It isn't just social media or digital ads, the TV ads full of tactical flashlights and stuff like that are crap as well.
Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
121–130 of 213 posts
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not true that established brands made cheaper products to compete. Their prices remained the same or got higher, but quality still suffered. It’s just greed, no complex reasoning required. I recently bought a gym bag from Nike. Feels super cheap, like I could have gotten it from Aliexpress. The zippers keep locking into the fabric. Feels completely disposable. Bought a pair of running shoes from Skechers early l…
I see what you are seeing. I recently replaced some major appliances that wore out after 25+ years. Sales people were quite up front about the replacements from the same name brand now being designed to fail after 5 to 7 years: Cheaper motors, flimsier construction, and especially electronics. I could pay 3x for a higher-end brand but there is no assurance that it would buy a more reliable product. Skechers is buildi…
Appliances are a tough comparison. Yes, they will "fail" faster. However, material and energy costs means you are still way ahead in many cases. Older appliances were grossly wasteful in both, by modern standards.
And shoes are an odd one. They have never lasted a long time. Ever. Only shoes that will last, are the ones you don't use often. You can kind of make this work with a rotation of shoes. Having recovery between wearing helps. They are still very much a consumable.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#123My default assumption is that if a product is using targeted (or really any digital ads) that it is garbage. I don't think I have ever seen a product advertised on social media that wasn't a drop shipped Chinese rebrand or just a straight up scam. For a while now when ever a thing in my daily life needs replacement (or I have a need for a new thing ) I spend a good amount of time researching those products to find th…
Do you happen to have a summary of your findings somewhere ?
I'm all to improve my sponges, umbrellas, etc... !
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see what you are seeing. I recently replaced some major appliances that wore out after 25+ years. Sales people were quite up front about the replacements from the same name brand now being designed to fail after 5 to 7 years: Cheaper motors, flimsier construction, and especially electronics. I could pay 3x for a higher-end brand but there is no assurance that it would buy a more reliable product. Skechers is buildi…
Appliances are a tough comparison. Yes, they will "fail" faster. However, material and energy costs means you are still way ahead in many cases. Older appliances were grossly wasteful in both, by modern standards. And shoes are an odd one. They have never lasted a long time. Ever. Only shoes that will last, are the ones you don't use often. You can kind of make this work with a rotation of shoes. Having recovery betw…
Well-made leather shoes and boots can be repaired though. With regular oil/polish and a new sole on every couple of years you can keep a good pair for decades.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nearly perfect competition does imply a profit margin near zero.
I don’t think this is a case of “nearly perfect competition driving prices down so nobody makes a profit” (e.g., you working for a social media company trying to argue how perfect competition this is ;-) ) - BUT potentially rather a case of “monopoly power of social media charging so much for customer acquisition that it drives profits to zero”; so rather a shift in profit from high prices from the manufacturers pock…
It's an auction. The buyers are driving up prices until it's no longer profitable.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suspect targeted ads are a part of the phenomenon the article is talking about. Since targeted ads got so cheap, tiny little businesses could buy super targeted social media ads for less money than they could selling their products wholesale at a store. Net result is that they can flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC, and end run…
> flood social media with targeted ads for some geoarbitraged thing that tiny startup found on AliExpress decided to sell DTC This is a gem of a phrase. I'm going to use 'geoarbitrage' from now on. I live in a place full of this sort of nonsense, such as resold Clevo ODM notebooks, overly-cheap 'desktop projectors', overly-cheap TVs, water purifiers, and even air-conditioners. Oh, and the 'advertisers' are typically…
I agree with the whole list except Samsung for appliances, I’ve had terrible experiences with them. I have a guy coming in for the 3rd time to fix my dishwasher - the first time he came in he found out the wrong chip was installed for this model
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#127Overpriced of course. Everything which pays the additional marketing costs is at least paying these additional costs.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see what you are seeing. I recently replaced some major appliances that wore out after 25+ years. Sales people were quite up front about the replacements from the same name brand now being designed to fail after 5 to 7 years: Cheaper motors, flimsier construction, and especially electronics. I could pay 3x for a higher-end brand but there is no assurance that it would buy a more reliable product. Skechers is buildi…
Appliances are a tough comparison. Yes, they will "fail" faster. However, material and energy costs means you are still way ahead in many cases. Older appliances were grossly wasteful in both, by modern standards. And shoes are an odd one. They have never lasted a long time. Ever. Only shoes that will last, are the ones you don't use often. You can kind of make this work with a rotation of shoes. Having recovery betw…
I don't follow. If I have to replace a dishwasher, refrigerator, or washer/dryer every five years as opposed to every twenty, that's a lot of stuff going to a landfill. My old appliances didn't break the energy bank. What I'm hearing and reading is that manufacturers don't want things to last and are designing motors, pumps, and circuit boards with cheaper materials and less metal so they will conk out resulting in either expensive service calls or outright new purchases.
Shoes: I can't tell which brands are which anymore and it certainly looks like they're all made in one factory. I can't find a pair of comfortable day-to-day walking shoes. I have to make the best of what's available which means dealing with the discomfort and pain through trial and error.
Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#129Re: Everything advertised on social media is overpriced junk
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t think this is a case of “nearly perfect competition driving prices down so nobody makes a profit” (e.g., you working for a social media company trying to argue how perfect competition this is ;-) ) - BUT potentially rather a case of “monopoly power of social media charging so much for customer acquisition that it drives profits to zero”; so rather a shift in profit from high prices from the manufacturers pock…
It's an auction. The buyers are driving up prices until it's no longer profitable.
With only one seller ;-) That’s usually kind of what you call a monopoly. A bit like just a single entity selling oil and then arguing “oh this is a free market because we auction of the oil…”