Amazon Launches Dash Buttons in Germany, Austria, and the U.K.

[Return Zero]

Not just the parts cost, it'd blow the power budget...

Very true, and...

It could be: first press: display price - second press: order

I like that solution. OR some kind of price-lock/guarantee for button users. In any case, I won't be getting any more buttons until this issue is addressed.

Blindly ordering stuff from Amazon without price-shopping is exactly the opposite of the business model that made them successful in the first place ("Wow, this book is so much cheaper on here than in the bookstore!! That's definitely worth the shipping wait!"). Unfortunately, this may be the model they move towards in the long run ("Well it might not be the best price, but it's the most convenient way to get it.")

 

[CarlJ]

Out of all of the criticisms of Dash this has to be the dumbest one I've heard. If you don't want them where people can see them... don't put them there.
...
All "hidden"... but also right where they need to be so that when you notice you're running low on something you can just hit the button. Simple.

No no no, you're doing it all wrong, you're supposed to stick them all next to your doorbell, by the front door, so you can represent for the brands you like, and the various religious and political proselytizers who stop by during the day, along with your letter carrier and UPS/FedEx representatives, can make sure you don't run low on anything. Then it'll always be a fun surprise to see what shows up.
[doublepost=1472667615][/doublepost]

Blindly ordering stuff from Amazon without price-shopping is exactly the opposite of the business model that made them successful in the first place ("Wow, this book is so much cheaper on here than in the bookstore!! That's definitely worth the shipping wait!"). Unfortunately, this may be the model they move towards in the long run ("Well it might not be the best price, but it's the most convenient way to get it.")

Sometimes, for some people, the convenience of taking care of something right now is worth a little extra expense. I expect Amazon isn't looking for everything to go this way so much as seeing a new potential market (uh, not market in terms of product but in terms of situation) that they can service, to their advantage. The website will still be the path 95% of the time. And my first order (and numerous subsequent orders), in 1996, wasn't "wow, this book is cheaper online", it was "hey, I can finally get these half dozen specialized books that elicited blank stares from the personnel at the local stores".
[doublepost=1472668469][/doublepost]

Also: if you're just in it for the tech Amazon makes a variant of the button just for that: https://www.amazon.com/AWS-IoT-Button-Limited-Programmable/dp/B01C7WE5WM/

This is awesome, thanks. There's also some useful bits in the Q&A section (if you believe the answers provided by people on the Internet), that the battery is good for about 1000 button presses (about 8 years worth of pressing it every third day - great for Amazon's use case of ordering things, not as good for using it as an IoT light switch), and it does sound like the battery is permanently attached.

Ooh, turns out Amazon has recently substantially revised the innards (see New Amazon Dash Button Teardown), and newer ones have the battery mounted in a holder - easier to replace if you've broken the device open to experiment - and now have bluetooth capability (moving away from ultrasonic for setup?).
[doublepost=1472668502][/doublepost]I want an Amazon Dash Button that orders more Amazon Dash Buttons.

 

[cube]

I don't recall. I don't think it did. I did explain the communication process in general and point out that numerous smart people have documented the whole communication process online. Armed with that information, I expect you're probably capable of googling it yourself.

Amazon doesn't go out of their way to tell the consumer that the thing even has a MAC address (the vast majority of people wouldn't have any idea what that is). They want it to be a device where you run the app on your phone, put it near your new Dash Button and it Just Works. If I recall correctly, I got the MAC address of mine by querying my Airport base station during/after the initial setup. It identified itself to the Airport's DHCP server as "WICED DHCP Client" (WICED being the WiFi/IoT platform that Cypress recently acquired from Broadcom).

If your concern is that it won't work because you're restricting access by MAC address, then loosen the screws enough temporarily for it to talk to the DHCP server, and see what address the DHCP server logs (the button needn't talk to Amazon at this point, just get far enough onto your internal network to ask for an address). They you can screw things back down and add the MAC address to your access list. Not rocket science.

I asked specifically if it was mandatory to temporarily disable filtering. That was the point.

 

[friedmud]

Ooh, turns out Amazon has recently substantially revised the innards (see New Amazon Dash Button Teardown), and newer ones have the battery mounted in a holder - easier to replace if you've broken the device open to experiment - and now have bluetooth capability (moving away from ultrasonic for setup?).

Yes: All of my newer Dash Buttons don't need the whole "sonic setup" thing... they are just immediately found by the phone. Much simpler (sometimes they used to fail to connect unless everything was "just right").
[doublepost=1472688372][/doublepost]

Very true, and...



I like that solution. OR some kind of price-lock/guarantee for button users. In any case, I won't be getting any more buttons until this issue is addressed.

Blindly ordering stuff from Amazon without price-shopping is exactly the opposite of the business model that made them successful in the first place ("Wow, this book is so much cheaper on here than in the bookstore!! That's definitely worth the shipping wait!"). Unfortunately, this may be the model they move towards in the long run ("Well it might not be the best price, but it's the most convenient way to get it.")

I just went and looked and everything I've ordered using Dash buttons has had constant prices over the life of the Dash buttons. For instance: I've made 4 orders of Bounty Paper Towels over 6 months and they were each $30.80.

I don't think Amazon has a guarantee on the pricing... but it's obviously a little more stable than normal items on Amazon. I kind of wonder if this is part of the reason for the vendor lock-in and reduced options (i.e. Amazon has the vendors commit to fairly constant pricing for Dash items).

I tried a Google search to see if anyone had written anything up on this topic but couldn't find anything useful (no matter what I tried I just got a bunch of idiot bloggers proclaiming Dash to be the end of the universe).

Anyone have some concrete info on how often pricing changes for Dash items?
[doublepost=1472688623][/doublepost]Ok I found one that changed: my wife's Gillette razors. She's ordered them three times using her button and the prices were: $14.99, $15.58, $14.99. So there was one change by $0.50 (3%).

I'll definitely keep an eye on this as we have our Dash buttons for more time... but as long as the prices stay (relatively) stable I'll keep using them. You can always cancel your order within 30 minutes if you decide the price is too steep when you get the confirmation notification...

 

[Return Zero]

Yes: All of my newer Dash Buttons don't need the whole "sonic setup" thing... they are just immediately found by the phone. Much simpler (sometimes they used to fail to connect unless everything was "just right").
[doublepost=1472688372][/doublepost]


I just went and looked and everything I've ordered using Dash buttons has had constant prices over the life of the Dash buttons. For instance: I've made 4 orders of Bounty Paper Towels over 6 months and they were each $30.80.

I don't think Amazon has a guarantee on the pricing... but it's obviously a little more stable than normal items on Amazon. I kind of wonder if this is part of the reason for the vendor lock-in and reduced options (i.e. Amazon has the vendors commit to fairly constant pricing for Dash items).

I tried a Google search to see if anyone had written anything up on this topic but couldn't find anything useful (no matter what I tried I just got a bunch of idiot bloggers proclaiming Dash to be the end of the universe).

Anyone have some concrete info on how often pricing changes for Dash items?
[doublepost=1472688623][/doublepost]Ok I found one that changed: my wife's Gillette razors. She's ordered them three times using her button and the prices were: $14.99, $15.58, $14.99. So there was one change by $0.50 (3%).

I'll definitely keep an eye on this as we have our Dash buttons for more time... but as long as the prices stay (relatively) stable I'll keep using them. You can always cancel your order within 30 minutes if you decide the price is too steep when you get the confirmation notification...

Interesting, maybe my button is just for an unusually price-volatile product (Greenies dog treats). I have cancelled because the price was up by more than 30% more times than I have allowed the order to go through. I guess my sample size is a little too small!

 

[CarlJ]

I don't think Amazon has a guarantee on the pricing... but it's obviously a little more stable than normal items on Amazon. ...
...
I tried a Google search to see if anyone had written anything up on this topic but couldn't find anything useful (no matter what I tried I just got a bunch of idiot bloggers proclaiming Dash to be the end of the universe).

It makes sense in a way; if people were hit by sneaky-seeming price increases when using the button, it'd lead to people not wanting to use all those Dash Buttons that Amazon has given away (cost $5 but you get $5 back) - giving you $7-ish worth of electronics (by one estimate I read), in order to score $5 extra once or twice, before you realized the price was too high and developed a negative opinion of Amazon, doesn't actually help them much.

There is some truth to the idiot blogger's fears, though - the first Dash Button was found in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, under suspicious circumstances, and it was still glowing at the time. And each time they've pressed that button, a new Dash Button appears - that's where they're all coming from.