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The amount of research that needs to be done to purchase even the most basic stuff online is beyond paralyzing. I hate shopping irl but I think I hate online sh

The amount of research that needs to be done to purchase even the most basic stuff online is beyond paralyzing. I hate shopping irl but I think I hate online shopping even more.

bombcar 3y ago
This is how places like Costco can be worthwhile even if they aren't technically the best possible deal - I trust that if I buy something there I won't be terribly disappointed or overtly screwed over even if I end up paying a bit more than I absolutely had to.
- CatWChainsaw 3y ago
  Costco is the hero we need.
- robotnikman 3y ago
  That's been my experience so far when getting electronics from costco. Seems like they do a decent job of curating decent stuff.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    They have a simple trick - they make the vendor eat any returns. So vendors won't ship them shit, because they know they'll eat the returns. I'm sure they do additional curation on top of that, but making them stand behind the product probably gets 80% of the way there.
    - SoftTalker 3y ago
      I would never have imagined there was any other policy in retail, at least for big-ticket items like TVs and appliances. Why should the retailer ever eat the returns?
      - bombcar 3y ago
        Because Costco takes returns way past the manufacturer's warranty/return period. So if random brand X wants to keep selling those toilets at Costco, they will sometimes get a deduction from their invoice because a curmudgeon brought in a ten year old toilet that broke. (Costco had to change this policy on computers and TVs because word got out and people began abusing the policy so much the vendors revolted.)
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - s1artibartfast 3y ago
        There are tons of reasons. Most importantly , the retailer controls the point of return, setting terms and allowing or refusing them.
    - m_0x 3y ago
      That explains why some products are there for a limited-time only. Maybe they were shit or simply had a bad experience at Costco (due to bad faith customers) and decide to stop selling there.
- LazyMans 3y ago
  Yup, and if it does end up being shit. They take it back no questions asked. Afaik, this may not always apply since people have been known to abuse the policies. You still hear of people returning dirty mattresses years later on reddit though... Costco op.
- chaostheory 3y ago
  You also don’t have to deal with the sketchy mess of commingling. Every time I think of buying from Amazon, I’ll force myself to see if there are 3rd party sellers for the product using Amazon warehouses. If there are, I buy elsewhere regardless of the price difference and shipping speed. Walmart is no better because they also commingle. Eventually, I’ll just say F it and get rid of Prime. Two day shipping is gone for a lot of items anyways. 5 days of wait is better than constance vigilance to prevent getting garbage from 3rd party sellers
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sowbug 3y ago
Does anyone remember killerapp.com? It had parametric search for tech products along the dimensions you actually cared about, and then a ranking of sellers by total price, including shipping and any applicable tax. Exactly what you wanted. Compare today: we have major retailers demanding exclusive SKUs to prevent apples-to-apples comparisons, and it doesn't matter anyway because most people are Amazon Prime members and don't really bother shopping around.
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
  Even if you can get an accurate matrix of models, you then discover that the metric in question is horribly gamed. TDP is now effectively useless because both Intel and AMD lie in their own ways. "55 inch class" screens. "QLED" hoping to trick consumers vs OLED.

The amount of research that needs to be done to purchase even the most basic stuff online is beyond paralyzing. I hate shopping irl but I think I hate online shopping even more.

bombcar 3y ago

This is how places like Costco can be worthwhile even if they aren't technically the best possible deal - I trust that if I buy something there I won't be terribly disappointed or overtly screwed over even if I end up paying a bit more than I absolutely had to.

CatWChainsaw 3y ago
Costco is the hero we need.
robotnikman 3y ago
That's been my experience so far when getting electronics from costco. Seems like they do a decent job of curating decent stuff.
- bombcar 3y ago
  They have a simple trick - they make the vendor eat any returns. So vendors won't ship them shit, because they know they'll eat the returns. I'm sure they do additional curation on top of that, but making them stand behind the product probably gets 80% of the way there.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    I would never have imagined there was any other policy in retail, at least for big-ticket items like TVs and appliances. Why should the retailer ever eat the returns?
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Because Costco takes returns way past the manufacturer's warranty/return period. So if random brand X wants to keep selling those toilets at Costco, they will sometimes get a deduction from their invoice because a curmudgeon brought in a ten year old toilet that broke. (Costco had to change this policy on computers and TVs because word got out and people began abusing the policy so much the vendors revolted.)
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - s1artibartfast 3y ago
      There are tons of reasons. Most importantly , the retailer controls the point of return, setting terms and allowing or refusing them.
  - m_0x 3y ago
    That explains why some products are there for a limited-time only. Maybe they were shit or simply had a bad experience at Costco (due to bad faith customers) and decide to stop selling there.
LazyMans 3y ago
Yup, and if it does end up being shit. They take it back no questions asked. Afaik, this may not always apply since people have been known to abuse the policies. You still hear of people returning dirty mattresses years later on reddit though... Costco op.
chaostheory 3y ago
You also don’t have to deal with the sketchy mess of commingling. Every time I think of buying from Amazon, I’ll force myself to see if there are 3rd party sellers for the product using Amazon warehouses. If there are, I buy elsewhere regardless of the price difference and shipping speed. Walmart is no better because they also commingle. Eventually, I’ll just say F it and get rid of Prime. Two day shipping is gone for a lot of items anyways. 5 days of wait is better than constance vigilance to prevent getting garbage from 3rd party sellers

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sowbug 3y ago

Does anyone remember killerapp.com? It had parametric search for tech products along the dimensions you actually cared about, and then a ranking of sellers by total price, including shipping and any applicable tax. Exactly what you wanted. Compare today: we have major retailers demanding exclusive SKUs to prevent apples-to-apples comparisons, and it doesn't matter anyway because most people are Amazon Prime members and don't really bother shopping around.

0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
Even if you can get an accurate matrix of models, you then discover that the metric in question is horribly gamed. TDP is now effectively useless because both Intel and AMD lie in their own ways. "55 inch class" screens. "QLED" hoping to trick consumers vs OLED.