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Comment by dawhizkid | Hacker News Reader

Amazon search, reviews, product ratings have been completely gamed by third party sellers.

Type in "wireless headphones" and the top results is completely full of counterfeit or knockoff goods. It's shocking how little news this makes in major publications.

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It seems to me that they are working to solve this in creative ways. For example, on a recent Amazon search, I noticed the results page included embedded recommendations from the Wirecutter, which is review site owned by the New York Times.

First page of results was pretty good. I didn't go deeper.

I think when you're buying an expensive item, you should do your research first on the internet, find the best item for you and then order it.

GP's message is about lack of legit reviews on Amazon when searching for wireless headphones. You are talking about doing an internet research for wireless headphones. They are two separate topics.

I think your description is unclear... order it from where?

either from amazon or from the brand's store

I see what you are trying to say: "Do your research somewhere other than amazon", but one of the major problems is if you order from amazon you risk receiving a counterfeit item(whether expensive or not).

Google search results are absolutely littered with fake review sites that have never actually have tested the products they claim, usually just reiterating the Amazon product pages (which is only obvious once you know that this is a thing). It's extremely hard to find a real review in a product category you are not an expert in to the point where I have just given up.

most of the expensive products (laptops, headphones, ...) have tens of youtube reviews

Something i've had success with is finding the appropriate subreddit for that product category - they'll often have a "simple questions / what should i buy " sticky thread or the sidebar will link to some infographics about the established best buys at various pricepoints.

I have the mindset now that when I want something that I would otherwise look on Amazon for, I search for a specialty online retailer who will (of necessity) beat Amazon and local businesses in all respects, from reliability to selection. For instance, if I want chocolate, there is a site devoted to chocolate. If I want car parts & accessories, there are sites specializing in that. If I want computer cables, there is a site specializing in those. It's a given that everybody has to compete with Amazon, so non-Amazon retailers, if they're well established, tend to be really good in their niche. I think this is actually an overlooked positive externality of Amazon's dominance.

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