I didn't realize there was anyone that thought the box store $15 cables were actually good-enough? My understanding of them was (and assume still is) they sold

I didn't realize there was anyone that thought the box store $15 cables were actually good-enough? My understanding of them was (and assume still is) they sold two classes of cable: high-spec, brand-name "gold-plated", and dogshit-quality maybe just meets minimum-spec garbage. Both were way overpriced (aka: high-margin), and this is the entire business model: sell the TV at razor-thin margin, then make all the profit on over-priced cables. Their $15 cable should really be $2, if that. Their $150 alternative should actually be maybe $30. Elsewhere you could pay $15-20 to get a high-end cable that was somewhere between 90 and 110% the quality. This is what I told to my friends/family. I've definitely had people try to sell me cables but I've just politely declined and can't recall anyone being pushy about it. And you must admit the "gold plated" thing was insane for a while. At the time when toslink was the rage, you could buy gold-plated fiber-optic cables. I also remember seeing an in-store display comparing cables their high-end HDMI cable to an alternative.. which of course was maybe-24awg dogshit composite cable. It's just so sleazy.