Makes no sense

[idontknowyet]

Now I read a lot of books and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what I've read and what I haven't. Especially KU books since you actually have to go into you account and search for them to find the list.

Amazon keeps recommending books I already own. I'm not talking one or two oops the computer had a blip. I'm talking dozens of books that are currently sitting in my kindle read or reread a dozen times. That seems like a serious waste of their advertising time. It seems like it would be better spent  suggesting books I've yet to buy. I'm also getting to the point I don't even bother checking what they suggest since I already own/read most of them anyway. My time is better spent flipping through the millions of books to find a new on to read, or rereading one I know I'll enjoy.

Why would amazon do this to a customer they know they could be selling dozens of books to?

[Maggie Ann]

I love when they recommend a book to me that I have written.

[idontknowyet]

I love when they recommend a book to me that I have written.

[Eric Thomson]

I love when they recommend a book to me that I have written.

I know right? I'm already aware that the book is a pile of steaming crap, FFS. 

[Vidya]

they do the same with jewelry, flip flops, everything. I’ve bought these and other stuff from Zon and the minute I buy them, they start inviting me to buy them again.

[notthatamanda]

It makes sense for things you use up and need to buy repeatedly, eg shampoo, face cream, nails and screws, pet food, people food, lots of stuff. You would think the algorithms would be programmed to know the difference, but maybe it's set up that way incase they can lure someone into buying a gift.

You buy headphones, they keep showing them to you, if someone's birthday is coming up, you might think, "Hey, I love these headphones, I should get them for so and so."

Just guessing.

[Mark Gardner]

I wish they would actually honor the shipping guarantee that prime members are supposed to get.

[elleoco]

I wish they would actually honor the shipping guarantee that prime members are supposed to get.

Yup, I've taken them up on the free or cheap one-month offers a couple of times, and at a guess only about half of the supposedly-Prime orders actually arrive in two days. In fact one took 10 days. Since there's nothing else Prime provides that I'm interested in, there's no way I'd pay for it.

[Mammasan]

I bought a Roomba from Amazon a couple of months ago and now, I swear, near EVERYWHERE I go on the net, an ad to buy a Roomba from Amazon pops up. It makes no sense. Why would they pay for this? It's silly.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Doesn't make any sense to me either.   

And yeah, I think I was recommended my own book once.

I bought a Roomba from Amazon a couple of months ago and now, I swear, near EVERYWHERE I go on the net, an ad to buy a Roomba from Amazon pops up. It makes no sense. Why would they pay for this? It's silly.

Maybe they want you to buy a second one so you can build a Boomba.   

[Vidya]

Mammasan, you are right. I’ve bought books and other things from Amazon, only to have them advertised to me on other sites too.

It’s very inefficient advertising. And it could be made to work so much better.

[notthatamanda]

I came up with the following method to the madness. Just speculation. Show someone an ad for something they already bought because if, for example, the book wasn't a steaming turd, they might think, "Hey I loved that book, let me see if that author has anything new," and go looking. For the roomba, seeing it might remind you that you need to buy a new set of bristles. In either case you don't click on the ad, so the vendor doesn't pay for the ad, but they and Amazon still get the sale.

Amazon is always going to be changing the product pages up to combat reader fatigue. They probably are recording the results of this carefully.

Mammasan - did you name your roomba? Ours was Jeeves. RIP Jeeves. We have a Dyson now. I would totally get the floor mopping one again but I don't like having to buy the pads. The original you could use water and vinegar and it did a spectacular job.

[Maggie Ann]

I just got an email from Amazon recommending a book that I had written. Not only that, but it was the fourth and last book in the series. Although I will say it had a very nice cover.

It wasn't the first time or even the second or third.

[JRTomlin]

I have had them recommend my own novels to me at least a dozen times and they frequently recommend books I own. I agree that it is that they haven't told their algorithm that you don't use up books they way you do hand cream, but since their first products were books, this seems odd. And I suspect the algorithm pays no attention at all to who lists the product. I wish they would at least occasionally recommend a book I don't own that I would consider reading. Some of their recommendations make me go, "Say WHAT?"