. Probably because it's how you get the crazy ROI that gave us billionaires... Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon - all of them were able to become the monsters that they are by controlling the link between buyers and sellers
I second the other commenter just stop using it. I haven't order anything from Amazon for the better half of a decade. There's no product worth buying that can't be found off Amazon.
You have no duty to reward poor practices with your business.
Not only that, but the seller you do business with isn't necessarily the one supplying your product. Items are binned together based on their barcode, all sellers' items end up in the same bin, so legit sellers end up delivering counterfeits and counterfeiters end up selling legit products.
Not always, some warehouses (like the one I used to be at) stow products based off size. For example, could have RAM, ball point pens, phone cases, chocolate bars and everything else that fits into a small pull out cubby on a shelf shoved into one space.
So the stower scans the item, then scans the space on the shelf space they think they can fit it in. The Picker who bundles orders together is given the task to find the RAM you ordered. They are told it's in X aisle in X cubby. They have to dig through the most random garbage that is shoved into this space because the stower before is given like 2 minutes per item to find space.
Sometimes just to keep their efficiency numbers up the stower will scan the item, scan the space, and never put the item on the shelf bc space was limited. So that item ends up in an adjacent space that they eventually found room for the item and the picker is unaware so they may just have scanned whatever item was closest they could get away with and kept it moving so they don't get backed up. It was a mess of a way to do things.
You're talking about physical bins whereas the comment above I beleive meant database bins. There's a legit item in aisle x bin x while there's a counterfeit item in aisle y bin y. By binning them together in the database, the pickers aren't sent to x/x just because it matches the seller. Instead, they're sent to whichever is closest on their route.
Yeah, I recently ordered something on AliExpress and noticed that I felt less suspicious about their listings than I usually feel when I browse Amazon.
Same. I just go straight to AliExpress now and know what I'm going to get.
Although watch out for extreme markups. Some of the junk you buy a lot of, you can get for a min wholesale price straight on Ali regular.
I've seen the same item (same pictures etc) on Alibaba, AliExpress and Amazon, each time with a 100-200% markup. It's insane how the exact same item is $10 shipped from AliX but $30 on Amazon. Obviously the greater trust in Amazon vs AliX allows for greater markup when selling on that platform.
I bought 6 pairs of ear buds from Ali express. 2 of them aren't great, cheap sound, bad charge, etc. The other 4 are nice, not quite as good as my wife's airpods, but I can't really tell without doing a side by side. A few are airpod design knock off, one set are loop buds, the other are nicer gel plugs. All of that cost me $38 shipped, and there is no rhyme or reason to the pricing. The best pair was $7, the worst $8, there is a $3 pair I really like and keep as a backup at work. I look at any of those on Amazon and the cheapest is $30 LOL.
Haha, and you know that Amazon seller is either the same AliX seller or some idiot who bought a book on how drop shipping can make them millions.
AliX can be amazing quality sometimes but like Yahoo Japan you need your hand held at bit. I use AliX for watches and watch parts, but use reputable Youtubers to crossref the stores and parts. I also don't buy from stores that have no photos in reviews etc. It can take me an hour or two to find the right store for a $2 part, but I know that in 2 weeks I'll have the correct part etc rather than junk. I haven't tried them for electronics, but those retro Gameboy emulators are tempting.
Can you elaborate?
How much are they going for? That's a tempting gift idea I know for someone
You can get a whole bunch of Japan only or JDM items on Yahoo Japan via intermediaries (Buyer, ZenMarket, etc). But the purchasing process can be confusing at times and you are relying on Google translate as Yahoo.jp isn't designed as an international facing marketplace.
Miyoo is $80-90 AUD ($50ish USD) on Choice deal at the moment and is the best quality one (can play up to PS1 games). Is pretty much a portable RetroPi that can be loaded with ROMs easily. There are numerous models less than that though with a fair few at the $15 AUD mark, but with lower grade hardware and thus only emulate early Nintendo/SEGA and can only play the preloaded games.
Can you give me an example on some of the price discounts you have gotten specifically from Yahoo.jp? Is it only specific to some niche things like watches, or are there all sorts of great deals?
Trying to figure out if I need/want to dive into this.
Yeah it's mainly good for niche JDM items, and you really have to know what you are looking for, it's not discounted per se but generally items are cheaper by virtue of being purchased from country of origin or being more common in that market vs your own domestic market. For example I bought a 2nd hand JDM only watch via Rakuten (a Yahoo competitor) using ZenMarket. The normal rrp was like $250 AUD, I got it for $50 AUD. You do have to factor in fees, tax and shipping though so final price was closer to $70 AUD. Buyee is the biggest platform but I like ZenMarket too.
I do know from travelling to Japan that their electronics can be a lot cheaper too.