Comment by jlmorton
2 years ago
Pro-tip: Amazon fills their page with that useless content from their ad network, just like any standard ad. uBlock Origin blocks all of it, and your search experience is restored to what you expect.
For the longest time, I couldn't understand what people were talking about when they said Amazon's search interface is terrible. People would tell me they search for a specific book or author, and get totally irrelevant results. My experience was totally opposite.
I had to finally see a screenshot from someone's browser to believe it. It turns out uBlock has been blocking this content the whole time, and I never noticed it at all.
Their search is terrible, though, and it is terrible in ways that have nothing to do with content that is or is not blocked by uBlock Origin.
It's a very fuzzy and inclusive search, and that means that it is awful for finding specific things.
If I need a bag of insulated crimp terminals ring terminals that work on #10 screws and 12 AWG wire, then: That's what I need, what I search for, and what I want to browse.
And Amazon might show me some results that fit, but they'll be mixed in with results for extension cords, and machine screws, terminals for solar panels and car batteries, and also key rings: Stuff that has that has no merit to me today.
I just want some ring terminals, and they're more willing to show me everything else instead.
The noise is worse than actually-random results since my search terms are just sprinkled all over the place.
> If I need a bag of insulated crimp terminals ring terminals that work on #10 screws and 12 AWG wire, then: That's what I need, what I search for
I too have been spoiled by parametric searching.
Nothing like going on digikey and specifying that I want to see all rs232 transceivers with maximum X ma of hysteresis, >=3 drivers, >=1 receiver that supports Y-Z operating temperature and xxx kbps.
Also gotta love rockauto where you drill down to your specific year/make/model and it lists every oil filter that's compatible segmented by quality. (But figuring out the warehouses are a total pain)
Rockauto gets it very close to correct.
The warehouse game (or at least the version that I play) is just to optimize shipping expense.
They've got a checkbox that says something like "Choose for me" that seems to help, but it kind of sucks if im being particular about a number of parts.
It would be better if I could just check all possible candidate parts as I compile an order to complete a project, and have it pick from just my selections.
(Like, maybe I don't care which brand of coated rotors I get -- at all -- so I check all of the coated rotors.
And maybe I'm happy with either Bendix or Powerstop pads, so I check both of them.
I also need an oil filter. I understand that in my car, Mahle is fine, so is Mann, and so is one particular Purolator, while I also understand that the low-end Fram is not OK.
So I might pick the candidates that make sense for me there, too.
And then, ideally: I push the "Now save me some money" button and it optimizes the order to ship one part for each set of candidates as cheaply as possible.
It doesn't seem to do this.)
Did you actually try that search? I typed in exactly what you said and got exactly those results. No uBlock Origin either.
Just the other day I dealt with this issue looking for usb 3.2 hubs, specifically powered hubs, which I kept in quotes that evidently were not respected. I was getting mostly usb 3.0 even some usb 2.0. A few usb 3.2 but not all like you’d think a quote should work for search. Also all over the place powered vs unpowered hub
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No, I didn't try it first.
I just made it up as an example of something that I had failed at in the past, on the basis that this kind of technical specificity has generally lead to daunting results in the past.
Finding specific things has generally been a frustrating mess for me on Amazon.
But I did try it just now: I searched for "ring terminals 12 #10" and got a long list of stuff that is actually worth considering.
WTF?
This is good and welcome, but it was certainly unexpected.
Perhaps their search engine has improved for some of this kind of thing.
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i ise ublock origin, but I too suffer from abysmal search results on Amazon. Im sure their AI has decided ill just buy all the junk after i give up on finding what I actually looked for.
Ive also noticed lower prices for the same items if ive recently searched on walmart or target recently too…