• solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    can’t speak for the quality in recent years, but i bought a amazon basics laptop backpack some years ago and it’s held up better than some “name brand” gear i’ve had.

    • Stamets@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 months ago

      It goes one way or the other for me but nothing in between. Either it’s better than the others or absolute garbage that falls apart almost immediately. It’s a bit of a mindfuck

      • TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz
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        4 months ago

        A lot of it is because Amazon is known for stealing designs from innovative, small companies and running them out of business to sell their stolen designs under the Amazon Basics brand. Usually they do so by decreasing the quality of materials and relying on their own supply chain to keep prices low.

        Link to an article from 2021

        Edit: Also found this Youtube video by Peak Design, who are very well known for their high quality gear. It’s about Amazon ripping off their sling bag design.

      • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        when going generic, i’ve found it’s best to stick with supplies that don’t really matter and easy to replace if it sucks–aluminum foil, trash bags, etc

    • lone_faerie
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      4 months ago

      AmazonBasics is just dupes of popular products. They see what sells the best on their website, copy them, and sell them for a slightly lower price.

      • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        meh. everything is “duped” from something else. https://youtu.be/bH1akL3SZiA

        if you want to pay extra money to buy the “real” product from the actual brand’s website to avoid giving amazon any money, then go ahead. i’ll buy the cheaper thing that works just as well

        • lone_faerie
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          4 months ago

          Yeah, I mean dupes exist for a reason, because it works. Amazon has done far worse things to dislike them for.

      • dan@upvote.au
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        4 months ago

        When did we stop calling these “clones” and start calling them “dupes”? I guess I’m not up to date on my lingo.

        • lone_faerie
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          4 months ago

          Calling them “dupes” is the lingo used in fashion and makeup, idk about elsewhere. I think the distinction is that a dupe is a knockoff instead of a counterfeit.

  • dalekcaan@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    To be fair I think “Amazon’s choice” labels whatever product is most purchased for a given search term, not awarded by Amazon itself

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I mean, it kind of is awarded by Amazon itself, it wouldn’t be too hard to add “if product.manufacturer == [Amazon brands] then skip label”

    • thedirtyknapkin@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      oh i don’t think Amazon leaves anything out of their control anymore. if that label is for the most picked for a term the it’s because they manipulated the search. but I’m thinking it’s just a sticker that they put on things they want to sell and also manipulate the search results.

    • dan@upvote.au
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      4 months ago

      I see it pop up on random products, even ones with bad review score, so I’m not sure it even has any logic. There’s some product categories where the brand name product with good reviews doesn’t get the “Amazon’s choice” label, but some knockoff Chinese brand that isn’t even much cheaper does.

  • dan@upvote.au
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    4 months ago

    I always love this Obama meme because of how bad of a Photoshop job it is.