[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

The internal drives I've bought have come in a plastic clamshel

Oh! Sorry, yes, the last drive I bought came in such a pack. But I do remember getting them in just bags.

External drives are probably not sold in bulk to builders, so are always in a pretty box. In my experience. And memory <Blush>

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

That survey was carried out by a firm called LocalCircles and was reported in yesterday's TOI.

Very nice, thanks for sharing.

One concern I have with the survey methodology. The first question indicates that roughly 1700 people voted to indicate they received a counterfeit/fake product (a fifth of 8518 votes).

However, the following two questions have received ~8000 votes, not just the 1700 who actually received a fake/counterfeit item. So, were these ~6300 people voting based on what they assumed, instead of first-hand experience?

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

However...

That's a question that could perhaps be raised here.

A few lines from the website would be worth reproducing (however useless ).

Poll Demographics and Participation

Over 50,000 responses were received from 27,000+ unique citizens located in 200+ districts of India. Approximately 39% of the respondents were women while 61% were men. 48% of the participants were from Metro/Tier 1 cities, 30% from Tier 2 cities and 22% were from Tier 3 and rural locations.

Two other findings of interest are

•Consumers struggle to find product MRP and best before information on most ecommerce websites
•34% consumers say their low product ratings have not been published by eCommerce sites

LINKS:MRP//RATINGS

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

A few lines from the website would be worth reproducing:

Yeah, I saw those numbers in the image as well. I reconciled the 50k responses/votes as the total of all votes across all the questions.

However, I'm at a bit of a loss to explain the 27k participants/respondents, with the fact even the first question has only 8.5k votes on it. So did some people only answer a subset of questions? It seems peculiar, but hey, surveys often are a means of getting numbers to align with an objective

Your 'however useless' bit might definitely apply to any attempt to contact the organization! I'd just get a canned response about this adhering to standards, yada yada.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Two other findings of interest are

These are good points, particularly the bit about 'best before' date.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

But so are amazon and snapdeal. True, they have their own/affiliated sellers, but even when you purchase from them and face some issue, they are quick to point out that their site is not the actual seller but only a marketplace. And that they are only facilitating the trade by connecting the buyer and the seller. Have been told so by the customer service executives multiple times.

https://m.snapdeal.com/product/ray-b...r/662512290725

I have similar opinion About snapdeal. The stuff is fake most of the time. Have a look at above link. Real Ray-Ban for this price? This is not even a sale, the prices are always this level.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by vibbs

Real Ray-Ban for this price?

These are real Ray-Bans for sure .

Like the ones that are offered in hushed tones, accompanied by sly winks at busy traffic signals, shady underpasses and long distance trains.

We get what we pay for. But in this instance, i must say that the aviators are grossly overpriced. For, I have seen the same command a princely retail price of ₹99/pair in my town - no returns or exchanges accepted!

On a serious note, I remember getting a pair of fake leather shoes (can't recall the brand) from snapdeal a couple of years ago. Then on, my give and take relationship with the site has been limited to nameless items worth only a few hundred rupees.

[dailydriver]

The Wire has an interesting story about how a group of traders in Gujarat are trying to take on the online shopping majors.

As a mark of protest against the deep discounts offered by their online counterparts, brick-and-mortar retailers and traders, led by the Surat Mobile Traders Association, are ordering products worth hundreds of crore on ‘cash-on-delivery’...

Once the goods arrive though, the traders refuse to take delivery and send it back instead.

In doing so, the members of the association claim, they are causing huge losses to India’s online retail firms, as the e-commerce companies take a hit on packaging and courier costs when items are returned

Till date, according to Surat Mobile Traders Association, they have allegedly refused products to the tune of over Rs 500 crore...

Disclosing their modus operandi, another businessman on condition of anonymity says: “We order big electronic items in larger quantities and Surat being a business city, the online companies do not doubt our intentions. Many in Surat order in bulk to gift during Diwali so we get the benefit of the doubt. Once they arrive, we show our helplessness to receive the consignments. So the entire truckload has to return empty-handed".

What next?

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

The Wire has an interesting story about how a group of traders in Gujarat are trying to take on the online shopping majors.



What next?

Online is inexorable. For reasons of time, convenience, ease and financial comforts like discounts.
These traders are living in a fools paradise if they think they can alter consumer behaviour by protesting.
In some sense it is like the futility of a Don Quixote tilting at Windmills...

[binand]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

how a group of traders in Gujarat are trying to take on the online shopping majors.

What next?

Next would be FK, Amazon etc. refusing CoD if the delivery address is in Surat.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

These traders are living in a fools paradise if they think they can alter consumer behaviour by protesting.

This protest - if it can indeed be called that - is intended to alter seller behavior, don't you think?

Originally Posted by binand

Next would be FK, Amazon etc. refusing CoD if the delivery address is in Surat.

Yes.

Even now, we have certain pin codes which do not get high value prepaid merchandise shipped, let alone COD orders. This will only extend the list.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

The Wire has an interesting story about how a group of traders in Gujarat are trying to take on the online shopping majors.

Well, the Rs. 500 crore is a red-herring, since the cost of the product doesn't influence its packing and shipping costs, and logistics.

Originally Posted by binand

Next would be FK, Amazon etc. refusing CoD if the delivery address is in Surat.

Agreed.

Also, Amazon is one of the big daddies of data analytics and fraud detection. It wouldn't be too hard for them to crunch the data and identify patterns and convert it into something actionable (e.g. new buyer, specific pin code, specific high value order/large numbers at the same time? Deny COD option. Similarly, aggregate value of returned items > 50% of aggregate value of ordered items? Deny COD).

I think the only long-term outcome this achieves is an internal success story for Amazon's data analytics & fraud unit.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

This protest - if it can indeed be called that - is intended to alter seller behavior, don't you think?

Yes.

Even now, we have certain pin codes which do not get high value prepaid merchandise shipped, let alone COD orders. This will only extend the list.

I would still venture that the “sellers” as well as the “consumers” are the gainers, based on the discounts fuelled by the deep pockets of the platforms - such as FK, AMZ and SD and PTM....no small trader can fight that kind of financial backing.

As the second point, even then Big 4 E Com Companies still hesitate to serve certain Pin Codes such as the ones in Gurgaon which are in the less posh, poorly lit areas, for example...largely because I’m told, that there are some blokes hanging about there, who tend to leap on some unsuspecting innocent delivery boy, rob the more expensive contents of his bag and send him packing...

There’s plenty of thuggery and thieving, alive and well, in this great country of ours, in all sorts of places!

[binand]

Amazon launches its Audible product in India:

https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-...h-5515651.html

I had used its free trial a few years back; had picked up a book (Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White; for the curious) and listened to it over a 750-km return trip to Chennai. Figured it is not worthwhile at the price then ($10 a month for 1 book, iirc). Eventually ended up also reading it off Project Gutenberg.

The current price of Rs. 200 a month sounds reasonable if one is able to take in 2-3 books I guess.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by binand

Amazon launches its Audible product in India:

Indeed, does look like a good deal. Further sweetening it is the following excerpt from the link you posted -

Users signing up for the service for the first time are also offered a 30-day free trial while Prime users are offered up to 3 months of free trial along with free credits to purchase up to 2 audiobooks without any charge

Thanks for sharing. Will give it the trial run and see if it's worth it. I certainly prefer an audiobook over music while driving, most days.

[bigron]

Received a phone from Amazon today.
So now apparently they send an OTP to your phone at the time of delivery and only if you tell them the OTP will the sale be complete. No physical signatures or e signatures or anything. He refused to hand the parcel and said that he wont be able to close this delivery unless I provide him the OTP.