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Everything on Amazon is shady knock-off garbage. I made the mistake of buying bandaids from there, they looked like a brand name but slightly off, they gave my

Everything on Amazon is shady knock-off garbage. I made the mistake of buying bandaids from there, they looked like a brand name but slightly off, they gave my kids rashes. I made the mistake of buying LED light bulbs from there, the brand name was reputable but who knows if what I actually got was the same brand or a copy, they started flickering and randomly going out within a year. I made the mistake of buying an LED monitor from there. It turned out to be some third party seller with a ridiculous return policy, so even though I had been conditioned to think Amazon had good return policy, now that they let third party sellers set their own policies I had to eat 30% of cost to return it. No more Amazon for me.

sgarland 3y ago
Light bulbs and batteries, I had to quit. Even if you’re buying name-brand, they’re so often counterfeit, it’s just not worth it.
- sersi 3y ago
  I've had good luck with the eneloops, not sure how to tell if they're counterfeit but they've lasted multiple use over 3 years (I have a toddler so we use batteries like there's no tomorrow)
  - sgarland 3y ago
    Good point, I also have Eneloops from Amazon, and they’re fine. Maybe there isn’t enough demand for NiMH rechargeables to be counterfeited? I also bought mine as part of a charger-included pack, which may reduce the incidence further.
- sytelus 3y ago
  Where else you go for online shopping?
  - Eisenstein 3y ago
    I will give you my list (East Coast USA): Walmart, Staples, Best Buy, Microcenter, Ace Hardware (there is usually a local one near you that is a Mom & Pop with the affiliation so they can do online orders and inventory management, etc), Walgreens, Lowes/Home Depot, Digikey, Ikea, eBay, or if you don't mind waiting you can just skip the middle man and go right to Ali Express. Also, it is always a good idea to check the manufacturer's site if you know you want something specific -- they almost always have a 10% - 25% off new customer/newsletter signup deal.
    - jethro_tell 3y ago
      Additionally, buying directly from the company used to be painful, who knows what's going on there? 20 years later, basic eCommerce is relatively well understood and someone that makes a product can easily have their own site that functions well. Add a password manager and it's just a couple clicks, really no more work that amazon. So for a huge amount of my stuff, I'll see if I can buy directly from the person/people that make it.
      - mongol 3y ago
        E-commerce is more than a site. You need to handle the inventory, shipping, returns, customer service etc. Amazon, when working well, could take care exactly of those things, and cut out middle men such as distributors. But to appear next to these ridiculous brands seem no longer a good choice.
        jethro_tell 3y ago
        Sure, but in the context of ecommerce then and now, it's a much better world. Before, if you wanted to have a web store, you basically had to have a kid build you a website, updating was slow, every transaction processing system was different, (or they just took it in a web form and processed your card by hand on the visa machine in the office), the website didn't process inventory so someone had to keep that up-to-date. Then, they'd take your address and box to the post office and get a label. Hopefully, you didn't fat finger it, there was no data sanitation on the form and the post office isn't checking. And, if you didn't get the right product, they were out of stock, it was damaged . . . w/e, the return process was an email, goofy web form, or phone call to get a person on the phone to manually handle whatever went wrong, and that's if they weren't just a scammer and were actually going to ship you your stuff. Now, any business that wants to have an online store front can grab a template, upload some pictures of their inventory, and the site handles payment processing, buys and prints a label, schedules a shipping pickup, handles the return process including generating return shipping labels. Often, the processor has a quick payment resolution system. Amazon was really good at some point because they had enough people to build those things and make the experience pretty good, like, you just knew that you wouldn't get ripped off, you could send it back, hell, order two and pick the one you like and send one back. Youu didn't even have to enter your card number into some dodgy site or stop to type your shipping address and risk sending it next door with no recourse because amazon already has that seup. But now, a lot of that barrier to entry is gone as companies have made the various parts of the stack available for a small percentage of each transaction. You can go to a website that works, order something, pay with paypal or stripe which have some customer protections, just select the shipping address on file with the processor and get an email with a tracking number a minute later. If you don't like it, you can send it back and the site will probably even integrate with usps/ups/shipper of choice help you to create a label and arrange a next day pickup. And when you buy directly from the company, you can assume they are validating their product and it's not a fake, you know there's been no inventory mixing. You know what you are going to get. And, to top it off, with a password safe, you can track accounts at 500 places so it's not really that much of a hassle to have multiple accounts, and that's only if you have to make an account because the payment processor of choice (of which they probably have several), even requires you to make an account on their site. My point being, that other than amazon being a single point of shopping, they really don't offer anything that a small business can't for a relatively small effort.
- mint2 3y ago
  No no, sometimes they are simply nearly expired product made for resale in another country. I received a cr2032 that was meant to be sold in Türkiye before, but I’m pretty sure it was actually Duracell.
naikrovek 3y ago
Wow you did buy one of everything. So you definitely have the authority to say > Everything on Amazon is shady knock-off garbage. I have had the opposite experience. Everything I have bought over the past 20 years has been legit, except for one single thing.
JeffSnazz 3y ago
I'm honestly confused how many people run into "nothing but counterfeits" and others never see any (or maybe the counterfeits aren't actually worse quality so this goes unnoticed)
simplyluke 3y ago
Amazon sells a bunch of knockoff oil filters. I accidentally bought them for a Toyota and luckily noticed. Imagine blowing an engine because you tried to buy an OEM filter.
- asd4 3y ago
  I've had good luck with https://www.rockauto.com/ https://www.rockauto.com/ though I haven't bought anything big through them. The website is fun and nostalgic to me.
jstarfish 3y ago
Back in 2010, in the insurance industry we were warned that imported electrical products were found forging the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) labels. Surge protectors and electrical strips were cited as prone to meltdown at the time. I don't know if this was ever made public knowledge, but I'm wondering if this is now coming to fruition a decade later with all these e-bike fires. I figure if I ever need to commit arson I'm just going to charge a Chinese e-bike on a Chinese power strip and feign ignorance.

sgarland 3y ago

Light bulbs and batteries, I had to quit. Even if you’re buying name-brand, they’re so often counterfeit, it’s just not worth it.

sersi 3y ago
I've had good luck with the eneloops, not sure how to tell if they're counterfeit but they've lasted multiple use over 3 years (I have a toddler so we use batteries like there's no tomorrow)
- sgarland 3y ago
  Good point, I also have Eneloops from Amazon, and they’re fine. Maybe there isn’t enough demand for NiMH rechargeables to be counterfeited? I also bought mine as part of a charger-included pack, which may reduce the incidence further.
sytelus 3y ago
Where else you go for online shopping?
- Eisenstein 3y ago
  I will give you my list (East Coast USA): Walmart, Staples, Best Buy, Microcenter, Ace Hardware (there is usually a local one near you that is a Mom & Pop with the affiliation so they can do online orders and inventory management, etc), Walgreens, Lowes/Home Depot, Digikey, Ikea, eBay, or if you don't mind waiting you can just skip the middle man and go right to Ali Express. Also, it is always a good idea to check the manufacturer's site if you know you want something specific -- they almost always have a 10% - 25% off new customer/newsletter signup deal.
  - jethro_tell 3y ago
    Additionally, buying directly from the company used to be painful, who knows what's going on there? 20 years later, basic eCommerce is relatively well understood and someone that makes a product can easily have their own site that functions well. Add a password manager and it's just a couple clicks, really no more work that amazon. So for a huge amount of my stuff, I'll see if I can buy directly from the person/people that make it.
    - mongol 3y ago
      E-commerce is more than a site. You need to handle the inventory, shipping, returns, customer service etc. Amazon, when working well, could take care exactly of those things, and cut out middle men such as distributors. But to appear next to these ridiculous brands seem no longer a good choice.
      - jethro_tell 3y ago
        Sure, but in the context of ecommerce then and now, it's a much better world. Before, if you wanted to have a web store, you basically had to have a kid build you a website, updating was slow, every transaction processing system was different, (or they just took it in a web form and processed your card by hand on the visa machine in the office), the website didn't process inventory so someone had to keep that up-to-date. Then, they'd take your address and box to the post office and get a label. Hopefully, you didn't fat finger it, there was no data sanitation on the form and the post office isn't checking. And, if you didn't get the right product, they were out of stock, it was damaged . . . w/e, the return process was an email, goofy web form, or phone call to get a person on the phone to manually handle whatever went wrong, and that's if they weren't just a scammer and were actually going to ship you your stuff. Now, any business that wants to have an online store front can grab a template, upload some pictures of their inventory, and the site handles payment processing, buys and prints a label, schedules a shipping pickup, handles the return process including generating return shipping labels. Often, the processor has a quick payment resolution system. Amazon was really good at some point because they had enough people to build those things and make the experience pretty good, like, you just knew that you wouldn't get ripped off, you could send it back, hell, order two and pick the one you like and send one back. Youu didn't even have to enter your card number into some dodgy site or stop to type your shipping address and risk sending it next door with no recourse because amazon already has that seup. But now, a lot of that barrier to entry is gone as companies have made the various parts of the stack available for a small percentage of each transaction. You can go to a website that works, order something, pay with paypal or stripe which have some customer protections, just select the shipping address on file with the processor and get an email with a tracking number a minute later. If you don't like it, you can send it back and the site will probably even integrate with usps/ups/shipper of choice help you to create a label and arrange a next day pickup. And when you buy directly from the company, you can assume they are validating their product and it's not a fake, you know there's been no inventory mixing. You know what you are going to get. And, to top it off, with a password safe, you can track accounts at 500 places so it's not really that much of a hassle to have multiple accounts, and that's only if you have to make an account because the payment processor of choice (of which they probably have several), even requires you to make an account on their site. My point being, that other than amazon being a single point of shopping, they really don't offer anything that a small business can't for a relatively small effort.
mint2 3y ago
No no, sometimes they are simply nearly expired product made for resale in another country. I received a cr2032 that was meant to be sold in Türkiye before, but I’m pretty sure it was actually Duracell.

naikrovek 3y ago

Wow you did buy one of everything. So you definitely have the authority to say > Everything on Amazon is shady knock-off garbage. I have had the opposite experience. Everything I have bought over the past 20 years has been legit, except for one single thing.

JeffSnazz 3y ago

I'm honestly confused how many people run into "nothing but counterfeits" and others never see any (or maybe the counterfeits aren't actually worse quality so this goes unnoticed)

simplyluke 3y ago

Amazon sells a bunch of knockoff oil filters. I accidentally bought them for a Toyota and luckily noticed. Imagine blowing an engine because you tried to buy an OEM filter.

asd4 3y ago
I've had good luck with https://www.rockauto.com/ https://www.rockauto.com/ though I haven't bought anything big through them. The website is fun and nostalgic to me.

jstarfish 3y ago

Back in 2010, in the insurance industry we were warned that imported electrical products were found forging the UL (Underwriters Laboratories) labels. Surge protectors and electrical strips were cited as prone to meltdown at the time. I don't know if this was ever made public knowledge, but I'm wondering if this is now coming to fruition a decade later with all these e-bike fires. I figure if I ever need to commit arson I'm just going to charge a Chinese e-bike on a Chinese power strip and feign ignorance.