Sometimes curation just means higher prices. My local Best Buy curates electronics, but none of them are cheaper than the hundreds of additional brands you can find on Amazon.
You can’t get a $50 WiFi 6 access point at Best Buy, but you can find that on Amazon.
I think what you are describing is Walmart or Target but with filters applied to turn off third party sellers.
As an aside, what’s interesting about Amazon is that once you unsubscribe from Prime, it’s not incredibly competitive with AliExpress for the right types of products. Usually if you can wait a week, you can wait two and save more money.
I've been hearing a lot of complaints of later that amazon has also become a complete crapshoot, primarily from .us based friends.
I'm in .uk and have yet to have a problem (there was one sneakily labeled listing but the keyword they'd stuffed in wasn't one I understood and the price and product were both what I wanted/expected so -I- wasn't disadvantaged by that listing at least).
The amount of trust you need in a device varies based on what you’re buying.
There are a whole lot of products where saving cash easily trumps having a good brand standing behind it.
Phone cases are a classic example. Some of my recent purchases like a toilet paper holder or emergency ponchos are similar. Even clothing is getting to the point where name brands are barely more dependable than Amazon off-brand clothes that probably come from the same factories.
Sometimes “untrustworthy” brands go above and beyond mass market retail options, like the LED automotive lights that AutoZone won’t sell me.
AutoZone is doing us all a favor. Most people whack in an LED replacement for their turn signals and end up with a quick flashing mess that may be partially green. Or they put in LED brake lights that are blindingly bright and have no differentiation between idle and braking.
I made sure the lights had the same projection pattern as the halogens. I put in one on one side first and compared to the old bulb. No difference: they both cut off at the same height. Neither halogen nor these LEDs are directional, it’s the housing that determines the projection pattern.
Plus, I’m in a sedan, while everyone else drives a huge SUV that rides higher than my car.
I don’t see how my light system is any more offensive than the luxury cars that have the same thing from the factory. The only difference is that I don’t blow all my money on a stupid car payment or a thousand dollar feature package just so I can see better at night.
I also installed LEDs for the license plate lights which has no negative effect on anyone, and now they won’t burn out all the time.
(I did not install turn signal, brake, or high beam LEDs, I just installed the stuff that annoyed me by burning out all the time)
You can’t get a $50 WiFi 6 access point at Best Buy, but you can find that on Amazon.
I think what you are describing is Walmart or Target but with filters applied to turn off third party sellers.
As an aside, what’s interesting about Amazon is that once you unsubscribe from Prime, it’s not incredibly competitive with AliExpress for the right types of products. Usually if you can wait a week, you can wait two and save more money.