this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
372 points (92.5% liked)

AssholeDesign

7564 readers
2 users here now

This is a community for designs specifically crafted to make the experience worse for the user. This can be due to greed, apathy, laziness or just downright scumbaggery.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Non private mode on left. I am not logged in but have cookies enabled. Right is private mode.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] infinitevalence@discuss.online 100 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Sometimes there are vendors or distribution rules that require that they don't post discounts publicly so people can't price match or other retailers can't demand a discount to match.

[–] suzune@ani.social 45 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's a weird logic. If I cannot find it on price comparison sites, the offer doesn't exist.

[–] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Well you'd be in the minority so they don't care.

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 8 months ago

It's not too uncommon for PC equipment. Back when Newegg was a good company, before they were bought out over a decade ago, there would be quite a few items on there that were like this.

[–] sim642@lemm.ee 25 points 8 months ago

That's an odd definition of non-public if the information is available to everyone. More like annoyingly public.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 8 points 8 months ago

I reloaded the page and it showed up.

[–] thesmokingman@programming.dev 5 points 8 months ago

This is super common with niche hobby products I buy. Doesn’t make any fucking sense. Vendors will send out an email saying “hey we have a sale but we can’t tell you the dollar amount just the percentage until you put it into your cart.” I think it’s also common with some lines of luxury goods. You’ll find a few different reasons online if you Google “luxury brands hide price.”

[–] curiousPJ@lemmy.world 61 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Don't get that card. I used to have it but it would randomly output max volume static... Not a fun experience.

[–] lea@feddit.de 8 points 8 months ago

Had the same thing with a Xonar DX, probably got some permanent hearing damage from that.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 7 points 8 months ago

MM yes. Thanks.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world 60 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Dude it’s $3 an ounce. Totally worth it.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 8 points 8 months ago

lol I didn't notice that.

[–] witchergeraltofrivia@lemm.ee 34 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, that is the purpose of s shopping website. One big Point of Sale

[–] Briguy@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Go to bed Dad

[–] Marcbmann@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

No. The manufacturer has a minimum advertised pricing policy in place. Amazon has the item priced below this point. So they can only display the price after it's been added to the cart.

[–] witchergeraltofrivia@lemm.ee 8 points 8 months ago

The neat part is - amazon is still a POS

[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

On the right it has a rough shipping location (LA with zipcode), are you sure that's not the change?

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 11 points 8 months ago (2 children)

You know maybe it's because I'm on a VPN. Testing out anti-botting methods?

[–] pythonoob@programming.dev 18 points 8 months ago

Or trying to filter out price scrapers

[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Anti-botting or rough shipping calculations being factored in, both fairly plausible. I notice on the left it even prompts to "select delivery location" near where the price would be.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That is just to condition you to get accustomed to eventually having to buy it first before they let you know the price.

Which again is just to condition you to accept the fact that next they will be able to increase the price on your existing completed purchase each month for rest of your life.

It's only in the best interest of the consumer, it's not an evil tactic.

/s

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.ca 23 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I would straight up rather not have most things than give money to Amazon at this point. They're only going to get worse.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago (13 children)

This has been common for ages. In lots of stores.

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Yeah, like, decades. It basically means whatever agreement they have with the supplier says that they can't advertise for under MSRP. This is not a thing that's unique to Amazon.

[–] Nollij@sopuli.xyz 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That's because of restrictions/contracts with the manufacturer. Sometimes there is a clause about the minimum advertised price. If it's being sold below that price, that's what you'll see.

However, that clearly isn't what's happening- or if it is, then Amazon is violating those terms. They are showing the price in some circumstances, but not others. That leads me to think it's a smokescreen, using the above as an excuse.

[–] Marcbmann@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

More likely, the price changed between screenshots.

We don't know what the price is on the left.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] Treczoks@lemm.ee 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I had it worse. I needed to book a hotel for a business trip, and they offered me two prices: Either take them cheaper, but you cannot cancel or get a refund, or you can spend a bit more, and cancel it up to one day before arrival for a "cancellation fee", which amount was not disclosed at that moment.

I booked the latter one, and in the booking confirmation it said that the cancellation fee is exactly the same as the cost for the room!

[–] General_Shenanigans@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

That’s dumb. I used to work in hotels. We hated online bookings because of how terrible those sites handle expectations. A tip for the future is: If you find yourself wanting to take that latter option, odds are it’s the same as booking directly, price-wise. If you book directly, you’re more guaranteed and only have to deal with their own policy. Usually it’s no fee if cancelled the day before arrival. If cancelled same day, a one-night fee applies for holding the room. If you cancelled the day before, could’ve saved.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] turkishdelight@lemmy.ml 16 points 8 months ago (8 children)

Amazon's customer experience has been on a very steep decline in the last 5 years or so. I find myself shopping more and more on Temu and AliExpress.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why on Temu?? That is basically enabling scammers.
Just shop on Ali where you actually have some buyer protection...

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 10 points 8 months ago (18 children)

Sidenote are sound cards making a comeback?

[–] Garbanzo@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

So much that we're buying them by weight now

[–] Angry_Zombie@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (8 children)
load more comments (8 replies)
load more comments (16 replies)
[–] mechoman444@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Wtf is a gaming sound card!

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 20 points 8 months ago (5 children)

A sound card is a device you add to your motherboard if for some strange reason your motherboard doesn't have the ability to play sound already. I have literally never heard of anyone needing one since about 1995.

Maybe it's for a retro system? It's not exactly expensive.

[–] Daxtron2@startrek.website 19 points 8 months ago

A lot of motherboards cheap out on their audio. I had one that had a lot of EMI in the line in and swapped it out for a 30$ card like this and it cleared it up so people would stop telling me my mic sounded like shit lol.

[–] RealFknNito@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Apparently having a dedicated sound card and high end audio equipment can improve the quality of the sound. You can chalk it up to audiophile stuff.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DumbAceDragon@sh.itjust.works 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I actually had to add a dedicated sound card to my PC because the onboard one shat itself and died somehow, and it was way cheaper than a new motherboard.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] theworstshepard@lemmynsfw.com 14 points 8 months ago

Back in the day, they were the only way to get sound out of machine, except the internal speaker but that only said beep

load more comments
view more: next ›