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I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

bifl.xyz

11–20 of 33 posts

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#12
I think it's an interesting concept, but by nature, it can't be trusted any more than Amazon reviews can. I'm certain the intentions are good (giving the benefit of the doubt) but it won't be long before it's completely flooded with the typical mass produced garbage.

I hate to be a cynic, I really do, but the site already shows signs of low quality submissions. Case in point:

   Subaru Liberty
   About

   The best thing about the Subaru Liberty is its reliablity and the fact that the car seems to outlast others. I had one for 12 years and it just kept going. We did a lot of Kms in this and I think we probably got another 10 years out of it.

   Brand Subaru

   Highlight Feature The Car that keeps on going!

   Price $22,000.00

   Submitted by Kara W
The entry is AU specific without being marked so, and the "review" is anecdotal at best.

Maybe I've missed the point, and if that's the case, I sincerely apologize. Best of luck.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#13
Can you provide some clarity on the "Advertise" link? How do you determine what gets featured? How do users know that products on this site are actually durable and not just products that paid to be placed?

A trustworthy BIFL database would be extremely valuable for consumers, but an untrustworthy one would be even more valuable for advertisers. I'd be concerned about the sourcing no matter what, but it's doubly concerning that one of three links on the front page suggests that people could pay to get featured.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#14

The best thing about Reddit bifl subreddit is it hasn’t been infiltrated by companies or marketers.

I feel the exact opposite, BIFL very much feels like it’s been taken over by ads and corporate sponsors. Most of the recommendations are from ppl who either just bought the thing or for brand that are less than 20 years old.

IME, most subs are infiltrated with marketers either large brands or for the sub’s niche. I stopped using Reddit after the whole API thing, but for the last 3-4 years it’s felt like nearly every media(video/pic) post was doing some form of product placement, even the comments of various innocuous threads would have some top commenter mentioning casually a certain brand or product.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#15
Good on the author for putting something out in the world. I'd love a site like this to exist with data I can trust. I think this is missing the mark on the execution side a bit.

To start, there are only 8 items. They all appear to be stuff the author personally likes with no research or other quantifying data to back up these recommendations. In fact, there are more categories than items?

It takes upwards of 10 seconds for data to load from the server. With only 8 records (apparently) to pull, I think something might be off there.

Good luck on this idea and I hope it evolves into something great.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#16
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know that? I honestly find it hard to trust any product related reviews I read online anymore.

Right, I was gunna say this website might be a nice temporary oasis that is too small potatoes for digital marketers and we might actually get a decent signal to noise ratio if it doesn't get too big.

Yeah that’s usually how it goes. I also try to find dedicated forums on specific stuff and try to get a sense from there- but even that is pretty hit or miss.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#17

Good on the author for putting something out in the world. I'd love a site like this to exist with data I can trust. I think this is missing the mark on the execution side a bit. To start, there are only 8 items. They all appear to be stuff the author personally likes with no research or other quantifying data to back up these recommendations. In fact, there are more categories than items? It takes upwards of 10 seco…

The website is supposed to be crowdsourced. I want users to create accounts and upload their own products that they trust. The only products on the site right now are the ones I've been able to co-sign myself. My mum even added some products on the site that she's found to be super reliable.

I don't really want to just pull data from some third party and flood the website with products I or other people haven't actually recommended

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#18

Can you provide some clarity on the "Advertise" link? How do you determine what gets featured? How do users know that products on this site are actually durable and not just products that paid to be placed? A trustworthy BIFL database would be extremely valuable for consumers, but an untrustworthy one would be even more valuable for advertisers. I'd be concerned about the sourcing no matter what, but it's doubly conc…

The website is an MVP for a bigger idea I've been wanting to build.

Data is supposed to be sourced from the users who submit and vote on products they find durable and trustworthy.

The advertising section at the bottom is simply a placeholder. I plan on monetising mostly from affiliate links. However when there is an advertisement that would be disclosed.

I look at this like the product hunt for buy it for life products.

Re: I built an online database for the best "Buy It For Life" products

#19

I think it's an interesting concept, but by nature, it can't be trusted any more than Amazon reviews can. I'm certain the intentions are good (giving the benefit of the doubt) but it won't be long before it's completely flooded with the typical mass produced garbage. I hate to be a cynic, I really do, but the site already shows signs of low quality submissions. Case in point: Subaru Liberty About The best thing about…

Thank you this is great feedback.
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