Amazon without the knockoffs • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#41

Post by BorisMelnik » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

Cider9986 wrote: post #14

mjamesaustin wrote: post #11

Even better, buy direct from the manufacturer instead of Amazon. I've found most of the time you get the same price and free shipping without giving Jeff Bezos a dime.

I'd rather not spread out personal info like credit cards to more parties than necessary while Amazon has excellent and consistent customer support.

I was the same way and got tired of it so I keep a layer in front of my life just like I do on the web with multiple identities, emails, VPNs, etc.

I pay $100 per year for a private mailbox near my apartment, registered under an LLC with a registered agent (not in my name and in another state) where I get deliveries in that name. that llc uses a fintech bank where I can spin up as many debit/credit cards as I want, I rotate them just like api keys. I also keep a twilio phone number that only receives texts with a webhook that goes to my discord. any sort of loyalty card etc goes under that number. I can enable phone calls if I need to, and of course a 2nd/3rd email account attached to this.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#42

Post by Cider9986 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:39 PM UTC

madibo3156 wrote: post #19

Cider9986 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather not spread out personal info like credit cards to more parties than necessary while Amazon has excellent and consistent customer support.

> Amazon has excellent and consistent customer support We've been dealing with different Amazons. Also, credit cards in my experience are built to deal with that stuff. Have you encountered protection issues by using your credit card? The only chargeback I've initiated was against Amazon and my credit card company handled it swimmingly.

Every time I talk to them I ask for a gift card for compensation for whatever problem and they give it to me.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#43

Post by Cyberdog » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:40 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #18

Cyberdog wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make your burrito or bowl at home, and it'll cost $4 or less.

Do you enjoy eating just rice wrapped in a tortilla or something? Burritos are a harsh illustration of the economy of scale. Doing a quick tally with sale prices, and I'd think buying all the ingredients to make one single burrito would be upwards of $20-25, at least. Never mind the time to cook each ingredient that needs to be cooked. And most of these supplies and prep are going to last what, ~4 days before they sp…

But you wouldn't be making a single burrito. You'd be making several over several days, and/or using the leftover ingredients for other meals.

Economic literacy is truly dead, isn't it? Good lord.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#44

Post by Auracle » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:41 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #18

Cyberdog wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make your burrito or bowl at home, and it'll cost $4 or less.

Do you enjoy eating just rice wrapped in a tortilla or something? Burritos are a harsh illustration of the economy of scale. Doing a quick tally with sale prices, and I'd think buying all the ingredients to make one single burrito would be upwards of $20-25, at least. Never mind the time to cook each ingredient that needs to be cooked. And most of these supplies and prep are going to last what, ~4 days before they sp…

> And most of these supplies and prep are going to last what, ~4 days before they spoil?

Rice lasts a very long time. Tortillas last a long time in the fridge (you can probably freeze them?). Freeze the meat. Beans last forever. Sour cream and cheese last a long time in the fridge and you'll certainly use them for other things.

Guacamole/avocados/other veggies are potentially harder to deal with for long term storage, but that depends and it looks like there are some options. Salsa also keeps for many, many months.

As far as time goes, if you're single, many of the ingredients could be cooked in a batch and then frozen, even as whole burritos.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#45

Post by jjice » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

gortok wrote: post #32

I worked for a hardware startup ten years ago now, and a big problem that was rampant at the time (and seemingly has only gotten worse) is that basically the Contract Manufacturers (CMs) in China take the BOMs and plans they’re given, and since they already have the molds, the same product will mysteriously be produced with a knock-off name, within weeks of your product being produced in china. At the time (and still…

I remembering hearing from a former Cisco employee once that in the mid 00s this would happen to them and the knock off router manuals were literal photocopies of the Cisco ones with very half-assed attempts to block of Cisco.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#46

Post by advisedwang » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

This says it's using AmazonBrandFilter's list of brands. Why would we use/support this chrome extension instead of the upstream one [1] which is actually doing the important maintanance task?

"Knockoff" seems to be literally describing itself.

[1] https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/amazonbrandfilter/m...

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#47

Post by dyselon » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:44 PM UTC

mjamesaustin wrote: post #11

Even better, buy direct from the manufacturer instead of Amazon. I've found most of the time you get the same price and free shipping without giving Jeff Bezos a dime.

I often try to do this, but it's rarely cheaper, and occasionally much worse. I recently bought a beach tent directly from the manufacturer, and when it showed up, it had a big Amazon sticker on it, and didn't actually have the product inside; it was clearly something Amazon had returned to them. Meanwhile, they haven't responded to e-mails and there's no way to return it, so, uh, I just got scammed.

I keep doing it anyway, but it's certainly not because it's a better or cheaper experience.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#48

Post by coryrc » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

mplewis wrote: post #39

IncreasePosts wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds really cheap, if you don't consider that you need to do all the shopping, you need to prepare all the food, and deal with probably a bunch of food waste.

is this your first time being introduced to the concept of cooking?

Why is it a sin in America to take advantage of economies of scale for cooking but not for anything else?

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#49

Post by firmretention » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

lubujackson wrote: post #31

kjellsbells wrote: post #5

Cuts two ways. Why should I pay $200 for a BigBrand dog bed if this knockoff site shows SHRDLU has the same thing for $40? We all know that BigBrand gets it from the same supplier. The real knockoff problem I see is that you buy what you think is BigBrand and get shipped Knockoff because someone is mingling inventory.

Whenever I see keyboard-mashed company names I know I can go to Temu/AliExpress and get it directly there. You can tell when they are all sourcing from the same batch and instead of paying $40 the same thing is often $3.28 if you don't mind waiting a week.

I used to do this more often, but I find the gap is narrowing a lot. Most of the time I find I don't save enough to justify getting it in two weeks over 1 day.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#50

Post by persedes » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 5:47 PM UTC

kjellsbells wrote: post #5

Cuts two ways. Why should I pay $200 for a BigBrand dog bed if this knockoff site shows SHRDLU has the same thing for $40? We all know that BigBrand gets it from the same supplier. The real knockoff problem I see is that you buy what you think is BigBrand and get shipped Knockoff because someone is mingling inventory.

Depends on your own taste for risk, should the knock off brand have worse QC: what big brand gets you is the ability to sue them should their products fail catastrophically or cause you harm:

https://www.geekwire.com/2019/lawsuit-ruling-dog-leash-purch...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1k2ydn1rz8o

It seems like the retailers can be held responsible should "ASDAS_A!kr" drop off the radar, but might still be easier to sue local.

(I know "local" companies still find ways to settle / weasel their way out of responsiblities, but at least you know where to reach them...)