[dralley]

I extend this rule to any electronics above $30 and any chargers for said electronics. Sometimes cables too, I've seen horror stories about miswired USB-C cables, and some of the cheap micro-USB cables I've bought were uselessly bent up within 2 months. $3 cheaper isn't worth the risk, or the e-waste.

[cgriswald]

The last straw for me was receiving and obviously used (and gross) $800 kitchen appliance. They took the return but I took my business to the manufacturer.

I basically only buy books from Amazon now, and even there I don’t think they make print-on-demand obvious enough, and I won’t buy print-on-demand if the book is otherwise available because I’ve gotten too many bad printings.

The last time I posted about it here people defended Amazon because of their return policies. Well, the printing errors aren’t always immediately obvious. One reference book o purchased was missing a page but had a duplicate of the previous page. When printing errors are obvious, I feel like either Amazon is trying to see if I’ll complain or they’re trying to get me to do their QC.

And even if they don’t make me return the bad one... waiting another day or two isn’t great. I’d rather wait three days knowing I have to wait three days than wait one day, have to contact Amazon, and wait one more day.

I have a kindle, and I love it, and I buy books for it. I have Prime mostly because when I was buying a lot it made sense and now I sometimes watch Prime Video. But anything else is just too much work to read through fake reviews and worry about counterfeits or used goods masquerading as new.

[strenholme]

About the fake reviews, there’s a website which is pretty good for finding those: https://fakespot.com/

[abqio]

Now that you mention it, "things that can start a fire" are also on the no Amazon list for me. Mainly electronics and especially if it's something that will stay plugged in.

I suppose that category also includes safety critical items. Like batteries intended for weapon lights, or offroad recovery gear.

[heavyset_go]

I bought a power strip on Amazon with a surge protector that didn't work that fried some of my electronics, and it was under $30.