Amazon is usually OK if you buy things that are sold by Amazon or sold by the manufacturer (if it’s a well-known brand). The third-party sellers on Amazon based in China are almost always reselling stuff from Aliexpress/Alibaba with a significant markup.
Half of them aren’t in China though. It’s dropshippers, so you still get your cheap death traps, but you get them in a few days, Amazon get their enormous cut, and they get to take no responsibility when it burns your house down.
That’s why I said “sold by Amazon”. The drop shippers are all third-parties. Instead of the item saying “Sold by Amazon”, it’ll say something like “Sold by [some third party] and fulfilled by Amazon”.
Stuff sold by Amazon themselves is generally okay, since they’re directly responsible for it (no third party they can blame for any issues).
I try to avoid Amazon where possible though. B&H is pretty good for electronics, and I know I’m not going to get cheap Chinese knockoffs when I search their online store.
Amazon is usually OK if you buy things that are sold by Amazon or sold by the manufacturer (if it’s a well-known brand). The third-party sellers on Amazon based in China are almost always reselling stuff from Aliexpress/Alibaba with a significant markup.
Half of them aren’t in China though. It’s dropshippers, so you still get your cheap death traps, but you get them in a few days, Amazon get their enormous cut, and they get to take no responsibility when it burns your house down.
That’s why I said “sold by Amazon”. The drop shippers are all third-parties. Instead of the item saying “Sold by Amazon”, it’ll say something like “Sold by [some third party] and fulfilled by Amazon”.
Stuff sold by Amazon themselves is generally okay, since they’re directly responsible for it (no third party they can blame for any issues).
I try to avoid Amazon where possible though. B&H is pretty good for electronics, and I know I’m not going to get cheap Chinese knockoffs when I search their online store.