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Comment by idopmstuff | Hacker News Reader

I'm with you. I don't really understand the complaints, since Amazon's return policy means that you aren't really taking a risk when you buy, even from randomly-named brands.

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Not all harms of using inadequately QC’d or deceptively marketed products are adequately remedied by a reasonably easy return and refund policy.

Especially when those retuns usually go to landfill instead of being restocked

I was thinking more of from the individual consumer perspective rather than diffuse externalities, but that's a good point as well.

That rather depends on your ability to evaluate what you get. I have no qualms telling non-technical people "buy USB-C chargers from the Apple Store", knowing perfectly well what quality I will get. However, you can't even guarantee you'll get something genuine from Amazon anymore even if you select that exact same product.

Exactly. And most people think, "well, I'm super technical, so I'll know," but that only works for your own field. I can tell if a USB-C charger is genuine or not, but I know that I don't know enough about clothing irons or magazine sleeves or a hundred other items to tell if it's crap or not within the return period. Sometimes, I may never know if I don't try a different one for an extended period of time.

An easy example of the harm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU&t=1688s

I'll just return the fuses to Amazon after my family burns up I guess.

Now expand that to people buying supplements, bolts holding things in place that can harm people, etc from Amazon.

There are negative externalities caused by buying and returning stuff.

> Amazon's return policy means that you aren't really taking a risk

Depends how much you buy. If you end up returning too much stuff, Amazon will ban you.

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