Returning on Amazon is one of the easiest things to do on the planet.
What amazing products are you going to miss out on? Most of the stuff on Amazon is just re-branded FBA shit. Most of each category of consumer products come from the same factories in China. Go to Alibaba and source some stuff... It's what all the FBA'ers do.
Literally the entire value proposition of Wirecutter is that the reviewers are really good and unbiased because they spend a lot of time and effort analyzing products.
> What amazing products are you going to miss out on? Most of the stuff on Amazon is just re-branded FBA shit.
1. Wirecutter / Sweethome don't constrain their recommendations / reviews to things you can buy at Amazon.
2. You can buy an overwhelming number of electronics / products off of Amazon. To insinuate that it's all white-label rebrands is disingenuous.
No one has time to do all their research from scratch themselves. (And I have zero interest in doing so.)
There is works and does not work. In the end, 98% of all consumer electronics are going to end up in a dump... generally right after the warranty is up. Live with that or live minimally AKA do without.
For instance: "Not compliant with industry standard; may damage your hardware before failing." is one review that might make me steer clear of a product rated 4.5 stars.
"Product is counterfeit. If you examine the thingummy on the wowjammer, you can see a plastic tab that is not present on the genuine product, but clearly visible on this unbranded AliExpress listing..." is another that would scare me off.
Also, many of the crap-sellers will bend over backwards to get you to remove or update a negative review. Don't do it. You would be complicit in tricking your fellow customers.
Definitely had this happen a couple of times but with seller feedback. Not necessarily because the product sucked (bought some books for my mum) but because the seller was garbage.
In one circumstance, it was a difficult to find book (no new stock, out of print), so I purchased one that had the highest quality listing for used stock ("excellent condition," "like new" etc). When she got it, it was torn, slightly loose binding, but readable (no more than fair condition, IMO); so I left a review stating such, indicating that the condition description didn't match the item, and I wouldn't buy from that seller again.
The seller, of course, wasn't happy about that and demanded that I remove it. I suppose I could've filed a claim with Amazon if they pushed the issue, but they didn't. It certainly wouldn't have been worth the hassle.