The quality of stuff being sold on Amazon has been a race to the bottom for a while now, somewhat following in the steps of Ebay.
In this video Louis has two crimp butt connectors: one bought from Amazon and one bought from a hardware retail store - the Amazon purchased one, which a regular user of the site may consider as reputable at a glance, fails to crimp the wires securely. The hardware store one however securely crimps the wires in place.
It’s a pretty mundane example, but extends across to other products in other industry verticals too. A pretty major concern raised in the video was that the failure of this specific product would cause excess heat, potentially leading to an electrical fire in the worst case scenario.
There’s also the issue of reputable brands not even listing their products on Amazon anymore, leaving users with mostly poor quality alternatives shown prominently in search results.
Personally I find myself preferring to shop at dedicated or independent online storefronts, where it’s a bit more obvious what exactly I’m purchasing, and where there’s at least some minimum guarantee of quality - in contrast to a Prime “dropshipped”, generic product from Amazon. Also kind of like the fact that by purchasing from sites that aren’t massive marketplaces or outlets, real individuals benefit from my custom, not massive behemoths that don’t need the sales to survive
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Initially items were cheaper. The prime got then to you fast but the deals were largely gone. Then it was the simple return policy if the quality wasn’t there. Now they’re hoping we still just choose Amazon out of habit I guess?
Sadly there is one reason I always order at amazon (if I order something:
The Amazon-Delivery-People will bring it to my appartment, or if I’m not there leave it at my previously designated neighbors.
All other package delivery people will drive right by my house without stopping, drive like 3-4 km and then drop it of at a cigarette store. Two days later I will then get a letter by mail that I (even if quarantined, and standing at the window while checking my packages GPS to not miss the delivery people) was not at home when they allegedly rung the bell and there was also nobody else in the 20-appartment-house.
And if I cannot leave the house (and I’ve got quite a lot of problems that often prevent me from doing that), I order because I want it at home, not needing to get 2 different busses to grab my package in a whole other area of the city.