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Shopping Sucks Now

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211–220 of 230 posts

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#211
post #6

Or stop trying to hyper-optimize? Buy from a handful of trusted brands; if it doesn't work out, don't buy from them again. Like what people did before all this information was available.

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?

Read forums or ask people in person.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#212

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…

Well, _my_ winter gloves have a karabiner on them. I shall call them The Best Gloves.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#213
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work for on of those "review" websites and it completely ruined my trust in most online product review sites. It's all just affiliate links, optimized for which offer pays out the highest conversion fee, with little to zero regard for the actual product. I would pay a decent amount of money for a tool that just filtered out any sites in Google search that promote products using affiliate links.

What about something like The Wirecutter? Would you trust them?

Any time money is involved I have to believe there will always be a motive, however small, to alter results for financial benefit. It's common for other "trusted" media companies to be impacted by their advertisers - why would the NYT be immune?

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#214
post #23

Something that has been lost is genuine reviews. First you have all the sponsored reviews and then all the equally worthless "I don't know how to use it so it's junk" or "it never arrived" 1 star reviews. And so many "review" sites look like they've been procedurally generated then SEO optimized and filled with ads.

Currently I only trust reddit for "genuine" reviews. Seems like Amazon reviews these days are gamed to the max. Once companies figure this out and reddit has a high degree of astroturf it will be impossible to find out what normal, unbiased (as in don't have an agenda) humans think about a product.

Reddit works in many (not all) cases for reviews because if there's something falsey enough, you can often count on the hive mind to provide many points as to why that is fake, links to reliable sources on better info, or alternative experiences and documentation (photos/vids) to back it up. Unlike retailer sites or Amazon, where the platform has a vested interest in just getting you to hit Buy, Reddit has no such issues, and there's no real policing of dissenting reviews.

It is self-policing in some ways. But again, some review categories are better for this than others, and the hive mind can be susceptible to hype and astroturf.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#215

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,…

This sounds an awful lot like autism man.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#216
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Retail stores have sold their shelf space to the highest bidder for decades.

You don't invest in buying shelf space for a product that is crap, so it works out. Being listed on Amazon costs nothing so you might as well list crap.

Bingo!

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#217
post #4

That "tyranny of perfect information" begets FOMO. If you'd looked at one more site or one more review you might have discovered a "better" (cheaper, high quality, higher utility) item. I'd add that's it's worse because the world is flatter. Why should I buy Brand Item when I can get a version from Alibaba for 10-20%? If it truly is comparable, then why pay the markup when the internet lets me cut out the middleman?…

Some people are "satisficers" content with good-enough. Some are "maximizers", who want to find the absolute best product, which leads to wasting enormous time on research, and ultimately frustration and buyers' remorse. Usually people are maximizers in some product categories and satisficers for the vast majority of other items. In my case, I am a maximizer for computers, cameras and optics, but couldn't care less about shampoo or hand cream and just want an end to the madness.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#218
post #47
post #4

That "tyranny of perfect information" begets FOMO. If you'd looked at one more site or one more review you might have discovered a "better" (cheaper, high quality, higher utility) item. I'd add that's it's worse because the world is flatter. Why should I buy Brand Item when I can get a version from Alibaba for 10-20%? If it truly is comparable, then why pay the markup when the internet lets me cut out the middleman?…

Consistent quality is the entire point of brands. Find a soap you like and you can mindlessly get the same thing for the next 20+ years. Which also generally means you can pick a random brand and not end up with junk as long as trust the supply chain. The issue is when you want something different than the millions of other people out there. Sure, things change and the quality may slip, but there is only so much time…

Unfortunately private equity funds buy out companies with a good brand reputation, do "quality fade" on the produce, and milk the company's reputation until it is in tatters, then get a tax deduction for the inevitable bankruptcy.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're trying to convey a sense of trust across all of the items they offer through their parent 'Brand' which is a bit ironic given the name. Ideally they only offer eco-friendly items and that relieves the consumers of the burden of making that choice for themselves. As noted on other Acacia products, it's a fast-growing renewable wood. https://brandless.com/products/acacia-wood-cheese-board

I don’t understand how selling items manufactured in a country with the environmental regulatory environment of China can honestly be sold as eco-friendly.

China is improving, if only because a rising middle-class is demanding air that doesn't choke their lung in cities like Beijing or Shanghai. The US, on the other hand, is regressing.

Re: Shopping Sucks Now

#220
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect that once that fails, the next step is going to be having to join the Discord server or whatever chat-group exists for that niche. Then asking for a recommendation from some weirdo whose super obsessed with gloves or whatever. The future is weird.

Gloves Reviews Discord Server, I actually lol'd

Proper glovemaking actually requires a surprising amount of skill. Even crappy gloves do.
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