Amazon -Any Gripes?

Mayonardo said:
Clone? They provide their own options for generally available items, as do other businesses. Nothing wrong or illegal.
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It's unethical. It's immoral. It's greedy.

Think of it this way. In the old days there was a mall or shopping center.

You open a knife store in the mall and it becomes popular.

So the owner of the mall opens their own knife store right next to you. Selling the same knives, but %15 less since they own the property. They raise your rent to cover their store's capital costs. They slowly but surely kill your business.

That's just one small example of Amazon's predatory business behavior. It will be the death of US capitalism unless they are regulated. Since Amazon's inception, Bezos has said "it's not about the books." What he doesn't do is finish the sentence, "It's not even about money. It's about domination and power."

Least his woman is taking a chunk out of him :)
 
I have deliberately kept my books off Amazon. Now they list the titles(s) and say it is “currently unavailable.” They link to Abe’s used books who evidently does not have a copy either.
 
I’ve had prime for years and luckily never had issues with the few knives I got, same with the wife’s endless non knife related purchases.. My ZT0450 was mint and I got a good deal on a blemished Buck Vantage Pro from the amazon warehouse deals section. Buuut a year or so ago I realized that they will not ship knives to my area code now.. Possibly fixed blades or kitchen knives, but not sure, definitely no modern one handed folders as far as I could tell. Same with slingshots apparently and who knows what else. Not sure when they changed policies but there’s no laws against owning or buying knives in MA.. slingshots are apparently illegal to sell here though :rolleyes: And I imagine there are other “restricted” shipping areas elsewhere too. But even if I could, I still wouldn’t buy knives from amazon now that I know about Knifecenter, Bladehq, and all the others. Caveat emptor
 
brownshoe said:
It's unethical. It's immoral. It's greedy.

Think of it this way. In the old days there was a mall or shopping center.

You open a knife store in the mall and it becomes popular.

So the owner of the mall opens their own knife store right next to you. Selling the same knives, but %15 less since they own the property. They raise your rent to cover their store's capital costs. They slowly but surely kill your business.

That's just one small example of Amazon's predatory business behavior. It will be the death of US capitalism unless they are regulated. Since Amazon's inception, Bezos has said "it's not about the books." What he doesn't do is finish the sentence, "It's not even about money. It's about domination and power."

Least his woman is taking a chunk out of him :)
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Amazon charges rent now?
 
But your original gripe had to do with cloning products. Like Amazon makes their own version of the ubiquitous USB cable. Is it a clone? No. It’s another cable that does what hundreds of other manufacturers cables do. Not illegal or immoral. Just business.
brownshoe said:
It's unethical. It's immoral. It's greedy.
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Then you offer this:

brownshoe said:
That's just one small example of Amazon's predatory business behavior. It will be the death of US capitalism unless they are regulated.
Click to expand...
Predatory? Selling goods on the internet which is especially useful for people on limited incomes and or who live far away from actual stores that carry 0.001% of Amazon’s inventory. That’s not predatory. That’s a good business model.
The “death of US capitalism”. Look out IBM, Apple, Google, Ford, GM, Marriott,Hilton, Great Eastern Cutlery.
And, yeah, I want government to step in and tell me what I can buy and who from at what price. study your politics, man. That’s been tried before.
 
Ya they sold me a knock off para 3 thank god there good about returning idems!! No harm no fowl just a waist of time
 
Clearly, they are the best site for those in the market for knockoff Para 3's.
I wouldn't want to speak for Spyderco, but I would suspect they would disagree with your "no harm no fowl" assessment.
 
I am not sure where this topic has ventured since page one but with 5 pages I am sure lots has been covered. I just want to drop my input on Amazon as a whole in terms of the buying experience and a little detail on the knife side of things.

I am a Prime member and I don't see myself dropping it anytime soon however it is no longer about the shipping for me. I probably don't order enough for shipping to be my justification for it now anyhow. They have a lot to offer prime members depending on where you live and what interest you. I have a Whole foods close to me and while there isn't a discount on all purchases I believe coupons or sales items have an additional 5-10% added discount. I no longer watch live TV everything I view is streamed and with prime you get a good selection of free streaming options for TV and Movies including new exclusive content much like Netflix and Hulu are doing as well. There is also access to free music streaming for their Prime members it is limited compared to their paid music streaming service but so far for me its pretty solid for an included feature of my Prime membership. I also have image/photo hosting/storage provided by them though the functionality doesn't compare to most image hosting solutions but for what is included it seems to be a decent feature with room to grow. You can also share some of these benefits with other Amazon account holders w/o them buying a Prime membership namely sharing your free shipping.

Some other aspects to remark on is that with its growth we have seen a growth in 3rd party vendors on Amazon and this has created a new set of problems. Problems such as these business often don't and can't help you fully utilize your Prime benefits as well some are shady businesses. You also lose out on the protections and guarantees that Amazon states in terms of refunds and lost of stolen item claims. So I will not purchase anything not sold by amazon or fulfilled by amazon as those are the only options that provide full benefit of Amazon's services and guarantees.

Now to touch on Knives as well a general issue inherent in a large shipping business. For knives I would not expect too much issue for items also sold by Amazon but those fulfilled by Amazon likely do not get much or any inspect for authenticity. There is the issue or trick with regards to returned goods being swapped with a fake or damaged goods replacing a genuine or new condition items this happens more easily the larger the volume is as aspects are done mechanically or lazily due to a need to quickly process returns.

The bottom line is I know what I get from Prime and what I will and won't bother buying through Amazon and from who I will buy on Amazon.
 
Wow that's a lot eggs in one basket! I'll bet Amazon knows more about you than your best friend :) But Spotify is better than Amazon and so are GPKnives, Knifecenter, AIK, BladeHQ. Diversity is a key element in the sustainability of all things, for example, your diet, companies, schools, economies, the planet...
 
B brownshoe if that remark was at me I either failed to properly state my message or you didn’t really read it. I don’t think I implied that Amazon is my sole source, I think I actually implied the opposite, though it might not be clear that it also isn’t my primary source for many things. It is my primary source of music streaming for a few reasons one being add free the other being for a while, and maybe still, when you bought a CD through Amazon you got the digital album free so I have a couple CDs in my Amazon music library to stream along with the stuff I don’t own. I also have Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+ streaming for video services hence my lack of need for cable TV service. I thought it clear that knives are not really on my Amazon purchase list I mostly use BHQ and CollectorKnives but I keep an eye on many the BF supported vendors when I am considering buying a new knife I also check out my locals.
 
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