I like having an online store with better selection than whatever I can get at the local Big Box store.
People forget how bad it was before Amazon, packages took weeks to deliver with even less accountability than Amazon (i.e no reviews). I remember the days of paying $40 for a 3 foot HDMI cable. Bought an unsafe or defective product at a “Trusted” retailer? Enjoy your $3.50 check from the class action lawsuit 3 years later.
Yeah so many are paid for reviews. You can tell in Europe because they're obliged to mention it. Almost all reviews on sketchy products are from people recieving the product for free or getting paid.
> I remember the days of paying $40 for a 3 foot HDMI cable.
Only if you needed it right away, though? And even then, back when Google search actually worked, I was able to get an HDMI cable within walking distance (in Beverly Hills, no less) by searching for "cheap HDMI cable Beverly Hills". You'd only pay full freight if you were buying for something important, like a business meeting, that meant you needed it right now and didn't have time to look. That was over a decade ago. I bought most of my stuff from two local businesses that have, unfortunately, discontinued their retail sales in one case (it was never a big part of their business, they mostly do bespoke projects to wire auditoriums, churches, schools, etc. for AV gear) and gone out of business in the other.
People forget how bad it was before Amazon, packages took weeks to deliver with even less accountability than Amazon (i.e no reviews). I remember the days of paying $40 for a 3 foot HDMI cable. Bought an unsafe or defective product at a “Trusted” retailer? Enjoy your $3.50 check from the class action lawsuit 3 years later.