Amazon.com recommendations

[Miss Chicken]

I was wondering how reliable people think that Amazon.com "Today's Recommendation for You" are.

Yesterday they recommended the DVD "Alive" (about the Andes Survivors) for me based on the fact that I had the book "Touching the Void" in my Wish List. That recommendation made sense to me. However i already own "Alive" so I checked the box saying so.

Today they have recommended "Flowers in the Attic" based on the the fact that I own "Alive". I can, not for the life of me, see any connection between these two movies. "Flowers in the Attic" is a horrible movie. I saw it at the cinema and was annoyed that I had wasted my money seeing it.

Do you ever look through the books, games, DVDs etc that Amazon recommend for you? If you do, do they ever come up with really bad suggestions? Have you ever bought a book etc based on Amazon's recommendation?

 

[Braindeer]

My Amazon page consistently offers me a selection of Wurzels albums based on the fact that I bought one as a comedy gift for a friend in 2004.

 

[Miss Chicken]

My Amazon page consistently offers me a selection of Wurzels albums based on the fact that I bought one as a comedy gift for a friend in 2004.

I often buy on behalf of two friends and when I do I get recommendations based on their purchases. I click the 'not interested' box" on those recommendations.

I get a little annoyed that Amazon is currently recommending about 20 different versions of the "Poetic Eddas" based on my ownership of several Icelandic Sagas. I plan to buy a copy of the Eddas but do they need to recommend every version they have?

 

[RandyS]

I always look at the stuff Amazon recommends for me. Most of the time they come up with stuff that I either buy, or it goes straight to my Wishlist for a future buy.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I have found them to be eerily accurate. What freaks me out is that almost all of the things they recommend to me seem unrelated to my purchases yet are things that I already own. They keep recommending books that are already on my shelf and I say to myself, "how did they know I liked that book?!"

The only time the recommendations don't work out is when I've purchased something as a gift for someone and they recommend a similar item. I bought my sister a season of Gilmore Girls and now they are always recommending the other seasons to me.

 

[RandyS]

I have found them to be eerily accurate. What freaks me out is that almost all of the things they recommend to me seem unrelated to my purchases yet are things that I already own. They keep recommending books that are already on my shelf and I say to myself, "how did they know I liked that book?!"

Maybe they're spying on you. This IS the internet after all.

 

[Rii]

I recently purchased Buffy Goes Dark after Amazon brought it to my attention.

 

[bigdaddy]

I have ignored all of that crap.

 

[McCoy]

I don't understand why they still send recommendations for things you already bought from them. The process has been around for several years and should be refined by now. They should be able to check a recommendation again my order history.

 

[David cgc]

If you follow the "Why was this recommended for me?" link, it'll give you a list of purchases and things you've told it you already own. You can tell it if a particular item was a gift, or if you just want it disregarded period.

 

[DBR]

If you follow the "Why was this recommended for me?" link, it'll give you a list of purchases and things you've told it you already own. You can tell it if a particular item was a gift, or if you just want it disregarded period.

Too much work.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Amazon recommendations have brought a ton of stuff to my attention that I've bought. The system is not perfect, but definitely worth looking through once a week or so. The only problem is that it gets skewed after Birthdays and Christmas, so I have to click on a lot of "not interested" boxes.

And I recently bought a couple of Pern and Discworld novels for the first time-- so now my first four pages of recommendations are all Pern and Discworld.

 

[Holdfast]

I have ignored all of that crap.

+1

I really can't stand all this tailored advertising.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I never bother Checking recommendations but this thread has made me check them out.
Must say they were quite a few items i would like i do not have the money for them at the moment so have put them on the wish list.
I might save my self some money and see if the library has the books i want.

 

[TrekNut87]

I always look at the stuff Amazon recommends for me. Most of the time they come up with stuff that I either buy, or it goes straight to my Wishlist for a future buy.

This is me to a perfect T.

 

[The Sneeze Police]

I am with David cgc on refining the recommendations, because like others in the thread, I have found the items Amazon presents as interesting to me to be useful. Refining helps cull the chaff.