8 ms·

I wonder if we can look forward to the end of the letter soup brands on Amazon, it's ridiculously difficult finding real brands in between them. That would be

I wonder if we can look forward to the end of the letter soup brands on Amazon, it's ridiculously difficult finding real brands in between them. That would be one silver lining in all this mess, at least.

matt-p 2y ago
I mean maybe, but the product will still be made in china.
SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
15 different variants of the same product, all obviously cheaply made from the same factory, with varying degrees of quality control and reviews strewn about the various “brands” of the product so that it’s much harder to have a negative review everywhere. Yeah, this sucks. Though the correct thing to do here is to enforce this hygiene on the platforms themselves. They have every resource and means to be able to prevent this kind of thing from happening. It’s just more profitable for them not to
- _heimdall 2y ago
  I ended up drastically cutting back on Amazon purchases when they started getting flooded with brands like that. Its absolutely on Amazon to maintain quality. There are certain brands and types of products I'll order there because they're just harder to find otherwise, but its mostly a last resort these days given that Amazon doesn't care to curate what is on their "shelves".
  - blueboo 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - _heimdall 2y ago
      I don't think its so easy to pull apart what people are buying and what they want to buy. Amazon has a pretty crippling hold on the online retail industry, and they collect massive amounts of data to decide what to put in front of people. Targeted marketing and the partnership between marketing and psychology is nothing new, it has gotten stronger though. I have a hard time looking at a market run like that as a roughly free market where the successful products indicate what buyers actually want rather than what they were best coerced (or "nudged") into buying.
      - SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
        I would say there are other viable platforms people could offer on but Amazon actively punishes people for trying to work out of their ecosystem by penalizing them for offering lower prices than on Amazon
      - Zak 2y ago
        It's an optimization loop where one part of the cycle (showing people stuff and seeing if they buy it) is very fast, and one part (product development) is very slow. This is sure to find local, rather than global maxima.
    - ziml77 2y ago
      It only shows what people are buying, not what they want to buy. Cheap crap might sell a ton because it's cheap and listed at the top of the search results. Which then feeds into it being kept at the top of the search results. A lot of times if the item is cheap enough people don't bother with returns and rather just throw the item out, something that will go completely unseen by the metrics. Ratings are also not very helpful because they are manipulated in a variety of ways. Things like bots/mechanical turks, putting offers in the package to give people money back if they rate the item 5 stars, or hijacking a well rated product listing by changing it later or taking advantage of item variants system. So, I very much don't trust any of their data myself.
      - jacobgkau 2y ago
        > putting offers in the package to give people money back if they rate the item 5 stars, I had something similar but more convoluted happen with the car mount I got for my phone. The box included a card stating to email them to sign up for their warranty. Emailing them signed me up for their loyalty emails, which are infrequent enough that I actually didn't mind them. The loyalty emails frequently included offers of "free gifts." One day, I actually replied to one asking for it, and they explained I'd be buying it from them on Amazon and then they'd pay me back for it-- in exchange for a review, of course. I'd had similar things offered to me as a YouTuber with companies wanting "reviews" but making me do the purchase myself (I've done one or two of them). The fact that it's just being offered to mainstream consumers now is ridiculous. It means you can't trust any of the reviews (or at least the positive ones; I normally look for negative ones with photos these days).
    - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
      > Amazon’s relentless quantitative focus It’s 2025 and I still get the “I see you bought a stapler, what you obviously desire is twenty-five more staplers” treatment from Amazon.
      - tickerticker 2y ago
        ROFLMAO
  - wahnfrieden 2y ago
    I love it in terms of consumer experience. I like several products from AliExpress and the like, but sometimes find they're available for the same price or cheaper and faster with better customer service from Amazon. I don't care that they have generic brand names in either case
    - idopmstuff 2y ago
      I'm with you. I don't really understand the complaints, since Amazon's return policy means that you aren't really taking a risk when you buy, even from randomly-named brands.
      - jen20 2y ago
        That rather depends on your ability to evaluate what you get. I have no qualms telling non-technical people "buy USB-C chargers from the Apple Store", knowing perfectly well what quality I will get. However, you can't even guarantee you'll get something genuine from Amazon anymore even if you select that exact same product.
        jacobgkau 2y ago
        Exactly. And most people think, "well, I'm super technical, so I'll know," but that only works for your own field. I can tell if a USB-C charger is genuine or not, but I know that I don't know enough about clothing irons or magazine sleeves or a hundred other items to tell if it's crap or not within the return period. Sometimes, I may never know if I don't try a different one for an extended period of time.
      - e_hup 2y ago
        There are negative externalities caused by buying and returning stuff.
      - dragonwriter 2y ago
        Not all harms of using inadequately QC’d or deceptively marketed products are adequately remedied by a reasonably easy return and refund policy.
  - soylentgrn 2y ago
    [dead]
  - turtlebits 2y ago
    If the quality sucks (or at least doesn't match expectations), return it. Shipping is fast and returns are easy. The vendor takes the consequence of the return. Rarely do I buy product that has subpar quality that I need to return it. Just do your research. This is why I still buy from Amazon.
    - _heimdall 2y ago
      Hah, well easy may be in the eye of the beholder. The closest dropoff for Amazon returns is about a 20 minute drive, its a CVS that has lost one return I tried to send back. I often don't leave our farm more than once a week, mailing off a few returns a year isn't a big deal but I don't want to make a habit of it. My research, and experience with Amazon, just left me avoiding it when I can. That's not always possible and there's plenty of good stuff to buy on Amazon as well, but 2 day delivery can mean a week here and returns aren't as simple as dropping it off a block from an office in the city.
    - pseudalopex 2y ago
      Returns aren't easy when Amazon threaten to ban you for returning too many items.
- tshaddox 2y ago
  Yeah, and it's not even necessarily a problem with the product itself. Sometimes I do want something cheap and disposable. The problem is that you have roughly zero information about the retailer, and manufacturer, and anyone in between. If one product listing gets bad reviews, someone can spin up 5 more listings with slightly different metadata. It's effectively a Sybil attack against the reputation system of the market.
- jillyboel 2y ago
  It's all just the same crap you'd find sold by a "proper" retailer. Where do you think they get their stuff from? I'll gladly take the cheaper alternatives instead of being charged 2 or 3 times the amount I'd pay if I import it myself.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
  There are flecks of gold in the midst of all that dirt. I needed to make a 3/4" hole in a 1/8" thick mild steel angle to repair a cart. Didn't have a drill bit that size and quickly realized that a hole saw would be a better choice. Off to Amazon. After some browsing, found the same 3/4" carbide-tipped holesaw from a million resellers. Found a package of two for $13. Following the logic of "even if they only last for one hole, it's still cheaper than buying a good drill bit that I'll never use again", I ordered it. Item arrived and it looked as cheaply made as the photo! But what do I have to lose? For $13, it's worth a shot. Chucked up the holesaw, dripped some cutting oil on the metal and went to work. Fricking thing went through the steel like it wasn't even there. I was fully expecting that the teeth would chip off and go flying about halfway through, or it wouldn't do crap and the metal would work-harden, making my job even harder or worst case, the entire flimsy-looking thing would shatter (I have excellent safety glasses BTW). No, about 1 minute later I had a nice clean 3/4" hole with perfect edges that didn't even need deburring. That led to the first Amazon review that I ever wrote: I was that shocked at how well it performed. Turned on my (Amazon-bought) stick welder and finished the repair.
  - Spooky23 2y ago
    I think the key is to have a sort of risk framework. Things that handle data, are a fire risk or are direct knockoffs avoid. Otherwise it’s often a good value, and sometimes the “brand” name is really the knockoff with a trademark on the box. The carburetor on my leaf blower failed and needed a rebuild. The “name brand” kits were $40-60 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. I got some random kit on Amazon that was the same main part, with a different (and better) kit of tubes, etc than the retail one. Same thing with clothes. I’ve had great luck with workout clothes, my girlfriend did well with dresses and other stuff. Just be smart about it — $10 jeans are gonna be garbage.
dingnuts 2y ago
it's the whole point of the tariffs. China does an end run around all of our laws, consumer safety, human rights, workers conditions, intellectual property, all that, and in doing so they cut costs and beat domestic companies at the market. Tariffs are a tax we charge to represent those things they have immorally refused to do while participating in our market. A country can't effectively have things like a minimum wage while allowing completely free trade with countries that use slave labor and don't share your values, because they can beat you on price by using human suffering as a competitive advantage, and put you entirely out of business.
- synergy20 2y ago
  after 50 years of de-industrialization in US, it's a sad fact that US can no longer produce most of those items, yes it's totally gone. It will take a few decades to rebuild, if possible at all. For now, whatever those junks are at Amazon, there are not many options to procure them elsewhere.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
    You want the US to spend the next few decades retooling to ... build junk?
    - synergy20 2y ago
      Build essential stuff locally, not junk of course. Or else the virtual economy can not sustain forever based on borrowing money while producing very little locally.
      - roboror 2y ago
        What is "essential stuff" to you?
        tpolm 2y ago
        well, produce own steel. Own processors, own drug precursors...
footlose_3815 2y ago
You may get rid of that, but it's still Amazon. Just recently, they fuzzed all their search results further, so when you search for something, it will give you lots of stuff you didn't search for. Similar to how Facebook Marketplace does. I think the only way to avoid disappointment is to avoid Amazon altogether. Their customer experience is extremely deceptive and engineered to make you spend the most money. From the featured searches all the way to how it charges you paid shipping instead of free at checkout. We should all feel burned enough at this point and stop rewarding them. Bezos purchased the Washington Post for all this money, and he won't stop there.
bahmboo 2y ago
The article is about Temu. Amazon is not mentioned.
- chirau 2y ago
  Maybe you should read the article before commenting? Section:"Why we care"
  - bahmboo 2y ago
    You are right, I did read the article but I missed the parenthetical (assuming the article was not updated, imagine). My point was that the commenter was complaining about Amazon "alphabet soup" names which is not relevant to this. There is a very specific reason those names are used. It's a very interesting story about follow on effects.
chairmansteve 2y ago
Yeah. I just go to Best Buy. You pay more. Their website works pretty well.
- moolcool 2y ago
  Worth mentioning though, that BestBuy's website also has the same garbage "marketplace" problem as Amazon
  - Bluescreenbuddy 2y ago
    You can filter them out. For now..
ronbenton 2y ago
All of them made out of balsa wood yet have 10,000 5-star reviews. It’s a joke
- ldoughty 2y ago
  > I was very pleased with my "[brand name, if applicable] toilet seat, (2-pack), premium pure white, toolless installation", that I purchased for my family. Would definitely recommend it to friends and family. It arrived promptly and was in perfect condition. You exceeded your current quota please check your plan and billing details. The above is similar to recent reviews I've seen. It's infuriating that there is a reliance on user reporting to find and report COMPLETELY OBVIOUS fake reviews on Amazon. A great example of why competition is necessary, and not just from one other entity equally interested in allowing the others existing to avoid being a "monopoly"
  - Kevcmk 2y ago
    https://www.fakespot.com/ https://www.fakespot.com/
  - gs17 2y ago
    > It's infuriating that there is a reliance on user reporting to find and report COMPLETELY OBVIOUS fake reviews on Amazon. Have they removed reviews you report? I've only ever heard of them removing legitimate negative reviews.
  - zamalek 2y ago
    I got one of those "leave us a 5 star review for a coupon" and I had just enough of it. I left a 1 star review indicating that they offered a coupon for a good review. Amazon took my review down.
- layer8 2y ago
  “I bought this product for my husband and he loves it.”
codezero 2y ago
What’s worse, many real brands you recognize sold off their brand name a while ago so you’re not even getting the product quality you might expect.
1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago
It's easy to find "real brands" if one looks outside of Amazon, Alibaba, etc. Surprisingly, I find I am more pleased with purchases I make outside of Amazon despite all of Amazon's perks. "Platforms" like Amazon and fake "brands" aside, online retailers that only sell "real brands" are still around; they never disappeared despite Amazon's meteoric rise. Many sell through Amazon but also sell outside Amazon, too. Some do not sell through Amazon. Being born before the internet existed, I started ordering products delivered by mail in the catalog era. I am biased toward locating "real brands" that have built reputations for high quality. I miss these brands. I loved the transition from catalogs to websites, but it seems like in the last 10-15 years fake "brands" that can offer no promises whatsoever have been killing off the motivation for having real ones that guarantee high quality.
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  > It's easy to find "real brands" if one looks outside of Amazon, Alibaba, etc. You have to be careful, though. There are a shocking number of legit-looking brands with their own sites that are just drop-shipping the same stuff, at an enormous markup. My wife found a piece of clothing she liked for $60; a quick image search found it (with the exact same images) for $8 on Shein. Nice hustle, if you can make it work.
  - maxwell 2y ago
    Buy American. False Made in USA claims are subject to fines exceeding $40k per violation.
    - ceejayoz 2y ago
      Good luck enforcing those on a Chinese drop shipper.
      - maxwell 2y ago
        You haven't been following the FTC's enforcement? e.g. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/owner-conservative-apparel-brand-fined-200000-falsely-claiming-product-rcna41998 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/owner-conservative-appa...
qingcharles 2y ago
My favorite is all these letter-soup Firewire-to-USB convertors which are just glue and random wires inside and are either completely inert or disastrously damaging to your peripherals: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=firewire+to+usb+adapter https://www.amazon.com/s?k=firewire+to+usb+adapter It's fascinating to me that every letter-soup brand is competing on a product that is literally fraud.
- jdeibele 2y ago
  I literally got a Firewire to USB converter yesterday to try and pull video off a DV Camcorder. A video capture card in the same price range had worked great for letting me stream VHS tapes through OBS Studio. There are various YouTube videos showing a daisy chain of Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 1/2 adapters connected to various Firewire cables and adapters. I was hoping to avoid all of that but the camera doesn't show at all. Fortunately, nothing seems damaged on either side. I've only got 6 tapes so I'm sending them off to a service and sending the adapter back to Amazon.
  - cluckindan 2y ago
    It’s not even possible to convert between USB and FireWire without active electronics, as the signals are not compatible in the slightest.
laughingcurve 2y ago
From your lips to Jassy's ears

matt-p 2y ago

I mean maybe, but the product will still be made in china.

SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago

15 different variants of the same product, all obviously cheaply made from the same factory, with varying degrees of quality control and reviews strewn about the various “brands” of the product so that it’s much harder to have a negative review everywhere. Yeah, this sucks. Though the correct thing to do here is to enforce this hygiene on the platforms themselves. They have every resource and means to be able to prevent this kind of thing from happening. It’s just more profitable for them not to

_heimdall 2y ago
I ended up drastically cutting back on Amazon purchases when they started getting flooded with brands like that. Its absolutely on Amazon to maintain quality. There are certain brands and types of products I'll order there because they're just harder to find otherwise, but its mostly a last resort these days given that Amazon doesn't care to curate what is on their "shelves".
- blueboo 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    I don't think its so easy to pull apart what people are buying and what they want to buy. Amazon has a pretty crippling hold on the online retail industry, and they collect massive amounts of data to decide what to put in front of people. Targeted marketing and the partnership between marketing and psychology is nothing new, it has gotten stronger though. I have a hard time looking at a market run like that as a roughly free market where the successful products indicate what buyers actually want rather than what they were best coerced (or "nudged") into buying.
    - SOLAR_FIELDS 2y ago
      I would say there are other viable platforms people could offer on but Amazon actively punishes people for trying to work out of their ecosystem by penalizing them for offering lower prices than on Amazon
    - Zak 2y ago
      It's an optimization loop where one part of the cycle (showing people stuff and seeing if they buy it) is very fast, and one part (product development) is very slow. This is sure to find local, rather than global maxima.
  - ziml77 2y ago
    It only shows what people are buying, not what they want to buy. Cheap crap might sell a ton because it's cheap and listed at the top of the search results. Which then feeds into it being kept at the top of the search results. A lot of times if the item is cheap enough people don't bother with returns and rather just throw the item out, something that will go completely unseen by the metrics. Ratings are also not very helpful because they are manipulated in a variety of ways. Things like bots/mechanical turks, putting offers in the package to give people money back if they rate the item 5 stars, or hijacking a well rated product listing by changing it later or taking advantage of item variants system. So, I very much don't trust any of their data myself.
    - jacobgkau 2y ago
      > putting offers in the package to give people money back if they rate the item 5 stars, I had something similar but more convoluted happen with the car mount I got for my phone. The box included a card stating to email them to sign up for their warranty. Emailing them signed me up for their loyalty emails, which are infrequent enough that I actually didn't mind them. The loyalty emails frequently included offers of "free gifts." One day, I actually replied to one asking for it, and they explained I'd be buying it from them on Amazon and then they'd pay me back for it-- in exchange for a review, of course. I'd had similar things offered to me as a YouTuber with companies wanting "reviews" but making me do the purchase myself (I've done one or two of them). The fact that it's just being offered to mainstream consumers now is ridiculous. It means you can't trust any of the reviews (or at least the positive ones; I normally look for negative ones with photos these days).
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > Amazon’s relentless quantitative focus It’s 2025 and I still get the “I see you bought a stapler, what you obviously desire is twenty-five more staplers” treatment from Amazon.
    - tickerticker 2y ago
      ROFLMAO
- wahnfrieden 2y ago
  I love it in terms of consumer experience. I like several products from AliExpress and the like, but sometimes find they're available for the same price or cheaper and faster with better customer service from Amazon. I don't care that they have generic brand names in either case
  - idopmstuff 2y ago
    I'm with you. I don't really understand the complaints, since Amazon's return policy means that you aren't really taking a risk when you buy, even from randomly-named brands.
    - jen20 2y ago
      That rather depends on your ability to evaluate what you get. I have no qualms telling non-technical people "buy USB-C chargers from the Apple Store", knowing perfectly well what quality I will get. However, you can't even guarantee you'll get something genuine from Amazon anymore even if you select that exact same product.
      - jacobgkau 2y ago
        Exactly. And most people think, "well, I'm super technical, so I'll know," but that only works for your own field. I can tell if a USB-C charger is genuine or not, but I know that I don't know enough about clothing irons or magazine sleeves or a hundred other items to tell if it's crap or not within the return period. Sometimes, I may never know if I don't try a different one for an extended period of time.
    - e_hup 2y ago
      There are negative externalities caused by buying and returning stuff.
    - dragonwriter 2y ago
      Not all harms of using inadequately QC’d or deceptively marketed products are adequately remedied by a reasonably easy return and refund policy.
- soylentgrn 2y ago
  [dead]
- turtlebits 2y ago
  If the quality sucks (or at least doesn't match expectations), return it. Shipping is fast and returns are easy. The vendor takes the consequence of the return. Rarely do I buy product that has subpar quality that I need to return it. Just do your research. This is why I still buy from Amazon.
  - _heimdall 2y ago
    Hah, well easy may be in the eye of the beholder. The closest dropoff for Amazon returns is about a 20 minute drive, its a CVS that has lost one return I tried to send back. I often don't leave our farm more than once a week, mailing off a few returns a year isn't a big deal but I don't want to make a habit of it. My research, and experience with Amazon, just left me avoiding it when I can. That's not always possible and there's plenty of good stuff to buy on Amazon as well, but 2 day delivery can mean a week here and returns aren't as simple as dropping it off a block from an office in the city.
  - pseudalopex 2y ago
    Returns aren't easy when Amazon threaten to ban you for returning too many items.
tshaddox 2y ago
Yeah, and it's not even necessarily a problem with the product itself. Sometimes I do want something cheap and disposable. The problem is that you have roughly zero information about the retailer, and manufacturer, and anyone in between. If one product listing gets bad reviews, someone can spin up 5 more listings with slightly different metadata. It's effectively a Sybil attack against the reputation system of the market.
jillyboel 2y ago
It's all just the same crap you'd find sold by a "proper" retailer. Where do you think they get their stuff from? I'll gladly take the cheaper alternatives instead of being charged 2 or 3 times the amount I'd pay if I import it myself.
HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
There are flecks of gold in the midst of all that dirt. I needed to make a 3/4" hole in a 1/8" thick mild steel angle to repair a cart. Didn't have a drill bit that size and quickly realized that a hole saw would be a better choice. Off to Amazon. After some browsing, found the same 3/4" carbide-tipped holesaw from a million resellers. Found a package of two for $13. Following the logic of "even if they only last for one hole, it's still cheaper than buying a good drill bit that I'll never use again", I ordered it. Item arrived and it looked as cheaply made as the photo! But what do I have to lose? For $13, it's worth a shot. Chucked up the holesaw, dripped some cutting oil on the metal and went to work. Fricking thing went through the steel like it wasn't even there. I was fully expecting that the teeth would chip off and go flying about halfway through, or it wouldn't do crap and the metal would work-harden, making my job even harder or worst case, the entire flimsy-looking thing would shatter (I have excellent safety glasses BTW). No, about 1 minute later I had a nice clean 3/4" hole with perfect edges that didn't even need deburring. That led to the first Amazon review that I ever wrote: I was that shocked at how well it performed. Turned on my (Amazon-bought) stick welder and finished the repair.
- Spooky23 2y ago
  I think the key is to have a sort of risk framework. Things that handle data, are a fire risk or are direct knockoffs avoid. Otherwise it’s often a good value, and sometimes the “brand” name is really the knockoff with a trademark on the box. The carburetor on my leaf blower failed and needed a rebuild. The “name brand” kits were $40-60 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. I got some random kit on Amazon that was the same main part, with a different (and better) kit of tubes, etc than the retail one. Same thing with clothes. I’ve had great luck with workout clothes, my girlfriend did well with dresses and other stuff. Just be smart about it — $10 jeans are gonna be garbage.

dingnuts 2y ago

it's the whole point of the tariffs. China does an end run around all of our laws, consumer safety, human rights, workers conditions, intellectual property, all that, and in doing so they cut costs and beat domestic companies at the market. Tariffs are a tax we charge to represent those things they have immorally refused to do while participating in our market. A country can't effectively have things like a minimum wage while allowing completely free trade with countries that use slave labor and don't share your values, because they can beat you on price by using human suffering as a competitive advantage, and put you entirely out of business.

synergy20 2y ago
after 50 years of de-industrialization in US, it's a sad fact that US can no longer produce most of those items, yes it's totally gone. It will take a few decades to rebuild, if possible at all. For now, whatever those junks are at Amazon, there are not many options to procure them elsewhere.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y ago
  You want the US to spend the next few decades retooling to ... build junk?
  - synergy20 2y ago
    Build essential stuff locally, not junk of course. Or else the virtual economy can not sustain forever based on borrowing money while producing very little locally.
    - roboror 2y ago
      What is "essential stuff" to you?
      - tpolm 2y ago
        well, produce own steel. Own processors, own drug precursors...

footlose_3815 2y ago

You may get rid of that, but it's still Amazon. Just recently, they fuzzed all their search results further, so when you search for something, it will give you lots of stuff you didn't search for. Similar to how Facebook Marketplace does. I think the only way to avoid disappointment is to avoid Amazon altogether. Their customer experience is extremely deceptive and engineered to make you spend the most money. From the featured searches all the way to how it charges you paid shipping instead of free at checkout. We should all feel burned enough at this point and stop rewarding them. Bezos purchased the Washington Post for all this money, and he won't stop there.

bahmboo 2y ago

The article is about Temu. Amazon is not mentioned.

chirau 2y ago
Maybe you should read the article before commenting? Section:"Why we care"
- bahmboo 2y ago
  You are right, I did read the article but I missed the parenthetical (assuming the article was not updated, imagine). My point was that the commenter was complaining about Amazon "alphabet soup" names which is not relevant to this. There is a very specific reason those names are used. It's a very interesting story about follow on effects.

chairmansteve 2y ago

Yeah. I just go to Best Buy. You pay more. Their website works pretty well.

moolcool 2y ago
Worth mentioning though, that BestBuy's website also has the same garbage "marketplace" problem as Amazon
- Bluescreenbuddy 2y ago
  You can filter them out. For now..

ronbenton 2y ago

All of them made out of balsa wood yet have 10,000 5-star reviews. It’s a joke

ldoughty 2y ago
> I was very pleased with my "[brand name, if applicable] toilet seat, (2-pack), premium pure white, toolless installation", that I purchased for my family. Would definitely recommend it to friends and family. It arrived promptly and was in perfect condition. You exceeded your current quota please check your plan and billing details. The above is similar to recent reviews I've seen. It's infuriating that there is a reliance on user reporting to find and report COMPLETELY OBVIOUS fake reviews on Amazon. A great example of why competition is necessary, and not just from one other entity equally interested in allowing the others existing to avoid being a "monopoly"
- Kevcmk 2y ago
  https://www.fakespot.com/ https://www.fakespot.com/
- gs17 2y ago
  > It's infuriating that there is a reliance on user reporting to find and report COMPLETELY OBVIOUS fake reviews on Amazon. Have they removed reviews you report? I've only ever heard of them removing legitimate negative reviews.
- zamalek 2y ago
  I got one of those "leave us a 5 star review for a coupon" and I had just enough of it. I left a 1 star review indicating that they offered a coupon for a good review. Amazon took my review down.
layer8 2y ago
“I bought this product for my husband and he loves it.”

codezero 2y ago

What’s worse, many real brands you recognize sold off their brand name a while ago so you’re not even getting the product quality you might expect.

1vuio0pswjnm7 2y ago

It's easy to find "real brands" if one looks outside of Amazon, Alibaba, etc. Surprisingly, I find I am more pleased with purchases I make outside of Amazon despite all of Amazon's perks. "Platforms" like Amazon and fake "brands" aside, online retailers that only sell "real brands" are still around; they never disappeared despite Amazon's meteoric rise. Many sell through Amazon but also sell outside Amazon, too. Some do not sell through Amazon. Being born before the internet existed, I started ordering products delivered by mail in the catalog era. I am biased toward locating "real brands" that have built reputations for high quality. I miss these brands. I loved the transition from catalogs to websites, but it seems like in the last 10-15 years fake "brands" that can offer no promises whatsoever have been killing off the motivation for having real ones that guarantee high quality.

ceejayoz 2y ago
> It's easy to find "real brands" if one looks outside of Amazon, Alibaba, etc. You have to be careful, though. There are a shocking number of legit-looking brands with their own sites that are just drop-shipping the same stuff, at an enormous markup. My wife found a piece of clothing she liked for $60; a quick image search found it (with the exact same images) for $8 on Shein. Nice hustle, if you can make it work.
- maxwell 2y ago
  Buy American. False Made in USA claims are subject to fines exceeding $40k per violation.
  - ceejayoz 2y ago
    Good luck enforcing those on a Chinese drop shipper.
    - maxwell 2y ago
      You haven't been following the FTC's enforcement? e.g. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/owner-conservative-apparel-brand-fined-200000-falsely-claiming-product-rcna41998 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/owner-conservative-appa...

qingcharles 2y ago

My favorite is all these letter-soup Firewire-to-USB convertors which are just glue and random wires inside and are either completely inert or disastrously damaging to your peripherals: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=firewire+to+usb+adapter https://www.amazon.com/s?k=firewire+to+usb+adapter It's fascinating to me that every letter-soup brand is competing on a product that is literally fraud.

jdeibele 2y ago
I literally got a Firewire to USB converter yesterday to try and pull video off a DV Camcorder. A video capture card in the same price range had worked great for letting me stream VHS tapes through OBS Studio. There are various YouTube videos showing a daisy chain of Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 1/2 adapters connected to various Firewire cables and adapters. I was hoping to avoid all of that but the camera doesn't show at all. Fortunately, nothing seems damaged on either side. I've only got 6 tapes so I'm sending them off to a service and sending the adapter back to Amazon.
- cluckindan 2y ago
  It’s not even possible to convert between USB and FireWire without active electronics, as the signals are not compatible in the slightest.

laughingcurve 2y ago

From your lips to Jassy's ears