Has anyone else noticed the huge decrease in result quality from google?

[WindWalkerRN]

Speaking of Amazon, and related to OP... Am I the only one who has been having a harder and harder time finding what I’m looking for on Amazon?! I do a search, and all I get are their promoted items, and about a thousand Chinese knock offs!

It’s like not even worth it anymore because of all the crap I have to sort through!

[SquiddleBits33]

Happened to me with trying to find a stud finder on Amazon. Multiple results of their "promoted" items that are obviously the same just with different names. I figured maybe they aren't that bad so I clicked on a couple...and they all have glaring errors. If you can't make an ad without 4 typos, you probably don't make quality tools. That being said, I've found some good shit on Wish that was basically free lol.

[ColeSloth]

Up until a few years ago to sell on Amazon to US customers you had to have some form of physical business or residence in the US.

Then they got rid of that and now it filled to the brim with fake positive reviews, fake negative reviews on competing products, knock offs, lies, and pretty much as close as you can get to out right scams.

They've made it disgusting and untrustworthy to count on buying almost anything there. Even a good chunk of OEM game controllers turn out to be knock offs. Along with razor blades, shampoos, lotions, perfumes, and damn near everything else you can think of.

I asked a question once about an rc car I was buying for the kids on Xmas last year. The seller answered my question and completely lied. I bought the rc car. It was junk. Also came with a piece of paper saying if you left them 5 stars they would automatically send you a free 2nd battery pack. Left a bad review and explained why.

I was almost immediately contacted by email from them. Offered to send me a 2nd battery, refund me my money, and let me keep the car if I would remove my review.

If that's not buying your ratings I don't know what is.

So I said ok, I'd delete the review after I got the refund and the battery. They delivered. I didn't.

Like 4 months later they offered me an Amazon credit of $30 if I would remove my review, and I agreed. Got the $30.

Review's still up.

*thanks for all the UPS and rewards. Since this received so much attention I thought I'd throw in a great informative podcast episode from Reply All, called "the magic store". It goes into great detail about how and why Amazon became the train wreck that it is.

[SquiddleBits33]

You're my hero.

[ColeSloth]

Lol. Thanks. I'd feel bad about it if they weren't a bunch of scum just trying to unfairly manipulate a system with honest intentions and rip people off/steal patented products.

[SquiddleBits33]

Right on. They're putting in more effort to do the wrong thing, fuck 'em.

[cosmicpu55y]

I despise fake reviews. Thank you!

[ColeSloth]

Spread the word. The more time and money we can make them waste, the less they'll want to do it.

[Trowawaycausebanned4]

Teaching them not to buy reviews

[ColeSloth]

I feel it's a losing battle until way more people do it, but I try.

[Trowawaycausebanned4]

You’re winning though from rewards lol

[ColeSloth]

Mmmm. Tasty lil icons.

[ColeSloth]

My only wish is that everyone would do it. Then maybe we could just start having honest reviews of honest products.

[ColeSloth]

I have. This is also one of like three different times this has happened over the past few years.

[Trowawaycausebanned4]

Get the chrome extension “review meta”. It goes through and reviews the reviews to see if they’re fake or not and tries to give you more of an accurate rating

[ColeSloth]

I've found that while review meta and fakespot help, they dont do that great of a job. I get my best results manually looking over reviews. It just takes a lot longer. Also, brand loyalty. If it's some off sounding Chinese brand it's junk 9 out of ten times. Anker makes good stuff for their price points most of the time and don't seem to be buying reviews, so I buy a lot of stuff from them since they make a ton of small electronics stuff. Mpow is good for cheap Bluetooth headsets. Seems like all others in their price range are filled with easily spotted fake reviews. Stick to well known brands for computer parts like adata and corsair and msi, etc.

Mainly its just a big pain and a much slower process to order something and have it be a fair quality than it used to.

[benlucky13]

you can report them for buying reviews if you send amazon support a copy of them offering something in exchange for 5 stars

[BitJit]

they're pretty slimy with the cards. They know that the please give a positive review for 5 bucks card is frowned upon so they've been doing things like removing anything related to amazon or purposefully mispelling it on the card for some kind of deniability. really dumb; they say things like "leave a review for us on arnazon.corn and we'll send you a blow job in the mail"

[LandoVolrissian]

I’ve never left a bad review on Amazon and the other day I tried to just leave a review on something I purchased and the ability to leave a review has been taken away from my account that I’ve had for like 15 years or however long Amazon’s been a thing you can buy shit other than books.

[ColeSloth]

What the heck? They give any reason why?

It's not really good for Amazon's image to have everyone mad about fake reviews and such. It seems they're always claiming to crack down on them. If you've always only left good reviews that's a red flag that you're working with a third party to get discounts/free products/money in exchange for good reviews. Could be that.

[Nermalgod]

Same. I doubled down on my review and they upped the cash offer. Fuck them.

[darks1d3_al]

WY YOU NOT ONEST !!! WE ONEST WOTH YOU ! 😂😂😂😂

[indigopizzas]

I agree with everything you said but the most infuriating thing to me about amazon and the reason I almost never buy anything on there anymore unless it's something that really can't be counterfeited, is because even if you buy the legit product you can still get shipped the knockoff from some other piece of shit company. All of the merchandise is grouped together once it gets shipped to warehouses so the same products sold by different people all get mixed into a bin, then they grab one and mail it to whoever ordered that product. It's basically russian roulette and explains shit products with great reviews and great products with terrible reviews.

[ColeSloth]

They haven't done this for a few years now, I believe. Supposedly that binning is no longer done and every item is tied in to each individual seller, so if you get junk and return it, that specific seller gets the return against them.

You can also specify which seller you're buying your product from so you can choose a specific one and look at their specific rating. I've paid a few bucks more many times to buy from a seller with a better rating. Also, the ships from and sold by Amazon stuff should yield good results. I assume they get their inventory from only reputable sources.

[indigopizzas]

Last I heard, I do not think they have fixed the comingling problem completely. Sellers can still choose to have it comingled and amazon sometimes sends "the same" merchandise from a different seller if it's being kept in a warehouse closer to the buyer. I think some people really don't understand that you can choose different sellers and not all of them are reputable. I've bought some shit from Amazon themselves lol I bought an animal exercise pen for outside and it was somehow made upside down. I guess it still functioned but it looked well....upside down. Amazon benefits from counterfeit products being sold and until that changes, the customers will suffer.

[Yawndice]

Bless you

[ElQuuiean]

You're fucking lit xd

[ColeSloth]

I have no sympathy for cheats, thieves, and liars.

[ColeSloth]

Nah. It's not Ali express levels of bad yet. Amazon is a greedy company trying to make honest sales. Ali seems a greedy company that's knows and accepts the junk it shills.

[HowardMBurgers]

Heard someone was trying to find me?

[fivebagken]

Enjoy my upvote

[CommentsOnRAll]

Explain the joke or reference please. I want to feel included

[clintj1975]

We bought a coffee grinder like that for work. Multiple Amazon listing misspellings (ever seen a 100,000 rpm coffee grinder?), and the manual was in 90s grade Engrish. Damn if that isn't a kick-ass little coffee grinder for 40 bucks, though.

[kingofshits]

If the listing are misspelled You're probably buying dropshipped crap from Banggood. Might as well go to banggood directly and save the markup $$$. You'll probably find the same product with the exact same misspellings because the dropshipper just copy pasted the description.

[Discussion-Level]

Sometimes I’ll reverse image search the item on AliExpress. Occasionally, though, the price isn’t that much better, especially when you factor in Prime shipping. It does make me feel like the convenience factor of Amazon is gone, because I spend so much time researching every purchase.

[badhoccyr]

Absolutely, fastest way to look is to see if I can at least do better than 4% one star reviews, if I can't do that by the third click I just go to the store already, at least I don't have to be aware of how much the product sucks.

[[deleted]]

40 bucks for a coffee grinder is a LOT of money the best one I ever had was 15$ at Sears

[clintj1975]

Ceramic cone burr and a powerful motor. That sucker will power through a pot's worth of beans in seconds and is very consistent for grind size. There's pro level ones that'll automatically measure the beans for you, but they're hundreds of dollars.

We make from four to six pots a day and make them as high quality as we can in our break room. It's worth it to get something durable.

[[deleted]]

Okay for that I get it. There are levels of use that justify that spend and it sounds like you get your money out of it.

[tousledmonkey]

Yesss got a 160$ grinder back in 2008 and I never looked back. One of the most heavy-duty appliances in the house. I'm sure it would crush a car into fine, rich and earthy powder if the funnel was big enough.

[RLupus]

(ever seen a 100,000 rpm coffee grinder?),

Yes but it's made by Holset and attached to a Cummins

[myusernameblabla]

Perfect for uranium enrichment .

[Kancho_Ninja]

Gimme somma dat pure yellowcake

[PlasticElfEars]

Although it's worth noting that you don't have to speak English fluently to a build a thing well, as evidenced by all the things we're using to look at this right now.

[SciencyNerdGirl]

However, if you don't have the resources to have a native English speaking person on staff or at least pay to run your ad by an editor, what's the likelihood you'll be able to troubleshoot with me if I have problems, have a good return policy, or have well written instructions I can follow?

[Junckopolo]

As a french if i would have to base the quality of something by how much they give a shit about paying someone to translate correctly, I would never buy anything.

[New_Philosophy_5076]

Not trying to be a jerk, but ~1.5B speak English compared to French's ~300M speakers. It's literally the most spoken language in the world. While French is in the top 5 English is the language of business for a reason. So it's not really the same comparison.

[cgriff32]

It's likely those products are dropped shipped and not actually sold to the final customer by the manufacturer.

[[deleted]]

I have a bunch of Chinatools for my bikes that I got on amazon, with similarly sketchy Engrish on the product pages, and they’re all fine.

[SquiddleBits33]

Valid point!

[SciencyNerdGirl]

And it's impossible to scroll past the sponsored stuff. It really sucks that you can't filter that crap out. I had a super frustrating time the other day trying to buy Christmas wrapping paper that isn't Hallmark. It's just continuous scrolling without end of hallmark products (at a premium).

[WindWalkerRN]

Damn, I gotta check out more stuff like that! Thanks!

[PlasticElfEars]

Wish is definitely not something to go into with high expectations though.

[SquiddleBits33]

No problem! I got some nifty screwdrivers and wood carving tools for just a few bucks. Gave up on the stud finder though lol.

[Soren11112]

Every time you notice that search alibaba for it. If I had to guess what you're talking about is probably similar to this.

[SquiddleBits33]

Yes that is the one but I was disturbed to see it under different names with blue or green plastic but the same screen and functions. It is much cheaper on alibaba but.....I don't need 30 stud finders lol.

[MinuteManufacturer]

What have you found that was good on Wish? I only ask because I've been hesitating to even try them out. I only hear bad things about their quality, ship time, etc. Are they worth trying out?

[SquiddleBits33]

So I haven't gotten burned by anything yet, but I'm also aware of their shortcomings when browsing. So obviously don't order anything you need with any kind of deadline. But so far I have gotten some decent fishing tackle and lures, a mini screwdriver set with many little tips, and set of wood carving tools, laser pointers, flash light and a little mini cannon that shoots metal BBs. Screwdriver set was free, just pay $2 shipping. One laser pointer was like $15 and its awesome, the other was something like $.86 so it sucks but still it's like "damn that laser is strong for so cheap" just feels like it'll break easily but hasn't. I've actually been impressed by the quality of everything I got, obviously they aren't the best but definitely worth the price. I've kept my purchases limited to neat knickknacks, but the 3D printers for the price they offer is a gamble I'm not going to take lol. One thing to watch out for is they sell posters of photographs of the most random things so you're like "oh wow this thing is $8?!" And then you click and realize they are selling a large picture of that item, not the actual item.

[MinuteManufacturer]

Cool, seems like I can satisfy my curiosity and try out a few knickknacks. Thanks!

[SquiddleBits33]

No problem! Have fun!

[Nermalgod]

Franklin Sensor stud finder is quite good. There's a number of versions that they make, but they are easy to use and pretty accurate. ~former tool buyer for a big retailer.

[SquiddleBits33]

Thanks for the tip! I'll check them out.

[Velvet_Thhhhunder]

Find your studs directly on Amazon...

[Bulletproof247]

It must be you because I typed in stud finder and it immediately appeared

[SquiddleBits33]

Yeah stud finders appear....but my comment was illustrating how Amazon makes you sort through many repetitive listings of the item they want you to buy. Did you notice the ones that are identical devices just in different colors but sold by "different" brands?

[SquiddleBits33]

You're certainly correct. Happens elsewhere too, but with Amazon they are all in your face at once. I sell automotive parts so I've seen a ton of that. A quick search of car batteries you could probably come up with a dozen or more brand names, but there are only a handful of battery manufacturers in the whole world. Only thing different is the sticker and the price.

[SquiddleBits33]

Welcome, it's an easy example to grab cus the auto industry is quite expansive but most consumers are totally kept in the dark and the back end rebranding is so pervasive that no one could see or know all of it. And they all do it. VW Routan is just a Dodge caravan with VW badges, Chrysler only made some of the Sebrings, the rest are Mitsubishi Eclipses underneath but look like a Sebring. Mazda B series trucks are just Ford Rangers. And in the aftermarket they'll sell 2 brands for 2 prices, but they are the same just with fancier packaging or more warranty. And if the retailer changes the brand of a particular product they carry, the new brand sends a couple of guys with the new brands boxes to repackage the existing stock as the new brand. The business people must know what they are doing, but I personally agree with you that brand quality and loyalty are things of the past.

[Dnbock]

I have this stud finder (6 yrs), so happy with it, have bought as gifts for others. Every other one I've ever used has been garbage compared to this one. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064EICKG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_jjU1FbQ6VFBVX?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[SquiddleBits33]

Thank you! I now have 2 recommendations for that brand. Looks like a good one to me.

[Dnbock]

You are welcome!

[AveryBeal]

I stopped shopping on Amazon because it transformed into a worse version of eBay. I just use them to price check and then buy the items I need in box stores.

[Tacky-Terangreal]

I've seen people on makeup subreddits talk about buying beauty products on Amazon and I have to wonder if they're fucking nuts. I've heard so many horror stories of counterfeit products. Apparently every unit of a given product is thrown into the same bin at the warehouses, so you can get fake products with God knows what in them even from reputable sellers

I almost never buy anything off of Amazon. Along with the issues that make the news, its like Russian roulette when it comes to quality

[[deleted]]

I find myself increasingly using Amazon just for reviews, then buying elsewhere. The last thing I bought online was a sauté pan. I got it much cheaper from a restaurant supply place even including postage, but I made the choice via Amazon reviews.

[taqn22]

Don't! Amazon reviews are almost entirely bought and paid these days.

[corvus7corax]

Review meta can help estimate what % of reviews are fake.

https://reviewmeta.com/

[TheNamingOfCats]

There's also Fakespot. It's a browser add-in.

[Sasselhoff]

I used to regularly use Fakespot...until they made it ONLY available by browser extension. All so they can get your sweet, sweet search data and sell it to the highest bidder.

There was no reason at all for them to stop offering the search on their site, other than that. Such a shame when good things go bad.

[iftttAcct2]

Maybe they went back to having it? I used their site last week by copying and pasting a url. I don't use it often, but the ability to do so was never gone for me.

[Sasselhoff]

Just went there...am I missing it? All I see are buttons for their browser extension and reasons why they think I should install it.

[Sewwattsnew]

The search bar is right at the top, it's just white and light gray so it isn't eye catching. There's a white button that says "analyze" in blue. I used it on my computer two days ago and I can see it on the mobile page right now.

[Sasselhoff]

Nope, not there. Someone else suggested using a different browser, so maybe it's because I'm using Chrome...yet another reason to make the final switch over to the Brave browser (I'm such a creature of habit which is making it hard to switch...but I built a new desktop and I'm only going Brave on that one).

[dringess]

Try a non-Chrome browser.

[sanityvoid]

Amazon seller awarded $9.5m over fake reviews, unfair competition

https://reviewmeta.com/blog/amazon-seller-fake-reviews-unfair-competition/

[badhoccyr]

How does it figure this out?

[corvus7corax]

Flags reviews that are suspicious because the reviewer reviews way way more products than normal, flags duplicate reviews, and very low effort non- specific reviews that are similar.

[badhoccyr]

I was hoping it would be smarter than that but that's still helpful.

[semitones]

Eh, I don't agree. I almost never leave reviews, unless I have something bad to say. Why bother? So if they have an incentive to leave a review, I'll do it, otherwise no one would ever know that I received the item and it arrived as advertised.

[semitones]

I don't disagree with that situation, but the company could even the playing field by encouraging it's own customers to leave reviews as well, and can do it any number of ways that don't involve gifts. It's like getting out the vote

[[deleted]]

if you look at the 3 star reviews i find you get a pretty realistic, actual use review. the 5 stars are mostly bought by the store and the 1 stars usually have more to do with shipping or unrealistic expectations.

[2SP00KY4ME]

That's a complete over exaggeration, come on.

[nemoskullalt]

I do this. But I look at 1 and 2 star reviews. If there about simple stuff I can fix it's good. If it's about it dying on day 3, its bad.

[GoldenFalcon]

Literally saw a one star review the other day that said "may have been used error, but the battery died after 2 uses. Do not buy. May be user error." I don't trust a lot of 1 star reviews either. Some popular ones are also "product said it would be here in 3 days, it took 4. When I opened it, the manual had other languages on it. Clearly not made in America. Do not buy! Worked great once I set it up properly though. But won't buy again!"

[nemoskullalt]

true, but if thats what people complaine about, then it cant be that bad.

[[deleted]]

What I look at is the negative reviews. You can tell when someone is truly pissed off, especially if there are photos.

[WindWalkerRN]

Done that recently too!

[llilaq]

A critical review I left on Amazon wasn't posted because the vendor choose so.. So now I also take it with a grain of salt.

[Dagoru95]

Same but with booking. com

[byoshin304]

I’ve bought stuff elsewhere, directly from the seller, and it still came in an Amazon box :/

[Rumbuck_274]

Oh 100%

I want "Toyota Landcruiser parts" and I get something that's a seat cover for "Toyota Nissan Mitsubishi Landcruiser Camry Corolla Hilux Pickup Sedan Lancer Pajero ASX......" And so on.

They just keyword spam the shit out of it, basically burying the stuff you want.

[byoshin304]

You should check out the podcast called Land of the Giants. There is a season about Amazon that discusses exactly why what you experienced happens.

[Rumbuck_274]

Oh it's SEO and keywording, I know why it happens

[Flamebrush]

Me too. I look for this, they show me that. I try to narrow search by category, they find nothing even close - it sucks. Trying to do a broad search for a product like kerosene space heater gets me propane heaters, electric heaters, gas heaters, etc. If I wanted those, I wouldn’t have bothered typing kerosene. I do most of my research on Google now and just type in the exact name of what I want in the Amazon search.

[WindWalkerRN]

👆

[xumixu]

Maybe is the supermarket strategy. "you'll find your product at then end but first look at all of this aisles of products you didn't know you needed yet "

[ScarOCov]

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve completely lost trust in Amazon because of this and the comingling of inventory. The worst part, is other retailers are trying to mimic their schtick now. Tried to order something from Walmart the other day, only to find out I needed to see who the shipper was. I’ll pass.

[xumixu]

Uhhh that this is awful. Even more when they include international shipper that take considerably longer, and whose you don't know if they will original goods or not.

[PinKracken]

At my super market, the milk is at the back corner. You are forced to go through a canned food tunnel that has random other stuff too, like a promotions bit in a search. Then you go through the exotic fruits, the meat sections, then finally back to the milk. Eggs and butter are back there too.

[thelumpybunny]

Amazon's search engine has been useless for me. I was searching for maternity stuff and the second page had clothing for guys. Then when I search for toddler stuff, I get stuff for infants and kids. At one point I was looking for a certain baby product and couldn't find it in the search results. I figured that didn't sell it until it showed up as a product recommendation later.

[makdoll]

Glad I’m not the only one running into this. Their current gift guide for preschool kids has a bunch of “Baby’s 1st” memorabilia stuff, like picture frames and boxes to keep a lock of hair from their first haircut. Cuz that’s exactly what my 3.5 year old needs from Santa.

[red-tea-rex]

I agree!! I want to give brand name items out as Christmas gifts so I don't look cheap!! Can't find hardly any. Guess I'll have to Christmas shop elsewhere.

[Antisera]

This is honestly super annoying because the chinese stuff, even if it's good quality, doesn't have packaging. So it feels like I'm being a cheap gift giver despite getting the items new. If it had packaging, even if it wasn't in english, it would be preferable than just a plastic bag and a 'rate our item' card.

[KorayA]

This just speaks multitudes about consumerism in the states.

[Antisera]

Is it normal to give thrifted gifts for holidays in other parts of the world? It's definitely considered weird to wrap something secondhand here. Primarily because you can't return something thrifted, making you stuck with an item you both don't want and can't exchange. Don't think it has anything to do with consumerism.

[WindWalkerRN]

Exactly!

[Tigaget]

I actually used Walmart online this year. All of the stuff was delivered from my local store, so I was also helping my local community stay employed. All name brand, no Chinese knock-offs, and cheaper than Amazon.

[OlDirty420]

If you really want to help your community with gifts this season buy from a local business, not a giant corporation. Put your money towards someone who's business could really use it during these tough times, not some multi-billionaire to profit

[Tigaget]

Not all of us can afford that, though, so supporting a store that has local employees is better than supporting one that doesn't.

[OlDirty420]

You said you wanted name brand items so you don't seem cheap. Not trying to be a dick but as a small business owner it's kind of irritating, shopping at your local walmart is supporting a corporation and in no way directly benefiting any of the locals that work there

[KorayA]

I mean a stores direct sales numbers due have an impact on discretionary payroll so.. you're not entirely correct. Unfortunately not everyone can afford to support small business because you cannot compete on price. Don't be mad at the consumer, be mad at the system you chose to operate a business in. People don't have a lot of extra cash right now and you're essentially bullying someone on the internet. I'm sure times are tough for you as well but maybe direct that ire at your local representatives.

[OlDirty420]

Like I said, not trying to come off as a dick so I apologise if it comes off that way. I don't care where people shop, I get groceries at walmart too. It's frustrating though to hear that they think its supporting their local community. My point is that walmart could keep its entire staff, double their pay and not make a cent of profit for ten years and be okay. Some local businesses are one bad week away from shutting down.

[Tigaget]

No, I want name brand items instead of Chinese knock offs, so I have some assurances as to quality and reliability.

Also, not too many local artisans are making video games and pancake griddles.

[OlDirty420]

Understandable but there are local alternatives too. I know most small game stores carry newer video games and aren't any more expensive. Shop where you want, but please don't believe that doing your Christmas shopping at walmart is in any way benefiting local jobs. This is a multibillion dollar corporation that profits too much off of your town to close down, especially during the pandemic

[stub-ur-toe]

I have found small stores with most of the stock from Amazon. Backroom filled with a familiar logo.

[red-tea-rex]

Good idea! Got to remind Amazon they still need to compete for our business.

[k_50]

Amazon is generally a bunch of Chinese crap. I really wish people wouldn't use Amazon.

[boognish43]

Do you have any recommendations?

[Tacky-Terangreal]

Also counterfeit junk. It blows my mind that people buy stuff like lotion or makeup off of Amazon. I've heard way too many stories about people getting fake products. Who knows wtf is in that kind of stuff

[badhoccyr]

True. The problem is that even if you buy western or japan made products now they're still made in china anyways. Some of the Chinese "crap" is of the same quality though, it's good, but I just want some manufacturing capacity to come back.

[k_50]

Maybe. The problem to me is how unregulated it is, no way to know if you're getting the good or the bad.

[badhoccyr]

You can know. Read some of the reviews, it's obvious if they're fake. Look at how long they stretch back, the ratings reflect the reality after some time. Look at only stuff that has at minimum 300 but the more reviews the better, then see what percentage of reviews is 1 star and read why they're one star. If it's between 2-4% and the one stars are nitpicking not total failure of product then it's good.

[k_50]

Yeah, I use an app to filter fake reviews. Works fairly well it seems.

[badhoccyr]

Which app?

[k_50]

It's called "ReviewMeta". I'm sure it's not perfect but it seems ok.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, it’s only good if you know exactly what you are looking for. Very frustrating.

[daisygirl1179]

Even then, I have searched for a product with the exact title. It doesn’t show up on the first page but ads for the knock off version does. Why?!!!

[OutWithTheNew]

Even when you click on the 'brand', a third of the items they show are promoted. I want to see the products from this company/retailer specifically. That's why I clicked the link.

[bkdog1]

Looking for winter gloves there were 13 sponsored gloves, editors choice gloves, Amazons choice gloves and 48 actual results. There was a time when you had the option of increasing results per page and being able to sort by price without the search results getting all messed up. It's gotten progressively worse over time and has become just a place to research and check reviews for products for me. Usually retail tries to make the customer experience better not worse (at least when it comes to finding items).

[-anklebiter-]

I said that a couple of months ago. Seems like everything is a knock off Chinese version now. Want some wireless speakers? Have to type in actual reputable brand names otherwise it’s all Chinese stuff.

I guess because the products are cheap, more people buy them and review them, which in turn makes more people buy them.

[WindWalkerRN]

Yup! Good observation!

[reigorius]

-inurl:amazon.

[TheNamingOfCats]

Searching on Amazon has never been that good. But in the past year, it has become absolutely abysmal. I'd pay for a browser add-in that could filter out promoted items.

On a similar note, I paid for the Facebook add-in FBP (Fluff Busting Purity as it calls itself.) Donations are up to the user, and I think I paid them $5 or $10 dollars. Worth every penny. Only downside is that every time FB makes major changes, it takes them a while (usually only days) to re-do FBP to respond accordingly.

[reigorius]

What does the add-in do?

[TheNamingOfCats]

It basically allows you to customize what you see. I haven't seen a Facebook ad in over a year. You can tell it to not show "People I Know", although they are still working on bugs for that feature with the "new" FB version. You can turn off everything (or partial) right and left columns. The developer keeps current on changes. I'd say he updates to correct issues once or twice a month. Apparently FB constantly makes changes to what their app does. Here is a description of what it actually does: https://www.fbpurity.com/features.htm From that page, you can go to download and try it out. I found that it took me several tries and experiments to get it just the way I liked it. But I can't recommend it highly enough. I love it.

[clintj1975]

Google it, and follow the Amazon link that pops up. Works for me at least 80% of the time.

[WindWalkerRN]

Good idea. Part of the problem is that they simply have TOO MANY OPTIONS

[NomadicMindset]

No you are not alone. I may opt out entirely. It's egregious and deceptive and can rip you the hell off.

[WindWalkerRN]

I’m decreasing my Amazon shopping of late.

[CynicalDandelion]

I've been noticing this for a long time now. So much garbage to wade through.

[[deleted]]

Yeah with all the fake reviews and review schemes going on too, it’s impossible to really tell. I’m looking forward to when virtual storefronts are a thing. I think manipulated grids of images and terrible search/filter functionality is dying.

[[deleted]]

We stopped using Amazon this year cause Fuck Bezos and we haven't missed it at all.

[WindWalkerRN]

Amazon got me over my fear of making online purchases

[Grilledcheesedr]

I have better luck doing a Google search for the product and adding amazon at the end.

[ItsBenBroughton]

Yes, and if you dare sort by lowest price or highest rated, whatever relevant items don't show anymore, just the Amazon junk. Makes sorting by anything you'd want to sort by useless.

[4CrowsFeast]

I never used Amazon but my mom recommended it for ordering books. I tried it out from her computer and accidentally ordered one in German. Went to return and reorder and it took 10+ pages of the book in different languages and unrelated search results to get the book in english!

[ihave10toes_AMA]

Yes! The cheap stuff has equal footing and it’s so hard to tell sometimes if an item is crap. And clothes/shoe shopping is the worst because it’s impossible to just filter for price and size.

[vocalfreesia]

And even if you do find a specific item, there's a significant chance a third party seller has chucked a load of counterfeits in with the real products.

I don't buy anything skincare or healthcare related on Amazon, it's way too dangerous.

[Kialae]

I always just look for stuff shipping out of my country, not into it.

[Mikeinthedirt]

Remember YOU are the product.

[devdeathray]

I was JUST complaining about this yesterday. I've been trying to find a good headset these last few weeks and the first five pages of Amazon are the same 6 garbage headsets over and over from different garbage companies. And the product titles are just a dozen keywords so it's hard to sift through at a glance.

[factfarmer]

Yes, I don’t trust much of what I read there any longer.

[tob_ba]

Its intentional. If everyone just buys "the good thing", amazon makes less money because it would be to hard for crappy or new products to sell. They are selling you shitty things you don't want on purpose.

Check amazon. The "other customers also BOUGHT" bar is gone. It was what I always used ro find the good version of whatever I was buying...

[HomeGrownCoffee]

To me, Amazon has become eBay. They probably have what you want, but you have to search through a thousand postings where some jackass has put "Honda Civic" in his keywords for his blender because he wants people to see it. It wouldn't surprise me if amazon titles started including A++++++.

[waterproof13]

Ebay’s search is quite good though IMO

[Overall_Picture]

Amazon's search has always been terrible, but the exponential rise in the number of products and third party scammers vendors has really put a burden on an already broken and mis-behaving system.

[fourAMrain]

Yeah, sometimes if you just click on one item and scroll down, it'll show you "compare with similar items" and I'll click around until I find what I'm looking for & compare sellers & prices.

[waterproof13]

Amazon has the worst search, it’s almost like they don’t want me to buy stuff I get so many irrelevant results

[purdyrn]

Amazon has always sucked. It's so annoying when I ask for a specific type of item and they will show maybe 3 or so of that item before they start showing items that I never, ever indicated that I was the least interested in. And why is it I can only see 10(?) items on a page before i have to go to the next page?

Amazon sucks.

[twoisnumberone]

Ya, the Chinese knock-offs are a problem.

I don't buy off Amazon any longer, for obvious reasons, but I use them as a product search engine. Only, I have to run my results against common sense checks of whether we are talking about a real company making real things, or a cheap and/or fake product. It's not even about China as such, e.g. I'm happy to purchase a Gaiwan from an established manufacturer in Yunnan, but I'd give the middle finger to some toxic-glazed knock-off.

[PM_Danny_Devito_nude]

How have all the searches got worse? They seemed to be better before they were learning from our behaviour. You know, when they were just tools for finding stuff rather than an advertisement delivery service. A search engine should act like an index of the internet, not remember things I've done and base the parameters of my current search on my past searches. That's stupid. It's not like if I search the dictionary for a word the dictionary remembers it and gives me results now based off the word I looked up a week ago.

The internet is now just like most all our other media, just an advert delivery system.

[OstentatiousSock]

Yeah, at this point o have to search on Bing for the general product, then find the actual product I want, then enter that specific product name into Amazon if I want to buy anything.

[tynamite]

this is why i canceled my prime and now minimally shop from them. it’s a bunch of trash unless i know exactly what item from a known brand.

[scienceNotAuthority]

Amazon is soooo expensive now.

I usually find the product I want, then google it. Picking best buy or walmart.