Amazon ASIN ID and Product Details No Longer Visible on U.S. Site

I recently noticed that Amazon.com has removed the Product Details section of music releases. Amazon U.K. still contains the information (as of this morning). U.K. Amazon example below.

Valerie June -- The Order of Times
Barcode: 888072377127

Product details
Audio CD (10 Mar. 2017)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Caroline International P&D
ASIN: B01MF9RD6H
Other Editions: Vinyl | MP3 Download
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,535 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
#165 in Music > Rock > Blues Rock​

The Amazon ASIN ID is still present in the URL, see partial U.S. Amazon URL example:

https://www.amazon.com/Order-Time-Valerie-June/dp/B01MF9RD6H/ref=sr_1_1_......


The Amazon ASIN is often requested as a method to reference releases in music databases. Typically it is a poor example (IMO) of an independent ID and it lacks the uniqueness to identify specific CD of Vinyl pressings. IMO and experience, the ASIN is less reliable than barcodes for uniqueness.

I posted this topic as a general notification and an alert to those individuals using the Amazon ASIN to keep track of music releases. Again the ASIN appears in the URL... for now. Of course, the rest of the product details were also useful and now appear to be no longer present--at least for now.

As for me... I still tag the ASIN associated with the barcode for music releases... I confess that I'm not sure why, except that I've been doing it for years. Perhaps it's time to stop.

 

If they're removing that info, I see no reason to buy any more vinyl from them. The info they used to post was already next to nothing and made it difficult to find proper pressings. Now, it'll be impossible so my money will go elsewhere.

No point in relaying my thoughts to Amazon either. They won't change the way they do business because I dislike it.

 

Yes, Amazon is a difficult tool to use when trying to purchase used releases. New releases are certainly easier, especially pre-orders.

 

The amount of over-entitled behaviour being shown in this thread is baffling to me.

You notice something's wrong, but you expect Amazon to fix it without telling them, and assume that it's all part of a way to stop being customer-friendly. That's a terrible attitude.

 

Yeah that's a bummer.
I'd use the ASIN to search the international Amazon sites when there was a title that the US store didn't have or vice versa.

But here's a question: When you write a seller to ask a question, Amazon had you reference this information in your question. What now?

 

I suggest you look up what entitled means as you clearly don't seem to grasp its meaning.

A company like Amazon doesn't suddenly remove an entire category of information on a whim without doing its due diligence and studying what it believes is mass-market customer behavior. People like me who wish to have that info are in the minority. That is called being self-aware.

Amazon won't revert back to how things were because I sent an email. That is called being logical.

If this is all you got to contribute to the thread, feel free to post elsewhere. Speaking of poor attitudes...

 

Check the URL....

 

Amazon UK
I have many saved bookmarks to pre-owned cd listings some of which were past purchases,
these are no longer accessible using Amazon search but are accessible only from the saved links.

I first noticed some time ago, and at that time just required clearing the browser cache for searches to resume as normal, this is no longer the case for me at least.

 

I'm not sure a fix is in order, perhaps it would benefit some individuals. Amazon certainly sees a path in front of them and they are entitled to take it. My ability to influence them, even 20 years ago, is almost inconsequential, so I monitor what they do and try to remain flexible. I've worked building databases since the mid 1980s, it's best to be flexible with design. The ASIN mentioned certainly was not a panacea for finding specific releases. That said, a simple photo of the matrix numbers provides me a lot more information.

I originally started tagging the ASIN as general information, in my own experience, I typically have not found the information very useful.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

The internet as a historical document is... well awful. Some sites and pages get saved on the Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine site, but I tend to cut and paste information I need. Storing and re-accessing my stored information in a timely fashion is often challenging. I am appreciative that the Hoffman site does keep its information for a long time and that I can reliably access it. Amazon and Ebay, at least for me is always a cut, paste, and store operation.

 

FWIW, I originally placed this topic in the Music Corner and it's been moved to Marketplace Discussions. I assume a Gort move, and I'll bow to their overall knowledge. I did place the topic in the Music corner so that people using the ASIN as a reference ID for releases similar to how matrix numbers or barcodes are used ,would be aware of a potential loss of a data source. I use a feed reader for the Hoffman Forum or Google search which are both category independent. I suspect the ASINs may not be widely used.

Thanks for the category move.

 

Perhaps someone at Amazon has determined that providing such information has been problematic...
Possibly after reviewing Customer Service "call logs".

And the quick, easiest, most efficient fix has been to remove that info from public display.
Sometimes the logical solution is to go "back to zero".
(Hopefully temporarily, while a Data Verification Team researches Product in the Warehouse - virtually or physically.)

I agree that respectful and clear communication with Amazon regarding this change is the best method to convey customer service concerns.

Let's see what develops...

 

I don't care about the ASIN too much, but the label information is huge as is release date. I'm chatting with a rep now to log a complaint about it. Big difference between a record on sale for cheap, vs a cheap Euro crap record, can't tell otherwise


I *do* still see the ASIN and product details on the mobile site, just not the full site

 

OK, the chat person said she'll pass it to the tech team to review, and to use the mobile site in the meantime to find the info.

More people doing a quick chat and complaining politely will help. 1 person's complaint would get shrugged off, but multiple would help raise the flag

 

Well that's a nice bit of information. It did not occur to me to check the mobile site. I'll also contact Amazon.

 

The product details section including ASIN, release date, and label information seems to have returned.

 

Well I did contact them... perhaps they listened? ... no wait what am I thinking, Amazon listening to customers.... hmmm... seem unlikely.

Perhap it was a release/update issue they did not catch in QA. I'm glad the info is back.