[d3nj4l]

As expected, the threat of reputational damage from counterfeit goods features pretty heavily in the IPO. Unfortunately, that damage has already been done. At the moment, 8 of the top 10 results for "wish.com" on YouTube are people exposing scams. Not really a good look for the company.

[dmurray]

Do they have a reputation for quality to uphold? I expect them to be cheap and innovative, but not high quality. I'd expect the genuine Wish product to be just as flimsy as whatever knockoff.

[simias]

Agreed, I don't think people expect quality from wish.com, it's just consumerism gone wild basically. I doubt most people expect quality from them.

I'd argue that counterfeits are a much bigger problem for a company like Amazon that people actually use for "qualitative" purchases.

[55555]

> innovative What? How?

[panzagl]

You know, ignoring laws and abusing workers innovative, like a rideshare service or Amazon.

[pontus]

I have bought a few items off of wish, and each time I have been astounded at the crap I got. I mean, it was dirt cheap so I don't know what I was expecting. Honestly surprised that the business is still going, let alone going public.

[da_big_ghey]

Yeah, when I think of wish.com, I usually think of "fuel filters" or auto switches. Not exactly a reputation for quality.

[tgtweak]

I think of the terrible-lady-getting-excited-over-a-box youtube ad :|

Also the numerous videos from linustechtips and many other reputable channels detailing in painful detail how scammy wish is.

Also my mother in law who bought a $12 fitness tracker that died after 2 months.

My opinion is that they've begun exhausting the pool of people they can afford to convert since the lifetime value per new member must be atrocious and they rely heavily on marketing to new users to keep the machine going. Everyone has seen a wish ad by now - at this point there are only 2 segments: those willing to give it a shot, and those who have decided not to. If those that were in the first camp don't keep buying because the experience is terrible then you are spending progressively more to try and convert that second camp as things go on. I don't think they have a future-secure business model.

edit: a quick review of their s1 shows they spend 100% of their profit on marketing, and that aside from coronavirus bump they have not grown either in margins or growth since 2018.

[JohnJamesRambo]

The first time I heard of Wish was when they bought the Lakers jersey ad.

> Wish will pay the organization between $12 million and $14 million a year for the length of the three-year contract, according to a source who wasn't authorized to share the numbers publicly.

I just now surfed to the website to see what they even sell and it won’t let me see a single bit of the website without signing up. Genius plan.

[graaben]

I know your goal isn't to actually browse the site but you can get around the sign up modal by adding ?hide_login_modal=true to the URL

[dumbfounder]

I have no idea what you mean by this.

When I think of Wish.com I think of gimmicky, low quality, chinese products. Very few sellers are actually trying to build a brand, so they aren't trying to build a quality product. Wish.com is trying to build a brand though so they need to do better at quality control.

[moftz]

The "fuel filters" mentioned are firearm suppressors that are generally illegally used. Some times the filter is something that actually resembles a filter, sometimes it doesn't look at all like it would do much as a filter. Sometimes it's just an adapter that allows you to screw a real automotive oil filter onto the end of a gun. The other name for them is "solvent traps" which is some sort of cylindrical container thing you are supposed to attach to the end of the gun to collect a cleaning solvent that you pour through the barrel. No one really cleans a gun like this, you use the solvent on a swab attached to a metal cleaning rod. The internals just so happen to look like a typical suppressor but there is no exit hole for the bullet which you are supposed to drill yourself. Some even have a punch mark where the hole should to help align the drill. The illegal act is drilling that hole without filling out the ATF paperwork and paying the tax but even just possessing the "filter" or "solvent trap" might land you in hot water with the feds if they could make the case that you would have no use for such a device other than to make an unregistered suppressor.

The auto switches are drop-in mechanical pieces for a gun to convert it into burst fire or fully automatic, skirting laws, taxes, and registration. I don't remember the incognito name they use for these but there are very specific designs used for specific guns so once you see a picture, it's obvious what it actually is. Because these things are so specific in how they are built, there's pretty much no way you could escape conviction if you owned one and it was not registered. The feds could just say it looks like an auto switch and if you can't prove that it existed before the automatic weapons ban, then you are breaking the law.

[some_random]

Illegal firearms components.

[zucked]

Oh dear - from my small sampling of Wish deliveries, I would not use a Wish-sourced fuel filter in any machinery I wanted to keep around.

[da_big_ghey]

It's not really a fuel filter. Or technically it is, but it's really a suppressor kit sold as a fuel filter. You may also hear them called or sold as "solvent traps". This is largely because a suppressor is largely a safety and convenience device, but acquiring one legally is a painful, multi-month process with a $200 tax. You can make one legally by filing a form 1, but it is generally understood that the wish.com "solvent traps" or "fuel filters" will not necessarily be used legally.

And I'm with you - I probably wouldn't want to put a wish.com-sourced fuel filter on a firearm any more than I'd want to put it on any machinery.

[maaarghk]

lol, I have a stake in a small brick and mortar store and I recently had a plumber in looking up an electric water heater on wish.com and say "i could order you this and fit it when it arrives next month" - I honestly thought he was going to come back and tell me I had been on a candid camera show - don't know whether it's terrifying or hilarious. It cemented in my head the idea that anyone who orders something from wish.com is a halfwit

[solarkraft]

I'm not sure how international it is, but a fairly well known german insult for something of terrible quality is "When you buy X from Wish".