201–210 of 230 posts
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The wider selection is very often knockoff, quasi-fraudulent garbage dressed up in fake reviews that will drown out most of the transparent information you were hoping to find.
Overall, what you can buy with a little research is much better in 2019 than 1999, even with the lemons and fake reviews.
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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…
I looked at a lotion, which includes the ingredient "fragrance". This is automatically questionable because it doesn't tell you what the ingredient actually is. Moreover, it's a term that companies use instead of telling us what's actually in the product, including any number of potentially harmful ingredients. It is also patently not required for the product to function, so it's clearly against Brandless's stated aim.
Brandless looks to me like an Orwellian marketing gimmick: they claim to be brandless, yet they're actually trying to develop a brand.
Being annoyed at my local shops wanting £100 for a wallet I went on ebay a ordered a leather one for £2.25 inc post in 2014 and still in daily use now. The internet is remarkable for shopping in some ways.
Physical in-store shopping has always been a nightmare for me. Too many people moving in too many random directions, most of them oblivious or actively hostile to those around them. I can feel the waves of frustration and anxiety of everyone around me. I'm one of those people that goes to a store only when they really need something, and I plan it out like a bank heist. Park here, away from everyone else, keep my hea…
"Back in the day", I didn't even have the option to buy a USB-chargable hand warmer to keep my cell phone's battery from dying in the cold so I could hike in the winter and be within contact for various reasons. But my options are to buy one USB-chargable hand warmer/charger that will probably work for part of a season before it stops working, and another hand warmer/charger that will probably work for part of a season before it sets my house on fire when I try to charge it, and there's no way to tell which is which.
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.
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…
At Sam's Club today, eyeing a watch. Waiting for associate to let me see it. Open Amazon, read reviews. Over $20 less on Amazon. Asked if Sam's price matches. > No. In two taps, right in front of her, ordered it. Said she understood. Thanked her for showing it to me.
The time of the employee who showed it to you costs money.
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You're talking about a pretty specific type of physical goods that have to fit properly and meet your requirements for aesthetics, quality, and function. Buying physical commodities or items where those factors don't matter on the Internet is incredible. I don't have to go anywhere, I don't have to talk to anyone, I don't have to lug anything anywhere, etc.
Did you read the article or go straight to the comments? I’m talking about buying the exact same thing the article used as an example. I think that’s a fair thing to contrast with its thesis that “all shopping sucks now”. She had a terrible time spending days researching the Perfect Pair Of Gloves online, going to the one “big box” store in her area that had supposedly had it, and going back home ungloved instead of…
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
To promote quality discourse, I will not reply. Feel free to edit and re-submit.
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Used to be brick an mortar stores had buyers. To get stuff on the shelf you needed to get past them. They were experts at evaluating products and would reject 'crap'. Now we have corrupt and easily gamed review processes and a race to the bottom.
Retail stores have sold their shelf space to the highest bidder for decades.