HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

Here is a 1997 interview with Jeff Bezos that I like where he talks about why he created Amazon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM. He describes a purely logical explanation of seeing data about internet growth and identifying books as being a uniquely good product to sell on the internet.

Which is not to say he wasn't "willing to dedicate [himself] entirely to solving the problem", but I think it agrees with your take about finding market opportunities rather than following a passion.

As you mentioned, many of the suggested techniques can only take you so far. And it's a problem of the privileged enough to think about a startup.

I find that one thing that can help, and that I would use both as self-help or as an investor judging a possible founder, is the amount of what I would call "lucid self-awareness".

Is the founder able to phrase to others clearly what he is good on and why, and why the journey is worth taking, in more details than just: We should try or is where is the opportunity. Also is the founder also to detail where are the challenges and how can we overcame these.

At the personal level or at the corporate level. Warning signs would be explanations at the corporate level of the type: We have a certain runaway and we will work really hard. That is a plan running on statistical luck. A positive explanation would be: We think we will not run out of runway because we have 10 paying customers and at the rate we are acquiring customers, we cover expenses in 6 months.

At the personal level a warning sign would a behavioral pattern of overtime, overconfidence, depression, anxiety or irritability. Believe on the existence of an opportunity, relying on other founders deliverable without being able to articulate what they will be able to achieve, or for example not being able to clearly articulate what is your plan for failure.

As stress is mostly a symptom of lack of control, the founder able to articulate what parameters he can control, and what not under their control and what can be done to manage that, would engage in more appropriate stress management.

At the personal founder level, one example would be being able to articulate that: We don't have enough funds right now, and my other co-founder was just arrested and one of my VCs is really working for one of my competitors.

So I know where in 3 to 6 months I can get additional funds, even the objective is not guaranteed. I analyzed my co-founder legal problems and are likely to only affect his personal life. I have a plan not to share any more internal data with this VC or I will feed just standard info.

It's maybe not about the stress level, but about the existence or not of a plan to manage that stress level.

Although there might be a lot to criticize about Amazon, I always found, that this interview from 1997, is a good example of the lucid self-awareness, we should look for in a founder, and what might help manage stress:

"Jeff Bezos 1997 Interview": https://youtu.be/rWRbTnE1PEM

Of course Jeff Bezos worked at an investment fund, so I am sure in case this Amazon thing had gone nowhere he had already a well fought failure plan.

So in shorter words, you are crossing a shark infested ocean, in a small raft, so make sure you prepare well. From your satellite phone, to your life raft, to provision, to navigation aids. If you are sail out and can still see the cost but you are already under stress, it's normal, but maybe reexamine the preparation you did before the journey, get back to port while you can. Try later.

But dont forget, Bezos is a business guy. Here his original idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

⬐ gonzo41

That's a good interview, kind of like the early interviews with Gates when his enthusiasm for the tech was really shining through. Its great to hear Bezos talk about creating value for the customer, something that I feel is to a degree lacking in some of the bigger startups we see these days.

> If Google were a book shop..

On the Amazon-CEO news yesterday, someone posted an interview of JB from 1997 [0]. In the first 2-3 minutes he explained exactly that (but for books). There are X million titles on books, they keep a tiny fraction of that in stock for 'next day delivery'. Kinda what Google does (or many search engines). Usually you find the 'most popular' answers on the first page. But when I have a tech problem, I have usually tried the 'first 5 pages' of solutions before I even try to duck it (DDG) for a solution (dear wikihow, yes I did restart my PC!).

I assume HN has the type of readers that already KNOW the first 10 pages of solutions, and thus need that tiny level of detail that one gets after digging deep (stackexchange, forums, etc.)

Question if anyone who knows: does Google search engine give preference to websites that display Google ads, or it is agnostic? I assume Google's crawlers can 'read' if a website is using X, Y, or Z advertiser's ads. (I haven't used Google for many many years and I usually block any google search and ads related IPs and URLs)(and ads in general).

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM I suggest you spend the 5mins to watch this video. He made it sound so easy..

⬐ shadowgovt

> does Google search engine give preference to websites that display Google ads, or it is agnostic?

Officially, Google claims it does not [https://ads.google.com/home/resources/seo-vs-ppc].

The most accurate (sacrificing probability) answer is "Google's ranking algorithm is proprietary; nobody can independently verify whether they up-rank sites that display Google ads by looking at the source code." Attempts to figure that out from the outside via black-box testing are complicated by the simple ubiquity of Google ads; there's a lot of conflating signal that would have to be tuned out (even if one observes correlation between top search results and Google ads, one has to control for the probability that any random site has Google ads on it, or that ads pay for the SEO and information collection that tends to result in a site that ranks highly in Google results, or even the probability that a site without ads, having found itself high in the rankings because it's delivering data that Google concludes is valuable to users, wouldn't respond to that observation by putting Google ads on their site to capture money otherwise left on the table).

⬐ griffinkelly

Bezos on 60 minutes in 99: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InEgmXhU4KA

I love the comparisons to Sears and Barnes and Noble.

⬐ 0wis

Amazing ! Most of the Amazon's marketplace strategy is laid out there. It is incredibly consistant with what Amazon is today. Ranging from focus on delivery time to wholesale accounts, including the importance of attention, it seems very complete to me.

I know Bezos letters to shareholder were thoughtful, but in 1997's edition, the vision laid was less consistent with what we experience today. (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312513...)

And it is one thing to write a letter with hours of preparation, another to answer a quick video interview with such a clear view. This video is noteworthy !

[Edit : typo]

⬐ mk89

I thought exactly the same as you.

And what surprised me was that he already talked about "it's hard to track" (while talking about ads). The mindset was literally already there, it's like he knew already what, why and build it, except he didn't have maybe the tools he had today. Crazy.

⬐ sradman

At 4m48s:

> This is day one. This is the very beginning. This is the Kitty Hawk stage of electronic commerce.

https://youtu.be/rWRbTnE1PEM?t=298

⬐ prepend

Now we are entering the AmericanAirlines stage- everyone uses it and everyone hates it and it’s stagnated for decades.

⬐ gradys

I guess maybe I'm alone then, but I don't hate using Amazon.

⬐ rufusroflpunch

Same here. The UX isn’t perfect but they provide a killer service (Prime) for the price.

⬐ southeastern

I don't think it's the ui that bothers people, it's the accusations of workers rights issues

⬐ asadlionpk

As much as I hate Amazon for those issues, I wouldn’t want to leave my prime membership. It’s almost essential to me now.

⬐ mk89

I really really don't think that it's the accusation of workers rights to bother people. People don't give a DAMN about workers rights, even when they know that iphones are build in factories where people do suicides. What people don't see, people don't give a damn about.

What bothers people is fake products, reviews, "ops, I didn't get the package in 1 day, amazon is not anymore the same as in the old times", that have increased of course. That's the nature of things.

⬐ prepend

I’m glad it’s working for you and they are the biggest etailer ever so I don’t think you’re alone. But lots of people use American Airlines too.

My experience is degrading year over year, but I’m just me with my preferences.

In the video Bezos talks about word of mouth recommendations because everyone loved his site. I used to recommend it a ton, and I remember telling people about it around this time. I don’t any more.

⬐ throw0101a

Pro-tip: timestamps can use everyday units as well:

* https://youtu.be/rWRbTnE1PEM?t=4m28s

⬐ Priem19

I'm sold. Is there a way to invest in 1997 retroactively as well?

⬐ HenryBemis

> quantitative hedge fund..

The guy was smart, was intelligent, knew his way around numbers, saw what many didn't even THINK of seeing. He was/is a very talented man. Altough I don't agree with some of the things that Amazon did/does/etc. but kudos to him.

⬐ valuearb

He was as surprised as anyone that it succeeded.

⬐ mayankkaizen

The woman passing by in the background probably didn't have any idea that this guy was going to take over the world in few years.

⬐ boringg

Kid running in the background is the bonus of the video.

⬐ purple_ferret

HGH is a an amazing drug

⬐ stevehawk

lol don't you wish we all had access to it

⬐ aparsons

What’s this in reference to? I thought it was used for therapy in children

⬐ prepend

Not OP, but I took it to mean Bezos is benefiting from HGH. He looks younger now than in 1997. I mean that he looks like an awesome robot version of 1997 Bezos.

I have no idea his health regimen, but it does seem like lots of rich people are looking awfully young these days. I can’t afford HGH so I haven’t investigated whether it’s actually that great for anti-aging.

⬐ Razengan

Wtf's with all the Jeff Bezos posts all of a sudden?

⬐ Pfhreak

He stepped down as ceo, so folks are out lionizing him.

⬐ haalia

"Stepping", he's not out of the chair until Q3.

⬐ 0-_-0

Here he just reminds you of an excited nerd talking about his favorite Dungeons & Dragons setting, and now he's the richest person on the planet.

⬐ undefined1

same with Elon talking about video games, he gets excited talking about them after this interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JoTw_JuE78

really, both are highly ambitious nerds who apply systems thinking to the real world.

⬐ mdonahoe

The original Deus Ex is excellent, so he’s right

⬐ 1_player

Here's my favourite essay on it, that doesn't only go into the game details but also the underlying narrative, political and economical philosophy that makes this game one of a kind: https://youtu.be/rxOKEsBx4NU

It all starts with a pandemic.

⬐ mensetmanusman

So good!

Early this winter I had a huge Deus Ex Déjà vu when I was walking in the along the river and someone with a mask was hunched over a barrel coughing (not on fire though, but my imagination filled in that gap). Also during a day when Bitcoin was in the news.

Pandemic circumstances predicted.

⬐ artembugara

Yeah, because he's the nerd whose Dungeons & Dragons setting everyone wants to play.

⬐ prepend

I like the part where he was talking about how much better web ads are than print because you can track revenue per ad dollar spent. He was about to say something, paused to find another term and said “marketer’s nirvana.” I wonder if he originally thought to say “marketer’s wet dream” and edited himself since he’s on video.

I like how he truly seems to be into the internet and chose books as a vehicle.

At any d&d table there’s usually 1-2 people who can bridge fantasy and reality and make them both better. Then there’s people who live in fantasy. And of course there’s mundies/normies/whatever who are in reality and would never spend hundreds of hours in make believe.

⬐ psyc

That’s so funny. I was also thinking “is he going to say wet dream? I think he is” and then I was kind of impressed he found a loftier phrase.

By his words[1] it was because books had a large possible inventory, allowing him to build a store larger than any one physical store could manage.

Though i imagine a lot of reasons justified books.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

Great interview with Bezos from 1997

https://youtu.be/rWRbTnE1PEM

> This journey began some 27 years ago. Amazon was only an idea, and it had no name.

Jeff's pitch at the time (1997); so on point, so precise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

> The question I was asked most frequently at that time was, “What’s the internet?” Blessedly, I haven’t had to explain that in a long while.

Here's Jeff explaining the Internet (at a TED talk): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMKNUylmanQ

> Invention. Invention is the root of our success. We’ve done crazy things together, and then made them normal... If you get it right, a few years after a surprising invention, the new thing has become normal. People yawn. And that yawn is the greatest compliment an inventor can receive.

Jeff speaking about innovation, invention (based on first principles), making data-driven decisions (and also when to not trust data), learned helplessness at Stanford (2005): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhnDvvNS8zQ

> When times have been good, you’ve been humble.

Heh. Reminds me of this 2008 lecture where Jeff is selling AWS to startup school students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nKfFHuouzA Classic.

> Amazon couldn’t be better positioned for the future. We are firing on all cylinders, just as the world needs us to.

Not sure about that last part, Jeff.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

⬐ petters

> Jeff's pitch at the time (1997); so on point, so precise:

Agreed! He knew exactly what he was doing.

Interesting that he talks about attention being a scarce resource. Things did not improve from that point....

⬐ twobitshifter

Thank you for sharing the video. I liked seeing Bezos on startup phase. I had not heard the story, so I learned that he started as a quant on Wall St and left that job to start Amazon later in life. Many people expect tech startups to happen in your college dorm room, but Bezos took a completely different route.

⬐ travbrack

He sounds like a time traveler from the future. He talks like it's a given that the Internet is going to take over the world but back then it really wasn't.

⬐ TaylorAlexander

Ostensibly it was going to take over the world? I think you mean to say it was non obvious. But unless we’ve split timelines that is exactly what was going to happen.

⬐ hooande

I was at that Startup School lecture in 2008. I still have strong memories of his body language and affect. He wasn't at all what I was expecting

⬐ hn2fast

In what way, if you don't mind? I always have the impression that he is practical to a fault, and consistent in his prescription for engineering above all.

⬐ efwfwef

"this is day 1".

I'm wondering for what else it is day 1, right now.

I know cryptocurrencies have been booming, it's not clear exactly if they will continue to boom but the space is already so big that one has to really read a lot to catch up.

What else seems like a promising field that one could go 100% into right now to bet on?

⬐ julesFromPulp

Yes cryptocurrencies are one thing but look at the possibilities afforded with having a decentralized, distributed ledger in all areas of life. Having a source of truth in things like law or politics. This would be a fundamental shift for society as a whole not just finance.

⬐ grogenaut

Quibble: to me "This is day one" is less about "what market can we get in on the ground floor of and ride a wave". It is more to underscore we are driving the innovation or market and that we are always starting from zero, never too late to change / pivot and we're still aggressively growing everything, or that is the goalline.

That isn't meant to take away from your question. As a developer I'm often focused on leaf concerns. Your question is more about broad strokes and I have to remind myself to think about fundamental changes.

⬐ TaylorAlexander

I am in robotics and it seems well poised to grow. There’s a lot of big problems left to solve at the research level but deep learning seems to be slowly knocking down big problems left and right.

⬐ throwaway568

I think cryptocurrency is more akin to personal computer. DeFi- the internet.

⬐ nitrogen

What else seems like a promising field that one could go 100% into right now to bet on?

Biotech/bioinformatics/bioengineering.

⬐ draw_down

Good grief.

⬐ techlatest_net

And here is the video from 1999 [1] showing his obsession with customer which is why customer support is in the DNA of Amazon

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwjzVW7z5o

⬐ ACow_Adonis

Do people do any analysis anymore or do they just repeat memes? i.e. "we put the customer first".

For reference, I'm someone who hadn't used amazon (i'm in Australia, and I've just had no need). These holidays was my first real experience with the amazon brand and the amazon website.

What I saw was an incredibly user hostile site: reviews mashed together from all over the world, and you can't even be sure whether they're reviewing the right product or the seller. Search that doesn't work and you're never really sure what you're getting and from whom. I was searching for keyboard trays and it quickly became apparent various products were all the same but just re-labelled cheap chinese output.

When I went to check out, i had at least 3 dark patterns encountered where Amazon was directly trying to screw me: trying to trick me to sign up for prime, promising free shipping on the click but then default you out of it when you check out until you go searching for it, and continually spamming me with offers for whatever their streaming service is.

They weren't "customer first", they were actively customer hostile. I don't understand how this keeps getting repeated, unless their tech side is completely different from their consumer side...

⬐ prepend

This is the “new amazon.” Old Amazon was really customer focused. Back when prime was a good value ($80/year for 2 shipping) everything just worked. You could find products easily, order, automate reorders.

In the past five years, every visit to Amazon involved wading through ads for bad products (eg, search for Iphone7, see sponsored ads for Samsung phones). There are more sponsored line items than actual results.

Prime’s price has almost doubled and I had 6/25 packages take longer than 2 days in the last year I had prime (compared to 99-100% for the previous 15 years).

One click doesn’t work because if I try it, I get charged for shipping even though free is available. I have to manually go into every over and uncheck 1-day shipping for $5.99 (or whatever) and select free 2-day. Every time. And I have to click through a screen to manually say I don’t want to buy prime.

Amazon sucks now. They abandoned their customers.

Comically, Walmart has a better (easier, faster, less bullshit, cheaper) experience than Amazon. I never would have guessed.

⬐ blabitty

My experience with Walmart is poorly packed boxes handled roughly by FedEx leading to a bunch of damaged orders. At this point Amazon's delivery service itself is a differentiator for me, and I don't love the company or paying for prime.

⬐ prepend

That was mine with Walmart for a long time. In 2020, I tried using them and find that they seemed to have improved. Normally packed boxes, speedily shipped. For me, I usually get UPS.

But I think the biggest thing for Walmart is the site as shopping for hard drives shows you hard drives instead of whatever people pay for ads. I was able to find the product I wanted more easily.

⬐ dingaling

> and you can't even be sure whether they're reviewing the right product or the seller

I distinctly remember the point when I lost trust in Amazon, after being a customer since 1997.

There were reviews for two books on the same topic, but different authors, mixed together under one title. I emailed Amazon to point this out and... they did nothing.

Nowadays the review section is a dark pattern itself, you have to keep your wits about you. What used to be a great public resource in the Internet has been lost.

⬐ astrange

The customer friendliness is 1. free fast shipping 2. they will cancel and refund things 3. if you make multiple orders they'll combine them 4. the website loads really fast.

Competitors have gotten better at many of these, but it's still hard to impossible to cancel orders many other places, and if I have to chat to Amazon they still refund and replace things very easily.

I have used amazon.com.au and noticed the selection is pretty bad there. amazon.jp is great though, and worldwide shipping is amazingly fast. The customer service is even more important there because Japanese companies hate cancelling things or special requests (omotenashi/"Japanese customer service" means you do what they tell you, not the other way round.)

⬐ swalsh

The last experience I had with Amazon customer service was so bad I decided to stop using them as much as is physically possible. If your situation does not fit in a simple bucket, they will force it into one even if its bad for them and you at the same time.

⬐ ciupicri

Amazon's customer support is mediocre at best. I tried to buy something from them and the card transaction failed because I had some protections in place. Instead of them trying again, they asked for all kinds of documents to prove the ownership. I sent them a receipt from a local store, but it wasn't good enough for them. I guess they don't want my money :-)

⬐ jdmichal

I would never take a receipt as proof of card ownership. If I were to find a wallet, what's the chance that there's a random receipt stuffed in there along with the card?

⬐ ciupicri

The receipt wasn't old. It was for shopping done after they asked me for proof.

⬐ FpUser

I think Amazon's search quality going down the drain lately. Too much's been taken by promotions.

⬐ astrange

Amazon's search and recommendations were never any good, though. You've always had to search a page or three, and buying a TV recommends you more TVs.

⬐ victor106

That video is pure gold. Lots of lessons you can use even today for any business.

⬐ sn41

Nope. Customer service of Amazon is quite bad. When I tried Flipkart in India in 2011, it was amazing and friendly - when orders were erroneous, they refunded promptly, you could email customer service and got a mail back, etc. In contrast, I still am owed a refund of $140 by Amazon from around 2009. Unfortunately, Flipkart became much more aggressively expansionist around 2014, and I haven't been there more than once or twice in the last 4 years.

⬐ afavour

I'd argue that the customer experience of Amazon has declined dramatically in the last few years. Maybe there should be more internal viewings of that video.

⬐ codeulike

Practically have to do backflips to avoid accidentally signing up to Amazon Prime. Dark patterns deployed front and centre.

⬐ matttb

And canceling Amazon Prime requires you to click a button saying you want to cancel four times.

⬐ ROARosen

The "customer" is at the heart of everything, not the ex-customer (or wanna-be ex, according to Amazon).

⬐ codeulike

I'm still a customer, I just don't want to buy their bundle-of-services-I-dont-need. The tricks they pull with tiny hard to find 'continue without signing up to Prime' links are disgusting

⬐ laurent92

I contacted support twice in 2 years for Prime subscription I didn’t want. Each time: “Are you sure you didn— Yes I’m sure, I knew intended to avoid it, so it’s clearly not me.” Both times they correctly cancelled it.

⬐ jacobwilliamroy

The system is mostly designed to prey upon inattentive seniors with disposable incomes.

⬐ codeulike

If Prime is any good it should be sold on its own merits, tricking people into signing up is despicable

⬐ billti

Anecdote for what it’s worth:

I’ve been a heavy customer for many years. While I bemoan the rampant knock off products and fraudulent reviews, by shopping carefully I’ve actually never had a bad product delivered, and the very few times I’ve needed to call support, they’ve been super responsive and remedied the issue quickly. (Mostly refunds for digital content purchased incorrectly).

They may not be perfect, but that have that “Macdonalds” aspect now; you know what you’re getting and it’s consistently pretty good. Which is often more reassuring than trying something new.

⬐ codeulike

I used to trust them, in the last few years the dark patterns have been deployed with gradually increasing intensity and it leaves a bad taste

⬐ telltruth

"declined" is a major understatement. Too many practices at Amazon is now decisively anti-customer:

- Fake reviews have been happening for years but almost no progress from Amazon

- Huge number of fake products and/or misleading specs

- Sponsored products trumps organic results every time

- Sellers use whatever brand they wish instead of their real names giving appearance that they are "official" vendors of that brand

⬐ ChrisIsTaken

I stopped buying much there around ~2010. The sheer amount of Chinese counterfeit garbage and lack of proper categorization makes it impossible to browse the site. The clothing category in particular is just 100,000 dumpsters full of unlabeled trash heaped into a pile.

If you didn't discover a product name somewhere else, you won't find it on Amazon. Amazon doesn't do merchandising for shit.

⬐ mlindner

I disagree. Amazon has many times refunded my order in full with a simple call, and for orders internationally they do it entirely faith-based and will send you another version without having to even return the original.

⬐ kypro

They're great for this. I once ordered the wrong tablet which was totally my mistake and I even ended up unboxing it, but they still allowed me to return it. It's one of the main reasons I use them because I know there's no hassle if anything goes wrong with my order.

Unfortunetly I know a few people who have been abusing Amazon's refund policy recently. I don't come from the best background so I know a few people who have ordered phones and other electrics from Amazon just because they know if they complain they were stolen from their doorstep they might get a free phone. From my experience working at ecomerce and insurance companies it's hard to have a relaxed returns policy when you also have to accept that the majority of the claims will be fraudulent.

⬐ wildfire

I disagree.

I have had orders where they have refused to refund. When I have later, internally, escalated, they have relented and issued a refund.

There is even a dedicated section (can't recall if on inside.amazon.com or the wiki ) to explain the process of how to internally escalate a bad customer support experience on behalf of your friends and family.

If Amazon (retail) is as customer focused as they claim to be this should not be necessary.

I've been a customer since 2000 and an employee for a while now.

Disclaimer: I hear in the US it is totally different and support is a lot better.

⬐ mvanbaak

I had bought a product on amazon.de, it arrived with some cosmetic damage (product worked, little scratch). To be honest, it was one of the best customer support experiences I had seen. Select order, select product, click button 'problem', describe what the problem was, get return info, DHL picked up the next day, two days later I had a replacement product.

⬐ Corrado

I don't know, I just returned a faulty smart light bulb and the process was beyond easy. Just select it from my previous orders, submit a request to return it, and choose how to send it back. Pretty easy.

As a "bonus" I was able to send it back through a Kohl's store so my wife got a 25% off coupon that she used to purchase some masks and socks (and stuff). Yes, I know, they got us to purchase more stuff, but she really likes shopping there and it was a "we're going there anyway" kind of thing. Plus I didn't have to box up the return or print a label or anything. Just show the clerk the QRCode and hand them the bare light bulb.

⬐ ImaCake

My anecdata counterfactual to this is that I recieved an empty package and couldn't even figure out how to make a complaint to Amazon let alone return it. It was a cheap item so maybe they care more if it passes some threshold value?

⬐ Cro_on

My $2 book purchase anecdata from last summer runs counterfactual to yours. The product never arrived and within 48hours of complaint the cash had been returned.

⬐ brazzledazzle

I had the same issue. I had to use the chat option. It took a little bit but wasn’t too long and they gave me a refund without requiring I send back an empty package. I would have eaten the cost (<$12) if I hadn’t been able to work it out though. Wasn’t worth getting flagged as a potential scammer.

⬐ ValentineC

I agree. Amazon's upper management should really do a mystery shopping exercise themselves to see how dysfunctional their (both Amazon.com's and AWS's) support has become.

⬐ hinkley

A/B testing is awesome for first order problems with your web site design. By the time you’re down to third order problems it’s reductive and cynical.

Immoral techniques always find support from amoral tools. Dark patterns are justified by A/B testing. And shitty people.

⬐ BrandoElFollito

One of the main reasons I use Amazon in France is their service.

I never ever had any issues, our biggest fight was about the 2€ they charged me once to send back a 100€ item. They gave up after the 2nd email.

I will pay 10% more for the Amazon price, for the peace of mind.

⬐ tootie

I recall reaching out to the customer service more than once pre-2010 or so and they were incredibly responsive and helpful. I guess they just couldn't scale human interactions past a certain point.

⬐ billti

They still are. I had to contact support for some purchases I didn’t recognize a couple weeks back. I was dreading the usual “support call” experience, but they were super friendly and within 5 mins I was refunded and they deactivated an old device from my account for safety.

⬐ ekianjo

oh yeah? have you ever returned products on other online stores?

⬐ Scoundreller

Might be hard to change anything when you have a core metric that looks like this:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=amazon&tbm=fin

⬐ judge2020

Link is broken.

⬐ pseudalopex

It's supposed to be the stock chart.

⬐ judge2020

looks like https://www.google.com/finance/quote/AMZN:NASDAQ works for me, based in the US.

⬐ smhg

Anecdotally, I disagree. I recently contacted their support when I didn't understand why final ordering prices slightly differed from the listings on Amazon EU websites.

The reply was very on-topic, ridiculously customized and clear for an otherwise complicated topic (reason: VAT is calculated on the shipping location within EU). Almost as if someone with real EU accounting knowledge had taken the time to investigate and reply (which I can't imagine?). And this was from a non-business account. It was easily one of the top-3 customer service experiences I ever had.

⬐ afavour

I don't deny that Amazon are capable of good customer service. But the site is full of fake products and fake reviews. Returning a product is a breeze but I'd really rather not have to be returning them in the first place. And Amazon knows about the problems. A few times I've reported receiving an offer for a gift voucher in return for a positive review of an item I bought and they've taken zero action on it.

This'd be one instance of said interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

I think it's this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRbTnE1PEM

⬐ jansan

No matter what people say about Jeff Bezos, I think he must be a great guy to hang out with. At least for slightly nerdy types like me.

⬐ tomjacobs

Dude knew what was up and stuck with it.

⬐ dlss

Can anyone comment on why this might be worth watching?

⬐ gauravku

"This is an interview with Jeff Bezos - the founder of Amazon in 1997. It is very clear that Jeff is already on the right track in 1997 (three years after the introduction of NCSA Mosaic). While his words seem obvious now 15+ years later - in 1997 - he was way ahead of his time. The book "Long Tail" by Chris Anderson was published in 2006 (9 years later).

Watch the baby in the background escape from its mother at 2:16 and run towards the taping :) The mother came rushing through the frame to get the baby which caused the edit at 2:17. Taped June 1997 at the Special Libraries (SLA) conference in Seattle, WA. Video courtesy of Richard Wiggins."

⬐ denzell

what is the value of his video?

⬐ satyajeet23

His statements in 2016 might appear rather obvious, but this video was taped 20 yrs ago! (Bezos still had hair)

He was without a doubt way ahead of his time and his success is evident.