Sick of Amazon affiliations ruining any effort to find a decent product. (piefed.social)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I will start by saying I am trying to consume a lot less in my life, but due to circumstance I need to start again in my life. I am also trying to degoogle not use Amazon etc.

With this in mind I prefer to buy a decent value product and look at the options however I have noticed that I keep coming across comparisons and over and over it’s driven by ‘check price at Amazon’. Amazon has ruined decent reviews for me. All anyone wants to do is sell Amazon tat at me. Anyone else have this problem of too much chafe when trying to research decent products?

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[-] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago

Stiftung Warentest (at test.de) does a great job comparing products and pointing out faults. Probably not that useful if you don't speak German, though, if the products they're testing are even available in your country ...

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

rtings.com

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

King of electronics reviews for sure

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Translate option works well on test.de. They have a pretty decent variety of products.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

You really have to try hard to find genuine reviews.

HouseFresh did a good piece last year about the general state of product reviews. They're a smaller site that focuses entirely on reviewing air purification products and noticed a large drop in traffic coming from search engines compared to giant digital media companies that can churn out tons of perfectly SEO optimized reviews of products they've never even tried first hand. And you know all those reviews are crammed full of Affiliate links.

It's a hard time with so much junk information out there

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 week ago

It was a pretty good read. It felt like much of what I was suspecting was laid out in a nice structure, with an idea of why it was occurring. It didn’t feel like a crazy rant. I did note they themselves are an Amazon affiliate however they did take an objective view.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah it seems like they still want to do a good job at the end of the day, and don't seem to let the cut of Affiliate sales influence them to say "oh its all good pls just buy", which is kinda what you end up with in a lot of other places.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I did think at first it was me being overly fussy with what I was seeing. It’s good to know it’s not just me.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I was actually looking at gardening equipment which is a bit niche for there. I think I am missing the days where people tried stuff out and commented on it rather than ‘tried this from there it’s great go buy at retailer abc’ I had the same problem recently with kitchen utensils. I don’t want tons of plastic ones. I wanted a small selection of decent tools. It was frustrating wading through the crap to find good reviews and verdicts on what is/isn't essential.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Zwilling tends to be good quality for kitchen stuff, especially the all purpose scissors. Also the cheap Victorinox knives are good.

For garden hoses get any brass fitting, they last forever and you can replace the o-rings when they get brittle or worn down

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I am after a compost tumbler. A bit specific 🤣

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I can recommend a black and decker compost tumbler (I think from Home Depot) I’ll try to find a link

ETA: https://www.homedepot.com/p/BLACK-DECKER-28-in-x-36-in-Tumbling-Composter-BDSTGA9701/320052857

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I am not in the USA so can’t access home depot. Is it this one https://www.blackanddecker.com/products/bdstga9701

It’s nice and high, Does it turn easy?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Yes, it’s that one - it has a big gear on the side to turn it easy. Height is good.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It might be a good materials choice in this use case, but I am just fed up with everything being made of plastic.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I have been trying to not buy plastic everything too. That was one of my gripes with my kitchen stuff.

With this I have to admit plastic is the right product. It needs to be light enough to turn and I suspect if it’s metal or wood it would get corroded too quick.

I’m picking and choosing my battles.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Me too!

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago

So many computer channels I watch will skip over amazing products like hardware like ODROID because they don't offer affiliate links. It's sad to see.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I do a lot of research before buying almost everything. Overall, I have a very good success rate, and I don’t pull any punches when describing a product’s shortcomings. I’m betting I have a lot of useful info for others, but it’s currently mostly trapped in my head. I’ve thought about trying to start up an unbiased reviews blog or something, but I’m just thoroughly daunted by how much work it might wind up involving.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Same. The problem with going blog etc means not only work but also does not alllow you to have privacy.

We could likely have some kind of community here but it would be somewhat country specific. Would you do it products recommends upon request or pick a product category and put it out there?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I would do both, but I would only initiate one myself when I am in the mood. I would be happy to participate though.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Which.co.uk do a pretty good job at reviewing stuff.
They're not ideal, and they do seem to focus too hard on some things over others.
But in terms of finding "Can I get an X that is half decent for the money I'm willing to spend", they work quite well.

Unfortunately, they are a bit pricey.

this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025

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