Comment by olympus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by olympus | Hacker News Reader

On one hand, anyone can obviously see that this is clearly ripping off the Chromecast's looks (and trademarked logo). But on the other hand, anyone who buys this thinking they are getting a Chromecast obviously didn't read the description. The first line is "special note: this isn't a Chromecast." One of the product pictures clearly shows that it can do several things but not Amazon Video or Netflix. I'm not sure I feel sorry for people that buy this. Didn't you learn that MegaBlox weren't as good as Legos when you were a kid?

Also, I don't know if the description has changed in the last couple months, but the top review (2 out of 5 stars) focuses on the fact that it's not 5GHz capable, but it never claims that it can. Again, it's possible that they changed the description since the review was posted, but I can't see anything on this product that is an outright lie. This company is staying on the right side of shady behavior and not straying into criminal territory.

Crappy product? Probably. Trademark infringement? Almost definitely. Counterfeit? Not quite. It's just MegaBlocks vs. Legos.

You're blaming the victim. This is a rip off, which clearly reminds of the original, and probably 80% of buyers are searching for the real deal and my end up buying this shit.

I'm not blaming the victim, most* of the purchasers are in on the scam- they think they can "stick it to big Google" and buy a product that they know isn't a real Chromecast and save $10 over the price of a real Chromecast. As Dave Chappelle said, "You were in on the heist, you just didn't like your cut." They thought they could get a product without paying for the R&D effort goes into making a good product.

If you pay less money you can't expect to get the same thing. Situations where you get a better product for less money are pretty rare when the product is sold in large quantities- manufacturers won't give up free profit margin. If someone knowingly buys an inferior product, they don't get to complain when it isn't as good as the original. "Oh, man my $50k Hyundai Equus isn't as nice as a $70k Mercedes, I thought they'd be exactly the same."

*I'll accept that a few old grandmas bought these thinking they were the real deal, but most people knew they weren't getting real Chromecasts in the first place.

I could not tell you how much a Chromecast costs. Or even a FireTV for that matter. And I shouldn't have to know the MSRP to know if I am getting scammed.

And once Amazon replaces the "buy now with one click" button with "please read every word on this page before purchasing" button we can talk. Amazon wants fast and brainless purchasing.

I get where you're coming from about how much due diligence is reasonably required of a customer, but at the same time, ignorance of the product you're buying is not a very good defense.

There's ignorance, and then there's getting misled. Amazon's search is essentially saying this = Chromecast. You type in Chromecast, top hit is something that looks like a Chromecast, clearly engineered to mislead, right down to the logo.

Yes, technically it doesn't say it's a Chromecast, and most of the 5 star reviews are barely coherent or obviously shills, so it doesn't take a genius. But still it's a shitty experience, especially if you aren't a technical person. Even as a technical person, it's a shitty experience, you can't get what you wanted, and might spend 10 minutes looking, sifting through shite knockoffs, wondering why there aren't any real Chromecasts (like I did).

This is how you ruin the reputation of your business very, very quickly.

Maybe the difference between our views involves where the blame ought to lie.

I think it's hard to argue that Amazon has prima facie done anything malicious here, unless they have made special accommodations for the product, and/or have changed their search algorithm for the word "Chromecast."

At worst, they are allowing someone else to sell a misleading product with the Chrome logo. But even if the logo were different, I suspect people would still be complaining.

> Amazon's search is essentially saying this = Chromecast.

Are you familiar with Amazon's search? Most searches have items in the completely wrong category on the first page. It being wrong is expected, not evidence of fakery.

An argument that begins with "most people" is rejected because of the pure ridiculousness of it. You have no way of knowing what most people thought or knew.

Well, search Chromecast and it's the second result on amazon.co.uk. It looks to me like this is intentional, especially since it looks like a Chromecast and has only 2 stars.

Is it an attempt to rip people off who expect to get an actual Chromecast or is it just intended to make it look like a bad product you shouldn't really be buying?

I'm getting kind of tired of this war between amazon and google that's not serving anyone's interests.

How's it gonna end - organic search results with no amazon listings?

> It looks to me like this is intentional

How can you judge intentions based on the fact that the product shows up second in a search for Chromecast? Given that there is no actual Chromecast on Amazon, what would you expect to see for that search?

'...there is no actual Chromecast on Amazon, what would you expect to see for that search?'

Nothing.

Oh, come on. That's not how any of the other searches on Amazon work.

For example, if I search "Nissan GTR bumper," here is what I get in the search results:

  1. tow hook
  2. 350z bumper
  3. lip spoiler
  4. NISMO emblems
  5. license plate bracket

...and the list goes on.

You don't get zero search results, you generally get the most relevant ones. You only get zero results when your search is so specific that no products are at all relevant.

OK but what if the search returns a fake bumper, you're happy with that are you?

I get that it's OK to return a result with similar items but surfacing a blatant fake so prominently, you really think that's just an algorithmic glitch?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com