4 ms·

On the other hand, I can go to my local Best Buy and pick up an nvme drive. Look at the box, make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit. Only after I’

On the other hand, I can go to my local Best Buy and pick up an nvme drive. Look at the box, make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit. Only after I’ve decided it’s legit I can hand over approximately the same amount of money Amazon would have charged me.

light_hue_1 8mo ago
If by roughly the same you mean 10% to 100% more (think cables for high markup) and I have to go to the store instead of having it come to me. With much worse selection. Then yes. That's an amazing experience!
- selimthegrim 8mo ago
  Wait until Sandisk compains you didn't buy through an authorized distributor when you go to register or take advantage of the warranty.
- seattle_spring 8mo ago
  Best Buy price matches Amazon...
- vel0city 8mo ago
  > think cables for high markup Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit). I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
- intrikate 8mo ago
  I mean, yeah, sure if you view having to go to the store as a negative, then you would prefer to order online and have it brought to you. After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day. There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
  - light_hue_1 8mo ago
    That's so alien to me I can't even imagine it. I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.
js2 8mo ago
> make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it. Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.
- entropicdrifter 8mo ago
  Counterpoint: People do this on Amazon all the time. One time I ordered a kick drum stand on Amazon. All I got was the foot of the stand and a brick in the box. It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
  - rincebrain 8mo ago
    I suspect the wildly differing experiences for this depend on the number of bad actors doing this in the pools feeding into whatever warehouses, versus total churn. For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up. That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
    - entropicdrifter 8mo ago
      I live in the Philly area, so IDK man, kinda just seems like you got lucky
- stockresearcher 8mo ago
  > Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
  - 8mo ago

light_hue_1 8mo ago

If by roughly the same you mean 10% to 100% more (think cables for high markup) and I have to go to the store instead of having it come to me. With much worse selection. Then yes. That's an amazing experience!

selimthegrim 8mo ago
Wait until Sandisk compains you didn't buy through an authorized distributor when you go to register or take advantage of the warranty.
seattle_spring 8mo ago
Best Buy price matches Amazon...
vel0city 8mo ago
> think cables for high markup Nearly every time I've bought cheap USB-C cables off Amazon they didn't perform as advertised. The few times I bought name-brand ones they looked different from the ones I've bought at in-person stores and once again failed to perform as advertised (likely counterfeit). I avoid Amazon as much as possible these days.
intrikate 8mo ago
I mean, yeah, sure if you view having to go to the store as a negative, then you would prefer to order online and have it brought to you. After years (my whole adolescent and adult life, more or less) of online shopping, I find that it's actually quite refreshing to go to the store, find the product I need, and purchase it. I have it immediately, I got to handle a demo unit and get a feel for it. If I need to return it, I go back to the same store and get my money back the same day. There are pros and cons to both, for sure, but these days I find I'm valuing the offline experience more and more.
- light_hue_1 8mo ago
  That's so alien to me I can't even imagine it. I'd much rather drive somewhere fun with the kids, work on a hobby, read a book, or just frankly sit and do nothing than go to a store.

js2 8mo ago

> make sure it is factory sealed and not counterfeit Hah. I bought an Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box. I get home, the battery won't charge. I figured out from the S/N that someone had bought a new pencil, put their dead one in the box, shrink-wrapped it, returned it, BB put it back into stock, and I ended up with it. Fortunately, BB replaced it for me, but I've never had this issue with a single Amazon item I've purchased and I've done a lot more shopping from Amazon than BB.

entropicdrifter 8mo ago
Counterpoint: People do this on Amazon all the time. One time I ordered a kick drum stand on Amazon. All I got was the foot of the stand and a brick in the box. It was supposed to be brand new, not a used item.
- rincebrain 8mo ago
  I suspect the wildly differing experiences for this depend on the number of bad actors doing this in the pools feeding into whatever warehouses, versus total churn. For me, living first in Baltimore then NYC, places where there's quite a few people buying quite a few things up and down the cost scale, I never saw a counterfeit anything come up. That's not to say I think it doesn't happen, just that I think that's why some people have wildly different experiences here.
  - entropicdrifter 8mo ago
    I live in the Philly area, so IDK man, kinda just seems like you got lucky
stockresearcher 8mo ago
> Apple Pencil from BB. Shrink-wrapped in the box Not for nothing, but I can’t remember the last time I purchased anything computer related that was shrink wrapped. It’s all single-use-obvious-if-opened tape
- 8mo ago