Why I hate buying on Amazon

mattyprice4004

Not strictly true - some items are cheaper on Amazon than eBay; I compare both. 
Searching is a nightmare though. 

ciderboy2009

An interesting thread - personally I've near enough stopped buying from eBay due to the number of times I've bought things showing as in the UK and then have to wait for them to come from China.  When you add in the horrendous number of fakes on eBay (there are some on Amazon but nowhere near as many) then Amazon starts to look even better.

I was buying on Amazon for a number of years before I took out a Prime subscription and never had any problem clicking the correct button when they were trying to get me to take out the free trial and I didn't want it.

The main thing I like about Amazon is that 99% of the time I get what I order within a day or two - I'm not waiting for the seller to be bothered to pack up my item and get it to the post office.  It's also nice to have deliveries 7 days a week and the option on some items for it to be delivered the same day.

Spoonie_Turtle

ciderboy2009 said:

An interesting thread - personally I've near enough stopped buying from eBay due to the number of times I've bought things showing as in the UK and then have to wait for them to come from China. 

You just need to do the same as on Amazon - check the estimated delivery date. If it says UK but the seller is registered in China and it has several weeks as the delivery estimate, you can be pretty sure it's not actually in the UK.

(I've said before, I don't have a problem with things coming from China as long as they tell me that's the case, then I can choose whether to buy from them or someone else based on how soon I want it. I do have a problem with sellers lying about where their stock is.)

NBLondon

I agree that Amazon search is unwieldy at times - even if you know exactly the item you want.  Not least for the tendency to throw sponsored items in that are only barely related.  I find myself using a pen and paper to compare as different suppliers may offer different pack sizes etc.  You can find a good deal - but taking the first one that looks likely may not be the best.  I guess that some people value the quick delivery over finding the very best price.

Lostintheclouds

What I hate about Amazon is how they rig the reviews.

RFW

Lostintheclouds said:

What I hate about Amazon is how they rig the reviews.

Care to elaborate?

I'd love some of my Amazon reviews to be rigged.

soolin

RFW said:

Lostintheclouds said:

What I hate about Amazon is how they rig the reviews.

Care to elaborate?

I'd love some of my Amazon reviews to be rigged.

I think they are referring to the paid for reviews. I belong to a lot of online forums for small businesses and am approached a couple of times a month at least by Amazon sellers who want to get me to buy goods and will refund me in full for a 5* review. Quite a few people doing this as they speak about it openly on the forums and show their haul of free goods- although apparently to avoid being banned you need to use different Amazon accounts and I honestly believe that is something that Amazon do watch for and close users down.

RFW

soolin said:

RFW said:

Lostintheclouds said:

What I hate about Amazon is how they rig the reviews.

Care to elaborate?

I'd love some of my Amazon reviews to be rigged.

I think they are referring to the paid for reviews. I belong to a lot of online forums for small businesses and am approached a couple of times a month at least by Amazon sellers who want to get me to buy goods and will refund me in full for a 5* review. Quite a few people doing this as they speak about it openly on the forums and show their haul of free goods- although apparently to avoid being banned you need to use different Amazon accounts and I honestly believe that is something that Amazon do watch for and close users down.

Yes. It's been shut down a lot. It's not worth it to any account. It's certainly not prevalent.
It seems like only Far East sellers really do it now and even they're getting shut down a lot.

Not that reviews are a big thing on Ebay but reviews there are far worse. Some Ebay sellers reuse the same listing for other products so the reviews bear no relation to the product being sold.

soolin

RFW said:

soolin said:

RFW said:

Lostintheclouds said:

What I hate about Amazon is how they rig the reviews.

Care to elaborate?

I'd love some of my Amazon reviews to be rigged.

I think they are referring to the paid for reviews. I belong to a lot of online forums for small businesses and am approached a couple of times a month at least by Amazon sellers who want to get me to buy goods and will refund me in full for a 5* review. Quite a few people doing this as they speak about it openly on the forums and show their haul of free goods- although apparently to avoid being banned you need to use different Amazon accounts and I honestly believe that is something that Amazon do watch for and close users down.

Yes. It's been shut down a lot. It's not worth it to any account. It's certainly not prevalent.
It seems like only Far East sellers really do it now and even they're getting shut down a lot.

Not that reviews are a big thing on Ebay but reviews there are far worse. Some Ebay sellers reuse the same listing for other products so the reviews bear no relation to the product being sold.

Firstly I feel I ought to have said for any newbies reading this that I have not and will not give reviews for cash - as a seller myself I need buyers to trust reviews and not believe them all to be fake. However, some of the companies contacting me are UK and appear to have good ratings already - but I assume they are looking to branch out into new products and want healthy reviews on those new products.

NaughtiusMaximus

RFW said:

Some Ebay sellers reuse the same listing for other products so the reviews bear no relation to the product being sold.

That's becoming more common on Amazon too, for example:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Protector-Tempered-Fingerprint-Transparent-Anti-scratch/dp/B08HYNZS5C/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=1A6G15HSBSEWC&dchild=1&keywords=s20%2Bglass%2Bscreen%2Bprotector&qid=1602247703&sprefix=s20%2Bgl%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyTUNSWTA3SlRTNUsmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA0NjU1NTEyRklKUzdMTjU1TU85JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1NTA2MDYxR1U3WUZCOTg4NE9CJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Listing is for a phone screen protector but a lot of the top rated reviews are for a computer monitor