What the hell has happened to Amazon

[TornACL 7698]

From 2016-2018 I would consider myself as a heavy Amazon user. One stop source for everything, with solid dependability and no issues getting problems resolved in the rare occurrence that something went haywire.

This year I'm probably down to only 3-4 orders total via Amazon all year. Starting late last year, it seemed like everything went to shit and my experiences using Amazon became consistently terrible. I had a couple of orders that sat pending for two days and then canceled because out of stock, I had another delivery go "missing" (not porch pirated, never showed as picked up by FedEx for delivery).  Meanwhile, half the shit listed on there is terrible Chinese knockoff shit, with clearly juiced review pages saying things like "This phone chargers was great thing to happened in my life." 

Sure you can filter for Amazon Prime only, and that eliminates some of the clear scam sellers, but even then I wish there was a further filter option for "Not Knockoff Bullshit"

Sunday, I ordered a gift for a friend's kid. Traveling all week for work, I check for status to see when it will arrive, and it still hasn't shipped three days later. Oh but estimated delivery date is tonight. I guess it's going to be one of those fucking time traveling package that will ship tomorrow but will somehow arrive tonight. Waiting three days for something you ordered online to ship used to be commonplace with online shopping before Amazon came along and spoiled us all. Now they seem to be just another online retailer. I'm not sure how that's going to play in the marketplace, because speed, accuracy, and dependability was a key distinguisher for Amazon. Variety used to also be a key distinguisher, but what's the point when you have to wade through 5000 listings of bullshit to find something legit, and then it never ships on time anyway.

Is anyone else experiencing systemic problems using Amazon?  I know it's the holidays, and that puts strain on the supply chain, but fuck that -- they know Xmas is coming, a supposedly brilliant logistics company should have this shit down pat by now. Also this thread is strictly about Amazon's performance so please keep your Cloak Room Bezos Washington Post Bezos hot takes!!111! up your ass where they belong.

[Sbbruin 21856]

I have very few issues with Amazon.  I get shit usually within a day or two and it's exactly what I ordered.  Bada-bing, bada-boom.

[CleverNickname 1311]

The chinese seller crap has definitely increased noticeably. 

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2652]

I haven’t noticed an issue 

[TornACL 7698]

3 minutes ago, Xian said:

I haven’t noticed an issue 

So what you guys are trying to tell me is that Amazon personally hates me? 

[Henry Hill 3156]

Yes. You’re the worst.

[El Diablo 4232]

We've all been saying it among ourselves for a long time now, I'm just sorry Amazon had to be the one to tell you. They've been great to me.

[bernorange 8362]

@TornACL - are you using Amazon Prime (with free next day shipping)?

[Dewey 3286]

They are at odds with FedEx fwiw, apparently amazon is not happy with their lackluster service. 

[Dbeasy 15051]

Chinese products have shot thru the roof and it sucks because the reviews are all fake.

[clapclapclap 9000]

18 minutes ago, Henry Hill said:

Yes. You’re the worst.

Yeah, even The Derel gets his Amazon orders.

[Johnny Chimpo 478]

There was a WSJ article yesterday about people literally selling trash on Amazon so I don’t think it’s just you that has noticed the quality of goods sold has started to slide. 
 

In their endless quest for dominance they are really starting to overtly not give a fuck about the consumer, whereas before they at least kept it behind closed doors. It’s a shame to see I tell ya what. 

[Okie State 3821]

Same great service as always for me.

[El Diablo 4232]

12 minutes ago, Dbeasy said:

Chinese products have shot thru the roof and it sucks because the reviews are all fake.

Knockoff Fleshlights with the sticky residue are the worst. 

That's what I was told.

[InkaUtexas 25951]

yep, no complaints. even leave out treats for the UPS dude. Did about half my Christmas shopping there and had it sent all over the damn country. Always to the right place. 

[TornACL 7698]

24 minutes ago, bernorange said:

@TornACL - are you using Amazon Prime (with free next day shipping)?

Yes, strictly Prime and I am in Fort Worth. 

[TornACL 7698]

 N. Z,. I 🙄😁b nnlplkjnjkb

[Incredulity 11675]

I would say I notice alot more of what I go looking for on Amazon isn’t available under Prime.  I also have had delivery delays.

Full disclosure a fair amount of my Amazon purchases are appliance or lawn equipment repair parts and other fairly oddball shit thats pretty tough to source.

 

[Fred Willard 115]

Being an online marketplace customer is very, very hard.

[Iceman 2715]

I just wait for Facebook to tell me what I need...

 

 

regarding the OP, we order something almost every 7-10 days and have done so regularly for the past 4-5 years. We do almost exclusively use Prime but have not had any issues. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Iceman

[Doc Reeves 6434]

I’ve had a hand-full of issues like you described over the past year with maybe 200 orders.
 

the one that burned me the most was finding a used offer for a computer GPU that usually runs $1200 for $850 and it just never shipped then disappeared from stock. I figured that the seller learned they could have gotten an extra $200 and just canceled shit. 

[Redneck Mutha 7956]

Only issue I've noticed recently is on non-Prime items where they originally tell you it's going to take a week+ for delivery, they've been delivering in 3-4 days.  Rat bastards!

[DFWTexEx 276]

We pretty much only buy on Prime and usually staple type stuff or simple home gadgets and toys for presents.  I don't even consider Amazon for anything complicated.

[CooterBrown 18014]

Other than weeding through all the Chinese shit becoming a chore, it’s still been good for me. I probably order from Amazon a hundred times per year.

I kinda get the Chinese thing though. You might as well private label all the shit you’re already manufacturing for other brands and sell it direct to consumers for more profit. At least they make easy to identify by always picking a made up word as the brand name.

[tx 3 putt 76975]

too much chinese crap

[Guest Lobo]

This fake shit does seem like a serious concern for the average shopper.  thanks for the heads up and let's all continue to be vigilient.  

I personally continue to operate under the premise of just simply not buying shit.  The scammers have a hard time tracking us because we just don't shop needlessly online to fill empty holes in our wellbeing.  But that's just us.  

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

I don’t believe anything is real on amazon unless it’s sold by amazon themselves.  The 3rd party sellers all appear to be counterfeit and/or low quality.

i know allowing 3rd party sellers have been a huge profit maker for Amazon but I find myself preferring a trip to a store as opposed to buying from amazon now. 5 years ago I used to have an order per week from amazon. Now maybe once every other month.  

Edited December 19, 2019 by Nice Guy Eddie

[Beau Vine 54231]

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

I have very few issues with Amazon.  I get shit usually within a day or two and it's exactly what I ordered.  Bada-bing, bada-boom.

This is me.  We got Prime within the last year, and I never want to go to a store again.  Zero issues on my end.  The Chinese butt plugs aren't up to TornACL's standards.

[Beau Vine 54231]

2 hours ago, Dewey said:

They are at odds with FedEx fwiw, apparently amazon is not happy with their lackluster service. 

FedEx completely sucks ass.  Chewy ships their pharmacy stuff with them, and I've never gotten stuff within a week of my order.  The dog food comes in two days because they don't use Fedex.  

[Sam Lin 3559]

49 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I don’t believe anything is real on amazon unless it’s sold by amazon themselves.  

Note that this isn't foolproof either. Due to warehouses sometimes co-mingling SKUs, a fake from a private seller can get mixed with real product from Amazon's supplier. They've made this much better, but I still hear occasional cases of it occurring.

Here's an article on it from 2 years ago, when it was really rampant:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/12/13/how-to-protect-your-family-from-dangerous-fakes-on-amazon-this-holiday-season/#4d350ff17cf1

[pacman 7355]

2 hours ago, TornACL said:

Yes, strictly Prime and I am in Fort Worth. 

Move out of the trailer park. Problem solved.

[hornbri 1399]

We place at least 100 orders a year if not 150 and I have not noticed any issues. Then again we are not shopping for the cheapest Chinese knock offs. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by hornbri
opps it is even more

[TornACL 7698]

1 hour ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

I don’t believe anything is real on amazon unless it’s sold by amazon themselves.  The 3rd party sellers all appear to be counterfeit and/or low quality.

i know allowing 3rd party sellers have been a huge profit maker for Amazon but I find myself preferring a trip to a store as opposed to buying from amazon now. 5 years ago I used to have an order per week from amazon. Now maybe once every other month.  

The third party seller overload makes Amazon feel like eBay once the eBay marketplace thing opened. It just got overrun with crap. 

Anyway, glad to hear it's just a run of bad luck, and/or Amazon hates me. 

[gsoda3 3262]

we're averaging 125 orders per year since 2012.  been prime members since they introduced prime but i couldn't be bothered to look anything up past 2012.  i honestly can remember only a handful of instances where we've had problems with late deliveries not caused by hurricanes/storms or have had complete junk shipped out to us.  maybe we're not shopping for the right things, but it seems pretty easy to avoid the chinese junk.

[fattyflattie 4639]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

This fake shit does seem like a serious concern for the average shopper.  thanks for the heads up and let's all continue to be vigilient.  

I personally continue to operate under the premise of just simply not buying shit.  The scammers have a hard time tracking us because we just don't shop needlessly online to fill empty holes in our wellbeing.  But that's just us.  

We do the same, but will less of the holier than thou act. 

[Gil Bang 25960]

I've bitched about Amazon plenty.  I use them, but I'm not the fanboy that most are.  I find them to be pretty meh.

[Guest Lobo]

Then by definition, you're the same as us.  Pay cash, maintain no social media presence, and don't use your real name.  Worked brilliantly for me for decades until the advent of the digital age.  Shop only in person, pay cash, and switch up stores whenever possible.  The last clerk that used my Christian name, I had fired as I pretended they stole my credit card number.  

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

Had 137 orders in 2019 and maybe an issue on 1 or 2 of them. They have a pretty great track record for me. 

[formermav43 4606]

12 minutes ago, fattyflattie said:

We do the same, but will less of the holier than thou act. 

Yeah, but THAT’S how he fills the empty holes in his well-being.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

I purchased a book from Amazon Prime a few weeks ago that was obviously counterfeit. Each chapter was literally one long paragraph. So much for trusting Prime.

I use the Fake Spot app and filter   exclusively Prime. When I read reviews, I tend to read the lower rated reviews first because those tend to not be fake, but many of those are people bitching about shit like damage during shipping. If I find items that aren’t available on Prime, I try to avoid Amazon.

Amazon’s search feature sucks.  I will enter the exact item description including the brand and model number, and I get all kinds of totally random results along with the item I searched a good way down the page  

One thing that does amuse me about Amazon is the Q&A section. People will pose a question, and invariably someone will respond that they don’t know the answer, as if the question was directed personally to them.

[gsoda3 3262]

2 minutes ago, ImissWallyPryor said:

 

One thing that does amuse me about Amazon is the Q&A section. People will pose a question, and invariably someone will respond that they don’t know the answer, as if the question was directed personally to them.

that's because amazon "invites" purchasers to answer a few of those questions.  you click on a link in the email and then you get 3 questions, so i can see why people answer them as if they were personally asked.

[ImissWallyPryor 9046]

1 minute ago, gsoda3 said:

that's because amazon "invites" purchasers to answer a few of those questions.  you click on a link in the email and then you get 3 questions, so i can see why people answer them as if they were personally asked.

I guess I need to actually read their emails. 

[Dbeasy 15051]

I purchased a book from Amazon Prime a few weeks ago that was obviously counterfeit. Each chapter was literally one long paragraph. So much for trusting Prime.
I use the Fake Spot app and filter   exclusively Prime. When I read reviews, I tend to read the lower rated reviews first because those tend to not be fake, but many of those are people bitching about shit like damage during shipping. If I find items that aren’t available on Prime, I try to avoid Amazon.
Amazon’s search feature sucks.  I will enter the exact item description including the brand and model number, and I get all kinds of totally random results along with the item I searched a good way down the page  
One thing that does amuse me about Amazon is the Q&A section. People will pose a question, and invariably someone will respond that they don’t know the answer, as if the question was directed personally to them.

Multiple people have been complaining about fake books.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

2 hours ago, Redneck Mutha said:

Only issue I've noticed recently is on non-Prime items where they originally tell you it's going to take a week+ for delivery, they've been delivering in 3-4 days.  Rat bastards!

Same here.  I ordered a bunch of shit last week with expected delivery date of December 22.  The last item arrived today.  

[YChang 3446]

If anything it works too well. Enough where I feel a bit guilty using it sometimes. 

[Stunns38 3465]

We haven’t had many problems but some. I’ve noticed that there are knockoffs of reputable brands like fake Gillette razors(in the same packaging). I’ve reported those and Amazon refunded them without taking them back and asked no questions. They know it’s a problem.

[Hornius Emeritus 12463]

All I buy from Amazon is books. Hard to counterfeit those.

However, I'm told that if you order very specific items at what seems to be high prices you will actually get weed from Colorado delivered to your doorstep.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13512]

43 minutes ago, TornACL said:

The third party seller overload makes Amazon feel like eBay once the eBay marketplace thing opened. It just got overrun with crap. 

Anyway, glad to hear it's just a run of bad luck, and/or Amazon hates me. 

Yeah amazon feels more and more like eBay. I still buy on amazon but I’m more selective on what I order.  I do wish if amazon would provide more information about the source of their products so it can be traced to the manufacturer, publisher, etc.

[52-80 19161]

I'll 3rd the Chinese stuff.  I like the idea of ODM whatever sources being able to showcase their wares and cutting out more of the middlemen....but this time instead of the middlemen being western importers/marketers.....it's just more Chinese sellers.  Which defeats the whole purpose.

 

Amazon should tighten the leash on that and allow a few of the more reputable ones.  Allow the rest of the clones to Duke it out on AliExpress/taobao

[XYZ 2154]

I remember when eBay was an online flea market in the late 90s. I liked eBay quite a bit back then. Then it got overrun with a million sellers offering new stuff, counterfeit shit, scammers, whatever. The same seems to be happening at Amazon.