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As somebody who has purchased a lot of things from both Ali Express, there is a massive difference between Ali Express and Amazon. To me, Ali Express is great

As somebody who has purchased a lot of things from both Ali Express, there is a massive difference between Ali Express and Amazon. To me, Ali Express is great for simple items that are practically fungible commodities, where workmanship and build quality aren't that impactful, and you can afford to wait a long time for it to arrive, and you can afford to receive some nontrivial percentages of those things and they turn out to be substandard or broken or substantially different than what was pictured. No matter the co-mingling issue, the same cannot be said of Amazon.

incongruity 5y ago
Amazon is turning into the fast shipping version of Ali Express. More and more fake / manipulated reviews and a sea of pseudo-English garbled brand names slapped on what looks like identical goods are making it exactly the experience you described, just shipped quicker. Ordering from Amazon is now a definite risk, and commingling is only a small part of that.
- Spivak 5y ago
  I feel like we have very different buying strategies on Amazon which is what leads to our differing opinion. I never use Amazon for product discovery. It's ... not great. I always research what I want independently and then go to Amazon to make the final purchase knowing exactly what I want. They're basically just a delivery network for me and on that front they're so far ahead of everyone else it's not even funny.
  - incongruity 5y ago
    I use both modes, but I see what you're saying. (More in a minute) but suffice to say, Amazon used to be good for discovery. It isn't now... Still, I hear you – and I get your strategy for, say, athletic shoes or a new TV or maybe even a small electric appliance for the kitchen. But what about the space where there isn't a great set of discovery resources? For example - I needed a desk lamp recently. I didn't have a lot to spend, but I thought $30-50 should be sufficient. There isn't dominant name brand in this space, AFAIK (sure, I could go to IKEA, I guess) – but it's also not a space to find many reviews on sites like wire cutter, or some gear mag, or specialized niche community on reddit, etc. etc. So - I gambled on a well reviewed lamp on amazon... and it died within a few months - shorting and killing USB power supplies in minutes. So, I started over - and picked a different but equally arbitrary brand in about the same price range... and we'll see. But how do I research that sort of thing? I can't afford to go through these every few months...

incongruity 5y ago

Amazon is turning into the fast shipping version of Ali Express. More and more fake / manipulated reviews and a sea of pseudo-English garbled brand names slapped on what looks like identical goods are making it exactly the experience you described, just shipped quicker. Ordering from Amazon is now a definite risk, and commingling is only a small part of that.

Spivak 5y ago
I feel like we have very different buying strategies on Amazon which is what leads to our differing opinion. I never use Amazon for product discovery. It's ... not great. I always research what I want independently and then go to Amazon to make the final purchase knowing exactly what I want. They're basically just a delivery network for me and on that front they're so far ahead of everyone else it's not even funny.
- incongruity 5y ago
  I use both modes, but I see what you're saying. (More in a minute) but suffice to say, Amazon used to be good for discovery. It isn't now... Still, I hear you – and I get your strategy for, say, athletic shoes or a new TV or maybe even a small electric appliance for the kitchen. But what about the space where there isn't a great set of discovery resources? For example - I needed a desk lamp recently. I didn't have a lot to spend, but I thought $30-50 should be sufficient. There isn't dominant name brand in this space, AFAIK (sure, I could go to IKEA, I guess) – but it's also not a space to find many reviews on sites like wire cutter, or some gear mag, or specialized niche community on reddit, etc. etc. So - I gambled on a well reviewed lamp on amazon... and it died within a few months - shorting and killing USB power supplies in minutes. So, I started over - and picked a different but equally arbitrary brand in about the same price range... and we'll see. But how do I research that sort of thing? I can't afford to go through these every few months...