How about the “Ads by Revcontent” at the bottom of every Boing Boing article? They’ve been around for some years, and they thrive on the “you won’t believe” headlines, promises of sure-fire moneymaking schemes, or pictures that are just plain disgusting. They clearly detect that I’m in Bergen, Norway, and make them appear “local” by having them translated (badly) into Norwegian with headlines like “Bergen Casinos Hate That You Know This Trick.” Really? “Bergen casinos”? Someone should tell them that there is no such thing.
2 Likes
Several things I observed regarding Amazon’s “nudging”:
-
They try to get me to buy the same stuff (sometimes even the exact same stuff, not even other brands) I already bought. Like a toilet paper holder.
-
They sometimes suggest very obvious stuff, which is handy for people to preoccupied to notice that the product they’ve got in their ‘basket’ needs some special thing (like a not-included wallmount for a toilet paper holder.
-
All their suggestions, and in fact most products which turn up in the normal search are not just down-market suggestions, but increasingly either rip-offs or really shit quality alternatives. Even if you are looking for a very specific thing, like toilet paper holder of a well-known brand which should vouch for a certain quality standard of production and overall product, you get this shit.
-
Also, quite often nowadays I don’t even find the very specific thing I fookin asked them for at all in the assorted shit products. Like a specific glass display protector for 1.5 years old smartphone (which is understandable given the idiotic pace of the so-called market), or a classic product like a specific 300€ ice maker which has been on the market for decades (which is understandable, since the market is rather small, these things simply don’t break, and the producer has zero incentive to sell their stuff on Amazon).
(OTH, I could buy a 11k € Pacojet, which is ridiculous since why on earth should I order something like this from Amazon, or even order it online? At that price, coule probably ask a salesperson to present it at my kitchen if they think I’m serious about buying one. ).
There are three reasons I often fall back on Amazon for ordering stuff: I can’t get it locally without an investment of time or energy I don’t have available, I can’t get it somewhere else online without a credit card, or I have an assortment of things which quite disparate and I think getting them in one place is easier, also for shipping efforts.
The very last point nowadays is complete nonsense, since choosing the option to combine deliveries nowadays is completely botched. I recently got 5 deliveries on the same day, all directly from Amazon, no 3rd parties involved, all with the same delivery company. Fuck my ecological footprint, I guess.
Regarding that, I recently discussed sending stuff back and was aghast about their policy: a friend had ordered a chainsaw, around 200 €. It broke down after two usages, and he wanted to send it back to get it repaired. They told him they would refund him, and he could not send it back, because of safety regulations regarding fuel residues in the chainsaw made it to expensive to take it back, and told him they always did this with chainsaws and surfboards. (WTF has one to to with the other? Why did that guy even mention it?) They also told him he should dispose of it at his own cost, and no, they really could not take it back under no circumstances. But he could of course order a new one, the money would already be transferred as they spoke.
My friend got the chainsaw fixed for 50 €: a filter for 5 € was broken and had to be replaced, plus working costs. And he vowed never to buy anything again from Amazon, because the idea of throwing something as valuable away because they simply would not take it back and fix a 5€ filter was annoying him to no end.
Nudge nudge.
You know.
Throw it away. And buy a new one.
Nudge nudge. We give you your money back so you can buy more from us.
Nudge.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
