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It’s AliExpress with 2 day shipping for people with poor impulse control. The “free shipping” that costs 900%…

by fmajid 4y ago

mindslight 4y ago
I've got good impulse control and planning. Still, I needed some TNC connectors for a surveying project and didn't want to wait the month for Aliexpress/eBayDirect to show up, so I ordered them off Amazon which had the best compromise of price vs shipping time. Of course I did a visual quality check when they showed up, as required for all direct Chineseum. It's not surprising this niche has developed. What's surprising is that Amazon seems dead set on undermining their business to support it. It's also surprising that people write these amazed posts like they've just discovered this problem, when it has been going on for a decade. I read a HN comment a while back that framed the topic of declining quality plus free returns as companies outsourcing their QC to the customers and that really stuck with me. This is really the natural progression of wanton consumerism - so much stuff is sold and never actually used that it's profitable to only worry about the case where the buyer actually uses it and finds it lacking.
- orangepurple 4y ago
  Amazon can launch a new brand to distance themselves from the current form once they have firmly established themselves as a local cache of Aliexpress wares with fast shipping. It will be like an upmarket shopping mall located right next to a giant bazaar.
- fmajid 4y ago
  It's also due to mismatched expectations. In the west, a supplier has teething troubles, and then masters the process so quality improves over time. In China, the phenomenon of "quality fade" in a culture of "chabuduo" ("close enough") means over time the supplier will make unauthorized substitutions of inferior materials to pad their profit margins, and quality decreases over time. The only solution is to implement draconian quality control as Apple does, or not outsource and set up your own local affiliates as many Japanese companies do. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/quality-fade-chinas-great-business-challenge/ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/quality-fade-chi...

It’s AliExpress with 2 day shipping for people with poor impulse control. The “free shipping” that costs 900%…

by fmajid 4y ago

It’s AliExpress with 2 day shipping for people with poor impulse control. The “free shipping” that costs 900%…

I've got good impulse control and planning. Still, I needed some TNC connectors for a surveying project and didn't want to wait the month for Aliexpress/eBayDirect to show up, so I ordered them off Amazon which had the best compromise of price vs shipping time. Of course I did a visual quality check when they showed up, as required for all direct Chineseum. It's not surprising this niche has developed. What's surprising is that Amazon seems dead set on undermining their business to support it. It's also surprising that people write these amazed posts like they've just discovered this problem, when it has been going on for a decade. I read a HN comment a while back that framed the topic of declining quality plus free returns as companies outsourcing their QC to the customers and that really stuck with me. This is really the natural progression of wanton consumerism - so much stuff is sold and never actually used that it's profitable to only worry about the case where the buyer actually uses it and finds it lacking.

orangepurple 4y ago
Amazon can launch a new brand to distance themselves from the current form once they have firmly established themselves as a local cache of Aliexpress wares with fast shipping. It will be like an upmarket shopping mall located right next to a giant bazaar.
fmajid 4y ago
It's also due to mismatched expectations. In the west, a supplier has teething troubles, and then masters the process so quality improves over time. In China, the phenomenon of "quality fade" in a culture of "chabuduo" ("close enough") means over time the supplier will make unauthorized substitutions of inferior materials to pad their profit margins, and quality decreases over time. The only solution is to implement draconian quality control as Apple does, or not outsource and set up your own local affiliates as many Japanese companies do. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/quality-fade-chinas-great-business-challenge/ https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/quality-fade-chi...