Amazon heading downhill

[gwebster]

I have really liked Amazon in the past and have purchased a fair amount of stuff

from them over the years. Lately however there seems to be a disturbing trend of

highlighting the deals of the price gougers prominently on the product page, so

that the customer is forced to search around for the real price. For example, if

you look at their current ad for the Leica D-Lux 3 in black, the main product

page lists this camera at $1295 from an outfit calling themselves Wall Street

Photo. If you search around the page, there is also a small box that says that

some new or used examples of the camera are available for as little as $599

(which is the actual recommended retail price for this camera NEW) but the way

Amazon portrays this information is somewhat disingenuous since it implies that

$599 might be the secondhand price. Only by searching through further pages

would somebody realize that $599 is actually the price for a NEW D-Lux 3.

 

I'm all for free speech and free markets - anybody should be allowed to charge

what they like and if it's too much, people can vote with their feet. But the

way Amazon is prominently featuring the price gougers deals definitely has the

potential to do its customers a disservice by leading them towards the crappiest

deals first, presumably because that dealer has paid Amazon some promotional

money. The way these pages are laid out on Amazon definitely (whether

deliberately or not) has the potential to obscure the real price of the product

and Amazon is effectively playing accomplice to the price gougers.

 

For the advertised D-Lux 3 in black for example, the camera is available NEW

from reputable dealers like EP Levine of Boston for $599. The featured price of

$1295 from Wall Street Photo is quite ridiculous and while I totally agree with

Wall Street Photo's right to charge this price, I think Amazon, who have made a

business out of getting people better deals online, is betraying its own mission

somewhat and damaging its reputation and credibility by leading its customers

towards the worst deals first.

[peter_mounier]

Their price may be too high, but finding it cheaper is not exactly "If you search around the

page", rather, it's on the same line, just a few words away. If someone wants to stop reading

the add when they get to "$1295" that's their problem. I don't see any deception or coersion.

 

Peter

[gwebster]

That's not really true Peter - the box on the side of the page says "5 used or new from $599" and it's actually not clear that you can get the camera new for $599. Furthermore, it's not deception or coercion we're even talking about here, but rather a failure to provide a good service that makes it a clear and straightforward process for a customer to get a good deal.

[sfcole]

With the internet, no one can claim ignorance for anything anymore.

[peter_mounier]

I suppose the page looks different, depending on how you got to the advertisement for the

Leica. I input "Leica D-Lux 3" into the search engine to get to the page.

I didn't think that coercion was a good word, but couldn't come up with a better one.

 

Peter

[frank_skomial]

Amazon ia a reputable company, and simetimes they do choose vendors of lesser reliabliity, to provide variety of products.

 

Amazon is heading up to the future and not down.

 

If it bothers you that camera cost $599 can be purchased at $1295, just do not purchase that camera, and go elsewhere.

 

Amazon web site is updated so frequently and quickly, and mistakes are possible. Even if $1295 is not a mistake, you have no grounds to draw your conclusion like that.

[gwebster]

My point is that as far as digital cameras and such products go, Amazon is essentially an online aggregator of other merchant's deals and as such, it's selling point - the reason for visiting their site in the first place - is that they can help you get a good deal. If instead, they are leading people to poor deals because the merchants offering the poor deals are paying to have them promoted more strongly, why visit Amazon at all? Hyping the worst deals prominently would seem to be working to get the merchants a better deal, not to get you a better deal! You might as well use another site, do your own research or take your chances on the auction sites. For digital cameras, Amazon is largely just a middleman or a broker and if the broker is working against your best interest, why use him?

[gwebster]

Frank - I don't really understand the point you are trying to make or how it relates to my post. Is it possible you misunderstood me?

[charles_stobbs3]

They only want to overcharge for the black ones. Maybe that's why the black one only rates 4 1/2 stars while the silver ones rate 5 stars

[keith_leonin]

<i>Amazon is essentially an online aggregator of other merchant's deals</i>

<p><p>

TRUE - and that is the ONLY thing that Amazon does.

<p><p>

<i>...is that they can help you get a good deal... largely just a middleman or a broker...</i>

<p><p>

FALSE -- that is YOUR misconception. Your definition of "broker" implies an agent of some sort who is working for your interest. Amazon has never been that. It is merely an "online mall."

<p><p>

If you walk in to any brick and mortar mall, and find a store that sells what you want for $1295 and another store at the other end of the same mall selling the same item for $599, is the owner of the mall obligated in helping you obtain the best deal? Of course not -- it is up to you to find that best deal.

<p><p>

Always has been, always will be.

<p><p>

Keith

[Spearhead]

<i>TRUE - and that is the ONLY thing that Amazon does.</i><p>How do you explain the $877M in inventory that Amazon owns? Have you ever read what their business is?

[richard_oleson]

i dunno.... when i look at that page, the very FIRST thing that pops into my mind is to click the "5 used or new from $599" button. if i were to choose not to do that, i think i'd just consider that to have been my choice.

[bernardwest]

<i>If it bothers you that camera cost $599 can be purchased at $1295, just do not purchase that camera, and go elsewhere.</i><br><br>

 

I don't think the OP is contesting the right of anyone to take their business elsewhere. The point he is making is that he for one, and I have heard discontent from other sources as well, probably WILL take his business elsewhere. It is for this reason (increasing discontent) that his assessment of Amazon's fortunes is an entirely reasonable one to make.

[vandit]

As a customer, I dont care about Amazon's business deals. I do know that if a dealer tries to

pitch a higher-priced version of a product, with the hope that ignorance on my part may

convince me to over-pay, they will not get my business.

 

I am surprised people are defending Amazon. Why not defend the Brooklyn dealers as well,

for that matter?

 

Vandit

[Brad_]

>>> I am surprised people are defending Amazon.

 

It's not the defending of Amazon, rather than it is good to have choice. With millions of

products available, some will have prices higher and lower than what Amazon sells directly.

Amazon doesn't make decisions as to what will be displayed by partners on a product by

product basis.

 

Amazon is hardly heading downhill. Customers have a choice when it comes to price and

availability. That's a good thing.

[gwebster]

Just to be clear - when I said "heading downhill" I actually meant in terms of quality of service. I was not making any comment on their future financial well-being.

 

Sure choice is good and the internet gives us this in abundance, and sure, people need to be well informed when they're shopping on it, and I guess these kind of uninformative cliches are fine if you're happy to settle for the status quo - but I don't see the promotion of the price-gougers deals over the better deals of more reputable merchants and the reliance on people's ignorance to sell products at inflated prices as a positive step forward for Amazon.

[berg_na]

I completely disagree with the notion that Amazon is intentionally attempting to push sleazy deals on their customers. Whenever the product is not sold by Amazon, then you need to do your homework and decide whether you want to deal with this dealer. In this case, Amazon is merely acting as a broker, but they still provide a valuable service: first, by showing an alternate source for the product when they either don't carry it or don't have it in stock (which is the case for the Leica D Lux-3), and second for providing assistance if you're not satisfied with the transaction. Personally, I would only buy the product if it is sold by Amazon, but I have absolutely no complaints about their business practices.

[gwebster]

<em> ... intentionally attempting to push sleazy deals on their customers</em>

<p>

Berg - you should read the OP more carefully before jumping in and disagreeing with something that wasn't suggested. Like one or two others before you, you have missed the point.

[berg_na]

Ok, then here's a more succinct reply. Your remark "<i>...disturbing trend of highlighting the deals of the price gougers prominently on the product page,...leading its customers towards the worst deals first.

</i>" is completely groundless.

[gwebster]

Berg - I refer you back to my previous reply.

[Brad_]

>>> and I guess these kind of uninformative cliches are fine if you're happy to settle for the

status quo

 

Choice is a cliche? It does put a tiny bit of responsibility on the one making the choice. Oh

well if you're not able to do that. Sometimes partners have a better price and product

availability when Amazoin does not. Hardly a cliche. Perhaps it's better to just go to the local

department store?

[GerrySiegel]

I have a lot of Amazon purchases, all of which are based on my web research. I find the prices to be good, and their web site is straightforward and furnishes as much or better info than the photo specialists. Incidentally, their customer comments are most helpful. Free shipping is their forte, and honestly, I don't know how they do it. I live in Hawaii a long way from anywhere. One order of a stereo component came free by FEDEX. It was defective and A quickly sent a replacement. To find defects, I think the OP has found an arguable defect,but the batting average of Amazon stays way up there for me. Anyway, why buy a D-Lux when you can get a nifty Nikon P5000 plus a dedicated flash, Ace? I jest...had to come to the aid of Amazon's reputation in case one of their QC reps is listening in on this conversation. I bet they would be interested,too!

[jtk]

Amazon itself sells product (it's not just an aggregator), and I've found it to be exquisitely good at the task, as well as being among the cheapest.

 

When I had sequential grief with a pair of failed Minolta 5400II scanners, ultimately replacing them with a Nikon V, Amazon was the direct dealer and they babied me with personal emails and offers of telephone, ultimately with advice to avoid Minolta. That was two years ago. Maybe it's declined since, but I concluded they were the ultimate dealer of electronic equipment.