If you are buying electronics, buy it from Best Buy, Costco, Target, Walmart or another retailer with a physical store. Best Buy matches Amazon's prices and their merchandise is not fake.
Unfortunately, no physical retailers around me have random things like 3D printer filament, various specific fasteners, or a particular inexpensive picture frame. Amazon wins at sheer variety of inventory.
Also, if a particular popular brand/model is at a big box store, the Amazon listing is almost certainly the actual thing. Random off-brands might be fake, but you run the same risk at Walmart as you do with Amazon then.
> Unfortunately, no physical retailers around me have random things like 3D printer filament, various specific fasteners, or a particular inexpensive picture frame. Amazon wins at sheer variety of inventory.
They don't have to have a physical store near you.
> Also, if a particular popular brand/model is at a big box store, the Amazon listing is almost certainly the actual thing. Random off-brands might be fake, but you run the same risk at Walmart as you do with Amazon then.
I highly doubt it. Amazon doesn't vet its sellers to well, and co-mingles supplies unless you pay a fee. I think Walmart probably does it better because it isn't trying to court every seller under the sun.
> They don't have to have a physical store near you.
They can get boxes to me so fast, they might as well. Their return process is also flawless.
As for inventory integrity, I agree that Amazon probably does worse. But I’ve never personally been bit by a purchase of a big brand name from them, so for now, they’ve still got my trust.
I used to think the same way about Fry's back in the day, until it came put that they were reshrinkwrapping broken returns amd putting them back on the shelves. After seeing the recent article about fake Chinese iPhones being returned to Apple stores for exchanges, I wonder what wave of fraud is next on the horizon. All of the stores you named have open box discount items too.
Had this happen to me - I returned an item to Fry's since it was completely nonfunctional. I explained that at the return desk. The guy nodded and took it. I wandered around the store for a while, then went to look for a replacement for the item, and saw the exact item I had just returned, back on the shelf with a small discount. I know it was the one I just returned because of the way the packaging had been cut open - they had just taped it up.
Haven't been back since.
If they are re-shrinkwrapping broken items then I guess things are even worse now since there is no way to even tell it is a return.
When I had an issue with my MotoZ (which I got through same-day Prime delivery), Motorolla told me they won't cover it because the IMEI said its from India and can only be covered if I send it to India.
BestBuy in my experience makes it fairly hard. First you have to buy at their high price from the store. Then you must do customer support call and send them screenshot of Amazon listing within 14 days. I even tried that just to find that their website was down and other times they had office hours on different time zones. I wouldn't recommend price match for all but very determined customers. Their store employee refuses to match price on the spot even when shown Amazon website price.
That hasn't been my experience at all. I've used it twice in the last few months. Once for a SSD (saved $20), and once for a monitor (saved $160). In both cases, I asked about a price match and in both cases the person ringing me up checked the price on their phone, and then made the adjustment immediately.
I haven't had that problem. Once the appliance guy even price matched a more expensive dryer to a cheaper version because they didn't have that cheaper version we wanted in stock at the time.
I’ve had bad experiences with B&H. I purchased a $1k+ gimbal from them for an upcoming project. I ordered it in advance so that I’d have some time to practice using it. Unfortunately, I delayed using it for a few weeks and when I finally opened the package, it was defective. When I reached them for a refund, they said there was nothing they can do as I was outside the return window. Based on my experiences with Amazon in the past I know I would have had a much better experience if I ordered from them. Regardless, I no longer trust B&H for buying expensive camera gear.
We've gone with B&H in the last year and they are great. They also have educational institution discounts. Plus, they don't do strange things with the shipping.
B&H is my go to got certain electronics these days. I've always gotten exactly what I expected. Shipping cost seem higher, but I can deal with it for most part.
They have a good return policy. They let me return three LG V30's in a row purely on the basis of customer dissatisfaction(LG's shite poled technology creating areas of uneven color temperature.)
Also, if a particular popular brand/model is at a big box store, the Amazon listing is almost certainly the actual thing. Random off-brands might be fake, but you run the same risk at Walmart as you do with Amazon then.