6 ms·

That's what name brands are for. Buy Anker or Apple or Samsung or Sony or Panasonic or whatever and you won't get crap. It's not difficult to buy name brands.

by ikeboy 7y ago

That's what name brands are for. Buy Anker or Apple or Samsung or Sony or Panasonic or whatever and you won't get crap. It's not difficult to buy name brands. "But name brand is charging $20 and generic is $8" Yes, that's the price of wanting to avoid reading reviews. "But there are counterfeits" You can avoid 99% of counterfeits by buying only from sellers with good feedback. Just look if it's at least 95% and over say 100 feedback. Yes, some sellers that meet that will sell counterfeits and it's possible that commingling will mean it's a different seller's unit that gets sent but those are rare.

esotericn 7y ago
Imagine a world in which buying food at the supermarket were like this. You could only ever buy name brand anything, otherwise your cereal might be cardboard or your baked beans might taste like vinegar or whatever. I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. Maybe it's that UK supermarkets' economy ranges are just really good.
- ikeboy 7y ago
  Food isn't a valid comparison for many reasons. If you buy food from Amazon you'll be fine. And if you go to your local flea market and buy random electronics you're likely to get just as bad a result as if you do that on Amazon. If you want a curated selection go to a place that curates it.
- fullshark 7y ago
  >I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. Aren't most online retailers that control their supply like this? Amazon and Ebay are platforms, but walmart and target for example have actual warehouses full of every item they sell right?
  - ImprovedSilence 7y ago
    I think Walmart’s online store works the same way amazon does. It’s full of third party crap too.
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      Just restrict yourself to "available in store" if that's what you want then.
- snowwrestler 7y ago
  Everything in a supermarket was selected by a buyer. It's not a two-sided marketplace that just connects random sellers and buyers, takes its cut, and disclaims all responsibility for whatever is being sold. Someone is responsible for every item on a shelf in a supermarket. There are still plenty of stores that work this way for electronics. Buy a USB cable at Apple, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, heck, even Walgreens, and you're going to get a USB cable that some person sourced from a wholesaler. The retailer is going to stand by it and exchange it if it doesn't work. The real shame of Amazon is that it started out that way and developed a great reputation as a result--and now they have thrown it away by letting anyone sell anything on their platform, even counterfeit crap. I don't understand it.
  - ikeboy 7y ago
    >The retailer is going to stand by it and exchange it if it doesn't work. Amazon also accepts returns within 30 days. And most stores will reject returns after a certain amount of time even if it doesn't work.
    - rabidrat 7y ago
      I don't want to have to return things! What a waste of packaging and shipping and effort. Now fraud detection and product QA are added to the gig economy, and we're paying for the privilege.
      - ikeboy 7y ago
        Then, as above, buy name brand items. The cost of buying off-brand is that occasionally you need to return.
        piva00 7y ago
        I do that but still care about the environmental impact of thousands of other people that don't have either the means to buy name brand or the awareness of the problem they are causing. I'd really like for crap products to disappear but... I don't see this happening in this world anytime soon.
- sk5t 7y ago
  > I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. It is with no small uneasiness that I wonder if Walmart (or Target) might or will fill those shoes.
- hurrdurr2 7y ago
  “...a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge.” It's disruption time!
- jmkni 7y ago
  There's a guy on Youtube called Mike Jeavons who has a week on series, where he will eat only a particular UK supermarkets economy range for a week, it's pretty good.
lazyjones 7y ago
> You can avoid 99% of counterfeits by buying only from sellers with good feedback. I doubt that very much. Many sellers never see their products, their suppliers can scam them whenever they like. That's why Amazon themselves have sold fake CPUs repeatedly over the years: https://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Amazon-verkauft-manipulierte-Intel-Core-i5-9600K-4322124.html https://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Amazon-verkauft-manipulierte... (German), https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3014009/amazon-is-reportedly-flogging-fake-amd-ryzen-processors https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3014009/amazon-is-... ...
TeMPOraL 7y ago
> Yes, that's the price of wanting to avoid reading reviews. > You can avoid 99% of counterfeits by buying only from sellers with good feedback. Just look if it's at least 95% and over say 100 feedback. Reviews and feedback are all thoroughly gamed. Can't speak for Amazon, but my wife worked for couple e-commerce companies selling on Allegro, our local Amazon/eBay equivalent, and from her I know (and seen it myself) that the following are common practices: - When someone leaves a negative review, the company will do its best to bribe the customer - free gifts, rebates for next purchase, whatever, just so that they cancel the negative review. - In order to boost its positive/negative ratio and keep it around ~99% positive, the company would routinely order its employees to make orders from home, choosing "payment on delivery" as an option. After couple of days they were to mark the orders as completed and give stellar feedback with some realistic-sounding review texts. The orders of course went to /dev/null themselves, so the only cost to anyone was the sales percentage Allegro took.
Dolores12 7y ago
i see no difference between 8$ and 20$ branded item. They all manufactured in China, probably at the same plant.

by ikeboy 7y ago

esotericn 7y ago

Imagine a world in which buying food at the supermarket were like this. You could only ever buy name brand anything, otherwise your cereal might be cardboard or your baked beans might taste like vinegar or whatever. I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. Maybe it's that UK supermarkets' economy ranges are just really good.

ikeboy 7y ago
Food isn't a valid comparison for many reasons. If you buy food from Amazon you'll be fine. And if you go to your local flea market and buy random electronics you're likely to get just as bad a result as if you do that on Amazon. If you want a curated selection go to a place that curates it.
fullshark 7y ago
>I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. Aren't most online retailers that control their supply like this? Amazon and Ebay are platforms, but walmart and target for example have actual warehouses full of every item they sell right?
- ImprovedSilence 7y ago
  I think Walmart’s online store works the same way amazon does. It’s full of third party crap too.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Just restrict yourself to "available in store" if that's what you want then.
snowwrestler 7y ago
Everything in a supermarket was selected by a buyer. It's not a two-sided marketplace that just connects random sellers and buyers, takes its cut, and disclaims all responsibility for whatever is being sold. Someone is responsible for every item on a shelf in a supermarket. There are still plenty of stores that work this way for electronics. Buy a USB cable at Apple, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, heck, even Walgreens, and you're going to get a USB cable that some person sourced from a wholesaler. The retailer is going to stand by it and exchange it if it doesn't work. The real shame of Amazon is that it started out that way and developed a great reputation as a result--and now they have thrown it away by letting anyone sell anything on their platform, even counterfeit crap. I don't understand it.
- ikeboy 7y ago
  >The retailer is going to stand by it and exchange it if it doesn't work. Amazon also accepts returns within 30 days. And most stores will reject returns after a certain amount of time even if it doesn't work.
  - rabidrat 7y ago
    I don't want to have to return things! What a waste of packaging and shipping and effort. Now fraud detection and product QA are added to the gig economy, and we're paying for the privilege.
    - ikeboy 7y ago
      Then, as above, buy name brand items. The cost of buying off-brand is that occasionally you need to return.
      - piva00 7y ago
        I do that but still care about the environmental impact of thousands of other people that don't have either the means to buy name brand or the awareness of the problem they are causing. I'd really like for crap products to disappear but... I don't see this happening in this world anytime soon.
sk5t 7y ago
> I'd much rather there were just a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge. It is with no small uneasiness that I wonder if Walmart (or Target) might or will fill those shoes.
hurrdurr2 7y ago
“...a nonshit Amazon that didn't gouge.” It's disruption time!
jmkni 7y ago
There's a guy on Youtube called Mike Jeavons who has a week on series, where he will eat only a particular UK supermarkets economy range for a week, it's pretty good.

lazyjones 7y ago

> You can avoid 99% of counterfeits by buying only from sellers with good feedback. I doubt that very much. Many sellers never see their products, their suppliers can scam them whenever they like. That's why Amazon themselves have sold fake CPUs repeatedly over the years: https://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Amazon-verkauft-manipulierte-Intel-Core-i5-9600K-4322124.html https://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/Amazon-verkauft-manipulierte... (German), https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3014009/amazon-is-reportedly-flogging-fake-amd-ryzen-processors https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3014009/amazon-is-... ...

TeMPOraL 7y ago

> Yes, that's the price of wanting to avoid reading reviews. > You can avoid 99% of counterfeits by buying only from sellers with good feedback. Just look if it's at least 95% and over say 100 feedback. Reviews and feedback are all thoroughly gamed. Can't speak for Amazon, but my wife worked for couple e-commerce companies selling on Allegro, our local Amazon/eBay equivalent, and from her I know (and seen it myself) that the following are common practices: - When someone leaves a negative review, the company will do its best to bribe the customer - free gifts, rebates for next purchase, whatever, just so that they cancel the negative review. - In order to boost its positive/negative ratio and keep it around ~99% positive, the company would routinely order its employees to make orders from home, choosing "payment on delivery" as an option. After couple of days they were to mark the orders as completed and give stellar feedback with some realistic-sounding review texts. The orders of course went to /dev/null themselves, so the only cost to anyone was the sales percentage Allegro took.

Dolores12 7y ago

i see no difference between 8$ and 20$ branded item. They all manufactured in China, probably at the same plant.