Why Do People Hate Amazon? (11 Reasons Why)

Amazon is one of the leading e-commerce websites and features a number of benefits such as Prime Delivery, Prime Video, in-house delivery services, as well as many affordable prices!

However, despite its popularity, many consumers hate Amazon and refuse to shop on its website. But why do so many people hate Amazon? Keep reading to learn 11 reasons why!

11 Reasons Why Do People Hate Amazon

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1. Prolonged Delivery Times

Amazon delivery times can often be drastically longer than the estimate customers were originally given.

Amazon will usually estimate a package to be delivered within 1-7 business days. However, there are many sellers and products on Amazon that end up taking weeks or sometimes months to arrive.

This type of delay can frustrate many customers who may have required the product they ordered much earlier.

Shipping delays often occur with purchases from bookstores or other boutiques that sell through Amazon, as those businesses are responsible for fulfilling shipping orders on their own. 

2. Prime is Too Expensive

Amazon Prime is considered far too expensive for many customers. While the Prime membership includes both shipping perks and access to Prime Video, some customers find that the price is far too high for what it offers, $12.99 per month or $119 per year.

Customers who already subscribe to a number of other services tend to find this issue with pricing especially true, considering how many local grocery and retail stores now offer delivery for a smaller fee.

3. Unnecessary Waste of Cardboard

Amazon is not known for being environmentally conscious, as its business model requires a lot of travel and packaging. Amazon especially uses a lot of cardboard, which causes a large amount of waste.

According to recent research, Amazon uses an equivalent of 1 billion trees to package its products! Because of this, many environmentally conscious consumers refuse to shop on Amazon in order to avoid contributing to mass waste.

4. Causes Decreased Sales for Small Businesses

A major reason consumers hate Amazon is that they are increasing the chances of small and locally owned businesses shutting down.

Consumers are particularly concerned about independent bookstores being run out of business due to Amazon’s large foot in the door of the book industry.

Additionally, boutiques and stores that specialize in niche styles and aesthetics now face larger competition from Amazon, as they’re now carrying more products that cater to more niches.

5. Amazon Employees Aren’t Treated Well

One of the biggest reasons consumers hate Amazon is how they treat their employees. On-location and remote workers are only allotted 80 hours of sick days per year and don’t receive paid time off even if they’re quite ill.

The hours that Amazon employees work has also been known to infringe on personal rights. Some employees report not being allowed to take bathroom breaks, resorting to drastic measures to relieve themselves.

Other employees report collapsing during work due to fatigue as a result of not being able to take breaks. Additionally, Amazon delivery drivers have reported not being able to take breaks while delivering packages.

6. Bad Customer Service Experiences

Amazon customers have found that the customer service provided is severely flawed! Many report issues such as Amazon representatives making empty promises and not answering messages.

As well, customers have reported instances where the representative they spoke to was notoriously polite but didn’t offer any solutions to their problem.

Finally, customers have also had bad experiences with representatives who were rude and condescending and insisted that they couldn’t do anything about the problem the customers were having, even though they were initially told otherwise.

7. Amazon Sellers Are Treated Badly

Many sellers on Amazon have had negative experiences with how Amazon allows customers to return items and leave feedback. Some customers leave negative reviews on sellers’ pages, even though they had no issues with the product.

Unfortunately, Amazon refuses to take down any negative reviews, even if they are irrelevant to the customer’s actual experience.

This issue has cost Amazon sellers both money and business, as they have had to buy back products from Amazon that have been returned for negative reasons.

8. They Have a Large Carbon Footprint

Consumers who try to be environmentally conscious take serious issues with Amazon’s carbon footprint. Amazon delivers so often that they emit a large amount of carbon dioxide.

In 2018, Amazon drivers emitted over 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is a larger carbon footprint than the entire country of Switzerland.

9. Prices are High

While Amazon often advertises its website as being a good place for bargains, they have much more expensive prices than are usually featured.

Many customers take issue with Amazon selling products that are more expensive on their website than if they purchased the item directly from the brand.

Customers who don’t have Amazon Prime find the prices, especially more expensive due to increased shipping prices, which they find are not worth paying due to prolonged shipping times.

10. Fake Amazon Reviews to Promote Bad Products

A major issue that customers have with Amazon is the number of bots and fabricated accounts that leave fake reviews on product pages. These reviews are often added by Amazon sellers to promote their product, due to low sales or a lack of quality.

This issue has led many customers to purchase bad-quality products due to being misled by the reviews left on the product page, requiring them to go through the hassle of processing a return.

Therefore, many consumers are wary of purchasing anything from Amazon, as they are afraid of wasting their money on a product that hasn’t been authentically reviewed.

11. Disturbing Content and Pop-Ups

Finally, an issue that many customers have had with Amazon is the number of disturbing listings that have shown up from Amazon sellers.

Antisemitic and racist slurs, as well as books and other items featuring inappropriate child imagery, have been listed on product pages and Amazon has refrained from taking immediate action.

These listings make parents and other individuals wary of browsing for products due to the risk of coming across disturbing content.

To know more about Amazon, you might also be interested in reading up on whether or not Amazon reviews are fake, if Amazon is safe to shop on, and why Amazon delivery is so slow.

Conclusion

After reviewing these above reasons, it’s easy to see why many consumers hate Amazon and refuse to shop there.

Issues such as high prices, delayed shipping times, lack of environmental awareness and disturbing content have caused many consumers to refrain from shopping on Amazon, despite the popularity and convenience of the website.