I Tried Amazon Haul, and It’s as Bad as You’d Expect

Just two weeks before the sacred retail holiday known as Black Friday, Amazon dropped the early version of a new shopping experience: Amazon Haul. 

As soon as I heard about the giant's new service, I knew I had to take a look - because I had a lot of concerns on how the experience would deliver on its promises.

Amazon Haul's goal: steal back money going to discount retailers overseas

The service is meant to compete with the shopping apps Temu and SHEIN. Both of these retailers are known for incredibly low "bargain" prices, and are operated out of China. Other sellers, like Alibaba and 1688, follow the same model.

If Amazon was able to recapture the money going to these overseas retailers, that would keep more money in the United States, where Amazon is headquartered. Or at least, that's the theory.

Forget Desktop: Amazon makes Haul mobile-only

I work in digital publishing, so I'm well aware that the majority of people now use their phone to read, watch, and shop online. Mobile-first design is king when it comes to websites. Yet I did find it somewhat puzzling that Haul is a mobile-only experience.

This is more confusing by the fact that Amazon Haul is not a separate app. Instead, to access this new shopping experience, you must search "Haul" in the Amazon mobile app, and take the first suggested link. I expect this will be made more intuitive when Haul is fully released (it's currently in beta), but it doesn't seem a great experience to draw people in during the holiday shopping season.

Amazon Haul: the Internet's junk drawer

When I first opened Amazon Haul, I was immediately struck not by the "crazy deals," but by the products being offered to me right away. They included:

• 100 piece sets of cable zip ties ($2.20)
• 2 pack of hanging tea towel clips ($2.99)
• 30 piece set of white self-adhesive cable management strips ($4.99)

Plastic table runners, shower caps, sink drain covers, makeup brush cleaners, shoe laces, hair ties, heel grips, suction cups, paper banners, ice tongs - just throw in some unlabeled keys and old batteries, and you'd have my grandmother's junk drawer. Just look at the "wild bird feeder sock" above, which is a cheap net bag that apparently will feed finches, hummingbirds, and seagulls.

Amazon Haul does have other products, like the print on demand blankets and Comic Sans inspirational and misspelled, definitely not pearl as described, necklace above. There's also clothing and kitchenware, which we'll come to shortly.

For the most part, however, the listings are flooded with cheap things that you expect to be cheap and that you can probably grab for the same price, or less, at a dollar store or bargain bin down the street. It's the kind of thing where you'd say "Oh yeah, I do need a new set of chip clips" while shopping.

Haul, Temu, and Shein: the same where it really counts

The real issue I had in mind with Amazon Haul wasn't what it would be selling, it was who would be selling it. Amazon's competitors are under constant criticism for their questionable ethics. Mother Earth Brand explains that many of these "fast fashion" brands often are accused of violating intellectual property rights, and their operations have significant environmental impact.

As Global Affairs reports, Temu and Shein keep their prices so low because they avoid duty fees and because they use garment workers that work "14- to 16-hour days, seven days a week." It is also believed that they utilize forced labor from the Uyghurs detained in China.

We could hope then, as consumers, that Amazon - an American company held to different laws - would be a more ethical choice. Unfortunately, but predictably, that has to be questioned.

As seen in the above listing for the hat, glove, and scarf set - and in a few examples later - the sellers on Amazon Haul are primarily Chinese companies. Frankly, I looked hard through dozens of listings for a single non-Chinese seller and could not find one. These sellers almost always mask their business name with an English-based name, such as Joyspels (above).

To be clear, I am not accusing all Chinese sellers on Amazon of using forced labor or other unethical business practices. However, the lack of transparency and many ethical questions about China's business sector, as a whole, leaves much to be desired. Those $10 pants you bought on Amazon Haul may have been made unethically, and you have no legal assurances in place that they aren't.

If you want to support United States businesses, Amazon Haul isn't the way to go. In its current incarnation, you're most likely to be sending that money to China - not the USA.

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It's not just the country of origin that needs a closer look on Haul

There are plenty of stories on social media about poor products from places like Temu, such as in this "Honest Temu Review" from YouTuber Brock McGoff. It's a case of you get what you pay for, right?

Except that in looking around on Amazon Haul, I found more than just underpriced clothing. A careful reading of the product information on many of these revealed something that's already prolific on Amazon's main shopping experience: misleading product names and descriptions.

Originally I was going to show you a bad case of jewelry being labeled as "14K Gold" when it's actually brass covered with gold flake, but as I was writing the review, I found something that was far more concerning - this "set of 1" coffee cup:

Here's the problem:

1. The listing title says it is a plastic mug.
2. The listing pictures show the mug being placed in (or taken out of) a microwave.
3. The product details show that the mug's material is "Stainless Steel".

While there are some microwave-safe stainless steel containers, for the most part, any metal should be kept out of your microwave. Steel also heats up far differently than plastic, meaning a plastic mug full of hot coffee is going to be cooler to the touch than a stainless steel one.

There's two possibilities with this listing: the harmless one is that the product details are incorrect. The worse one is that the product claims it's plastic when it's not - possibly putting the consumer at risk of harm.

This highlights one other issue I have with Amazon Haul: there is very limited product information. The goal of the app design seems to be to keep the intention to buy up front. There's no "About This Item" or "From the Brand" for you to further inspect the product's quality or claims - such as whether this plastic mug is made of food grade plastic or is dishwasher safe. These sections are present on the Amazon Shopping app, but not included in the Haul version of listings.

Limited quantity - a false scarcity model

The Amazon Haul interface also highlights another issue: the implication of scarcity.

Many bargain shopping apps online press the impression on consumers that they must buy now, showing things like "244 users have this in their cart" or "only 3 left". It's a classic example of triggering FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) to encourage impulse buys, a tactic formally known as artificial or fake scarcity.

While it's unclear if Amazon intentionally has designed Haul this way, sellers have already adapted their listings to take advantage of this concept. Take for example the above iPhone cover. "Only 5 left" the listing declared when I tapped on it, but when I looked at color options, I noticed that all of the colors were showing limited amounts.

How is this possible? Quite simply: you offer a product in a wide variety of colors and then limit the stock of each color. That way your item is constantly in a state of scarcity to encourage buyers. It's a questionable tactic, but one that will easily catch buyers unaware.

Can Amazon deliver on its promise with Haul?

In Amazon Haul's release statement, Amazon claims that it "screens the products sellers offer in Haul so customers can be confident they’ll receive products that are safe, authentic, and compliant with applicable regulations."

In the coming weeks, we're likely to see many online influencers reporting their own Amazon "hauls" to see how well this claim can hold up. I'm dubious, but the proof is in the product.

My final thoughts: Amazon Haul misses the mark.

I'm not opposed to a bargain-bin shopping experience online. Like many, I looked into Temu, Alibaba, and Wish when those shopping platforms came out - my meager pocket book could do with a good deal. However, I decided not to shop on any of these due to honest reviews from influencers who pointed out quality, shipping, and ethical issues. I feel the same way about Haul.

I understand why Amazon wants its own bargain platform to compete with these sellers, even years after they've become common household names. However, from what I've seen of Amazon Haul, the product team has totally missed the point. They've focused on prices, without listening to the thousands of hours, comments, and reviews of their competitors.

Most shoppers don't want a copycat version of Temu or Wish. They want low prices, and bargains, yes - but they want those in a sustainable, ethical, transparent format. The market numbers show this: consumers are willing to pull out their wallet for ethically sourced goods. A 2023 study shows that 75% of consumers rank ethical practices as crucial in their buying choices.

Amazon Haul could far surpass its competitors if it was willing to find a model that combined shopping deals with ethical sourcing and transparent shopping. Unfortunately, Haul is more of the same - a marketplace full of cheap junk that isn't worth waiting for.