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Comment by ty6853 | Hacker News Reader

The main value add of buying a brand new seat has always been that unless someone repackaged and returned one (which does happen), there is 0% chance it is post crash. That is the whole point of used car seats, if you are too broke to buy a new one it is almost always better than nothing and the proposition is you assume some risk but less risk than before.

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I'm not sure this is true. I buy used stuff all the time, even though I can afford new stuff. All my clothes are second-hand.

The reason I do that is because I can ascertain the quality of the clothing and determine that, despite them being cheaper and used, they are just as good if not better.

I'm sure there's a lot of parents who assume, incorrectly, that a used and relatively clean car seat is just as good as a new one. So, they save a few bucks because why not?

I think the number of people oblivious to the fact that stuff like helmets and car seats have the hazard of being compromised from a crash is low enough to not distort the market much. That's part of why these items have such a discount used. Meanwhile you can sell stuff like durable name brand tools commonly for near new price.

Unfortunately when a new child arrives finances tend to be at a minimum and this deep discount works out as a almost always better than nothing and for super cheap.

Close to all used car seats have never been in a crash. I think you're underestimating how ignorant to this the average person is.

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