Everyone remembers how
Amazon.com patented the
one-click shopping feature, and has
sued people since that offer the same feature? They didn't
invent the technology. It's just the expected use of cookies that any browser utilizes for the
users'
convenience.
Amazon patented the widely used technology and has been getting
heat from the
tech world about it since, and they should. They have patented a widely-used technology that is considered "
owned by the Internet," and to put it
bluntly,
it's just wrong.
Better yet, Amazon has recently been
discovered to be varying
prices on the same items across their site,
dependent on the user. This means if you're on their site for the first time, they can price everything down to
suck you in as a
loyal customer, and then when you get used to the idea of shopping at Amazon because of the good prices, the prices start to rise, and you're most likely not going to notice. It's
misleading, and it's
unethical business practice.
And if that's not enough to
convince you, Amazon also recently decided to
revise its
privacy policy, which now states that it considers
consumer data a
saleable asset.
Yes, this means they are selling your personal information.
People are
citing real world commerce, saying that
airline ticket prices vary in the same way and that
brick and mortar stores sell your personal
information. That's exactly the reason why
Internet shopping is so important. The Internet is built for and through
revolution, and a part of it's purpose can be considered the
weakening of real world
stores. Amazon.com wants to be a
mall. They are now near
bankruptcy, and are trying to
swim their way out.
People also
cite how they remember how good Amazon used to be, how they used to have
reasonable prices and good
customer support. They they go on about how those days are over, and that they've found new
online shopping places.
If you shop around, you've never bought anything from Amazon and weren't planning to. But some people don't have the
time or
knowledge of the
Internet to shop around thoroughly enough. If you can find three good stores that always have
competitive prices that are lower than most other stores, then you can stick with those three stores unless an
online coupon comes
floating around to you, at which point you should take
advantage of it and buy just enough from another store to use the coupon. Amazon is not your only choice, and that no one should
settle for a given price (especially if it's
randomly generated or
biased) on the Internet. Be a good
consumer. Make what was once an
economical vote (your
money) count as a vote once again.