I have an Amazon account, who doesn't? For a reason, I wanted to log out of it today. This is when I discovered there really is no easy way of doing that! Out of all the commerce web sites out there, one would think Amazon would know to provide their users an easily accessible logout button. They have been around forever and pioneered many technologies now used by many commerce web sites.

There's a "view cart", "wish list" "your account", "help" and some marketing thing on top.. but where's the "logout" button?

On the main page.. there is an obscure link:
Hello, Kasia Trapszo. Explore what's New for You today. (If you're not Kasia Trapszo, click here.)

Which leads to a page allowing someone to log-in as someone else.. but nowhere on that page does it say "Hey, this is how you logout!".

I looked in their help..
Nothin on the main "help" page.. but if you click on the "more" option for "using your account" section.. There it is.. "Signing out".

Now this page has a logout button.. and only took me three clicks to get there! Lovely..

This helpful text explains:
If you are using a public terminal, you will want to log off, or sign out, before you leave the terminal. To do this, click the "Sign out" button below. If you don't see that button, visit our home page and click the link that reads "If you're not [your name], click here." On the next page, leave the e-mail and password fields blank and click the Welcome tab at the top of the page. Once you have done this, your name will be removed from the home page, and your 1-Click ordering settings will be inaccessible to anyone using the same terminal after you.

Couple problems with this.. following the directions listed above (don't enter email address etc..) does not provide visible feedback that you have been indeed logged out..

It does however log you out. What is wrong with this picture? To further complicate and confuse users, the "your account" page looks exactly the same whether you're logged in or not.

Now why can't they just put a "logout" button on top of the page like every other commerce site known to mankind? My cynical side makes me think that they purposely do not want people logging out.. that one-click ordering makes thing nice and easy.... more sales.. more money.. but really, doesn't that cost more in the long run as customers complain?

I am hardly a novice Internet user and it took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to log out of my account. I shudder to think what my mom would do when faced with this dilemma at a public terminal.