Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

pluralistic.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 213 posts

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#11

Post by dazc »

spicyjpeg wrote: post #10

I consider this phenomenon part of what I like to call the "Amazon syndrome", even though Amazon is far from being the only culprit. As China started flooding the rest of the world with cheap but decent products mass-produced in a random factory in Shenzhen, people turned away from brands they used to trust and towards no-name options from the likes of "Kxbnheb" or "Ypknwoj" in order to save a buck. Eventually the bi…

'Eventually the big brands themselves had to lower the quality of their products to be able to compete with the generic products...'

I remember some brands lowering the quality of their product long before all of these random Chinese copycats sprung up.

Maybe this is why they were able to get a foothold because people like myself began to think that some cheap copies were actually better than the genuine article.

My pet grievance being branded footwear which has mostly become cheap garbage with a premium price tag.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#12

Post by foobarbecue »

plugin-baby wrote: post #7
foobarbecue wrote: post #2

s/is overpriced junk/costs 10% more on average and may be lower quality/g I've been very happy with some purchases from companies I found out about on Facebook. Cognitive Surplus, for example. Love their stuff. Is 10% of their price due to their choice of advertizing platform? Shrug. Having said that, a lot of it IS overpriced junk, or outright scams. I had some cool-looking shoes show up on my feed for "50% off" a p…

> I bought an espresso machine from a facebook ad that turned out to be an elaborate scam. More about this, please!

Here it is: https://www.facebook.com/BaristaService365/posts/10258694519...

I clicked the link and went to the website, which at the time went to sarisell.com , a professional-looking storefront (they move to a new domain and update the ad every week or two). I thought there was a pretty good chance it was a scam since this is an $800 machine supposedly selling for $300, but I figured I would be reimbursed if it was, so gave it a go. Here's the elaborate part: they took my money and sent me a delivery tracking link at sodopro.com which appeared to be a delivery service like DHL. The link went to a map that showed the product travelling very slowly from Europe, and it would change every few days. Eventually the location disappeared and the status just stayed at "on the way" or something. I filed a claim with my credit card and got the charge removed.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#13

Post by jfk13 »

stareatgoats wrote: post #9
mjr00 wrote: post #4

To the headline-only readers, be aware this article is largely not about advertising making products more expensive, but instead mostly lamenting ad-tech, terrible modern search, and proposing privacy regulations. IMO, the cat is mostly out of the bag at this point. I don't think there will ever be regulation meaningful enough to "untarget" advertising to the degree that privacy advocates might hope. At best you'll b…

Props for the heads-up to "headline-only readers". > a largely bureaucratic way to extract extra money from Google/Meta/Amazon in the EU This can not be overstated. The EU should concentrate on creating things of value of their own, like privacy first services , not constantly prioritizing leeching off innovation and progress in other countries. Speaking as a concerned European here, with plenty of criticism of the w…

Just curious: do you regard the Google/Meta/Amazon advertising machines as "innovation and progress"? Or in any sense "things of value"?

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#15

Post by sharkweek »

spicyjpeg wrote: post #10

I consider this phenomenon part of what I like to call the "Amazon syndrome", even though Amazon is far from being the only culprit. As China started flooding the rest of the world with cheap but decent products mass-produced in a random factory in Shenzhen, people turned away from brands they used to trust and towards no-name options from the likes of "Kxbnheb" or "Ypknwoj" in order to save a buck. Eventually the bi…

I’ve got a take: I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality.”

I desperately want to spend more money on a product that will stand the test of time but it’s so hard to find them at times.

Sure there will always be a majority of shoppers who want the cheapest thing as fast as they can get it and they won’t mind if they have to buy 3 of them every year, but I think the market is going to start supporting a more artisanal approach for consumer goods as the pendulum swings the other way over the next decade (although current global finance which I won’t pretend to understand might make this a little trickier…)

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#16

Post by vanilla_nut »

VeninVidiaVicii wrote: post #5

> Passing a federal privacy law would end surveillance advertising at the stroke of a pen Unlikely—breaking the laws would likely just become a business cost, and make everything even more expensive for everyone.

Of course it depends on enforcement. But individuals literally cannot solve this problem alone. That's why we have government in the first place: to level the playing field and avoid these prisoner's dilemma situations. Only an entity as powerful as the government has the resources to disincentivize surveillance advertising. If they set penalties high enough, it will not "just become a business cost."

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#17

Post by hoseja »

sharkweek wrote: post #15
spicyjpeg wrote: post #10

I consider this phenomenon part of what I like to call the "Amazon syndrome", even though Amazon is far from being the only culprit. As China started flooding the rest of the world with cheap but decent products mass-produced in a random factory in Shenzhen, people turned away from brands they used to trust and towards no-name options from the likes of "Kxbnheb" or "Ypknwoj" in order to save a buck. Eventually the bi…

I’ve got a take: I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality.” I desperately want to spend more money on a product that will stand the test of time but it’s so hard to find them at times. Sure there will always be a majority of shoppers who want the cheapest thing as fast as they can get it and they won’t mind if they have to buy 3 of them every year, but I thi…

Sadly this is a very unstable position. No economies of scale. No consumer reach, extreme incentive to sell out once/if your product does get popular, knockoffs, etc...

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#18

Post by flappyeagle »

My feeling throughout reading the article is best summed up as "Y U mad bro?"

He harps on an "anti-woke" razor company that tries to market themselves as an alternative to Gillette and Harry's — the big point is "they spend 800k/month on marketing, so it drives up the cost of the razors". Does he know how much Gillette spends (saved you a search: 600M/year)? How do they fund that I wonder?

He cites a study that says contextual ads and targeted ads perform at about the same efficiency. Why is this remotely interesting? Ads are a liquid market. If one channel was much better than another, it would be arbitraged away.

His stated thesis is this:

> Targeted advertising is incredibly expensive, and incredibly lucrative – for the ad-tech platforms that sit between creative workers and media companies on one side, and audiences on the other

It couldn't be more wrong. Ads are incredibly cheap. It's why you see so many of them. It's why little companies targeting narrow niches can afford to buy them.

Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk

#19

Post by germinalphrase »

sharkweek wrote: post #15
spicyjpeg wrote: post #10

I consider this phenomenon part of what I like to call the "Amazon syndrome", even though Amazon is far from being the only culprit. As China started flooding the rest of the world with cheap but decent products mass-produced in a random factory in Shenzhen, people turned away from brands they used to trust and towards no-name options from the likes of "Kxbnheb" or "Ypknwoj" in order to save a buck. Eventually the bi…

I’ve got a take: I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality.” I desperately want to spend more money on a product that will stand the test of time but it’s so hard to find them at times. Sure there will always be a majority of shoppers who want the cheapest thing as fast as they can get it and they won’t mind if they have to buy 3 of them every year, but I thi…

“ I think the current gap in the market for a lot of product areas is “more expensive but high quality”

Often those products do exist, but you need to become an “expert in X” to find them.

Oh… you want to buy a high quality leather [whatever], better start learning about leather grades, leather tanneries, stitching thread, stitching types… so it doesn’t blow out in a year.

Except we can’t all become experts in all products, and many companies are perfectly happy to build a brand on quality and then slowly erode that quality to increase margins.

Post reply on HN