Blindly reading and trusting Amazon reviews?
As they say, “Well, There’s Yer Problem.”
But why not trust the smiling dude, and the heartwarming story about how the brand supports cancer, animal and natural resource charities? All part of what I look for when shopping for a light. And electronics are fun!
The sad fact is that a lot of people like cheap, and don’t know, or don’t mind if it’s junk.
These lanterns are cheap, come ready to play with batteries, and when they arrive, people will turn them on, see that the emit light, then put them in the closet, where they may get pulled out once in a while. Those who put them to actual use will be fine with them until they break, get discarded, and something similarly cheap takes their place. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. The Modern Consumer Cycle.
More than half of Amazon’s sales are now made by third-party Marketplace sellers, mostly selling cheap Chinese goods, so it behooves the savvy buyer to separate the wheat from the chaff. If they care to at all.
Vont’s lineup is at least mostly lighting related, but hey, who doesn’t pine for a digital kitchen scale from their lighting supplier? Convoy, Sofirn, Emisar, etc. better take note, if they want to grow.
Cheap, relabeled, Chinese ODM stuff serves its purpose, and Amazon is full of fleeting sellers and brands that do a good deal of that business. If it’s not already obvious from a listing, then it’s easy just to click on the brand link to see what they sell, and whether it’s a product lineup that cohesive, originally developed, and promotes trust, or just a random selection of stuff that’s ordered from Alibaba with a custom label, and shipped directly to Amazon’s fulfillment center from China. It’s just like Aliexpress, but with good customer service, some proofreading, higher pricing, fewer coupons, and with a two-day, not weeks-long wait to receive your stuff.
A9 has always been crap, and Amazon’s search results often reflect their goal to provide profitable options, not necessarily the intended or best results. Sometimes, a very specific search won’t return the intended item, but lesser, maybe even unrelated results, so one has to result in a Google site search to reach the desired listing.
There are a couple good pieces published in the last month about Jeff Bezos, and how he’s built his behemoth. Long, but interesting reading.