3 ms·

>So many of the "brands" on Amazon are not even brands, it's just made up words next to a generic imported product. Like "iGoEnergeeFan" or something similarly

>So many of the "brands" on Amazon are not even brands, it's just made up words next to a generic imported product. Like "iGoEnergeeFan" or something similarly stupid. Indeed, or the recent trend of naming your generic company with an ALL CAPS name, "VECTROMOX", as if that's somehow effective at differentiating your obviously fly-by-night operation. >Those good ole' "produce cheaply overseas and markup in our stores" business models of American retailers have come right back around to bite them in the ass. Good, imho. #firstworldproblem here but I loath America's rip-off economy. $25 for a t-shirt that cost $2 to make overseas, or $100 for a pair of pants that cost $5 to make. I try really hard to buy stuff that was either made in the US, or at least somewhere with high quality standards like Japan, Korea, Taiwan or Germany. It takes a non-trivial amount of extra time and work to do that though, especially on Amazon.

WalterBright 7y ago
> I loath America's rip-off economy. $25 for a t-shirt that cost $2 to make overseas, Buying a t-shirt in Europe isn't any cheaper.
- Daniel_sk 7y ago
  25$ sounds okay for a T-shirt for someone living in Slovakia (EU).
- SkyMarshal 7y ago
  Yeah it’s a problem for all developed economies, not just the US. The rip-off, rent-seeking economies.
Marsymars 7y ago
> It takes a non-trivial amount of extra time and work to do that though, especially on Amazon. Probably the easiest/fastest way is to just default to brands that are known for enforcing supply chain standards, which mostly won't be available on Amazon anyway.
- SkyMarshal 7y ago
  True, though there’s a challenge even with that, which is that most brands even high quality ones now have a mix of products, where their low-end ones are cheap rebranded crap, and their high-end ones are still manufactured in high-quality facilities. But figuring out where that split in their product line is takes work. I recently had to do that for buying a torque wrench, a hand blender, and a couple of other things.
  - Marsymars 7y ago
    Oh, yeah, I had Patagonia in mind with my original comment for clothes, but I've got no idea where one would look for tools or appliances.
    - SkyMarshal 7y ago
      You basically have to dig around and hope to find some kind of comment or 3rd party review like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RBMOXF4TR5678/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0042F8BG4 https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RBMOXF4TR5678/ref... TLDR - he found out what factory in China the product is made in, then did a comparison test with a similar tool made in the same factory but at one third the cost. Found the cheaper tool was higher quality.

WalterBright 7y ago

> I loath America's rip-off economy. $25 for a t-shirt that cost $2 to make overseas, Buying a t-shirt in Europe isn't any cheaper.

Daniel_sk 7y ago
25$ sounds okay for a T-shirt for someone living in Slovakia (EU).
SkyMarshal 7y ago
Yeah it’s a problem for all developed economies, not just the US. The rip-off, rent-seeking economies.

Marsymars 7y ago

> It takes a non-trivial amount of extra time and work to do that though, especially on Amazon. Probably the easiest/fastest way is to just default to brands that are known for enforcing supply chain standards, which mostly won't be available on Amazon anyway.

SkyMarshal 7y ago
True, though there’s a challenge even with that, which is that most brands even high quality ones now have a mix of products, where their low-end ones are cheap rebranded crap, and their high-end ones are still manufactured in high-quality facilities. But figuring out where that split in their product line is takes work. I recently had to do that for buying a torque wrench, a hand blender, and a couple of other things.
- Marsymars 7y ago
  Oh, yeah, I had Patagonia in mind with my original comment for clothes, but I've got no idea where one would look for tools or appliances.
  - SkyMarshal 7y ago
    You basically have to dig around and hope to find some kind of comment or 3rd party review like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RBMOXF4TR5678/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0042F8BG4 https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RBMOXF4TR5678/ref... TLDR - he found out what factory in China the product is made in, then did a comparison test with a similar tool made in the same factory but at one third the cost. Found the cheaper tool was higher quality.