7 ms·

What I find particularly annoying is that these online “marketplaces” are not curated - they literally sell anything, probably drop shipped. It used to be that

What I find particularly annoying is that these online “marketplaces” are not curated - they literally sell anything, probably drop shipped. It used to be that you would shop at a branded store, and there was a level of expectation that they had curated their collection so that it was of a quality that matched the stores brand. Some of their wares may be under their own branding, but they would sell other bands too that they had explicitly decided to. You could trust them. By making everything an open marketplace it places the risk onto the customer. They are responsible for reading the reviews and deciding if they think the item will match their expectations. I hate it, being back the days of a store that would stand behind its wares as they had actually chosen to sell them!

heartbreak 4y ago
There is one notable exception. The third-party products sold on Apple’s online store are all vetted by Apple. Apple, of course, are masters at guarding their reputation.
- DwnVoteHoneyPot 4y ago
  Costco does a pretty good job. I can purchase something there without research and still get a reasonable product at a reasonable price.
  - 8ytecoder 4y ago
    Yeah, considering the scale, Costco is doing a wonderful job. Plus, their generous return and price adjustment policies, it’s a no brainer to just buy Costco.
- bentcorner 4y ago
  The difference is in scale. Compare and contrast the quality of Apple's online store for their physical goods with their app store.
- Philadelphia 4y ago
  By contrast, Apple has let their App Store become a scam marketplace
  - humanwhosits 4y ago
    I've found that it's been years since I browsed in there, are people still putting out interesting new things? Besides the safari app and a big-name apps that you already know you want/need have been sufficent
    - Philadelphia 4y ago
      Not many, if any. It really does look like Amazon — a lot of stuff with names like “BCDYYXZ Awesome App Clock Streaming Email Wordle A+++ Good For Facebook”
DwnVoteHoneyPot 4y ago
All of these retailers have purchasing departments with professional buyers who curate the products they resell - which is the sole purpose of the branded store. If the retailers don't do that, there is no purpose of that retailer. They don't add any value to the customers purchasing process.
hotpotamus 4y ago
Yep, I relatively recently learned about Aliexpress and it seems like most American retailers are just a local cache for them. But if I can order sketchy Chinese knick-knacks directly and skip the markup at the cost of a bit more waiting time, I'd just as soon do that. I've also found the Chinese customer service speaks English just fine and have been great whenever I've had to deal with them.
- cogman10 4y ago
  It's gotten really bad, particularly on amazon. Search for anything and you are likely to find the same item with 50 different brand names but all essentially the same garbage from aliexpress/wish. For example, here's a search for "bike trainer" [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+trainer&crid=KCCRWTVZHHQ7&sprefix=bike+trainer%2Caps%2C228&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+trainer&crid=KCCRWTVZHHQ7&sp...
  - _jal 4y ago
    I dropped Amazon (again) a while back. I'd gone back to using them during the plague, and got lazy. What jolted me back was multiple delivery failures in a row followed by a shitty "give me my money back" experience. Right now, Amazon combines the honesty of flea markets with the reliability of a stoned teenager. I'm back to shopping at physical stores, and am enjoying it, at least at the moment. And when ordering things, I try to go direct or find retailers who care about their reputations.
    - cogman10 4y ago
      Yup, I've been doing the same. Amazon is for things I don't care too much about if it's a knock off. But generally speaking, I'll try and by stuff directly from the manufacturer or in store. I really wish online shopping wasn't so messed up.
      - silasdavis 4y ago
        'Direct from manufacturer' can be much worse when they themselves have outsourced fulfilment to a warehouse in Ireland as their European agent with limited to no support contact.
georgemcbay 4y ago
Not only are they not curated, the marketplace owner will often do nothing about borderline fraud. A real life for-example: There's a specific kind of cat treat I used to buy on Amazon, at some point various (or maybe the same under different names, who knows) resellers began to sell that treat in a way where they would break up the retail packaging and sell single pouches for the same price as the MSRP for a whole case (the way the manufacturer sells it). Technically not exactly fraud because they mention the size in the item description fine print, but because of the pricing and the way Amazon tends to just mix different SKUs from both themselves and resellers willy-nilly into different options of the same listing, its incredibly easy to just assume you are buying the full retail product as packaged by the manufacturer. To Amazon's somewhat-credit, they've refunded me when this situation occurred, but to their shame they've never done a single visible thing to stop this practice from happening and I've proactively reported it to them repeatedly. End result is there's a whole bunch of categories of products I won't buy from Amazon anymore because I don't want to have to do in-depth detective work every time I make a purchase. I get my pet stuff from Chewy now as I've yet to run into a similar scam on that website.
- bombcar 4y ago
  I’d be terrified that you’re getting fake pet food, as that seems less risky than faking human food.
- cyberlurker 4y ago
  I bought a light fixture off of Amazon that caught fire on its own. I reported it to customer support and said it should be removed from the marketplace. They did for a day but it was up the day after. So yeah add light fixtures to the list.
- wppick 4y ago
  That's nothing compared to what worse things could actually be happening. There doesn't seem to be any quality control or authenticity verification on any of these marketplaces including Amazon. Good case scenario the item you buy is a high quality fake. Worst case scenario it's a low quality fake. Filled with toxic chemicals (without the warning that it is carcinogenic or causes reproductive harm etc.) Are you buying kids toys from these marketplaces? Food items, clothes, kitchenwares, face masks, anything really.
Rapzid 4y ago
Are sold by "Amazon", "Walmart", "NewEgg" not curated? Amazon also has multiple curated store fronts, or collections, to my knowledge. In 2022 if you aren't buying "Sold by <insert trusted retailer>" on one of these market places then I think you should know what you are getting into.
- Macha 4y ago
  When each of these first started doing third party marketplaces, it was a surprise. It's not like they announced to the world each time they dipped their toes into the market and each time they expanded it. I'm not american, but I was very surprised that Walmart had gotten into that business. It would surprise me if similar retailers in my country started this too.
- samwillis 4y ago
  In the case of Amazon, I don’t believe they always do enough due diligence on items under the “Sold by Amazon” banner. The overriding issue is that by combining both their own curetted product line and the open marketplace into one storefront, the third party sellers devalue the main brand. I just don’t trust that even buying a “sold by Amazon” product will be any good. There is also just too much choice, you feel like you are being scammed the minute you open Amazon.
- ehPReth 4y ago
  Perhaps, but then commingling ruins it. You have no idea if the SD card/SSD/HDD you've bought is actually from Amazon or a if it's a fake/knockoff by a shady third party, even if it's "shipped and sold by Amazon"
- lfowles 4y ago
  Even with their Amazon Basics brand, I have a stick blender with a "TUREO" button rather than a "TURBO" button!
- thewebcount 4y ago
  > In 2022 if you aren't buying "Sold by <insert trusted retailer>" on one of these market places then I think you should know what you are getting into. Normal users don't understand this. They think they're shopping at Amazon, not at QUBAGZI's storefront on Amazon's website. That concept doesn't even make sense to most shoppers. If they typed in "amazon.com", they think they're getting something from Amazon in Seattle. (I mean they don't literally think that every item is coming from Seattle, but they assume that Amazon vets their products like Trader Joe's or Kohl's down the street does.)
patrickthebold 4y ago
I'll throw out my startup idea: A heavily curated amazon, with ~1 option per product type, sold at a premium, prioritizing things that are constructed well/last a long time. Obviously you can't do everything at once, and people want choice in things like fashion. A kitchen store would be great. One toaster, one oven, one coffee grinder.
- jrockway 4y ago
  This is basically McMaster-Carr. For things that aren't fasteners or drill bits, people kind of like having something different than their friends. ("Oh hey I have the same table! Oh, and pots and pans! Oh, and wall art! Wait, your house looks exactly like mine.")
- glenstein 4y ago
  You've identified a genuine need and a service that would fulfill it. I think, to greater and lesser degrees, places like the wire cutter and consumer reports, and now a whole bunch of derivatives that speak in the same tone as wire cutter, are attempting to fill this need. Of course, they themselves may be subject to quality control issues. Although perhaps the thing that you're talking about that would be different is the manner in which the curated selection is organized and the overarching purpose.
- jcpst 4y ago
  It would be interesting to see which categories would benefit from more granularity. For instance, I feel like I need only one toaster, one oven. But I have 3 different high-quality coffee grinders that I use for different purposes.
- everly 4y ago
  Sure, it’s called Costco, it’s great
  - Aperocky 4y ago
    was gonna say, that sounds like costco. just that they don't usually deliver.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
cout 4y ago
I would love to see a curated list of stores that sell curated items.

heartbreak 4y ago

There is one notable exception. The third-party products sold on Apple’s online store are all vetted by Apple. Apple, of course, are masters at guarding their reputation.

DwnVoteHoneyPot 4y ago
Costco does a pretty good job. I can purchase something there without research and still get a reasonable product at a reasonable price.
- 8ytecoder 4y ago
  Yeah, considering the scale, Costco is doing a wonderful job. Plus, their generous return and price adjustment policies, it’s a no brainer to just buy Costco.
bentcorner 4y ago
The difference is in scale. Compare and contrast the quality of Apple's online store for their physical goods with their app store.
Philadelphia 4y ago
By contrast, Apple has let their App Store become a scam marketplace
- humanwhosits 4y ago
  I've found that it's been years since I browsed in there, are people still putting out interesting new things? Besides the safari app and a big-name apps that you already know you want/need have been sufficent
  - Philadelphia 4y ago
    Not many, if any. It really does look like Amazon — a lot of stuff with names like “BCDYYXZ Awesome App Clock Streaming Email Wordle A+++ Good For Facebook”

DwnVoteHoneyPot 4y ago

All of these retailers have purchasing departments with professional buyers who curate the products they resell - which is the sole purpose of the branded store. If the retailers don't do that, there is no purpose of that retailer. They don't add any value to the customers purchasing process.

hotpotamus 4y ago

Yep, I relatively recently learned about Aliexpress and it seems like most American retailers are just a local cache for them. But if I can order sketchy Chinese knick-knacks directly and skip the markup at the cost of a bit more waiting time, I'd just as soon do that. I've also found the Chinese customer service speaks English just fine and have been great whenever I've had to deal with them.

cogman10 4y ago
It's gotten really bad, particularly on amazon. Search for anything and you are likely to find the same item with 50 different brand names but all essentially the same garbage from aliexpress/wish. For example, here's a search for "bike trainer" [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+trainer&crid=KCCRWTVZHHQ7&sprefix=bike+trainer%2Caps%2C228&ref=nb_sb_noss_1 https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+trainer&crid=KCCRWTVZHHQ7&sp...
- _jal 4y ago
  I dropped Amazon (again) a while back. I'd gone back to using them during the plague, and got lazy. What jolted me back was multiple delivery failures in a row followed by a shitty "give me my money back" experience. Right now, Amazon combines the honesty of flea markets with the reliability of a stoned teenager. I'm back to shopping at physical stores, and am enjoying it, at least at the moment. And when ordering things, I try to go direct or find retailers who care about their reputations.
  - cogman10 4y ago
    Yup, I've been doing the same. Amazon is for things I don't care too much about if it's a knock off. But generally speaking, I'll try and by stuff directly from the manufacturer or in store. I really wish online shopping wasn't so messed up.
    - silasdavis 4y ago
      'Direct from manufacturer' can be much worse when they themselves have outsourced fulfilment to a warehouse in Ireland as their European agent with limited to no support contact.

georgemcbay 4y ago

Not only are they not curated, the marketplace owner will often do nothing about borderline fraud. A real life for-example: There's a specific kind of cat treat I used to buy on Amazon, at some point various (or maybe the same under different names, who knows) resellers began to sell that treat in a way where they would break up the retail packaging and sell single pouches for the same price as the MSRP for a whole case (the way the manufacturer sells it). Technically not exactly fraud because they mention the size in the item description fine print, but because of the pricing and the way Amazon tends to just mix different SKUs from both themselves and resellers willy-nilly into different options of the same listing, its incredibly easy to just assume you are buying the full retail product as packaged by the manufacturer. To Amazon's somewhat-credit, they've refunded me when this situation occurred, but to their shame they've never done a single visible thing to stop this practice from happening and I've proactively reported it to them repeatedly. End result is there's a whole bunch of categories of products I won't buy from Amazon anymore because I don't want to have to do in-depth detective work every time I make a purchase. I get my pet stuff from Chewy now as I've yet to run into a similar scam on that website.

bombcar 4y ago
I’d be terrified that you’re getting fake pet food, as that seems less risky than faking human food.
cyberlurker 4y ago
I bought a light fixture off of Amazon that caught fire on its own. I reported it to customer support and said it should be removed from the marketplace. They did for a day but it was up the day after. So yeah add light fixtures to the list.
wppick 4y ago
That's nothing compared to what worse things could actually be happening. There doesn't seem to be any quality control or authenticity verification on any of these marketplaces including Amazon. Good case scenario the item you buy is a high quality fake. Worst case scenario it's a low quality fake. Filled with toxic chemicals (without the warning that it is carcinogenic or causes reproductive harm etc.) Are you buying kids toys from these marketplaces? Food items, clothes, kitchenwares, face masks, anything really.

Rapzid 4y ago

Are sold by "Amazon", "Walmart", "NewEgg" not curated? Amazon also has multiple curated store fronts, or collections, to my knowledge. In 2022 if you aren't buying "Sold by <insert trusted retailer>" on one of these market places then I think you should know what you are getting into.

Macha 4y ago
When each of these first started doing third party marketplaces, it was a surprise. It's not like they announced to the world each time they dipped their toes into the market and each time they expanded it. I'm not american, but I was very surprised that Walmart had gotten into that business. It would surprise me if similar retailers in my country started this too.
samwillis 4y ago
In the case of Amazon, I don’t believe they always do enough due diligence on items under the “Sold by Amazon” banner. The overriding issue is that by combining both their own curetted product line and the open marketplace into one storefront, the third party sellers devalue the main brand. I just don’t trust that even buying a “sold by Amazon” product will be any good. There is also just too much choice, you feel like you are being scammed the minute you open Amazon.
ehPReth 4y ago
Perhaps, but then commingling ruins it. You have no idea if the SD card/SSD/HDD you've bought is actually from Amazon or a if it's a fake/knockoff by a shady third party, even if it's "shipped and sold by Amazon"
lfowles 4y ago
Even with their Amazon Basics brand, I have a stick blender with a "TUREO" button rather than a "TURBO" button!
thewebcount 4y ago
> In 2022 if you aren't buying "Sold by <insert trusted retailer>" on one of these market places then I think you should know what you are getting into. Normal users don't understand this. They think they're shopping at Amazon, not at QUBAGZI's storefront on Amazon's website. That concept doesn't even make sense to most shoppers. If they typed in "amazon.com", they think they're getting something from Amazon in Seattle. (I mean they don't literally think that every item is coming from Seattle, but they assume that Amazon vets their products like Trader Joe's or Kohl's down the street does.)

patrickthebold 4y ago

I'll throw out my startup idea: A heavily curated amazon, with ~1 option per product type, sold at a premium, prioritizing things that are constructed well/last a long time. Obviously you can't do everything at once, and people want choice in things like fashion. A kitchen store would be great. One toaster, one oven, one coffee grinder.

jrockway 4y ago
This is basically McMaster-Carr. For things that aren't fasteners or drill bits, people kind of like having something different than their friends. ("Oh hey I have the same table! Oh, and pots and pans! Oh, and wall art! Wait, your house looks exactly like mine.")
glenstein 4y ago
You've identified a genuine need and a service that would fulfill it. I think, to greater and lesser degrees, places like the wire cutter and consumer reports, and now a whole bunch of derivatives that speak in the same tone as wire cutter, are attempting to fill this need. Of course, they themselves may be subject to quality control issues. Although perhaps the thing that you're talking about that would be different is the manner in which the curated selection is organized and the overarching purpose.
jcpst 4y ago
It would be interesting to see which categories would benefit from more granularity. For instance, I feel like I need only one toaster, one oven. But I have 3 different high-quality coffee grinders that I use for different purposes.
everly 4y ago
Sure, it’s called Costco, it’s great
- Aperocky 4y ago
  was gonna say, that sounds like costco. just that they don't usually deliver.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

cout 4y ago

I would love to see a curated list of stores that sell curated items.