this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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Temu, Shein, Alibaba and even Amazon are full of unsafe products not manufactured under sufficient quality standards.
Recently we bought some plates for a party that had gold metallic polka dots on them. I was able to use a plastic fork to scrape off these polka dots. People were eating cake off these plates. The metallic paint was going into people's mouths.
Also, many of these products are only designed to last for a short time before they break, so we are literally filling landfills with this plastic junk we get sent over to us from China by the shipping container load.
Some of the Chinese stuff is good, particularly if you get a name brand (Aqara, Sengled, Sonoff, etc). I've got a bunch of Sengled smart plugs and they all have proper ETL listing. A lot of US-based brands are manufactured In China too. It's just hard to separate the good from the bad sometimes though :/
My unpopular opinion is Alibaba is better than Amazon. Not only is it typically cheaper, the listings are generally more honest. I have rarely been surprised by an Ali purchase. And if you want quality you have to know what you're looking for no matter which platform you use, so why use the more marked up one with inaccurate product details?
Although the search function is a little wonky, but you get used to what words to use after a while.
(Also no one should be using Temu, it's hot garbage. Essentially it's just Wish, but your credit card might get stolen)
Yes. I search a good figdet toy, but all i find online is either shitty or mega expensiv. There is like no way of finding these things in local stores.
at this point, i'm not sure where to buy most things and not get garbage. every online platform is trying to emulate amazon and become a "marketplace" filled with unvetted cheap shit; stores often have little stock and no one with expertise.
i need a lamp for my office. where do i buy something i can ensure is safe and well made? i have no idea.
i realize this is a small concern relative to the larger failures of capitalism, but free market competition isn't even successful at providing basic goods and services.
Absolutely. Louis Rossmann recently made a video repairing a disposable sex toy, and when he took it apart, he realised that the battery wasn't empty, but it stopped working because the product had zero water resistance design, which means that it is unsafe to use in addition to being a literal subscription service to get these disposable toys when it could have easily been a regular product.
So you poisoned ppl. Good on ys
Well I found out about it later, but yes I guess I did. Got away with it too!
Sadly my partner finds this junk irresistible.