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Aliexpress is interesting. They actually have a pretty developed dispute model with a number of stages. Works "reasonably". Amazon though - the scam level / tr

Aliexpress is interesting. They actually have a pretty developed dispute model with a number of stages. Works "reasonably". Amazon though - the scam level / trash level is just ridiculous. The other thing - there are a TON of products that are the same, with only the brand / label different. I just did a search for fans, and 5 or 6 models had the EXACT same shape, look, everything, only difference was the name of the "company" making them. Not so useful when you are browsing around to have to wade through so much similar schlock, and weird they can't use AI to add a bit of differentiation. I think they just don't really care at this point, and it's working for them sort of. I've switched a bunch of recent purchasing to home depot though - shipment speeds have been fine and more importantly accurate. I think some of the old school players may (finally) be catching on to what made amazon popular.

reaperducer 6y ago
there are a TON of products that are the same, with only the brand / label different This is nothing new, and not unique to Amazon. Some factory is churning out fans. They sell a bunch of them to different retailers in different regions with just the packaging altered. In the old days the rebranded fans would go to Caldor's and Playtogs, and K-Mart, and Ben Franklin, and a dozen other chains. But also in the old days, the chains had very little geographic overlap, so nobody noticed or cared. Now all of those "retailers" are virtual. And they're all selling in the same place, Amazon. The result is that you see all these identical fans with just the branding altered, and it feels like more of a scam than it really is.
- throwawaysea 6y ago
  The same thing also happens in ways that are harder to detect in other markets like wine. See https://priceonomics.com/post/46618070248/the-price-of-wine https://priceonomics.com/post/46618070248/the-price-of-wine: > In this range, brands can dramatically affect price. The same wine in two differently branded bottles can have very different costs, as shown by the prices offered by negociants such as Cameron Hughes: > “Hughes signs confidentiality agreements that preserve a winery’s anonymity. After all, a producer of a $40 Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon doesn’t want his customers to know they can get a nearly identical wine from Hughes for $25. Yet the winery might need to move out surplus inventory, generate cash flow or make full use of capacity, a win-win-win situation for the producers, consumers and Hughes.”

reaperducer 6y ago

there are a TON of products that are the same, with only the brand / label different This is nothing new, and not unique to Amazon. Some factory is churning out fans. They sell a bunch of them to different retailers in different regions with just the packaging altered. In the old days the rebranded fans would go to Caldor's and Playtogs, and K-Mart, and Ben Franklin, and a dozen other chains. But also in the old days, the chains had very little geographic overlap, so nobody noticed or cared. Now all of those "retailers" are virtual. And they're all selling in the same place, Amazon. The result is that you see all these identical fans with just the branding altered, and it feels like more of a scam than it really is.

throwawaysea 6y ago
The same thing also happens in ways that are harder to detect in other markets like wine. See https://priceonomics.com/post/46618070248/the-price-of-wine https://priceonomics.com/post/46618070248/the-price-of-wine: > In this range, brands can dramatically affect price. The same wine in two differently branded bottles can have very different costs, as shown by the prices offered by negociants such as Cameron Hughes: > “Hughes signs confidentiality agreements that preserve a winery’s anonymity. After all, a producer of a $40 Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon doesn’t want his customers to know they can get a nearly identical wine from Hughes for $25. Yet the winery might need to move out surplus inventory, generate cash flow or make full use of capacity, a win-win-win situation for the producers, consumers and Hughes.”