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> Thousands will buy the Basics version and never hear of PD in their lives though and that’s fine. They were never going to be PD customers.

Even if it were true that no overlap could have occurred between the cohorts and the pricing/existence of the AB product has no externalities upon the PD product, it's not "fine." It’s a total ripoff by a company that's supposed to be their partner.

> It’s a total ripoff by a company that's supposed to be their partner.

But Amazon is not their partner.

They are a reseller and like resellers have done since the beginning of time they will take the opportunity to cut you out if your product is successful and it's profitable for them to do so.

First line of the video description:

  Amazon is one of Peak
  Design's biggest partners.

shrug

You’ve never walked down the cereal aisle of the grocery store, have you? For nearly every variety of cereal, you can buy the name brand sucker version, or the generic cheapskate version for $1.50 less.

Amazonbasics is just the generic version of much of the overpriced junk they sell. The only people being ripped off are the ones buying the name brand versions.

It's not just a difference in branding though if the quality varies between both products. In case of cereal you may get the exact same product coming from the exact same production line under a generic label. In case of the camera bag there are clearly differences in quality.

That would be the case if PD were the ones manufacturing the bags for Amazon. They do not.

Amazon is certainly allowed to make their own bags that fulfill the same function as PD's bags. What they're not allowed to do is to copy a design without permission.

I mean, in the case of cereal you’re buying garbage so any price you pay you’re still getting garbage. I don’t believe cereal and durable goods are equivalent here.

I own that very sling and the attention to detail is exceptional. It's hard to put down. Their clip system is rather convenient as well, including its interoperability with the Manfrotto tripods. They're expensive products, but you'll keep them for a long time.

That's not true. I own many Peak Products and also (used to, won't be doing it anymore) buy Amazon Basics products simply because they're usually better value for price than most.

You're not wrong that there are some segments of customers who would never buy Peak Design because of the price, and catering to them isn't a bad thing, but Amazon should have commissioned Peak Design for the design instead of just stealing it.

I’m certainly not saying it’s okay for Amazon to do this. I’m only saying it’s okay for PD to make fun of it because I suspect their typical customer would still prefer to buy from them. Bringing attention to it like this isn’t really a risk to them.

This is a direct attempt by Amazon Basics to steal the market from PD with a design stolen from PD. I’m not sure that’s any kind of version of okay in any industry.

> The attention to details and overall quality make their gear literally “buy it for life” category products.

I've heard this was once true of Sears.

I have their everyday messenger (kickstarter version) and camera strap. Both have resin parts that degraded into sticky mess after a couple of years. They were decent otherwise, but not really "for life" kind of deals.

This happened to my messenger strap. I opened a ticket on their website, included a photo, and they sent me a mew strap.

As the other comment suggested, reach out to them. I spoke to them before and after buying my gear and they provide great support/service.

A lot of their gear comes with a really good warranty too, so it's worth checking if you have one for your messenger.