Hacker News Reader

Comment by ClumsyPilot | Hacker News Reader

There would be a lot less returns if descriptiong of products were actually accurate. I bought a 4K monitor an amazon, and it was a total mess - the heading said it's 1080p, but listed the right model. The body of the listing showed a different model, listed it as 4K, but had photos of my model.

It then had information about ports that was totally wrong for both models.

So how do I know if I should buy a cable, and which one it should be?

Is a correct description, size, wight, etc. Too much to ask?

View on HN

I personally view conflicting information like that as a red flag. I would rather pass up a potential good deal than have to navigate a return from a questionable listing (or more likely, suffer with a bad product because I would blame myself for buying it).

Presumably some percentage of people have just gotten unlucky (or lucky). But when I see threads from people complaining about widespread fake/damaged/etc. goods from Amazon, I also suspect that a lot of people also just click on whatever the lowest price is given that the problems just don't line up with my general experience.

You could also, you know, close the page and buy the screen somewhere that strikes more confidence in you.

I actually really don't get why anyone would buy anything from Amazon unless they have no other choice. Their site is really the worst.

In this case, the solution is to buy from a retailer whose website isn't a "total mess".

I've been shopping for an appliance at websites for brick & mortar stores... they're also a total mess with mixed-up pictures of various models etc and no way to know what you're really getting. Best to do that in person, I guess...

Retailer specific models are one more fun aspect of this. So many slightly different version, just goes to show why there is so many letters in some model numbers.

was it one of those wierd things where a single article page actually lets you choose between multiple "versions", some of which can be radically different? i hate those, they should have limited them to colours and sizes

Reply on news.ycombinator.com