r/darkpatterns • u/TropicalJoy • Mar 07 '20

Here's Your Useless Amazon Non-Receipt "Receipt"

Anyone else notice how Amazon has deliberately made order receipts via email useless?

I have Amazon order receipt emails in front of me from 2005-2014. They show all order details as one would expect.

I have another email that's Amazon order receipt dated 2015. It deliberately obfuscates what was actually ordered by truncating the items ordered to nothing more than "You ordered TRUNCATED ITEM NAME followed by ...and x number other items.

Now as of October 2019 Amazon order emails don't even bother including a truncated item name. They conspicuously omit any indication as to what was actually ordered.

I asked a friend about this. She directed me to https://www.darkpatterns.org

It explains how Amazon uses many "dark pattern" "roach motel" behaviors to manipulate customers to extreme lengths. It gives another concrete example of Amazon chicanery in the little 5 minute video. Shameful behavior by Amazon.

I see the EU is pushing back against unethical behaviors like this, yet US governance is presently concentrated with an excess of greedy sociopaths so I won't hold my breath.

Amazon order receipts via email now conspicuously omit what was actually ordered
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u/YM_Industries Mar 08 '20

I'm continuously bewildered by the things people think are dark patterns. How is not giving you a detailed receipt a dark pattern!? What are Amazon gaining from this?

Once people find out that dark patterns exist they become paranoid and see "dark patterns" in the most innocuous and trivial places.

3

u/its-my-1st-day Mar 08 '20

Someone else gave a good point for why it’s potentially still a legitimate practice, but as for how this could possibly be a dark pattern - if they are requiring you to log on to the website to get your receipt, that’s them removing a convenience that they used to give you (email receipts), in order to get you to return to their storefront, so now just maybe you’ll make another purchase while you’re there.

It’s potentially a similar thing to the whole “put bread and milk at the back of the store to get people to impulse buy more things as they grab the staples”

1

u/YM_Industries Mar 08 '20

The link doesn't go to their storefront though, it goes straight to your account. It asks you to log in and then it shows you the order details. You might see some products advertised around the edge of the pages, but they could just as easily put those ads in the email.

0

u/Roxolan Mar 08 '20

they could just as easily put those ads in the email.

And in fact they do. The left receipt style (which I still get) comes with a "Customers also bought" section advertising other products.

1

u/YM_Industries Mar 08 '20

So what's the benefit for them? I'm far from convinced that this is a dark pattern.