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Comment by randomacct3847 | Hacker News Reader

In my experience, no other category is so heavily gamed by shady marketplace sellers on Amazon than electronics. Search for wireless headphones on both Amazon and Best Buy and it’s night and day what you see returned. I’m bullish on Best Buy simply because it’s not a free-for-all of cheap foreign knockoffs.

Retail of yesteryear might stand a chance because employing buyers who actually curate merchandise to be sold will become a value add again.

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That's why I like B&H Photo now too. All genuine products, sold by them, with real reviews. Their shipping is a little slower and they close Friday/Saturday which is frustrating but overall a good experience.

They even do price guarantee if you contact CS which Amazon discontinued.

B&H is great, agreed. They are an extremely honest company, so taking a few days longer is worth it in my opinion - you are going to get exactly what you ordered in my experience. On Amazon, that's only guaranteed if Amazon is the seller (not to be confused with "fulfilled by Amazon", of course). B&H is also closed on all Jewish holidays.

"only guaranteed if Amazon is the seller" nope it's not they mix inventory.

But they are hella racists and discriminating.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2016/02/29/us/bh-photo-lawsuit/index.h...

Can anyone explain why this comment is being downvoted? Is it a matter of "yeah but Amazon does it too/is worse"?

The story is very likely untruthful.

Perhaps because it includes multiple breaches of this line in the HN guidelines:

> Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents.

There may be a case for introducing information like this when a company is recommended, but the comment would need to be worded with more civility than that one was.

Oh sorry, I just wanted to inform people. I will try better next time!

I see you are a disciple of the guilty-before-proven-innocent principle.

From the bit of googling I did, the suits appear to be settled. People seem to take considerably settlement checks as an implicit indicator of some truth. Granted there's probably more to the story.

B&H is excellent. I was going to CES, and needed video and audio recording equipment that had to have some pretty specific characteristics, so I chatted with B&H rep online, and sure enough they were able to help me. They know their stuff.

I'd say the only way to guarantee you're getting the correct product is to buy from the manufacture's page itself. Anker for example, everything is sold by them instead of sold by amazon.

Also been noticing a lot less companies allowing amazon as a "trusted online merchant" for returns.

While KEH was great for used camera gear (I haven't bought new or used gear in ages so IDK how they are now), B&H offers an unmatached breadth. If anything I'd say that Adorama is a much closer competitor to B&H, although I'm loathe to buy from Adorama due to the incessant spam I get from them every time I make a purchase.

Yes on both counts. KEH is mostly used photo gear and they tend to be my go-to for that although, like you, it's a rare purchase for me. I tend to default to B&H but I'd agree their closest competitor is Adorama (although B&H's store in Manhattan is much larger).

> They are an extremely honest company

B&H have been sued several times, most recently by the Labor Department, for discrimination in treatment of employees. Even I have heard about that, in the UK. They have paid out at least $8 million to settle the cases.

Instead I'd recommend keh.com

How can I tell that these are genuine beliefs in B&H and not just plugs and shills? This is a genuine question: I've heard of them and used to see them advertise a lot in magazines, when they were still a thing. But.. aggressive advertising is what they did, so how can I know?

You can't. I can tell you that I've been in their New York store several times and used them for decades.

Franky I'd be more suspicious of a business of their age and size that didn't have a few lawsuits against them. Also look at some of those lawsuits - remember it costs nothing to file a lawsuit, especially when fishing with lawyers on contingency :/

They also don’t charge tax currently.

That's no longer correct. In the South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. case [1] in June 2018 the Supreme Court overturned its earlier case that prevented states from requiring out-of-state mail order/online merchants to collect sales tax on sales to residents of those states.

B&H is now collecting tax for sales to customers in states that have post-Wayfair tax laws enacted, which is around 3/4 of the states.

Most of the states that have not yet done so will be doing so soon. California's goes into effect 2019-04-01, so those of you from California have until then to get your tax-free online shopping done.

Here's a page with the status for each state [2]. Here's another useful page [3] with per state info.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_v._Wayfair,_Inc.

[2] https://taxcloud.net/topics/States%20News%20and%20Informatio...

[3] https://www.avalara.com/us/en/learn/nexus/find_your_nexus.ht...

So my comment is still correct. They don't charge tax, currently.

The DO charge currently if you are in Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, or Wisconsin.

In a few others they do not charge but they warn you that they report the sale to your state's tax authority, which could make it hard to avoid paying your state's use tax.

They started giving education discounts and they provide really good customer service. I don't really have much of a problem with their closings other than I now keep a bit of a track of Jewish holidays. As long as you get your order in by early Friday, it tends to ship as fast as anyone. Plus, being assured the electronics I order is actually what makes it to my door makes it quite a bit nicer than Amazon.

B&H is nice for Boston: buy on Friday, it arrives on Monday, free shipping (UPS ground I think).

I think Best Buy price matches BH also, although BH has much more obscure/expensive choices avail.

Best Buy is kind of weird when it comes to computer parts. In the early 2000s, it was one of the only places near me to buy them. Then for a few years they started using the floor space for other stuff. Lately though, they have had a pretty good selection of hardware in the store and the prices generally aren't too bad compared to online either. If they are going to survive that's going to be one of the main ways to do it.

In 2019 choice is no longer a problem, making a choice is.

I find myself shopping in person more and more. Shelf space in San Francisco is expensive so it’s usually full of good stuff.

Also why product reviews are a whole genre on YouTube

> I’m bullish on Best Buy simply because it’s not a free-for-all of cheap foreign knockoffs.

After I worked on a project for BB, the best way I can describe what they sell is "high-end crap".

Could you elaborate?

What do you mean? They're mostly a retailer aren't they?

I agree with what you're saying, but I think the most gamed and shady category on Amazon is household products. Trying to find shampoo or toilet paper or cleaning supplies is ridiculous on Amazon. I generally go straight to Target (online) instead.

The best way to buy electronic product from Amazon is to buy none brand name. All the brand name I bought were useless fakes. I bought an unknown brand with great reviews and it's the best pair I have ever had.

Yep. It’s too much the Alibaba affect. I stick to the used market or known retailer’s online stores.

The reason I don't buy from Amazon is because there is no way to combine shipping and make it free.

I buy electronic components like diodes etc..from small Shopify stores and pay shipping only once for all items packaged together.

Item cost : 20 cent

Shipping: $2

This is where AliExpress sucks too, no way to combine shipping on small sub dollar cost items.

This is for India.

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