Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 90 posts

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#31

Post by salad-tycoon »

sct202 wrote: post #26
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

Temu and Shein are at least improved versions of Wish. Idk how both companies did it but my last few orders have gotten to me in 8 days. Amazon for me is taking like 3-5 days without Prime, so the speed difference is not as big as it used to be when ordering from China would be a 1-2 month wait with everything showing up in a different package.

I’ve seen them air ship my cheap crap from China to USA for “free.” I thought I read it was a national subsidy/strategy but can’t find article now. Maybe economic warfare? Can’t see how flying my $10 order of giant plastic balls is economic.

Not the one I was looking for but somewhat related: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/contributor-content/articl...

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#32

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

jodrellblank wrote: post #30
pessimizer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought their bluetooth speaker that turns itself off when you haven't sent music through it for five minutes, and that you have to get up to turn back on. edit: The physical quality seemed fine, but it's obvious that they never tested it or even thought about it much.

Nothing to do with Amazon but this has become endemic in tech in recent years and it grinds my gears. The amount of websites and services and remote control sessions that sign out or lock while I’m using them, because I’m not using them fast enough, it’s infuriating. Yes I leave stuff open for a couple of hours while troubleshooting, not every problem is solved in five minutes and one device! No bank, you aren’t incr…

This happens all the time and should be seen an accessibility issue. Some people don't have the dexterity to keep the page from timing out while they, say, fetch their card out of their wallet, or type in their address and phone number.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#33

Post by gamblor956 »

salad-tycoon wrote: post #31
sct202 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Temu and Shein are at least improved versions of Wish. Idk how both companies did it but my last few orders have gotten to me in 8 days. Amazon for me is taking like 3-5 days without Prime, so the speed difference is not as big as it used to be when ordering from China would be a 1-2 month wait with everything showing up in a different package.

I’ve seen them air ship my cheap crap from China to USA for “free.” I thought I read it was a national subsidy/strategy but can’t find article now. Maybe economic warfare? Can’t see how flying my $10 order of giant plastic balls is economic. Not the one I was looking for but somewhat related: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/contributor-content/articl...

Note that the linked piece is just an opinion piece from a professional writer who doesn't actually know what he's talking about and appears to just be making things up. It may even be paid for by Temu.

Chinese shipping is cheap because the Chinese government subsidies it for exported goods, and because due to a postal treaty the U.S. government was forced to honor those rates for goods shipped to U.S. addresses. This treaty was renegotiated in 2019 (changes effective 2020) to make shipping costs several times more expensive for Chinese manufacturers, but those higher prices are still ridiculously cheap compared to the prices domestic manufacturers must pay so there is still a substantial arbitrage opportunity, which is basically what Temu is (in addition to being an I.P. theft play, but that's an entirely separate issue).

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#34

Post by crooked-v »

glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

I wonder how long until SkyMall makes a resurgence.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#35

Post by esafak »

reaperducer wrote: post #12
Drblessing wrote: post #11

This is so sad. I live off of Amazon brands, because they're so cheap, convenient, and relatively good quality. I've NEVER had a quality issue from them. Call me a corporate stooge if you want, but their mattresses, clothing, drugs, etc. have been a lifesaver.

Amazon trash bags are great. Formerly branded Solomio. Now branded Amazon Basics. I tried Amazon pants to see what they were like. You get what you pay for. Avoid.

Solimo. Solomio sounds like an ice cream brand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VZ1fUmtw9I

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#36

Post by UberFly »

glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

Isn't Temu just another dodgy brands from China site?

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#37

Post by resolutebat »

vasco wrote: post #15
glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

To be honest Temu sounds like someone was watching the Wish.com saga and decided it was a great idea to burn a bunch of billions. It can grow a lot while it's new but I have my doubts about longevity of this type "we only sell crap" platforms.

At least in Australia Temu hits the sweet spot of offering almost-China prices with reasonably speedy delivery (under a week). If you buy the same crap on Amazon.au, you pay a 3-4x premium for local warehousing, and if you buy it off AliExpress, it often takes a month or longer to deliver.

That said, I presume the only way Temu can pull this off logistically is air freight, so I also have my doubts about his sustainable this is.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#38

Post by resolutebat »

jodrellblank wrote: post #21
nerdjon wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that generally I go for Amazon brands whenever possible. Honestly they are one of the few shorts I wear because it is so hard to find good cargo shorts for tall guys. Paper Towels, TP, vitamins, ibuprofen, etc. Much of it is solid quality, does what I need, and far cheaper than the alternatives even local ones. Looking at what is mentioned it is the staples like this that will be fine. The things that will be…

https://2tall.com if you’re in the UK.

Or outside the UK, they ship globally.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#39

Post by xyzzy123 »

glonq wrote: post #9

Once upon a time you could choose to buy good products from good brands on Amazon, or import cheap crap from China via Aliexpress or whatnot. But now that nearly every category on Amazon is dominated by cheap crap from dodgy brands in China, I'm feeling less reason to buy things from them (unless I need it tomorrow ). I suppose that's what's fuelling the popularity of new marketplaces like Temu?

Home brands of durable goods in the last 10 years have pretty much always been "Chinese crap" (I use this term loosely, sometimes the products are pretty good).

BUT, and this is the key part - buyer teams from major brands vet the supplier, make cost/quality tradeoffs and do all the supplier due diligence (like making them attest the products are not made by "modern slavery", don't have lead in them, etc). They also squeeze them super hard on payments and financials.

The BEEZELBUBS and QRYGGS are mostly the SAME factories that have always been making your goods but now they are "out of the box" and can sell to the consumer directly.

The good part is that they can now compete "fairly" outside shelf space monopolies, the bad part is that no one seems to be doing supplier due diligence or addressing quality fade.

Re: Amazon Cuts Dozens of House Brands as It Battles Costs, Regulators

#40

Post by loloquwowndueo »

treprinum wrote: post #17
Drblessing wrote: post #11

This is so sad. I live off of Amazon brands, because they're so cheap, convenient, and relatively good quality. I've NEVER had a quality issue from them. Call me a corporate stooge if you want, but their mattresses, clothing, drugs, etc. have been a lifesaver.

I bought their paper shredder and it shredded itself during the first use.

Was it made of paper? :)
Post reply on HN