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Internet searches

TheCatWoman

I'm having problems again, I just looked on Amazon for history books on Cleopatra and got pages and pages of childrens novel, why? It's so frustrating! It's actually making me less likely to look for things as I so rarely get what I've asked for, I supose it makes a change from air fryers, but even so.

Parents

  • Amazon is exasperating. The thing that frustrates me most is the way they categorise genres, eg., ‘Literary Fiction’. That can include ‘cookery’ or  ‘interior design’ for instance.

    If I search for a hardback or paperback book, the search switches to all kindle books at some point, along with sponsored content relating to nothing I am looking for. This can make the search needlessly time consuming as not every book is published in kindle. Amazon deliberately makes a search more time consuming than it needs to be.

    If I want to find a book about ‘Minoan culture’ for instance, I have found it more useful to do an online search using terms such as ‘Minoan Culture’, ‘Minoan Civilisation’, ‘Minoan Religion’ etc. This usually gets good results and when I input the identified title and author on the Amazon website, low and behold they may stock it, even though they mightn’t have shown the book when initially searching their website.

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    This is how I use things like amazon now too, I do a search elsewhere trying to find a trustworthy source for recommendation, then if I want to buy it, I might search amazon for that item, though I try to shop around, sometimes paying a little more to spead the economy around so it isn't just one shop getting my business.

    Amazon originally was an online book shop, but now it's like a market where sellers pay amazon to hawk their wares to you, even if it's not want you want. I don't even think customers are their main business model anymore, it's a storefront that other people sell from, rather then a traditional shop. 

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  • in reply to ArchaeC

    This is how I use things like amazon now too, I do a search elsewhere trying to find a trustworthy source for recommendation, then if I want to buy it, I might search amazon for that item, though I try to shop around, sometimes paying a little more to spead the economy around so it isn't just one shop getting my business.

    Amazon originally was an online book shop, but now it's like a market where sellers pay amazon to hawk their wares to you, even if it's not want you want. I don't even think customers are their main business model anymore, it's a storefront that other people sell from, rather then a traditional shop. 

Children
  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing
    Cinnabar_wing said:
    I do a search elsewhere trying to find a trustworthy source

    Me too. It's best to search outside Amazon, because you can find the things you want more easily than searching inside and being offered things that only have vague connections with your search term. I find the same on Temu, which used to be more reliable on searches. 

      is right about over-inclusive searches putting people off.

  • in reply to Cinnabar_wing
    Cinnabar_wing said:
    Amazon originally was an online book shop, but now it's like a market where sellers pay amazon to hawk their wares to you, even if it's not want you want.

    Exactly! It’s useful for kindle books, even though searching for them is frustrating. I like that you can read a sample of the book before buying. Like you, I’m sourcing other books from bookshops online and in person. 

    It’s frightening that Amazon has such a monopoly on electronic books, but the alternatives available don’t meet my needs.