What Amazon Should Do Better

I love Amazon, I buy lots of stuff from them, and visit them daily.

But like all the major web sites (Ebay, Facebook etc) there are some glaring deficiencies that truly make you think you're stuck in the Internet of the 90's. The lack of real development at the site is stunning, to be honest.

On the other hand they keep marching on, being the go to place for many. So they're doing something right. It won't stop me complaining though. Here is my list of things I wish Amazon would fix. They're not in any order, though I do have my own preferences on what I'd like to see changed.

What else is there?

• Set Default Search. When I do a search on Amazon I have to set the search filter to "CD & Vinyl" every time I use the site. 99.9% of what I buy from them are from this category, so I should be able to set it as my default permanently.
• Sort Filters. When you get a search list - or even when looking at your Wish List - you get several filter options such as "Lowest Price" or "Highest Price". However, these don't use Third-Party prices. I should be able to sort by Third-Party sellers.
• Browse Store. While on the topic of Third-Party Sellers, the option to browse a "third-party Store" are woeful.
• Targeted ads. As I write I lose a third of the front page to ads for tours of their Fulfillment Center (seriously), and FireTV. I also have ads for a Kindle (which I already own), a Rosehip Collection (whatever that is), Moisturizer (!?) and more useless rubbish. I buy music and books.
  
• Better Prime Options. I had Prime and was very happy with it. When it came time to renew, the price had jumped fully 50%. Why? Because of extra "benefits" such as storage, streaming films, and other tat. I wasn't asked if I wanted these "benefits", and in fact I don't want them. Hence, I don't want to pay for them. So I no longer have Prime. I won't pay extra for what I don't want.
• Third Party Prime. While on the topic of Prime, it would have been better if it had an option to have free shipping from Third-Parties.
• Product Reviews. The way they handle product reviews is prehistoric. If a reissue of a title comes out, they simply migrate all reviews for previous versions over to the new title. So the new remaster of a CD inherits the reviews for the older non-remastered version. This renders reviews useless at times.
• Better Packaging Options. If I want to pay for more for super-duper packaging and bubble-wrap etc. Let me.

That's my initial list. I'm sure there are more. This post is more a rant. Amazon won't do these things because apparently they don't care enough. Gotta love big corporate sites.

 

As a business, and a very successful one at that as we all know, rest assured they care plenty about the user experience of their customers. However, they cannot possibly meet or incorporate every single concern of every customer that frequents their pages. Like you I buy a lot of music, movies and some electronics from the various country sites (mostly Canada & the U.K.), and search for those products 3-4 times per week. I have not found the concerns you raise being an issue for me personally as I can always find what I want relatively quickly.

Have you contacted them and raised the concerns you outlined above?

 

I suppose every business can improve, but I have used Amazon.com for 19 years now and have been impressed with everything about them at least 95% of the time. I do love that big corporate site, wish there were more like it.

Among the quibbles above, I agree that it would be nice if the customer reviews were more in sync with the actual product being sold.

 

My two issues are one already mentioned (reviews of different versions of products all being lumped together, and this doesn't just happen with movies and music) and the inability to really filter out the chaff from search results. For example, I recently was searching for toilet seats and even when I supposedly narrowed my search down to toilet seats, I was still seeing stuff like decals that could be applied to toilet seats or toilet seat toys.

I agree that there is no way that Amazon could fulfill every customer's desires, though, particularly while remaining cost competitive.

 

The one thing that I prefer about Amazon over eBay is the checkout/payment process. It's a breeze at Amazon and a real PITA at eBay. Anyone who has used both knows that eBay is trying to make it difficult to choose his credit card; and even on a wickedly fast connection as I have, it almost seems like they slow you down at that Paypal site of theirs just to encourage you to use your bank account. Of course, the reason for that is that if you select some credit card besides theirs, they lose a few cents in profit that are paid to another credit card company. At Amazon, OTOH, they encourage you to use their credit card, and will sweeten the pot by giving you a 3% kickback/rebate on your Amazon purchases at their site. They may do something similar to that at eBay, but I already have enough credit cards, and the three I use most give the highest cash back bonuses. On one of those cards, I take my bonuses in the form of Amazon eGift cards, so I end up with lots of free purchases at Amazon. On another card, I reduce my eBay expenditures by applying the cash back bonuses directly to my account balances. Since I use eBay primarily for buying gold and silver bullion, I can actually beat the big sellers' prices by as much as a few dollars per ounce on Silver Eagles—especially since so many of the big companies, like Lear Capital, impose a 3% surcharge on credit card purchases. Amazon, BTW, is the pits for anyone who is interested in numismatics or gold/silver investing. Their market sellers inflate prices dramatically, hoping to catch someone who is not inclined to browse the web judiciously. Neither Amazon nor eBay has the perfect site, but Amazon's is much more user friendly.

 

I have to agree with this one. Very annoying when you find a hard-to-find item or something cheap from a third party seller and you want to see what else they have. They should at least allow you to browse by category within a third party store. Instead you have to manually search through dozens or even hundreds of pages depending on the size of the seller, which is certaintly not worth the time.

 

I'm not sure why that would matter on amazon.com. It isn't like other websites where you might get a discount on shipping when you purchase multiple items from the same seller. If you buy two cds from the same Marketplace seller on amazon.com, they charge you the same shipping as you'd pay if the items were sold by different Marketplace sellers. Might as well just search for what you want and look for the best price.

 

Better be careful, Amazon holding a corner on the market, I'm not sure they're bound to do ANYTHING better. We're lucky that they don't have the page upside down for our shopping ease.

 

I'm not talking about combined shipping (which is another issue entirely). I'm talking about finding something good from a third-party seller and seeing if they have anything else for sale, particularly if you found a bargain or are happy with a previous purchase and want to use them again.

 

I see. That makes sense. I guess I rarely browse in that way, though -- I just know what I want and search for it.

 

I usually don't either, but once in awhile I find something rare or otherwise typically expensive for a great price and want to see if I can browse their store to find anything else that may be undervalued...I usually give up after a few pages. It's much easier to browse someone's ebay's listings by comparison.

 

Browsing, and searching, and two entirely different things. You browse to see what else is out there that might peek an interest - it's undirected, and is a fun exercise. Searching is good when you know what you want specifically.

People like myself, who grew up when there were record stores on every corner, have an affinity to browsing. Sometimes I'm open to buy something, but I'm not sure what it is until I actually see it.

 

Fair enough. However, what is missing from Amazon is a striving for improvement. In fact, the functions of the site haven't changed for years. They offer the minimum amount needed to increase turnover.

As for it being successful - I'm not sure they've ever made a profit. They certainly don't in the UK based on their accounts......

 

Really dislike when an older CD listing disappears just because a newer version has been released.

 

My main complaint with Amazon is packaging for a single CD. They use flimsy, oversized bubble mailers, and jewel cases often get damaged in transit. Two CDs are typically packaged together in a box or a more sturdy cardboard mailer, so I try to order two or more discs at a time. Hmm...maybe that's their goal.

 

You're lucky. If I buy a single CD from Amazon.co.uk, it ships in a cardboard envelope - not a bubble in sight.

Also, they have raised their Super Saver rates. You used to get free shipping if your order was £10 or more. This has now doubled to £20 or more. It's a push to get people to buy Prime......

 

I almost order two to three CDs at a time, hoping to get them shipped in a box. Unfortunately, they often end up shipping from different distribution centers, so padded mailers it is.

 

The finally added a search for wishlists. I am grateful for that.

 

Unfortunately, the padded mailers that amazon.com uses are thin and oversized for a single CD. The CD swims around in the mailer, and the bubble wrap is thin and offers little protection. It is rare that I have to return a CD due to damage in transit, but I have had to replace jewel cases.

I've been reading about Amazon-UK's raised super saver rate. Definitely a push for Prime. I've been Prime in the U.S. for several years, but I imagine amazon.com has made a similar push.

Good point. That's something we have no control over, but I do get multiple discs to ship together most of the time.