Amazon's Choice' Isn't the Endorsement It Appears (wsj.com) 44
Americans searching for last-minute Christmas gifts on Amazon.com will get lots of results that include "Amazon's Choice" products. Many shoppers will assume that is a dependable stamp of approval. It isn't. From a report: Amazon attaches the badge to countless legitimate listings, but also to products regulators have raised safety concerns about, that make false claims or whose listings appear to have been manipulated by sellers to get the endorsement. Amazon sometimes gives the badge to items that violate its own policies. One is the energy supplement Redline Microburst, which calls itself a "fat burner" and which last week carried an Amazon's Choice designation, even though Amazon rules explicitly prohibited sales of Redline-brand products.
Amazon has awarded the badges in recent months to a sexual-enhancement drink the Food and Drug Administration said contained Viagra, which is a prescription-only medication, and to five cellphone chargers claiming Apple certification that weren't certified brands. Amazon discloses little about the mechanics behind its Choice badge. Algorithms make most of the decisions, some former Amazon executives said. An Amazon executive in a September letter to U.S. senators said it uses "tools, including algorithms."
Amazon has awarded the badges in recent months to a sexual-enhancement drink the Food and Drug Administration said contained Viagra, which is a prescription-only medication, and to five cellphone chargers claiming Apple certification that weren't certified brands. Amazon discloses little about the mechanics behind its Choice badge. Algorithms make most of the decisions, some former Amazon executives said. An Amazon executive in a September letter to U.S. senators said it uses "tools, including algorithms."
At some point, the world will realize... (Score:2)
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Amazon.org is proof Amazon isn't just in it for the money.
Re:At some point, the world will realize... (Score:5, Insightful)
I once had a client who said to me, "You have a lot of great ideas, but they always seem to involve paying you money."
I confess that for once in my life I was speechless. What the hell did he think I was *supposed* to be doing?
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Nah, it means the seller spent the $$$... (Score:2)
Nowadays, it probably just means that the actual seller (not Amazon) paid the advertising fees to get it to show up first.
-And online reviews don't mean much either anymore. There's ways that sellers can pay for fake 5-star reviews--or if you'd prefer--pay for 1-star reviews on competitor's products.
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The items that are On Sale at the retail store, are not the items the store feel strongly about, but the crap they want to get out of inventory.
I just figured the Amazon Choice badge was the stuff they want to get rid of, or items they make the most profit off of.
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... that Amazon is in it for the money, purely and simply for the money. The Amazon Choice badge just seems like another way to move more product (other sites don't have that badge). Anything to make people want to buy more stuff on Amazon.
Is there any public for-profit company that's not in it for the money? Google pretended to be altruistic and "not evil" for a while, but then stopped even pretending.
Sure, plenty. Ben & Jerry's is a well-known ex (Score:2)
Plenty of companies have priorities other than just making money.
You specified "for-profit", so by your criteria probably making money is ONE item in their charter / priorities. It certainly doesn't need to be the only item. Starbucks includes other goals, for example. I'd bet Musk's companies do, but I haven't looked at their paperwork because Musk's masterful PR has the stock prices too high to even consider.
A corporation I founded didn't have profit as a goal, though most years it did make a small pro
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Ben & Jerry's was bought out by Unilever about a decade ago. Their scoop shop near me closed down because it wasn't profitable enough, even though it served the College community well before that (Vermonsters were a staple of dorm-hall birthdays).
They count on people thinking it's a crunchy Vermont company still.
Newman's Own would be a good example.
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There are various ways to go about being in it for the money though. For example, you can push the crap with the highest markup without concern for quality, or you can try to make actually good recommendations to build good will and bring customers back.
Both are profitable. The latter is harder but is mutually beneficial and may be a lot more profitable in the long run.
No shit, Profeasor Sherlock!? (Score:2, Insightful)
Why would a dealer present to you a product as "This is what I'd pick!".
*Because that's where he makes the most profit!!*
I thought you Americans were born with a capitalim in your crib! How is this not clear to you?
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At this point, I ignore the Amazon's Choice badge as it is a source of zero information.
Further shady practices will turn it into a caution flag.
My problem with Amazon (Score:3, Insightful)
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Normally with Amazon shopping, the trick is to not jump on the lowest priced item in the list. Also be sure to check who the "Seller" actually is.
Actually most sellers are honest about their product (or as honest as you can expect any seller) but you have to read the details. Refurbish, Reconditioned... Check the size and never go by the picture.
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Their prices aren't that good and they charge sales tax now so there really isn't much of an advantage. You're right about their search its about as accurate as google anymore. If you're looking for a specific part or model you better hit ctrl-f and make sure otherwise expect something close but incorrect. I was buying my wife a new set of wireless gaming headphones, Amazon was $99 while Target had them for $79.
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I'm comparing identical products. Buying an unknown brand name from Amazon is a horse of another color.
There's the rub. Many times items listed as "brand name" are not but instead marked as such to deceive. I've had that happen to me more than a few times now. And I COMPLETELY avoid anything Amazon Basics. What complete crap that stuff is.
Needs a Youtube-like Pull! (Score:1)
Seems like the "Amazon's Choice" label is for the most popular item within a popular search term... leading to a bump to the top of the page. So, illegal items that are popular enough get the label.
The problem isn't the label, it's that Amazon is slow to pull an illegal item without news yelling at them to do so. YouTube had that problem in the early days, so how did they fix that?
The problem isnâ(TM)t Amazon (Score:1)
Theyâ(TM)re just a market out there to make money. The problem are the idiots falling for this shit. If youâ(TM)re dumb enough to believe in some sexual enhancing gimmick or potion then you deserve to be duped.
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It looks like the main problem with this particular potion is that it was indeed likely to work.
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Well then shut up and take my money! ^_^
Lockpicking lawyer (Score:3, Insightful)
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But the purpose of a "gun safe" is to open so you can get at the gun if you need to shoot someone, and is otherwise nothing but an inconvenience mandated by criminals and crooks so that you cannot get at your weapons when you need them.
"Security" is therefore contrary to purpose. A properly built "gun safe" should be just secure enough to satisfy the criminals and crooks (aka politicians and their lackeys) while still permitting rapid access to the contents.
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LPL has reviewed Amazon Choice [youtube.com] padlocks and bike locks that contain amateur bypasses. Amazon should be ashamed of themselves for some of the crap they 'recommend'.
I'm also disappointed that the FTC allows this stuff to be sold in the US and still be called a security device. They are little better than duct tape or a tie wrap.
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It might be nice though if it would at least keep the kids from opening it...
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You also want it to be very hard for young kids to access.
Also, IMO, and I'm fully down with the RKBA, but kids need to be taught gun safety from a very early age, and they need this regardless of whether you want them to handle guns or not, or whether you have guns in your home or not, because it ranges from possible if you're in a "safe" suburb, to nearly certain if you're anyplace else in the U.S., that they will encounter guns at friends' houses or elsewhere. And even if they never see a real gun, they
I just assumed it was mostly sales numbers (Score:2)
I just assumed it was mostly sales numbers that get you the "Amazon's Choice" tag. The rest is probably bribery / payola.
Which means Most Popular.
Which more often than not means "It's rubbish."
Amazon's Choice = highly rated (Score:2)
Amazon's Choice mostly just means "sells well and has high review ratings for its search term". Problem is, random consumers know fuck all and just pick the cheapest, seemingly-functional item.
For example, some lockpicker on Youtube took a look at a few Amazon's Choice high security padlocks and they were comically insecure, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] (cheap Chinese junk that can be opened with a bent piece of wire just as quickly as with the key). Great choice for Amazon because it sells well a
Splittem (Score:1)
Break up monopolies and oligopolies (M/O). They rarely get better on their own. Historically, the worse customer service scores are from M/O's, and that's ignoring other devious and anti-competitive activities that are harder to quantify compared to customer service polls.
We have enough history on M/O's to know they stink, so why keep allowing them? It seems they just have more lobbying & campaign donation money.
That's not an anti-capitalism viewpoint, it's a pro-capitalism viewpoint because capitalism
Is Amazon's Choice for sale? (Score:2)
Tools and algorithms. Hmm, I wonder if part of the algorithm considers payments by vendors. So, something similar to how Google accepts payments for moving a customer higher in search results. It would be surprising if Amazon isn't already tapping into this source of revenue because it seems so obvious.
Aside from increasing revenue from vendors, the other potential benefit to Amazon from using the Amazon's Choice label is to convince indecisive customers to buy due to the imprimatur of Amazon. After all
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"tools" refers to the people involved in the process. The "algorithms" are coded by "tools". But we already knew this.
some 'choice' items are very specific (Score:3)
For instance:
- for gluten free vitamin C capsules
- for red with green speckled jazz dancing shoes
- for 51" flat screen TV with pre-tuned rectifier
Such distinctions in every product category allow many items to be Amazon's Choice.
My favorite example of Amazonâ(TM)s choice go (Score:2)
2 Prong Power Strip, 3-Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip with 4 USB Charging Ports, 6.6ft Extension Long Cord for Smartphone Home Indoor Office Desktop, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D... [amazon.com]
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It's not the best choice (Score:3)
Who are these idiots (Score:2)
that trust anything they see on Amazon? My assumption is that "Amazon choice" means "We have huge stocks of this shit" or "We make more than 1000% profit on this line". Why would anyone think Amazon is interested in the quality of anything it shifts out of its barns? It's crazy.