Most people buy the cheapest version because they don't have a reliable way of knowing if the more expensive items are actually higher quality. It's a "market for lemons" problem:
I'm already switching to buying in person, though in my case because of the delivery service usually redirecting to depots further away than the shops selling the same items.
Yeah, I'd rather go to target or something and choose from the 3 spatulas they have then spend any time trying to figure out which of the 1000 listings are good on amazon. It's just less work.
It's not less time, however. It's easier and cheaper to buy all of the top 5 spatulas on amazon (and throw 4 away) than to drive to a strip mall and find parking.
Lol, sure. Personally I don't like dealing with online returns and I dislike the idea of buying things just to immediately throw them in the garbage. I'm picking an item I plan to use regularly, I want to see it irl and know what I'm getting.
Also, I am not trying to hyper optimize my use of time, but rather I find the experience of huge selection, fake reviews mixed with sponsored listings to be very unpleasant. I have slightly more faith in quality control at a department store, or even a dedicated housewares store.
It takes me longer to put my shoes on and walk down a few flights of stairs to reach the main entrance of my apartment, than to get from that entrance (by foot) to the nearest place selling spatulas.
One of the depots used by DHL when they "can't find" my building (even though the place predates the formation of the Soviet Union, let alone its collapse) is about a mile away and I don't have a car. This is fine unless it rains, but it's not even conveniently on my way to anything interesting.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons