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Comment by the_snooze | Hacker News Reader

There's so much manipulation on Amazon (both of Amazon's own doing and gaming on part of sellers) that I've more or less given up on buying from there completely. Mix in all off-brand Chinese crap polluting the store, and it's just a miserable experience.

These days, Amazon is most useful to me just as a price ceiling. I go to brick-and-mortar stores and have them price-match Amazon if the online listing is cheaper.

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This. For all the economic hoovering Amazon does, it's amazing to me how much the shopping experience sucks. Search results are inundated with sponsored placements, knock-offs abound, countless fake reviews, they're always pushing 3rd party sellers, and lastly I still don't understand Prime's 2 day shipping guarantee (except when it doesn't).

Best Buy has been nice lately. I pretty much only buy well reviewed (by a third party, like Wirecutter) and known items unless it’s a random thing I don’t care about or something very commodity, like a network cable. Ive also been trying to spread my $ around to other stores, like Target, etc. Amazon still wins because it’s so easy some of the time though.

I could see myself buying paperclips on Amazon if I didn't have a visceral reaction from one knockoff they sold me. I didn't realize I would react that way to anything. And they acted in relatively good faith in that transaction with other stuff, they just couldn't not sell me that knockoff.

I started shopping at Best Buy again this year, specifically because I didn't trust whatever I'd get from Amazon anymore. BB is much better than I remember it being, and so far I've been more than happy with my purchases. Combine them with Target, and I don't need Amazon anymore.

I only look on Amazon when I'm purposefully looking for cheap Chinese merchandise. Like tea lights to put inside pumpkins or other holiday decorations. I shouldn't really be supporting junk products that won't last though.

I no longer trust Wirecutter. Their humidifier reviews are obviously manipulated.

The only trustworthy sites are those that don't accept advertiser money, like Consumer Reports.

strangely I gave up on consumer reports because of all the ads.

Not "advertising" in the old sense of the word, but the data gathering like google/doubleclick, etc

I could sign up and pay, but still with tracking

At the bottom of the page you see:

    Privacy Policy   User Agreement   Ad Choices   Do Not Sell My Personal Information   © 2021 Consumer Reports

Nor do I. Their router recommendations are based on speed, with no consideration given to after purchase firmware updating. Their car reviews in the past were manipulated by choices they compare - Honda vs Kia - with no mention of, say, Toyota. I think the main problem is that they aren't actually reviewing anything - they're measuring other reviewers reactions who are paid to feature certain products and Amazon reviews, which are hugely falsified.

Yep, bought my TV from Best Buy, bought the HDMI cable from Amazon. (Come on Best Buy, no one spends $20+ on a cable.)

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