I've actually gone back to eBay for many types of products, including computer components. The platform itself is only the transaction layer, and you're able to select the specific company/individual on there to purchase from. Because the reputation is tied to the account, they're more incentivized to match the product description to the actual product delivered.

Ebay is based on the idea that you do not trust the sellers. On the Amazon market they can just hide behind the Amazon brand.

I am convinced the Gillette razors I buy from Amazon are counterfeit or simply rejects. I buy the same item from Target and they last twice as long and shave better.

I've had the same experience. The Gillette blades I've gotten from Amazon are noticeably lower quality.

I would order from BestBuy. I just did this for an M2 and I knew that if there's any issues, I can just take it to the nearest store. They also price match, but you need to go in store or call a customer service line to do it. I just went in store. Less convenient, but less risky for larger purchases.

edit - best buy may not have everything you need but typically you can find a decent drive.

BestBuy or MicroCenter. NewEgg is good too, but it's pretty much like Amazon in the sense it's a marketplace for other stores.

The big issue is that there aren't a bunch of independent e-retailers to choose from. If you want to make it, you gotta make stores on Amazon, eBay, NewEgg, Etsy and Reverb (not all of course; depends on your products). I wrote an article about this recently:

https://battlepenguin.com/tech/the-death-of-the-mom-and-pop-...

Tiger Direct is a good option as well http://tigerdirect.com/

How's it been since their buyout? I stayed away for a few years since.

I recently started going to BestBuy again. I'd stopped for a few years. I found that I enjoyed the experience of shopping there again.

The realization that the experience that changed was Amazon, not BestBuy was startling to me.

I find that Best Buy is good for prepackaged stuff: like a full laptop or a full desktop. In fact, Best Buy prices are competitive if you're buying those kinds of items.

Best Buy sometimes has GPUs or SSDs at good prices, but its less common. I still price-compare at Best Buy because of that small chance that they win in the price wars, but my #1 goto is still Microcenter (or Newegg if from online).

Cables however is outright offensive; they operate like an airport - everything is $25 to $40

I dunno. I'd rather spend $25 on an unnecessarily expensive cable than get a $10 cable that blows up my $1000 laptop: https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XDBFUD9CTN2R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p...

The fact of the matter is: Amazon's cables have such low-quality assurance on them, that they're untrustworthy now.

I think for cables specifically, Monoprice has created a good reputation and a good price. Unlike Amazon, who hides behind "marketplace sellers" and "comingling", Monoprice puts their own reputation on the line when they sell cables.

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5458

Ultimately, if Amazon wants to be a "marketplace seller", they can. But Amazon needs to do a much better job combating fake-sellers, low-quality products. I'm not even anti-Chinese or whatever, I'm fine buying cheap Chinese stuff as long as there's some long-standing brand name that is willing to take the reputation hit if things go wrong. (Ex: why I'm fine buying cheap Chinese goods from Walmart, but not fine with buying cheap Chinese goods from Amazon. Walmart does step in and take responsibility)

Otherwise, its just Alibaba Russian roulette with your stuff. Maybe things work, maybe things don't, maybe things will blow up your laptop. Maybe the 18650 cell will blow up in your vaping device and give 3rd degree burns on your face. Or the 18650 cells will create a garage fire burning down your new scooter. Etc. etc.

The problem is the distinct lack of brands and accountability on Amazon. If a Monoprice or Best Buy cable destroyed laptops or caused fires, we'd all blame Monoprice or Best Buy. But if an Amazon item does the same, we somehow don't blame Amazon, but some indistinct unnamed entity.

I bought a Samsung Galaxy tablet from Best Buy's secondary (opened packaging or complete returns) inventory that has been absolutely flawless. I was never a tablet person ("if it doesn't fit in my pocket, I want a damn keyboard") but I've ended up using it every damn day.

Two things prevent me from using best buy (in Canada)

1. they too have a giant marketplace of who knows who

2. they require you to stay logged in to paypal if you want to use it for "convenience". The entire reason I use PP is to prevent sharing my payment data with yet another retailer and provide some isolation.

If I need something from them I just order to the store and pay then.

MicroCenter has a good website. For mass market things, I've switched to the Best Buy that is only 2 miles from my house. Fry's or MicroCenter if I need anything else. My wife bought a iPhone to HDMI adapter from Amazon (against my advice) and got a cheap knockoff that cannot even show Netflix on TV - her actual use case is to show movie clips to patients in a group session. I ended up buying her one in person from the Apple Store.

Edit to Add - She KNEW she was getting the generic adapter but still thought it would do what she needed. So this is not Amazon's fault in this case.

Fyi, cheap iphone adapters cannot work. Apple makes their decryption chips (for anything audio, not sure video) very expensive. If the product is priced low enough, it cannot possibly have the chip, since it’s like $3 in bulk, which adds like $10 minimum to final price.

I have started using Best Buy as well because of proximity. Their prices are very much on par with Amazon's and I can trust them to sell me real products.

I went to a Frys in the South Bay recently and everything there was at least 20% more expensive than it would be online.

Fry's (Palo Alto and Sunnyvale locations) has been a ghost town in terms of products, employees and customers the last few times I've been in. I'm reluctant to go there anymore because it's quite likely that I won't be able to find the thing I'm looking for and there's a decent chance I won't even be able to find an employee to ask.

Best Buy matches prices too, they're good for things that are widely available.

At least Newegg has a simple checkbox for "sold by newegg" as opposed to "marketplace sellers". I just got into the habit of checking that all the time.

Except last time, I forgot, and when I needed to return something, it took over a week just to get an RMA and return shipping info from the "marketplace".

Fuck yooooooou, Newegg, for doing this to your brand and to my shopping.

Microcenter serves my computing supplies needs quite well. There's nothing like feeling the darn thing with your hands before buying it.

Even if you don't live near one (there are only 25 locations in the country, including one in California which is well south of L.A.) the online prices are competitive, and the customer service is decent.

I used to live pretty close to that one in California and I've missed it ever since I moved up to the bay. Never realized that it's the only Microcenter in California.

I've only been to the one near MIT in Cambridge. I'd be curious to see how other locations compare.

Yeah, I agree that finding a "good" place for some products is hard, but "computer parts" is not one of those categories, as Microcenter is perfectly fine.

They only have so many locations. I recall being really disappointed being 100+ miles away and not being able to cash in on their CPU/MoBo deals

The cycle will always continue. I went through a Newegg era, then an Amazon era, now a similar B&H era as you, and who knows what store will be my go-to a few years from now. The only constant is the cycle of death of the old and something new taking its place. I’ve come to view it as a feature.

I mean, it's pretty easy to distinguish marketplace listings from normal ones. You can even filter by that criteria.

On Newegg and Amazon.

Buying from Amazon directly will get you a very good returns policy but offers no guarantee of authenticity due to their commingling of inventory.

As a historical note Newegg was bought by Hangzhou Liaison Intrctv in 2016 which kicked off the whole marketplace thing.

Walmart is the same marketplace and it's not like I shop there for "premium quality" but I still can't trust the stuff they send is legit.

Never thought I'd miss the old monopolistic, competition killing WalMart that raced towards the bottom...

I'm glad that a local electronics store ships faster than Amazon usually does even with Prime. I gladly pay the small price difference for the safety and the basic level of phone support of that company. I haven't had any serious issues yet, but the severe decline in product and review quality is obvious and fake products become more and more common.

I still use Amazon for the various products that simply aren't available in stores, but nowadays I first look somewhere else.

Here in the DFW area, I can get same day delivery of some items from Best Buy. I bought my SSD on cyber-monday that way and had it the same day. You do have to check the box that says in-store items or similar. Can't remember the exact name, but that will filter out all of the marketplace items.

Best buy doesn't have marketplace items in the US. They do ship from local stores which might be why checking in store would get the item to you faster.

I recently bought $1.6k worth of computer parts from amazon and they were all fine. But I only purchased directly through amazon/manufacturers and only selected completely new items.

I’ve gotten shitty stuff before but it’s always FBA. So I just avoid that now and I have no complaints (other than the fact that very few things I actually buy arrive in 2 days)

That doesn't protect you, as all "new" stock is treated as interchangeable. If someone sends something to amazon to sell as new and you buy from their marketplace shop you won't necessarily get the one the seller sent, you'll get the one that Amazon can deliver most efficiently.

Why would they do that tho? Doesn't that encourage fraud and damage their brand? I am just scratching my head trying to understand the benefit of doing that besides logistic cost?