That is not 2 separate buttons on the right, like I initially thought clicking through checkout.
I don’t understand why there is so much defense for this in the comments. Amazon is a huge company with professional design teams, if part of their checkout process is even a little misleading in favor of an upsell it is definitely intentional.
Yes. That’s Amazon using dark patterns. This demonstrates that enshittification is not confined to social media.
Ooop, it may have happened even before Twitter, Reddit etc.
From Corey Doctorow: Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if Amazon’s enshittification is because [Jeff] Bezos was a cynic or because he sold out. Once Amazon could make more money by screwing its customers, that screw-job became a fait accompli.
Saying it’s a weak example of asshole design does not equate to defending Amazon.
It’s possible for Amazon to be extremely predatory and shitty, as well as this not being a very good example of how shitty they are, at the same time.
Possible yes, but does that really seem like reality to you in this situation? It doesn’t to me.
By the way, it is and amazon is already being sued by the US FTC.
With a small fine with huge benefits as always?
Internally they called cancellations the Iliad Process. If that isn’t a sign that everything is super totally above board I don’t know what is.
Dark patterns are real and everywhere now.
Why would it be two buttons on the right, and what behavior would you expect if “Cancel Anytime” was a button?
The goal of this is to get you to sign up for Prime, so there’s nothing yet to cancel.
This is “annoying” design in the sense that getting an upsell is annoying, but I don’t really see it as malicious/asshole.
Common UI has “yes” and “no” (or whatever terms) next to each other, often in different colors. This is mimicing it so you think it’s two separate buttons when it’s one button for “yes”.
And has “cancel …” like you’d expect on a cancel button. If you stop reading or are skimming (we all do it) you think it’s the cancel button. This is very likely a deliberate choice.
Different color, common placement, the word “cancel …”, you go on autopilot, and now you’re subscribed! And good luck trying to cancel.
On a quick inspection the left barely looks like it’s worth reading and it’s easy to miss the link, so you’re led to thinking there’s a yes and a no button on the right. Click the no button and you’ve subscribed to Prime.
Obviously if you stop and actually look at everything you’ll realise what’s up. But this relies on you rushing and being misled in to signing up, which clearly works for them.
It’s absolutely, 100% intentionally misleading. They even recognize that internally and are currently being sued for just that.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as “dark patterns,” to deceive consumers into enrolling in Prime, which provides subscribers with perks such as faster shipping for an fee of $139 annually, or $14.99 a month.
The FTC said Amazon made it difficult for customers to purchase an item without also subscribing to Prime. In some cases, consumers were presented with a button to complete their transactions — which didn’t clearly state it would also enroll them in Prime.
Getting out of a subscription was often too complicated, and Amazon leadership slowed or rejected changes that would have made canceling easier, the complaint said.
Internally, Amazon called the process “Iliad,” a reference to the ancient Greek poem about lengthy siege of Troy during the Trojan war.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2023/06/21/amazon-prime-without-consent/
The examples in the FTC complaint are all well and good, and as I already said, Amazon sucks and their predatory practices are well-known, but this specific example, the one we’re talking about on this post, is pretty pedestrian.
If the OP were to post the 7-step process it takes to cancel a prime membership, that would be firmly and wholly in asshole design territory, I know, I’ve had to go through it myself. But just posting a screenshot of a mild upsell that has a clear set of binary options on opposite sides of the screen and saying “Amazon bad” doesn’t really contribute much - everyone knows Amazon sucks, and there are plenty of examples of them sucking, this just really isn’t a very good one.
I accidentally signed up for prime that way, and it was a pain to cancel. This shit should definitely be illegal.
I downloaded the Amazon app a while back. The first message that popped up with a “join prime” screen. I very nearly tapped the join button because it was the only button on the screen and I wasn’t paying attention - I had to scroll to find the “maybe later” button. They seem to love their hostile UI.
I actually clicked on “continue without Amazon Prime” once and the next screen said congratulations new prime member. I had to search how to undo my free month trial that auto renews smh
I’m pretty sure that’s illegal in the EU.
Being illiterate?
Idk just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean it should be illegal. In the grand scheme of shady marketing this really isn’t that bad…
