Brian Kindsvater

Marketing, Politics, General Fun

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Elon floats starting an Amazon competitor.

Amazon has become grossly abusive (power corrupts) and the best thing for consumers, sellers, & ironically Amazon, would be for a real competitor to emerge.

Sellers would join en masse.

https://t.co/KZb1cllLYS

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

I only saw a competitor advertising their store with an eBay top of page banner once, and now knowing the absurd $2.27 per click (minimum) I can see why no one does it.

Every competitor was probably clicking their ad and putting them out of business.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Checked out eBay's Promoted Stores which is pay-per-click (even if there is no sale) as eBay says it sets a base price for what it thinks a click is worth.

$2.27 per click for $2.98 sticker - even a 100% click to sales rate is a loss after eBay fees + shipping.

LOL - Hard Pass

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Seemingly every company I work with is abandoning USPS for package delivery to the extent possible. It's crazy the havoc the new Postmaster Dave Steiner has caused in 1 year.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

CNN's Erin Burnett looks like she had plastic surgery. Face appears like Tom Brady - drawn in & angular - versus the former rounded version.

But makeup and beauty filters can do wonders. You can't believe what you see on the opposite of a camera is what you would see in person.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Best cremation authorization I've seen said:

I authorize you to cremate the bum to make sure he is dead dead dead.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Facebook feed:

1/3 of posts are paid ads
1/3 of posts are posts for me to subscribe to something or follow something new - basically soft ads
1/3 of posts are for what I actually follow and want to see

It has turned into a terrible service.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

eBay chops affiliate commissions up to 50% for the holidays.

SEOs come and go but one constant eBay affiliates have been able to count on over the years is being fcked over and having their money taken away.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

California Voter Guide only 176 pages this election.

Has a lot of good info if you want to dive into actual text of propositions.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

ANOTHER USPS rate increase this year. Ground Advantage and Priority Mail just increased.

Is that the 5th increase? And holiday surcharges about to hit.

One of the biggest causes of price inflation is the post office.

Xmas shoppers will be stunned.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Ordered 2 items using Amazon Prime. One arrives in 6 days and the other in 7 days.

So I checked the delivery dates without Prime. The same. Zero benefit to paying for Prime for this order.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

eBay paid $55 MILLION to the owners of ecommercebytes for terrorizing them in a criminal cyberstalking incident.

Not surprisingly, they just retired and closed their site.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Copy paper:

Staples $42.99 one day delivery
Amazon Basics $53.19 five day delivery (and not as bright paper)

It's your money.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Open AI claims its new ChatGPT-6 Astra has achieved AGI - human level intelligence.

LOL.

This is called marketing trying to one-up other companies and of course priming the pump for the upcoming public stock sale.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

9th Circuit rules although California law prohibits employers from restricting employee political speech it doesn't apply if company claims its reputation was hurt - defeating purpose of the law.

Any political speech (nonspeech?) now grounds for firing.

https://t.co/C1ofYRN7RN

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Microsoft moved games from discs used at home to online access. Now its complaining usage is too costly and imposing meager 5 hours per month limit for xBox Game Pass users (up to 15 if you pay more)

Fraud if you bought XBox & games based on promise of unlimited online access.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

Seen some Facebook Ads "Here are my AI Prompts Making Me 100k per Month"

It's incredible anyone believes that garbage - or any make money scheme advertised on Facebook.

Click on an AI post and FB bombs you with fraud ads.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

"I accept full responsibility for lapses in judgment by people within my inner circle"

Kawhi Leonard on being fined by NBA for his & Clippers salary cap cheating.

I accept responsibility for others - but not me. LOL.

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

FTC and states to sue Amazon (again) for fraudulent practices - this time stealing billions from sellers using inflated advertising fees - which sellers generally pass onto consumers in price increases.

https://t.co/dHOjkWStBD

[Brian Kindsvater @BrianKindsvater]

I listed a button for sale on Amazon. The AI changed it to a cookie, wrecked the listing and made it un-editable.

Amazon is a hot mess behind the scenes with massive errors happening every day.