Sellers frequently farm good reviews by including cards in their packages that state "give us a 5 star review and get a full/partial refund!"

I order A LOT off Amazon and I have never gotten one of these, I'd know because I would absolutely do this. I've seen "Please leave a review" card but never with a promise of a refund

Sellers update their listings with good reviews with different pictures, descriptions, etc. which effectively creates a different listing while carrying over a large review count.

Can confirm, I've seen this, but I thought it was Amazon themselves for some reason lmao

Amazon doesn't allow reviews after 30 days (?) from purchase, so items poor durability will not have that reflected in their reviews

I don't think that's true, I'm pretty sure I've seen reviews from people months after they ordered it

Honestly, at this point, you can barely trust reviews anywhere. They've all been corrupted to some degree, and LLMs are going to make them exponentially worse.

Yeah I agree you can't immediately trust the star rating, and you really need to read through the reviews to find the authentic ones. Even the bad reviews can't always be trusted (I see a lot where folks complain about a product and go on to explain how their own idiocy or lack of knowledge led to the failure). I've actually noticed several lately that explicitly point out they were paid reviews so at least some folks are being honest about it. Usually when I read reviews I'm looking for more specific information, like when checking for a log cart recently I saw complaints that a small wheel size led to tipping. It would be nice if ebay had a more extensive and visible review system in place, but I'll take what info I can find.

I got hit by the updated pictures and product problem you described recently. Used the “buy again” for a silicone set of wipers for my car (those last for years instead of the 2 seasons you get out of the rubber garbage the companies push). Rain x had updated the product to the latter one to make more money with the reviews of the older long lasting one on the inferior product. Had to return and buy from elsewhere. I can’t trust the “order again” functionality and at this point, Amazon and the companies there any longer (since they used the process to mislead customers).

To avoid the second one always sort the reviews by newest and keep an eye on the date

I haven't had a problem reviewing after 30 days.

My favorite part is looking at the rating and seeing that all the 1-4 star reviews are missing. Sure, the product has 1.7 stars, and, sure, Amazon requires you to write a review with your rating, but somehow only the people who rated it five stars left reviews 🤔

Also, AmazonBasics is exactly as the name implies. If you buy an AmazonBasics XLR cable, you know it's going to have two conductors not four and you know it's not going to be super well shielded if at all.

Only way I'm using most shopping sites is if I know they're trustworthy and if they support PayPal or one of the major payment processors. I'm not going to type my CC number into a random website and trust that they aren't hacked.

There are a lot of issues with PayPal, but at least it makes it easy for me to get a refund if the seller refuses. The last time I had to get a refund, it was because the seller told me I had to ship my $20 product back to China in order to get a 50% refund. This was despite the returns agreement explicitly requiring them to cover return shipping and that shipping it to China would have cost me about $150.

Funny how I couldn't stand Best Buy's sales practices a decade ago and now, without changing, they're basically the good guys

They are also a manufacturer.

But be careful that the other option has "free return shipping" included.

What knife did you go with?

I mean YMMV based on location, but I'm in a semi major city in canada and I ordered some stuff off Prime on Monday evening and it was here by yesterday afternoon. I've had non prime stuff come quickly too but not that quickly and the longest I think I've waited for something prime was 3 days.

In amazons defense it's 1-2 days shipping not processing or handling but they are definitely still deceiving

Is there a better amazon competitor?

That's becoming increasingly more difficult though. Search engines (especially Google) have their top results polluted with links back to Amazon or sketchy sites, reviews etc

The actual products in Amazon - and now pretty much everyone with an online store - heavily mixed with 3rd-party Chinesium products with names generated by room full of cats and keyboards, and then further obfuscated by what their algorithm actually wants you to see, often to the point where it completely disregards your actual search terms.

It's not mindlessly clicking. Your could literally spend hours trying to find the thing you need but only seeing the thing they want to sell you.

I actively avoid Amazon. It ends up taking a bunch of leg work but prices are consistent for me between Amazon, best buy, target, ebay, and b&h photo. They might have an advantage of home depot/Lowes but those items tend to be something I'd like to touch and feel first. But I understand I'm in a metro area so I have many stores around and that I'm still not supporting the higher prices of indie shops. I can't do everything

Amazon isn’t as cheap as they used to be, but still competitive with places like Walmart and a far greater selection and stock. They’re definitely cheaper than locally owned places, I’ve tried to shop local, but the best I’ve seen is still like double what Amazon or Walmart has it for

Not always true. here Amazon is no longer competitive with the various DIY stores, from a price perspective, and often with other on line shops.

Also, I get the promised shipping time I’d say about 90% of the time even for same day items

Which is now, at least here, the only one selling point.

Price wise it kinda depends, but for books for example unless youre getting manga or light novels youre better off going to a brick and mortar. Seriously theres a used book store thatll order books directly from the publisher, 8 bucks for a standard book. The only problem is it has to be American published and no comics.

Yah, those comments are BS.

You don't want to wait in a self checkout lane for forty minutes to buy a single extension cord?!

Because it depends a lot on where you live.

In Canada, at least in a city, it's rare that I can't find things for the same price or cheaper in local stores. Amazon comes in handy for harder to find items though I've been using Aliexpress more for those items lately.

If it's handmade hardwood Japanese joinery furniture than it's worth every penny, it'll outlast you and you'll hand that down to your kin.