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I haven't found this to be true at all. Brick-and-mortar stores _always_ have less selection, and I have no idea wandering around the store if a product is actu

I haven't found this to be true at all. Brick-and-mortar stores _always_ have less selection, and I have no idea wandering around the store if a product is actually any good. When I do bother to try and buy something at a brick-and-mortar store and I research what they are actually carrying, it's often got horrible reviews, not just on Amazon, but on other product review sites. While I agree that Amazon products aren't always the best, my experience with brick and mortar is _far_ worse. Except Costco. Costco is amazing, IMHO.

jrockway 8y ago
I am inclined to agree. Go to CVS or Best Buy or something to buy a USB cable, and you'll probably get an expensive piece of garbage just like on Amazon.
- 51lver 8y ago
  At least it won't burn out your usb ports...
  - on_and_off 8y ago
    USB-c cable is a good use case where you just want to pay the cost and get it from the google store or at least get a benson leung approved cable. Trying your luck with a cheap usb-c cable is not worth the hassle IMO.
  - kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
    That isn't the fault of the cable. Every USB port from 1.0 and up is required to limit current provided on VBUS. If your port blows it failed at doing that regardless of any misconfiguration within the cable.
    - dragontamer 8y ago
      https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905432/usb-c-cable-fries-google-engineers-computer https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905432/usb-c-cable-fries... The previous comment is refering to a relatively famous event a few years ago. Back then, some USB-C cable sold on amazon had the data-pins switched with the power-pins. You CANT just trust random crap on Amazon. And its getting harder and harder these days now that fake-reviews are a thing. I've been personally going to real-life locations to buy things. Walmart and Target sells stuff only a few bucks more than Amazon, but I can at least trust that it works. --------- I don't necessary say it is Amazon's "fault" that fake products are getting fake reviews. But Amazon has known about this problem for years, and hasn't successfully done anything to stop the problem. I'm sure the Amazon executives are working on the problem... but until they fix it... I'm taking my business elsewhere.
      - jrockway 8y ago
        That's an important point. Big physical retail chains are pretty slow-moving about picking new products to sell. So they'll sell a USB-C cable that blows up your laptop, but as soon as they know it does that they'll pull it off the shelves and simply not offer any USB-C cable for sale. Compare this to Amazon where they probably remove 100 broken USB-C cables per day, but their random merchants list 200 more in that same period of time.
- ardy42 8y ago
  > I am inclined to agree. Go to CVS or Best Buy or something to buy a USB cable, and you'll probably get an expensive piece of garbage just like on Amazon. I totally agree you can get overpriced crap from physical retail. However, unlike Amazon, it's much less likely to be dangerously substandard, counterfeit, or outright fraudulent like many of the items in the below search. https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=1tb+micro+sd+card https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&fie...
michaelt 8y ago
Brick-and-mortar stores _always_ have less selection If I'm shopping for an internet-of-things-enabled doorbell, and a brick-and-mortar retailer only stocks brands with a reasonable history of product security while Amazon stocks everything, who has served me better?
- Mediterraneo10 8y ago
  > If I'm shopping for an internet-of-things-enabled doorbell, and a brick-and-mortar retailer only stocks brands with a reasonable history of product security... Brick and mortar might stock known and respected brands, but it may be that they only have the bottom of that brand’s range of products, and if you want anything better the only place for that is an online shop like Amazon. My typical examples of this (in my European country, I don’t know how things are in the USA) are gigabit wireless routers and higher-end bike parts. Brick and mortar typically stocks only sub-gigabit routers, because that is what the uninformed masses want and are willing to pay for. Local bike shops stock only the broadest mass-market parts, with an emphasis on looks (and even some dodgy China brands in there) over longterm quality. So, assuming that you know what you really want first, Amazon has served you better. (Leaving aside the problem with co-mingled inventory, where you might get a fake even if you bought a respected product.)
  - pavel_lishin 8y ago
    What about going to a more specialized shop? I'd rather trek a little further to B&H than receive a box with an ersatz version punched out after a factory officially closes for the night.
    - Mediterraneo10 8y ago
      Not every town has specialized shops, even if they have the standard big brick and mortar chains. In such towns, which may be into the hundreds of thousands of population, everyone relies on online ordering and express delivery from the capital or other bigger city for specialized stuff.

jrockway 8y ago

I am inclined to agree. Go to CVS or Best Buy or something to buy a USB cable, and you'll probably get an expensive piece of garbage just like on Amazon.

51lver 8y ago
At least it won't burn out your usb ports...
- on_and_off 8y ago
  USB-c cable is a good use case where you just want to pay the cost and get it from the google store or at least get a benson leung approved cable. Trying your luck with a cheap usb-c cable is not worth the hassle IMO.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y ago
  That isn't the fault of the cable. Every USB port from 1.0 and up is required to limit current provided on VBUS. If your port blows it failed at doing that regardless of any misconfiguration within the cable.
  - dragontamer 8y ago
    https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905432/usb-c-cable-fries-google-engineers-computer https://www.theverge.com/2016/2/3/10905432/usb-c-cable-fries... The previous comment is refering to a relatively famous event a few years ago. Back then, some USB-C cable sold on amazon had the data-pins switched with the power-pins. You CANT just trust random crap on Amazon. And its getting harder and harder these days now that fake-reviews are a thing. I've been personally going to real-life locations to buy things. Walmart and Target sells stuff only a few bucks more than Amazon, but I can at least trust that it works. --------- I don't necessary say it is Amazon's "fault" that fake products are getting fake reviews. But Amazon has known about this problem for years, and hasn't successfully done anything to stop the problem. I'm sure the Amazon executives are working on the problem... but until they fix it... I'm taking my business elsewhere.
    - jrockway 8y ago
      That's an important point. Big physical retail chains are pretty slow-moving about picking new products to sell. So they'll sell a USB-C cable that blows up your laptop, but as soon as they know it does that they'll pull it off the shelves and simply not offer any USB-C cable for sale. Compare this to Amazon where they probably remove 100 broken USB-C cables per day, but their random merchants list 200 more in that same period of time.
ardy42 8y ago
> I am inclined to agree. Go to CVS or Best Buy or something to buy a USB cable, and you'll probably get an expensive piece of garbage just like on Amazon. I totally agree you can get overpriced crap from physical retail. However, unlike Amazon, it's much less likely to be dangerously substandard, counterfeit, or outright fraudulent like many of the items in the below search. https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=1tb+micro+sd+card https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&fie...

michaelt 8y ago

Brick-and-mortar stores _always_ have less selection If I'm shopping for an internet-of-things-enabled doorbell, and a brick-and-mortar retailer only stocks brands with a reasonable history of product security while Amazon stocks everything, who has served me better?

Mediterraneo10 8y ago
> If I'm shopping for an internet-of-things-enabled doorbell, and a brick-and-mortar retailer only stocks brands with a reasonable history of product security... Brick and mortar might stock known and respected brands, but it may be that they only have the bottom of that brand’s range of products, and if you want anything better the only place for that is an online shop like Amazon. My typical examples of this (in my European country, I don’t know how things are in the USA) are gigabit wireless routers and higher-end bike parts. Brick and mortar typically stocks only sub-gigabit routers, because that is what the uninformed masses want and are willing to pay for. Local bike shops stock only the broadest mass-market parts, with an emphasis on looks (and even some dodgy China brands in there) over longterm quality. So, assuming that you know what you really want first, Amazon has served you better. (Leaving aside the problem with co-mingled inventory, where you might get a fake even if you bought a respected product.)
- pavel_lishin 8y ago
  What about going to a more specialized shop? I'd rather trek a little further to B&H than receive a box with an ersatz version punched out after a factory officially closes for the night.
  - Mediterraneo10 8y ago
    Not every town has specialized shops, even if they have the standard big brick and mortar chains. In such towns, which may be into the hundreds of thousands of population, everyone relies on online ordering and express delivery from the capital or other bigger city for specialized stuff.