Comment by olympus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by olympus | Hacker News Reader

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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.

> 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.

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.

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.

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