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

bifl.xyz

21–30 of 33 posts

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

#21
I hate how many options we have when making purchasing decisions. I'd rather buy a few things that last a lifetime instead of hundreds of garbage products that need to be replaced every 6 months.

Which is why I built:

https://bifl.xyz

A simple website where users can submit and vote on the best BIFL products in a range of categories.

Help me build out the site by either commenting a product I should add to the database or by submitting a product yourself here

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

#25

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…

Also Ray-Ban for $220, another Kara submission. Bad price to quality ratio.

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

#26

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…

Just wondering if I could bring this up for discussion but is Buy it for Life a good consumer philosophy in the first place?

Intuitively it sounds like it is — what can be bad about high quality products that last forever that in turn creates less waste?

But I have lots of BIFL goods that I’ve enjoyed once or twice but never used again. Some got obsolete, unfashionable and almost all are overbuilt to some extent so they last a long time. Others are in a drawer because my interests shifted (like my very high quality immersion circulator for my sous vide phase). They were also much pricier to start with. There’s also an unintended consequence almost — like EDC people buying way more EDC stuff that they can EDC so they can optimize for EDC.

What would happen if we were the buy the right quality for the right use case at the right time and buy as little as possible?

BIFL optimizes for quality and longevity but those aren’t always things that are important. Optimization always trades something off and having a narrow objective doesn’t always work. I guess you can always resell.

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

#27

I appreciate seeing posts like this on HN that showcase simple yet practical life tips.

Well it seems more like an advertisement from the creator.

You definitely have a point. The author’s motive is either to showcase products they use and are passionate enough about to highlight their longevity, or an attempt at a revenue stream. It could possibly be both, but realistically one motive should overpower the other.

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

#28

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…

I would suspect that in a case like Reddit's /r/buyItForLife/, other users who are interested in the topic will point out issues. Maybe the same thing could work here.

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

#29
post #26

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…

Just wondering if I could bring this up for discussion but is Buy it for Life a good consumer philosophy in the first place? Intuitively it sounds like it is — what can be bad about high quality products that last forever that in turn creates less waste? But I have lots of BIFL goods that I’ve enjoyed once or twice but never used again. Some got obsolete, unfashionable and almost all are overbuilt to some extent so t…

Perhaps repair over replace might be a better concept. Since your right and ironically things like this only make people want to buy more stuff when people probably already have exactly what they need. Yesterday I realised I was wearing a crappy shirt that was over seven years old and it was still holding up great. Thanks for your comment you got me thinking about repositioning this!

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

#30

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…

Also Ray-Ban for $220, another Kara submission. Bad price to quality ratio.

That’s my mum who submitted that. She was submitting from the perspective of stylistically timeless goods. The wayfarer is a staple pair of glasses that never goes out of fashion
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