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Sorry I don't understand your point about travel adapters. 1. I go to your link 2. "Oh cool, there's a lot of travel adapters" 3. Filter by free shipping 4

Sorry I don't understand your point about travel adapters. 1. I go to your link 2. "Oh cool, there's a lot of travel adapters" 3. Filter by free shipping 4 (optional). See the top 2 are Sponsored, which makes me less likely to trust them, so ignore them. [NOTE: This is similar behaviour to using ANY search engine] 5. Open the top 3 links (https://www.amazon.com/MX-UC1-Protector-Universal-Charger-Adapter/dp/B00E0FZSQC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1467713126&sr=8-4&keywords=travel+adapter https://www.amazon.com/MX-UC1-Protector-Universal-Charger-Ad..., https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Worldwide-Universal-Converters-Charging/dp/B01DJ140LQ/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1467713126&sr=8-5&keywords=travel+adapter https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Worldwide-Universal-Converter..., https://www.amazon.com/Grounded-Universal-Schuko-Adapter-Germany/dp/B004SY5O5K/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1467713126&sr=8-6&keywords=travel+adapter https://www.amazon.com/Grounded-Universal-Schuko-Adapter-Ger...) 6. Dismiss #2 because it's twice the cost of the other ones and has lower reviews 7A. Pick #3 because it's a "best seller" - which means it has been vetted by other customers 7B. Pick #1 because it looks the nicest Both have mostly good reviews with some bad ones, but hey it's a 7 dollar piece of plastic that tries to work in 150 different countries, it's not going to be perfect. What is so customer unfriendly about this process? Oh and by the way, this is a POWER user process who really wants to get the best one. A layperson could have just as easily just went straight for the "Best seller" and been satisfied.

Retric 10y ago
That 7 piece of plastic can destroy a 600$ phone. The risk might be a reasonable tradeoff, but you see vastly more junk at Amazon than say Best Buy. This means Amazon is fine for brand name stuff (PS4), or low risk stuff (Travel Pillow, Book). But, for a huge range of things you really can't tell if something is low cost, or low quality.
germanier 10y ago
About a year ago, I purchased one of the bestsellers on German Amazon (which basically look the same as the bestsellers on the US store). It is flimsy, the springs on one connector are likely to break after using them a few times. The worst thing: one of the connectors didn't retract fully when not in use and was connected to live AC. Yikes! It had tons of great reviews both on the German and on the US store, including ones were you could see the bad construction in the customer photos. After looking closely at them, one of the three-star reviews casually mentioned sparks when used in one configuration... I called customer support and wrote to the responsible regulatory body in Germany. This specific model is not available anymore. A dozen identical looking still are. In the end I used one that is three times as expensive made by a reputable company. That is the problem.
- pekk 10y ago
  What do you actually want them to do? Should Amazon forbid inexpensive products from being sold?
  - germanier 10y ago
    I don't know. Whenever I now see a few identical looking things sold by multiple brands nobody has ever heard of with a lot of positive reviews I close the tab and use some other store. It's just too much work to shift through all the potentially dangerous crap to find the one usable item they have listed. I can't be the only one. If I actually want the cheap stuff I can go to Aliexpress on my own and pay half the price.
- pierrebai 10y ago
  Here's a list of possible solutions: 1. Ask for referral from people your trust, like your friends. 2. Buy locally in a physical store with a good return policy. 3. Buy from brands you trust. It used to be Walmart, now it's Amazon; people will impoverish their local economy to save 50 cents. Things I bought recently: 1. A rake. I chose the 5$ more expensive one that looked more sturdy and was made in Canada (where I live) instead of China. 2. A old generation smartphone. I chose Motorola G because it's a well-known brand and it had good reviews when it launched, two years ago. It's also got one of the longest battery time. 3. Jeans. I bought Lois Jeans at a local store because it's the last barnd I know of that is still made in Quebec. Buying is also a political action.
  - Fjolsvith 10y ago
    The adage, "Buy a cheap car, get a cheap car," applies to everything. Or, in other words, "You get what you pay for."
    - antisthenes 10y ago
      Interestingly enough, it applies less to cars than it does to everything. Even the cheapest cars sold in the last decade are remarkably durable and reliable.
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
>but hey it's a 7 dollar piece of plastic Which can start a fire, destroy a phone or laptop, etc. I think we need to take these things a bit more seriously. I usually just buy something from an US brick and mortar, at least then I know the UL tag is real and someone vetted this somewhere. Heck, this problem even extends to usb cables. There's a google engineer who reviews USB-C cables after people started complaining about them damaging Nexus phones. I think you're being flippant about a real problem here. Unregulated Chinese manufacturers gaming the system with junk is not something we should be ignoring.
- xorcist 10y ago
  > Which can start a fire, destroy a phone or laptop, etc. And will the insurance company say when they find out that the fire started from the junk metal-and-plastic piece you shoved into the socket? Even if they don't know or care right now, they will in the future if (or when) it becomes a problem. > There's a google engineer who reviews USB-C cables There's that. We clearly need some third party testing these products. UL and CE tags receive little or no verification. The results of said testing was that the majority of cables could possibly damage your phone, if I recall correctly.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
Take a look at the best selling products in the "Laptop Chargers & Adapters" category. Many are obviously fakes and some fakes have better reviews than the real ones.

Retric 10y ago

That 7 piece of plastic can destroy a 600$ phone. The risk might be a reasonable tradeoff, but you see vastly more junk at Amazon than say Best Buy. This means Amazon is fine for brand name stuff (PS4), or low risk stuff (Travel Pillow, Book). But, for a huge range of things you really can't tell if something is low cost, or low quality.

germanier 10y ago

About a year ago, I purchased one of the bestsellers on German Amazon (which basically look the same as the bestsellers on the US store). It is flimsy, the springs on one connector are likely to break after using them a few times. The worst thing: one of the connectors didn't retract fully when not in use and was connected to live AC. Yikes! It had tons of great reviews both on the German and on the US store, including ones were you could see the bad construction in the customer photos. After looking closely at them, one of the three-star reviews casually mentioned sparks when used in one configuration... I called customer support and wrote to the responsible regulatory body in Germany. This specific model is not available anymore. A dozen identical looking still are. In the end I used one that is three times as expensive made by a reputable company. That is the problem.

pekk 10y ago
What do you actually want them to do? Should Amazon forbid inexpensive products from being sold?
- germanier 10y ago
  I don't know. Whenever I now see a few identical looking things sold by multiple brands nobody has ever heard of with a lot of positive reviews I close the tab and use some other store. It's just too much work to shift through all the potentially dangerous crap to find the one usable item they have listed. I can't be the only one. If I actually want the cheap stuff I can go to Aliexpress on my own and pay half the price.
pierrebai 10y ago
Here's a list of possible solutions: 1. Ask for referral from people your trust, like your friends. 2. Buy locally in a physical store with a good return policy. 3. Buy from brands you trust. It used to be Walmart, now it's Amazon; people will impoverish their local economy to save 50 cents. Things I bought recently: 1. A rake. I chose the 5$ more expensive one that looked more sturdy and was made in Canada (where I live) instead of China. 2. A old generation smartphone. I chose Motorola G because it's a well-known brand and it had good reviews when it launched, two years ago. It's also got one of the longest battery time. 3. Jeans. I bought Lois Jeans at a local store because it's the last barnd I know of that is still made in Quebec. Buying is also a political action.
- Fjolsvith 10y ago
  The adage, "Buy a cheap car, get a cheap car," applies to everything. Or, in other words, "You get what you pay for."
  - antisthenes 10y ago
    Interestingly enough, it applies less to cars than it does to everything. Even the cheapest cars sold in the last decade are remarkably durable and reliable.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

>but hey it's a 7 dollar piece of plastic Which can start a fire, destroy a phone or laptop, etc. I think we need to take these things a bit more seriously. I usually just buy something from an US brick and mortar, at least then I know the UL tag is real and someone vetted this somewhere. Heck, this problem even extends to usb cables. There's a google engineer who reviews USB-C cables after people started complaining about them damaging Nexus phones. I think you're being flippant about a real problem here. Unregulated Chinese manufacturers gaming the system with junk is not something we should be ignoring.

xorcist 10y ago
> Which can start a fire, destroy a phone or laptop, etc. And will the insurance company say when they find out that the fire started from the junk metal-and-plastic piece you shoved into the socket? Even if they don't know or care right now, they will in the future if (or when) it becomes a problem. > There's a google engineer who reviews USB-C cables There's that. We clearly need some third party testing these products. UL and CE tags receive little or no verification. The results of said testing was that the majority of cables could possibly damage your phone, if I recall correctly.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

Take a look at the best selling products in the "Laptop Chargers & Adapters" category. Many are obviously fakes and some fakes have better reviews than the real ones.