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Re:Almost Everything on Amazon Is Becoming an Ad by VLM on Thursday November 24, 2022 @12:19PM (#33733772)
> a light bulb, with a specific lumen and color temperature spec

Sponsored links are always useless and should only be scrolled past on Amazon.

Typical disappointing Amazon experience:

Search for LED 8W. First result, sponsored link to an 11W bulb. Then a sponsored link to a fake marketing 21 watt bulb with fake lumen marketing. Then a sponsored link to six pack of 14W bulbs. The 4th link returned is a sponsored link to a 8W designer clear glass thing which is at least not off topic.

Not all searches are as toxic as LEDs. If you search for "oil 5w-30" only 10% or so of search results are totally wrong (like 10w-30, or 5w-40)

Another hilarious search term "chocolate almond milk" most of the results are bulk almonds, some milk-product made of bananas, several oat milk results, chocolate almondmilk pudding (OK, close enough, but weird), protein bars made of almonds, some soy shake drink, starbucks frappuccino vanilla, pea-protein fake milk, admittedly at least 1/3 of results are on topic.

I just searched for "4-40 SHCS" (a SHCS is a socket head cap screw, like to fix a car part). About 2/3 of the results are on topic, but then Amazon throws in "D'Moksha Small Short Thanksgiving Holiday Navy Table Runner Or Dresser Scarf (14 x 36 Inch)", what? Some of it is just bizarre. I specified 4-40 size so I get a search result for 5/8-11 machine bolts. OK then.

Its getting hard to buy stuff on Amazon, like they're actively trying not to sell what you ask for.

I do EE type stuff at work and home and I am spoiled by professional sites like Digikey, if you search for a 1K resistor they present you with a parametric search result of 1K resistors, not random assortments of 74HCT logic chips or teddy bears or rolls of solder like Amazon would.

Re:Almost Everything on Amazon Is Becoming an Ad by hw on Thursday November 24, 2022 @01:49PM (#33734913)
Shopping on Amazon has been painful. Just takes so long when a few years ago it seemed as if I can trust what is sold on Amazon and search is a lot more relevant that I don't have to scroll a few pages to find what I want.

Yet I still buy almost everything on Amazon, and I still go through the pains of navigating around the sponsored products. The checkout, shipping, and returns experience is why I still use Amazon - not sure how long that lasts

Re:Almost Everything on Amazon Is Becoming an Ad by racnid on Thursday November 24, 2022 @07:34PM (#33737747)
Ugh, McMaster, Grainger, Digikey and Mouser are such a treat compared to Amazon.