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> However, despite all of that I do still use Amazon. Their immense investment into logistics means that many things will make it to me next-day. And their retu

by d23 4y ago

> However, despite all of that I do still use Amazon. Their immense investment into logistics means that many things will make it to me next-day. And their return policies allow me to order with the confidence that if I get a fraudulent item (or just something I don't like) it will be fairly painless to get a replacement or my money back. Spot on for me too. That calculus is slowly shifting in the other direction for me though. It's becoming a pain to have to ship things back repeatedly, and I'm starting to find that the wait time of shipping from normal companies is coming out as a wash when factoring in the multiple-shipment-return-cycle Amazon factor. At least with other companies that don't have a wild west of third party sellers I can be reasonably confident I won't get an outright counterfeit.

version_five 4y ago
I used to have prime and often place multiple orders per week. I cancelled prime when they made it no better than not having it (add-on items + longer shipping times + "not available for prime"), and only used it for higher value purchases (maybe what they wanted but my net spend was way lower). Now, I hardly order from them at all since you can't really trust them for higher value stuff as this thread is all about. I still order like usb cables and cloths to clean my glasses. That's pretty much it. Looking at the parent and grandparent comments and my experience, I'd say they've become a flea market, where maybe you can get a good price of some throwaway crap you don't care about, but wouldn't use for anything of value. And in reality, that's what a collection of fly-by-night shady sellers is. It should not be a surprise. It's a shame though, in principle the ordering process and older style prime delivery is way better than going to a store for almost everything.
- rizzom5000 4y ago
  > flea market A few years ago I didn't consider Amazon and Ebay as similar options. Now, I think of them as a wash in terms of risk vs. reward with Amazon having a slight edge on return policy (maybe).
  - thedougd 4y ago
    I recently bought four Klipsch in ceiling speakers from eBay over Amazon. In either case the seller was not Klipsch authorized, so I knew I was going without a warranty. However the price more than justified the trade off. But in the end, I chose eBay because the seller posted enough pictures of the actual stock for me to believe it. And also, the seller reviewers were great. Nobody bothers with seller reviews on Amazon but they do on eBay. I dunno, my point is you're right, it's a wash at this point.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      >the seller posted enough pictures of the actual stock for me to believe it what about a picture on the internet made you believe it? were there images of serial numbers that matched the items received?
      - thedougd 4y ago
        Image search for uniqueness. A seller with history of items primarily in the same category. Compare to the common opposite on Amazon, 50 listings of different products with an identical image.
- dreamcompiler 4y ago
  I never buy USB cables from Amazon any more -- especially USB-C. Their stuff is all cheap counterfeit junk that very often is not capable of proper PD, even when it says it is. It's become quite the task to find good USB-C cables. Recommendations welcome.
  - paulmd 4y ago
    monoprice is the go-to, but I'm sure they're just sourcing from someone else and at some point they'll realize there's money to be made by burning down their brand reputation
    - everforward 4y ago
      I'd second this. Never had issues with features that don't work, and the cables I've gotten are bulky enough to not have issues with wearing out the protective sheathe. They're not the most aesthetic cables, but they're cheap and they work. Anker typically makes decent products too, but I don't have a lot of experience with their USB-C stuff.
  - vineyardmike 4y ago
    Controversial and not cheap, but since I use apple products and live near an Apple Store… I just buy from apple. They heavily curate what shows up in store so it’s always good enough. That and whatever my work IT sources I’ll also use their brands. My IT had a internal site that lists what they have and I’ll just find a retailer that sells it. Also I’ve never had that “apple cables suck” experience many had so maybe I’m holding it differently- ymmv
    - ziml77 4y ago
      The biggest problem with Apple cables I've seen is that they don't seem as durable as others. But I totally agree that if you want to be sure that a cable is capable of what it claims, Apple is a great choice.

by d23 4y ago

version_five 4y ago

I used to have prime and often place multiple orders per week. I cancelled prime when they made it no better than not having it (add-on items + longer shipping times + "not available for prime"), and only used it for higher value purchases (maybe what they wanted but my net spend was way lower). Now, I hardly order from them at all since you can't really trust them for higher value stuff as this thread is all about. I still order like usb cables and cloths to clean my glasses. That's pretty much it. Looking at the parent and grandparent comments and my experience, I'd say they've become a flea market, where maybe you can get a good price of some throwaway crap you don't care about, but wouldn't use for anything of value. And in reality, that's what a collection of fly-by-night shady sellers is. It should not be a surprise. It's a shame though, in principle the ordering process and older style prime delivery is way better than going to a store for almost everything.

rizzom5000 4y ago
> flea market A few years ago I didn't consider Amazon and Ebay as similar options. Now, I think of them as a wash in terms of risk vs. reward with Amazon having a slight edge on return policy (maybe).
- thedougd 4y ago
  I recently bought four Klipsch in ceiling speakers from eBay over Amazon. In either case the seller was not Klipsch authorized, so I knew I was going without a warranty. However the price more than justified the trade off. But in the end, I chose eBay because the seller posted enough pictures of the actual stock for me to believe it. And also, the seller reviewers were great. Nobody bothers with seller reviews on Amazon but they do on eBay. I dunno, my point is you're right, it's a wash at this point.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    >the seller posted enough pictures of the actual stock for me to believe it what about a picture on the internet made you believe it? were there images of serial numbers that matched the items received?
    - thedougd 4y ago
      Image search for uniqueness. A seller with history of items primarily in the same category. Compare to the common opposite on Amazon, 50 listings of different products with an identical image.
dreamcompiler 4y ago
I never buy USB cables from Amazon any more -- especially USB-C. Their stuff is all cheap counterfeit junk that very often is not capable of proper PD, even when it says it is. It's become quite the task to find good USB-C cables. Recommendations welcome.
- paulmd 4y ago
  monoprice is the go-to, but I'm sure they're just sourcing from someone else and at some point they'll realize there's money to be made by burning down their brand reputation
  - everforward 4y ago
    I'd second this. Never had issues with features that don't work, and the cables I've gotten are bulky enough to not have issues with wearing out the protective sheathe. They're not the most aesthetic cables, but they're cheap and they work. Anker typically makes decent products too, but I don't have a lot of experience with their USB-C stuff.
- vineyardmike 4y ago
  Controversial and not cheap, but since I use apple products and live near an Apple Store… I just buy from apple. They heavily curate what shows up in store so it’s always good enough. That and whatever my work IT sources I’ll also use their brands. My IT had a internal site that lists what they have and I’ll just find a retailer that sells it. Also I’ve never had that “apple cables suck” experience many had so maybe I’m holding it differently- ymmv
  - ziml77 4y ago
    The biggest problem with Apple cables I've seen is that they don't seem as durable as others. But I totally agree that if you want to be sure that a cable is capable of what it claims, Apple is a great choice.