Comment on Amazon's Monopoly of the tech industry is ruining the US economy
stellargmite@lemmy.world 5 days agoThanks for this. I’ve only used Amazon a few times and was always baffled at the train wreck of its chaotic layout / ux. I had to buy something there once and it was such a process it was like being asked to leave the store before paying. Thought at the time it must be down to legacy and new features being showhorned around ancient web1.0 history, its success being its burden with customers having to learn how to use the thing. Price fixing scam is what I will think of it now, while continuing to avoid it.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Maybe it’s stockholm syndrome or something, but I find it absolutely fine. My general rule of thumb is to look past the first page of results, since that’s where a lot of the sponsored listings are, and then look at several listings before deciding. As long as you’re aware that the first page or so of results are generally sponsored (i.e. ads), it’s not too hard to find a decent product. And since it’s online, it’s pretty easy to compare w/ other retailers (I’ll often look at eBay, Newegg, and a couple others before pulling the trigger).
That said, I’m definitely not your typical consumer (I rarely buy things on impulse), so it’s hard for me to understand the impact of their “price fixing” nonsense.
TheBat@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Nah, the layout is absolutely horrible. Especially when you check a box in the filters and other options disappear because Jeff forbid you want to look for motherboards by Asus, Gigabyte, and Asrock but ignore other brands.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
Are you talking about the immediate refresh thing? Because yes, that is frustrating.
TheBat@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I don’t know if it happens in browser but sometimes on their app other options disappear if you choose one from the filter.
If I start looking for shoes, and check Adidas under brands filter then the page refreshes and I don’t see any other brands’ names.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 days ago
no it’s absolutely horrid. HOWEVER in your defense, so are like 95% of all websites, ever made, it’s not a unique problem.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Yup, the modern web kinda sucks. But once you learn to navigate it, it’s usable. Mostly.
KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
yeah, i was thinking the other day, about how much money we’ve spent developing the technology to put a floating window over a web page, just so it can display you an ad.
Aside from that web browsers are starting to become a secondary operating system, and i hate it, it’s stupid.
stellargmite@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Yeh people learn and it becomes normal which is fine. Ebay is as bizarre to me. Not hate, more a morbid fascination that things so maze-like to navigate can also be successful. Could be semi cultural as well. I’ve noticed this being the way in other US platforms with a similar legacy. I’ve also being (attempting to) subvert tracking for quite a while so maybe that’s working and its less useful as a result lol. I’m lucky in a sense that their corporation isn’t so strong where I live so theres more choice (ironically I may actually have less choice). Its annoying when they have the monopoly on a given product, but it’s also possible just to go without the shiny thing.
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 days ago
Yeah, it’s a bit odd, but again, once you get used to it, it’s fine. My general rules of thumb:
I do that each time, and I haven’t had any problems so far.