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Shopping Sucks Now

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161–170 of 230 posts

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brandless is pursuing something down this line: https://brandless.com/

Brandless makes no sense to me. They mostly buy from China and their products are more expensive than they should be (their product descriptions don't offer any arguments why, at least). They claim to be health and environmentally-conscious but there's no relevant information to read on the product pages. Take this random Brandless product: https://brandless.com/products/stainless-steel-wooden-turner Why on Earth wou…

Weird that "/products/stainless-steel-wooden-turner" doesn't seem to involve stainless steel at all.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with Amazon recently is that their search is so doctored now I literally can't find the product+brand combo I am looking for half the time. Any sufficiently small brand is drowned out by knockoffs and other crap. I can't recall a specific example right now, so this is a fictitious one: - Search "Allen Edmonds belt" - Results: belts by anyone but Allen Edmonds. "Brand" filter doesn't appear on the left for so…

“New version available.” Sizes: m, medium, MEDIUM, med. Colors: black, BLK. Amazon is worthless.

"Price: from $2.07." Options:

- $299.99 - Medium (Brown)

- $299.99 - Small (Black),

- $2.07 - XXXXXXXL (Purple/Green/Orange) (SOLD OUT)

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#163

> On the first page, there are two different gloves listed, one for $17 and one for $60, that look exactly identical and come in the exact same colors. Both have the same exact star rating (4.5/5) and hundreds of positive reviews. > I’d love to only spend $17 except there is no way 17-dollar leather gloves won’t be fake and off color and smell of gasoline when they arrive, and after only a few wears the lining will p…

You never know if the review you're reading is genuine or paid content, especially when it's part of one of those top 10 of .

All I want to know is what to expect. Will this item break on me after X years/uses, or should I expect it to last longer? Am I paying for the brand/design, or durability?

Personally, I'm trying to cut down on the stuff I buy and discard, and a large part of that is buying quality items that last. In the past, I could expect that paying more means I'll get a more durable product, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore, especially when I've purchased name brand items that break far more quickly than off brand items.

I just wish we had a better way of signaling the trade-off between durability and aesthetics.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#164
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you get your initial trusted list from, and what do you do when "it doesn't work out" and you need a replacement supplier?

What I tend to do in that situation is to do a master's thesis level of research of every forum post and review I can find until 2 weeks and 750 browser tabs later the existential angst wipes out all my desire to buy the item and/or to live.

Spreadsheet for me. Not pictured: pile of returns, especially for clothing.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#165
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Unless your decision has lasting, serious ramifications on your life, just make a decision.

Well... make a fairly fast decision rather than an optimal one. Say I'm looking for something that costs $20 online. I might look at three or four sites. I might take five minutes. It's not worth it to take more time. Say I'm looking to rent a ski chalet for a week for $3000. Now I'm taking considerably longer - probably at least an evening, followed by letting it sit in my mind overnight. Let the size of the purchas…

Unfortunately, I find I do the exact opposite naturally.

Bigger ticket items are a pain, but they also don't have as much variety, so I'm more motivated to get it over with and choose between my available options fairly quickly (buying house, car, etc). I'm also more likely to be able to adapt the more expensive items to my needs.

However, smaller purchases tend to have far more options and searching more will nearly always turn up even more. Smaller items are also difficult to adapt, and I really don't like to add more to the landfill than necessary, so I worry quite a bit over these smaller purchases.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#166
post #58
post #3

Anyone working on a Trader Joes meets Amazon? That curates maybe 1-3 versions of things, largely eliminating paradox of choice. I guess Costco is kind of a bulk version of that... Also I've been increasingly interested in just buying things once and having them last a decade+, ideally a lifetime (less waste). But this takes a lot of research. Trader Joes does a good job of curating groceries and I've come to trust th…

You can search for Amazon Basics or Amazon Essentials, which seem to be listings of high volume commodity products. However, I don't see adult dress gloves in Amazon Essentials. There are kids gloves. And if you want high style, these products aren't for you. The other alternative is to use specific branded sites, such as LL Bean or REI. These will provide premium products at a premium price. Finally, you can go dire…

AB and AE are not hand-curated, and often as not just as crappy.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#167

Sorry, but I just can't get on board with this point of view. Shopping has always sucked. Badly. Going to the shops has to be one of the single most annoying and unpleasant day to day experiences I deal with[1]. If you live anywhere even remotely populous when you visit the shops there are people milling around just ####ing everywhere. Dithering, dawdling, standing around chatting at every choke point in the aisles,…

Sounds like you just hate people

Pretty extreme accusation. There's a difference between "hating people" and being frustrated with those who lack awareness of others in a specific moment.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brick and mortar shops can't stop you from coming in and finding the perfect item, then buying it online to save money. I bought an office chair recently and didn't feel confident picking one without trying chairs out in person. The chair I settled on was $100 cheaper online

It is especially weird when it's cheaper online on the SAME store. That happened with me in brazil.

Rumor has it that a certain US retailer has an online store that tries to determine whether you are checking prices from inside their physical store, and raises the advertised price to match those of the store you are in.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#169
Alright, startup idea:

A service that, for a subscription fee, provides product reviews/recommendation lists, plus a concierge "recommend a product for my requirements" service. Maybe throw in basic troubleshooting help as well.

All reviews and recommendations would come from staffers, so it can't be gamed with fake reviews short of bribing someone.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#170

When I was living in the PNW and realized I direly needed gloves, I just hit up a few of the department stores downtown until I found some that met my criteria. Which are probably similar to those of this author, I wanted some that looked cute, had a conductive patch on the finger so I could use my phone without taking them off, would fit on my long hands with long fingernails, and weren’t super expensive gloves desi…

Many many times I've consciously thought "I'm going to give retail a chance!" and go out of my way to find something at a physical store. Often it's because I might want it that day; sometimes I've just wanted to explore.

Yet I always end up wasting many hours. I can't drive, so it's public transport and walking everywhere for me (that's fine, it just adds to the time). My experience has been that if you know exactly what you want and it's anything slightly off the beaten path, you're going to have a hard time finding a store that will stock it.

Recent examples that come to mind: a certain kind of USB cable, an SSD, musician's earplugs, an induction cooker. Plus almost any book that I want.

This year was the first year that I've done the majority of my Christmas shopping online (I actually managed to get to it early enough!). It's been hands-down the best experience I've had Christmas shopping. Not to mention that I haven't had that Mariah Carey Christmas song shoved down my ears this year as a result :)

Physical stores just can't compete for certain kinds of shoppers.

Also, I hear so much about physical stores treating their employees like shit. Primary examples include GameStop and EB Games. When I think of that, I think that some stores deserve to fail.

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