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I found myself gravitating back to local stores after years of buying essentially everything on Amazon because local stores at least to some degree curate their

I found myself gravitating back to local stores after years of buying essentially everything on Amazon because local stores at least to some degree curate their inventory while Amazon increasingly does not. If you're looking for a specific product that doesn't matter as much (although Amazon also has counterfeiting problems). But if you're just looking to browse what's available in a certain category of product, Amazon is nearly unusable. You'll almost certainly find dozens of Chinese companies with randomly generated names selling what are essentially copies of the same product with no good way to pick one or even tell if they're any good (reviews being basically useless on Amazon these days). Because they don't have the same unlimited inventory capacity, local stores have to put at least some effort into selling products with some base level of quality and focusing on the products most likely to sell in each category. Local stores are by no means perfect here, but they're vastly better than Amazon in this regard. And it's especially important because finding good independent product reviews on the internet these days is also a challenge, and even where they exist they're not reviewing whatever no-name Chinese brand Amazon is selling anyways.

macNchz 2y ago
It has been surprising to me for years that people put up with this, I find it really terrible as a shopping experience. Like shopping in the worst dollar store you’ve ever been in that’s also the size of a city and loaded with ads, except you can’t actually touch the products or smell the pervasive scent of cheap plastic while you browse. And they want you to pay a subscription! Shopping from retailers that employ actual buyers feels like a real upgrade.
justinrubek 2y ago
While the junk item situation on amazon is real, I can't agree with this take about local stores. I find that local stores tend to have random crap that they want to sell rather than high-quality items.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  This is my experience too. Local stores supply the cheapest crappiest version of something, but sell it at full price. This maximizes their profit. Online, I can actually see from the reviews which product is best, and buy that one. I spend the same, but get a much higher quality product. There are so many products only sold on Amazon that have 20,000 reviews because they're so much better than anything you can buy locally. I'm not talking the random Chinese brands with 50 reviews -- I'm talking the #1 best selling item in each product category.
  - maccard 2y ago
    I just searched for a Wifi Extender on Amazon. This [0] particular model has 3.6k reviews, and is the first option after "Amazon's Choice" Must be good, right? How about we scroll down to one of those reviews [1]. Oh, looks like it racked up a bunch of reviews for being a washing machine hose, and then changed product SKU. [0] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless-Compatible-White/dp/B0DHGQRJ45 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless... [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless-Compatible-White/dp/B0DHGQRJ45#customer_review_foreign-R1K89NIHB71Q82 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless...
    - crazygringo 2y ago
      You're completing ignoring the advice I gave. 3.6k reviews is nothing. But if you visit the page for the product's category: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/computers/430578031/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_computers https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/computers/430578031/... You see the #1 option has 36K+ reviews. Looks pretty solid to me. Yes, you can purchase pages and change the product, it's a known scam that I agree Amazon should crack down on. That still doesn't change the fact that there are super-popular items that are usually way better than what you can purchase locally.
      - maccard 2y ago
        I didn’t ignore the advice - I showed a link to a popular product that has thousands of almost perfect ratings that is readily available on amazon. An even better way to do it is don’t use Amazon for discovery, and only buy stuff you’ve researched off the site. But walking into Amazon to buy something is just as likely to land you with crap as going into your local shop and doing so.
- bombcar 2y ago
  Local stores vary wildly in quality, and that's part of the reason they've been pushed aside by the giants. However, now "local store" includes the giants like Walmart, etc.
- freedomben 2y ago
  Yes, exactly my experience as well. And the more of a mom and pop store that it is, the worse this problem tends to be. I have actually audibly laughed out loud for a second before catching myself when seeing some of the prices. Ironically, it's the big chains that seem to be the best on this. They have some curation and their pricing is usually a little higher than What I'll see on Amazon but isn't outrageous. The big exception is anything edible, such as groceries. Anything edible on Amazon is going to be wildly overpriced. For edible items I definitely go to big chains that are local

macNchz 2y ago

It has been surprising to me for years that people put up with this, I find it really terrible as a shopping experience. Like shopping in the worst dollar store you’ve ever been in that’s also the size of a city and loaded with ads, except you can’t actually touch the products or smell the pervasive scent of cheap plastic while you browse. And they want you to pay a subscription! Shopping from retailers that employ actual buyers feels like a real upgrade.

justinrubek 2y ago

While the junk item situation on amazon is real, I can't agree with this take about local stores. I find that local stores tend to have random crap that they want to sell rather than high-quality items.

crazygringo 2y ago
This is my experience too. Local stores supply the cheapest crappiest version of something, but sell it at full price. This maximizes their profit. Online, I can actually see from the reviews which product is best, and buy that one. I spend the same, but get a much higher quality product. There are so many products only sold on Amazon that have 20,000 reviews because they're so much better than anything you can buy locally. I'm not talking the random Chinese brands with 50 reviews -- I'm talking the #1 best selling item in each product category.
- maccard 2y ago
  I just searched for a Wifi Extender on Amazon. This [0] particular model has 3.6k reviews, and is the first option after "Amazon's Choice" Must be good, right? How about we scroll down to one of those reviews [1]. Oh, looks like it racked up a bunch of reviews for being a washing machine hose, and then changed product SKU. [0] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless-Compatible-White/dp/B0DHGQRJ45 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless... [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless-Compatible-White/dp/B0DHGQRJ45#customer_review_foreign-R1K89NIHB71Q82 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extender-Antennas-Repeater-Wireless...
  - crazygringo 2y ago
    You're completing ignoring the advice I gave. 3.6k reviews is nothing. But if you visit the page for the product's category: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/computers/430578031/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_computers https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/computers/430578031/... You see the #1 option has 36K+ reviews. Looks pretty solid to me. Yes, you can purchase pages and change the product, it's a known scam that I agree Amazon should crack down on. That still doesn't change the fact that there are super-popular items that are usually way better than what you can purchase locally.
    - maccard 2y ago
      I didn’t ignore the advice - I showed a link to a popular product that has thousands of almost perfect ratings that is readily available on amazon. An even better way to do it is don’t use Amazon for discovery, and only buy stuff you’ve researched off the site. But walking into Amazon to buy something is just as likely to land you with crap as going into your local shop and doing so.
bombcar 2y ago
Local stores vary wildly in quality, and that's part of the reason they've been pushed aside by the giants. However, now "local store" includes the giants like Walmart, etc.
freedomben 2y ago
Yes, exactly my experience as well. And the more of a mom and pop store that it is, the worse this problem tends to be. I have actually audibly laughed out loud for a second before catching myself when seeing some of the prices. Ironically, it's the big chains that seem to be the best on this. They have some curation and their pricing is usually a little higher than What I'll see on Amazon but isn't outrageous. The big exception is anything edible, such as groceries. Anything edible on Amazon is going to be wildly overpriced. For edible items I definitely go to big chains that are local