4 ms·

This is the single worst thing about Amazon (aside from the knockoffs); Every time I want to buy something, I do a search and all I get is 200 pages of the same

by pault 7y ago

This is the single worst thing about Amazon (aside from the knockoffs); Every time I want to buy something, I do a search and all I get is 200 pages of the same shitty product with some generic brand name like "teksolv". Somewhere in that 200 pages is a product I want. So I go to another online retailer and buy it there. Edit: the Brand filter would work, except if there are more than five or six brands it dumps you in a huge directory of brands that you can't search, and you can only select one at a time. It's been that way for like ten fucking years! The only thing that would explain such incompetence is some kind of dark pattern.

thefounder 7y ago
Chances are the branded retailer just rebranded the shitty product from China and sells it at premium/luxury price.
- pault 7y ago
  This is undoubtedly the case with most of the clothing, but not for consumer electronics. Edit: No, it's the same with the clothing; buy one of those generically branded jackets some time and see how long it lasts.
  - AJ007 7y ago
    I don’t recall any clothes I have that say made in China? I think the Chinese labor cost is too high for garments. Yes, there is a huge mark up, but if the clothing brand is ok they are doing quality control and providing some consistency besides the whole style/fashion part.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  Hopefully the branded item will have better quality control. You see that with camera batteries for example. The name brands seem to take the best batteries of a lot and third party sellers then take the ones that are less according to spec.
- caconym_ 7y ago
  Usually you can smell the difference.
- Kephael 7y ago
  I recently witnessed this with oven mitts. I bought a pair of oven mitts on Amazon but also found several other mitts that were slight variations. When I went to Rite Aid, I found they were selling a variant of the oven mitt pair that I had purchased for more than double the price. The branding was slightly different, but the product was identical.
beauzero 7y ago
I recently bought a Parmak electric fence charger (horses, pigs, etc.) and when it came down to it I used Parmak's own site. I knew that it would take 3-7 days to get it but I wanted to make sure it was actually from Parmak and not a knockoff. Lightning strikes and a 3 year warranty. This may not be typical but anecdotally our family is purchasing most things directly from the company or going to an authorized dealer. It's just not worth the long tail hassle dealing with Amazon any longer...for us.
- robertcope 7y ago
  I find myself doing the same thing. I might use Amazon to find a product, but I end up going to the manufacturer's site to buy it. I also want to make sure that I'm looking at the latest version of the product, too.
- thirdsun 7y ago
  It’s my experience that there’s usually a sweet spot between ordering directly from a slow, traditional, maybe slightly more expensive than necessary official manufacturer store and amazon: The specialized enthusiast store that’s usually slightly under the radar but known to anyone in the field. For me it’s often bicycle kit, audio gear or just japanese sencha - all of the those categories are much better served by non-amazon shops that have been around for a long time, offer competitive pricing and are selling genuine, curated products only. I’m sure there are also great shops for the items you’re looking for.
macNchz 7y ago
Yeah I kept running into this exact issue and it was a big factor in my decision to cancel my Prime subscription after 10 years this winter. The research and product selection done by a more traditional retailer's purchasing department turns out to be more of a convenience than I would have thought in the past. Now that I've largely stopped shopping on Amazon over the past six months, I've come to realize that a lot of retailers have really upped their game in the in-store-inventory-online space. I really enjoy the process of browsing online, reading some reviews and knowing what's in stock in the store, then stopping by in person to check out a couple of options and walking away with the product in hand. Some big stores even have bay/bin/aisle numbers on their websites so you can find things quickly. Better than two day shipping in my book.
radcon 7y ago
> aside from the knockoffs They're essentially the same problem since inventory can get mixed together. You could have fake Nike shoes from a 3rd party seller mixed in with Amazon's Nike inventory. Even 3rd party sellers complain about having their inventory tainted by other 3rd party sellers who send in counterfeits.
pnathan 7y ago
This is also a major problem; I have no problem buying Cheap Generic Wotsit from Factory X in Shenzhen - just don't give me 300 different "brands" to "evaluate". The French Press category is awful for this, for example.

by pault 7y ago

thefounder 7y ago

Chances are the branded retailer just rebranded the shitty product from China and sells it at premium/luxury price.

pault 7y ago
This is undoubtedly the case with most of the clothing, but not for consumer electronics. Edit: No, it's the same with the clothing; buy one of those generically branded jackets some time and see how long it lasts.
- AJ007 7y ago
  I don’t recall any clothes I have that say made in China? I think the Chinese labor cost is too high for garments. Yes, there is a huge mark up, but if the clothing brand is ok they are doing quality control and providing some consistency besides the whole style/fashion part.
maxxxxx 7y ago
Hopefully the branded item will have better quality control. You see that with camera batteries for example. The name brands seem to take the best batteries of a lot and third party sellers then take the ones that are less according to spec.
caconym_ 7y ago
Usually you can smell the difference.
Kephael 7y ago
I recently witnessed this with oven mitts. I bought a pair of oven mitts on Amazon but also found several other mitts that were slight variations. When I went to Rite Aid, I found they were selling a variant of the oven mitt pair that I had purchased for more than double the price. The branding was slightly different, but the product was identical.

beauzero 7y ago

I recently bought a Parmak electric fence charger (horses, pigs, etc.) and when it came down to it I used Parmak's own site. I knew that it would take 3-7 days to get it but I wanted to make sure it was actually from Parmak and not a knockoff. Lightning strikes and a 3 year warranty. This may not be typical but anecdotally our family is purchasing most things directly from the company or going to an authorized dealer. It's just not worth the long tail hassle dealing with Amazon any longer...for us.

robertcope 7y ago
I find myself doing the same thing. I might use Amazon to find a product, but I end up going to the manufacturer's site to buy it. I also want to make sure that I'm looking at the latest version of the product, too.
thirdsun 7y ago
It’s my experience that there’s usually a sweet spot between ordering directly from a slow, traditional, maybe slightly more expensive than necessary official manufacturer store and amazon: The specialized enthusiast store that’s usually slightly under the radar but known to anyone in the field. For me it’s often bicycle kit, audio gear or just japanese sencha - all of the those categories are much better served by non-amazon shops that have been around for a long time, offer competitive pricing and are selling genuine, curated products only. I’m sure there are also great shops for the items you’re looking for.

macNchz 7y ago

Yeah I kept running into this exact issue and it was a big factor in my decision to cancel my Prime subscription after 10 years this winter. The research and product selection done by a more traditional retailer's purchasing department turns out to be more of a convenience than I would have thought in the past. Now that I've largely stopped shopping on Amazon over the past six months, I've come to realize that a lot of retailers have really upped their game in the in-store-inventory-online space. I really enjoy the process of browsing online, reading some reviews and knowing what's in stock in the store, then stopping by in person to check out a couple of options and walking away with the product in hand. Some big stores even have bay/bin/aisle numbers on their websites so you can find things quickly. Better than two day shipping in my book.

radcon 7y ago

> aside from the knockoffs They're essentially the same problem since inventory can get mixed together. You could have fake Nike shoes from a 3rd party seller mixed in with Amazon's Nike inventory. Even 3rd party sellers complain about having their inventory tainted by other 3rd party sellers who send in counterfeits.

pnathan 7y ago

This is also a major problem; I have no problem buying Cheap Generic Wotsit from Factory X in Shenzhen - just don't give me 300 different "brands" to "evaluate". The French Press category is awful for this, for example.