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Comment by m463 | Hacker News Reader

Most amazon private label stuff is disposable, low cost, I-don't-need-a-warranty stuff.

They compete directly against no-brand or unknown-brand chinese imports.

Seriously, who cares about a warranty on a $6 thing? As long as it works when you get it, it will probably continue working.

Amazonbasics cables or camera tripod DOA? Amazon will ship you a replacement and you can send back the broken one.

By the way, all the amazon label clothing comes in bag already set up to repackage and return.

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You're mistaken about the price of items on AmazonEssentials. Some of these items can range to nearly $100 (though, admittedly most of it is clothing). If a $80 jacket (https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Essentials-Heavyweight-Peacoat...) I bought started falling apart in under a year, I'd like a warranty. I don't know about you.

No, I would not have high hopes for an $80 peacoat. If I bought that I would expect it to fail.

Not sure why you're being downvoted. A good peacoat will run you hundreds of dollars...

> this is the winter essential that will be a wardrobe staple for years to come

Amazon disagrees. I do too. $80 is a ton of money to spend on a coat. I would indeed expect multiple years of use. Either way, less than a year is unacceptable at any price.

Price is relative so I don't think there is much to compare. Where I live, $80 is enough to buy clothing to survive one whole season for 2 years.

Warranty and replacement may benefit from being tied down to income of the people in the area the product is sold. I am not sure how that would be possible.

I'm disappointed. I wanted to disagree and say "$80 is not a ton of money to spend on a coat, look at what a coat would have cost 25, 50 or 100 years ago", but the internet was not forthcoming.

I could get a coat that lasts years for $10 now and I could do the same 25 years ago. Same with a coat costing $80 or $1000. All those coats should last years. Any one of them that lasts under a year would be a scam, a piece of garbage that shouldn't be sold. Even at $1 that'd be true. I'm not sure what your point is at all.

My point is that $80 is not a ton of money to spend on a coat. Neither is it a ton of money to spend on shoes. But many people only intend to use their shoes or coat a single season. It's hard to say that only clothes that last years should be sold. But if I'm being sold a $10 coat or $10 pair of shoes,why should I expect it to last years? I should have paid more for better quality.

I can't speak to your hypothetical coat, but this coat is advertised to literally last many years so you are either arguing that it's fine for the seller to lie or you don't have an argument at all.

Also $80 might not be a lot of money to you, but it is a lot of money to most people in this world. So that's not an argument either. I can afford to buy a Lamborghini on impulse, so how come everyone can't afford one, is frankly a ludicrous argument, whether it applies o Lamborghinis or to coats.

I think there are two separate questions here:

1) $80 is truly not a ton of money for a peacoat. A peacoat by Sterlingwear of Boston (supplier of peacoats to the U.S. Navy) started at $140 in 2009 (I owned one, and it lasted 7 years). You can get cheaper peacoats, but Sterlingwear is made domestically and is considered by many to be the baseline standard for peacoats (not luxury, but still a quality product).

2) That said, I agree things should be made to last -- disposable peacoats at any price is wrong and wasteful. At least 2 winters is the absolute minimum.

I have never heard of a warranty for clothing unless you buy something very expensive.

Ok, what about environmental considerations? This seems very inefficient.

Even if they had a warranty they'd just send you a replacement item and throw your old one away. What's the difference besides the money for the new one is coming out of your pocket instead of theirs?

I think the idea is that there would be an incentive for them to make the product last

The board: "What about it?"

I talked to a friend and he said the UPS store now throws all the individual returns from multiple customers into a single box and ships that back. So there's that.

Haha do you think Amazon makes their decisions based on the environment? Of course they don’t.

People who make returns aren't making a decision based on the environment either.

Have you seen the news on Sonos upgrade policy? They just throw away fully functioning devices.

Can't you just resell them instead of going through Sonos?

Yes, but if you want to get a 30% discount on your upgrade, Sonos requires you to brick the device by putting it into "recycle" mode.

> Seriously, who cares about a warranty on a $6 thing?

Just because you do not care doesn't mean it should apply to everyone.

My parents would definitely use a warranty on a $6 thing if it had one because they do not spend blindly all their money on one-time items that cost $6 each. Sorry but I have to disagree with your reasoning.

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