You're using articles or blog UI/UX, this doesn't suite the point of the site, it's really hard and annoying to navigate, too much white space and elegant text style.
I mean it's simple and clean and everything... but doesn't fit the subject of the site nor the use case or the targeted user base
I'm not saying it's bad design, I'm saying it doesn't go well with the goal and target, for example, products taking too much space for no reason, prices(the core) are not highlighted and written in the same size, color, and location as the description, an example product image with more compact text area would've made it even simpler and easier to use :)
Assuming that the creator really is a data scientist - or even if not - this is practically the default hypothesis to test. Do people click through, given these claims? Pictures and a better layout might even confound it.
> I mean it's simple and clean and everything... but doesn't fit the subject of the site nor the use case or the targeted user base
I believe it does; the targeted user base is the group of people who're tired of the on-line shopping experience being rotten to the core. Also, this site is pretty much a collection of articles, that happen to be shopping recommendations.
I agree. While I appreciate the lack of "tacky business" looks, it also is a site about shopping, so I would make it a store like interface, but less overload as we usually get.
Most of the products are cheap Private Label stuff. "Good" is very, very questionable here. PL'ing cheap Chinese stuff is the "git rich quick" of the 2010's. They have paid courses to teach prospective PL'ers how to game the review system.
All in all I have ditched Amazon and if I want cheap Chinese stuff I go directly to the source for a LOT cheaper.
- If looks are not the deciding factor, why are there two headbuds recommended that both are priced the same? Tell me which is best and maybe runner-up.
- The least I care about the the china-brand and the rest of the long SEO-titles don't do any good either. Only valuable piece of information here: has mic or not
- most important to me: (your) rating and price/value rating. This can only be gathered by reading your text, the latter doesn't get mentioned at all.
- most anything is a fashion-statement, I can't be buying pink or golden earphones, show me pictures!
- not sure how your reviews work, but the model you threw out won most of the hands-on reviews I found on the net
You should check out The Wire Cutter and Consumer Reports. Both of them test things to provide you with best bang for your buck and it seems like they both really care that they do a good job. Consumer Reports even takes it to the next level buy I think buying things themselves secretly so they don't get specially tweaked items or take ad money from the organizations whose stuff they test. Really valuable when researching a purchase!
Let me rephrase the one sentence for you to make up for my "limited attention span" (so sorry to have bothered you here) that you seem to think makes my all of my post "dumb":
- "Unless you can prove you actually tested the things in comparison I don't see much value in the reviews."
It's probably worth waiting for Black Friday if you're gonna be picking up any of the expensive items here. Lots of stuff usually goes on sale, even if the discounts aren't very big.
For tape measures, if you just need something for occasional home use I'd consider the IKEA FIXA [0], which costs $0.99. It's only 10ft long instead of their suggested 25ft, but that might be enough for home users. I've had mine for around 5 years now and so far it hasn't let me down.
I'd consider adding a digital microscope under cheap STEM toys, since the one linked isn't very powerful and it's kinda overpriced. You can find lots of options for under $20, there's some that can even hook up to your phone or tablet. Although I might be a bit biased since I was fortunate enough to have one when I was growing up. I still think they're a super cool toy.
I find the layout for results hard to read - the italicized titles don't help and complete separation makes it hard to compare the products in any way.
A simple table with some basic facts about each product and sort functionality would be a lot better. For example "AirPod Alternatives" list things like battery life - but don't offer an easy way to compare it.
Additionally, the single-minded focus on Amazon and cheap leads to Chinese items that are far marked up in price dominating. These can be obtained from more direct Chinese sellers for much cheaper than on Amazon. For example, many of the OBD2 dongles listed are a rebrand of Chinese dongles available for $3-5.
Would highly recommend photos. Browsing gaming chairs, for instance, I immediately bounced from the page because I couldn’t visually browse the content.
"the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
Agree that this is essentially an affiliate site, even if the intention is not.
The incremental value add is basically a query made on top of amazon reviews. But in some ways, one can do it on amazon themselves as this content and rating will change over time.
And amazon reviews aren't always the best... so... meh. I'd rather go to a site that has self tested these products w/youtube videos and such and give them the affiliate money.
There's still Consumer Reports, which actually buys products at retail and tests them. They're good for things like refrigerators, where price and value are not strongly correlated.
And even AliExpress seems to be the "second tier" to Taobao - but you'll need an agent to get things from Taobao internationally.
I wish I could draw up a hierarchy of stores. Safe to say, a lot of the marketplace listings on Amazon US are coming from (the same suppliers as) AliExpress.
Bit like the old JustBuyThisOne.com before it vanished, which told you the best tech product in any given category and offered to take care of returns and replacement if you didn't like it.
The UI/UX is good, IMHO, but there is one thing that is very annoying (per general, and it's the same here): when your web-framework does some wonky stuff to my clicks and interferes with default behavior.
I cannot ⌘ + click on the Amazon link buttons to open them in new tabs. It will open the link in-place, i.e. as if I had done a normal click on the button.
I like the condensed meta reviews. As others have mentioned, only showing Amazon is a bit of a drawback. I'd love to see what categories are coming soon -- right now the list is small.
I have the same question -- there's a great episode of the ReplyAll podcast where they dive into the murky waters of fake Amazon reviews. It's actual humans doing it, so I imagine tough to spot.
Yeah there aren’t any affiliate links yet. There will be. I used to build sites like this - the trick is to provide value for free upfront and gain and audience, then replace all the links with affiliate links when the traffic ramps.
Needless to say I quit because my “reviews” were bs and I never used any of the products I wrote reviews for...so I have a tough time these days trusting any site like this.
only because if there is a better option available at a website which pays less or no affiliate money the reviewer is incentivised to recommend the one which earns money (but costs more/is a worse product).
Consumers don't care if affiliate links are used, they care if affiliate links are disclosed. People should be told when they're being potentially advertised to.
Not an affiliate code. After the "dp" (detail product) is Amazon's product code. You can delete the rest of the URL except for dp/thecode and it will still go to the same product page.
I mean it's simple and clean and everything... but doesn't fit the subject of the site nor the use case or the targeted user base