I have been growing increasingly irritated by Amazon and the changes they have made to their interface, in particular the use of information about Marketplace items. So I wrote an e-mail to them:
Comments:Dear madam/sir,
Whilst I have been very impressed with the redesigned search and item list interface, there is one issue that makes it at times almost unusable. A large number of categories are filled with Amazon Marketplace items. These items make it very hard to find genuine Amazon stock, often requiring that I look through several pages of items to find one that is relevant.
On a related note, the Wishlist shows prices not of Amazon stock, but of Marketplace items. Thus to discover how much an item will cost, I need to view the individual item page for each item rather than having the information displayed in a simple list as the Wishlist concept would seem to imply.
I have searched high and low through my account preferences, through the relevant screens, and through the on-line help but can find no suggestion of how to exclude Marketplace items from searches or the Wishlist.
I have no interest in buying second-hand items from sources who will never be able to match the reliability or trustworthiness of Amazon. I wish to buy first-hand stock from Amazon, yet the recent interface changes seem to make this strangely difficult.
Yours sincerely,
******
Their response was as follows:
Dear Customer
Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk.
We appreciate that you've taken the time to send us your suggestion. I have passed along your comments to our developers; customer feedback like yours is essential in helping them determine what additional features our visitors and customers want most.
Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk.
18 January 2007
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2 comments:
It is the 21st Century diesease. I see somebody making some money and I will do the same. I shall diversify or I shall die. Unfortunately the general public are led by the common denominator of "cheap" without considering the actual cost and hence you get the bastardisation of Amazon. Does the world not clamour for the beauty of simplicity and truth? Like hell it does.
Aye, it is much as you say I think.
In principle, I don't really have that much of an issue with Market Place. Amazon certainly doesn't need my permission to do what it likes anyway.
What bugs me is the changes in the interface and the practical difficulties that have been introduced to finding what I want.
Thinking about it, the wider lack of ability to make a choice as a buyer also comes into it. It is assumed that (as you say) all I am interested in is price and any other criterion for a decision are minor or non-existent.
I also noticed that play.com are doing a similar thing now.
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