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Amazon without the knockoffs

knockoff.shopping

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Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#221
post #76

I should check my purchase history, but I probably use Amazon more for buying stuff that they would classify as a "Knockoff", but isn't (i.e. there is no established brand they are knocking off). Because for legitimate brands, I try to simply buy elsewhere. This is an example: https://www.amazon.com/MiiKARE-Universal-Rotating-Adjustable... You'll find lots of different manufacturers selling this on Amazon, but there…

That’s not the problem. The problem is buying stuff from AJSH or HUYA or BJFGL or MNQW or NBXA or any other random 4 letter “company” on Amazon for $40 when the item is crappy $2 item off aliexpress being drop shipped on Amazon.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow users to opt into you injecting referral links. If they opt in, when they land anywhere, you rewrite amazon links to your referral code. Costs users $0, it's opt-in, and you make money.

I've considered this. I just feel like I need to be really careful on that front. Right now I'm dealing with a dude that requested his own brand be added. Which is totally cool. But looking at said brand. I am reeeaaallly struggling to tell if hes 3dprinting his stuff to sell, or if hes drop-shipping it and trying to get on the list.

Could you ask him for a video of himself 3d printing it?

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your work! Just installed the plugin, hope it will ease the pain of finding things on Amazon. :-D edit: lol. tried searching for USB C flex cables. WHOLE search result page is gone. Love it! :-D

Ha, oh yeah USB chargers was a huge pain. Something I've actually found I do is I just leave the addon in debug mode all the time. It's more verbose about what it's doing but it also highlights instead of hides listing. Which I've found I really like. So I think I'm actually going to make that into a feature, highlighting vs hiding.

Yes, that feature was my very first though.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

im not your dad, so im not going to tell you how to spend your money. if you prefer to support amazon, go for it. save your $1.25 or whatever. but wow, i found this a sad comment to read. i find a lot of value in shopping local.

What is the value you find excluding charity or empathy feelings?

i'm not a robot or venture capitalist, so i'm not sure why i need to exclude empathy from my decision-making process.

but, from a purely selfish standpoint: i get way better customer service, i can do trades, i can barter, i get to meet and talk with people, i can see the product before i buy it (no surprise knock-offs, etc.), my money mostly stays local, i find interesting work opportunities and sometimes referrals

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#225
there are lots of comments here defending the knockoffs. in my opinion, they are equivalent to spam. amazon doesn't have a filter for these built into it and they never will. reputation matters especially with fake reviews. i will shop for items with this filter on and if i find the selection lacking or the prices too high then i'll turn it off and look at the knockoffs.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AmazonBrandFilter dev here. Yeah. I don't know. I don't love that they're just ripping the list like that, I wouldn't mind as much if they at least helped contribute to the list. That is far and away the hardest part of this thing. But it is what it is, I'll be more peeved if they monetize it (which I'm unsure if they're doing). Maybe I should put one of those buy me a coffee links on the repo, I'd probably be better…

This is like the maintainers of all Adblock lists getting upset at the creator of uBlock origin for using them.

Except that Raymond Hill explicitly refuses to accept financial contributions of any sort and directs people to support the list maintainers.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#227
IME: Cycling bibs and shorts from knockoff amazon brands seem to be of equal quality to entry-level name brand stuff (pearl izumi) at a fraction of the price. Plain underwear, on the other hand, has serious want of quality vs 'real' athleisure brands (nike, underarmor, hanes). I was surprised to have such different experiences with two similar product categories.

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#228

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...

AmazonBrandFilter dev here. Yeah. I don't know. I don't love that they're just ripping the list like that, I wouldn't mind as much if they at least helped contribute to the list. That is far and away the hardest part of this thing. But it is what it is, I'll be more peeved if they monetize it (which I'm unsure if they're doing). Maybe I should put one of those buy me a coffee links on the repo, I'd probably be better…

They acknowledge your project under the "Prior art" section of their README.md and the list is MIT licensed. Seems fine to me?

Great original idea, BTW. Wish I had known about your extension prior!

Re: Amazon without the knockoffs

#229

It's funny but their homepage exemplifies why one may actually want the "knockoff" brands. $39 instead of $224 for a pet bed. I know which one I'll buy. There are plenty of categories of items where the cheap knockoff is perfectly adequate.

Costco sells genuine pet beds for $39. $224 is pure insanity.

Yeah, they sell the same as XHLMFPETS on Amazon.
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