
Show HN: Above-average products selling for below-average prices - john_w
https://www.goodcheapandfast.com
======
Ahmed90
You're using articles or blog UI/UX, this doesn't suite the point of the site,
it's really hard and annoying to navigate, too much white space and elegant
text style.

I mean it's simple and clean and everything... but doesn't fit the subject of
the site nor the use case or the targeted user base

~~~
ian0
I really like the design.

\- The index is just a back-button away at any time.

\- No giant hovering menu's with subcategories.

\- I can easily search the index with ctrl-f.

\- Not distracted with "similar products" etc

And overall the design lends itself to the "curated" feel and adds an element
of trust that you dont get from browsing a generic-ecomm site.

~~~
Ahmed90
I'm not saying it's bad design, I'm saying it doesn't go well with the goal
and target, for example, products taking too much space for no reason,
prices(the core) are not highlighted and written in the same size, color, and
location as the description, an example product image with more compact text
area would've made it even simpler and easier to use :)

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monkmartinez
Most of the products are cheap Private Label stuff. "Good" is very, very
questionable here. PL'ing cheap Chinese stuff is the "git rich quick" of the
2010's. They have paid courses to teach prospective PL'ers how to game the
review system.

All in all I have ditched Amazon and if I want cheap Chinese stuff I go
directly to the source for a LOT cheaper.

------
anotheryou
Can you prove you actually tested the things?

And it doesn't work at all for me actually. E.g. I'm looking for cheap earbuds
and happily find [https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/articles/best-
earbuds](https://www.goodcheapandfast.com/articles/best-earbuds)

\- If looks are not the deciding factor, why are there two headbuds
recommended that both are priced the same? Tell me which is best and maybe
runner-up.

\- The least I care about the the china-brand and the rest of the long SEO-
titles don't do any good either. Only valuable piece of information here: has
mic or not

\- most important to me: (your) rating and price/value rating. This can only
be gathered by reading your text, the latter doesn't get mentioned at all.

\- most anything is a fashion-statement, I can't be buying pink or golden
earphones, show me pictures!

\- not sure how your reviews work, but the model you threw out won most of the
hands-on reviews I found on the net

I also feel how amazon limits you. The best budget robot vacuums are both a
bit above 250 and from what I read below that you still have to vacuum
yourself in the end. Meta-Review winners: [https://www.gearbest.com/robot-
vacuum/pp_009217978560.html?w...](https://www.gearbest.com/robot-
vacuum/pp_009217978560.html?wid=1349303) and one of the roborocks
[https://www.gearbest.com/robot-
vacuum/pp_009168125546.html?w...](https://www.gearbest.com/robot-
vacuum/pp_009168125546.html?wid=1349303)

~~~
hnmonkey
You should check out The Wire Cutter and Consumer Reports. Both of them test
things to provide you with best bang for your buck and it seems like they both
really care that they do a good job. Consumer Reports even takes it to the
next level buy I think buying things themselves secretly so they don't get
specially tweaked items or take ad money from the organizations whose stuff
they test. Really valuable when researching a purchase!

------
TheAceOfHearts
It's probably worth waiting for Black Friday if you're gonna be picking up any
of the expensive items here. Lots of stuff usually goes on sale, even if the
discounts aren't very big.

For tape measures, if you just need something for occasional home use I'd
consider the IKEA FIXA [0], which costs $0.99. It's only 10ft long instead of
their suggested 25ft, but that might be enough for home users. I've had mine
for around 5 years now and so far it hasn't let me down.

I'd consider adding a digital microscope under cheap STEM toys, since the one
linked isn't very powerful and it's kinda overpriced. You can find lots of
options for under $20, there's some that can even hook up to your phone or
tablet. Although I might be a bit biased since I was fortunate enough to have
one when I was growing up. I still think they're a super cool toy.

[0]
[https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40237557/](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40237557/)

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shittyadmin
I find the layout for results hard to read - the italicized titles don't help
and complete separation makes it hard to compare the products in any way.

A simple table with some basic facts about each product and sort functionality
would be a lot better. For example "AirPod Alternatives" list things like
battery life - but don't offer an easy way to compare it.

Additionally, the single-minded focus on Amazon and cheap leads to Chinese
items that are far marked up in price dominating. These can be obtained from
more direct Chinese sellers for much cheaper than on Amazon. For example, many
of the OBD2 dongles listed are a rebrand of Chinese dongles available for
$3-5.

------
stillmotion
Would highly recommend photos. Browsing gaming chairs, for instance, I
immediately bounced from the page because I couldn’t visually browse the
content.

~~~
joegahona
Maybe rights issues?

~~~
wolco
Showing photos would fall under fair use.

~~~
TylerE
Citation needed.

Any case, fair use is a defense, not a license or permission.

~~~
wolco
Clearly a fair use situation.

"the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in
copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for
purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including
multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an
infringement of copyright."

~~~
TylerE
This is commerce, though.

And again, Fair Use is a defense. It only kicks in after you have been sued
and are in court.

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bfung
Agree that this is essentially an affiliate site, even if the intention is
not.

The incremental value add is basically a query made on top of amazon reviews.
But in some ways, one can do it on amazon themselves as this content and
rating will change over time.

And amazon reviews aren't always the best... so... meh. I'd rather go to a
site that has self tested these products w/youtube videos and such and give
them the affiliate money.

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jldugger
How is this not garbage in garbage out? Reviews are being dramatically gamed
on amazon these days.

~~~
aw3c2
Garbage in, affiliate marketing out.

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Animats
There's still Consumer Reports, which actually buys products at retail and
tests them. They're good for things like refrigerators, where price and value
are not strongly correlated.

------
lancewiggs
All link to Amazon - but for me for a lot of the products on the page
AliExpress is cheaper/better.

~~~
voltagex_
And even AliExpress seems to be the "second tier" to Taobao - but you'll need
an agent to get things from Taobao internationally.

I wish I could draw up a hierarchy of stores. Safe to say, a lot of the
marketplace listings on Amazon US are coming from (the same suppliers as)
AliExpress.

~~~
akvadrako
Is it really cheaper including shipping and however much the agent charges?

And where does one get an agent?

~~~
cortesoft
And can you get it in two days?

~~~
voltagex_
Have you ever gotten something that's not actually in the Amazon warehouse in
2 days?

In Australia, 2 day shipping (from Amazon) doesn't really exist, anyway.

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traviswingo
Not to be a rude, but this just feels like an affiliate micro site...

~~~
a13n
So? If it solves the user's problem for free, who cares?

~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
Perverse incentives leading to poor quality content. Inclines author to
recommended what's profitable, not best.

~~~
a13n
Only if the author prioritizes short-term profits over long-term UX, which
they haven't done so far.

------
jodrellblank
Bit like the old JustBuyThisOne.com before it vanished, which told you the
best tech product in any given category and offered to take care of returns
and replacement if you didn't like it.

[http://web.archive.org/web/20130515123602/http://www.justbuy...](http://web.archive.org/web/20130515123602/http://www.justbuythisone.com:80/)

(Doesn't exist now though, it's a redirect to Revoo)

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dotdi
The UI/UX is good, IMHO, but there is one thing that is very annoying (per
general, and it's the same here): when your web-framework does some wonky
stuff to my clicks and interferes with default behavior.

I cannot ⌘ + click on the Amazon link buttons to open them in new tabs. It
will open the link in-place, i.e. as if I had done a normal click on the
button.

------
tln
I like the condensed meta reviews. As others have mentioned, only showing
Amazon is a bit of a drawback. I'd love to see what categories are coming soon
-- right now the list is small.

I was hoping to see a coffee pot category!

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rawoke083600
"Remove the fake reviews" ? Is it that easy ?

~~~
joegahona
I have the same question -- there's a great episode of the ReplyAll podcast
where they dive into the murky waters of fake Amazon reviews. It's actual
humans doing it, so I imagine tough to spot.

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tony2016
No affiliate links and he says he makes money. How is he making money?

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starbeast
I see, it is a bit like a cut down Whole Earth Catalogue, without the hippies
or the concept of society being involved.

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screaminghawk
Is there an RSS feed or associated twitter etc that can alert me of new
articles?

~~~
henryjones
Here you go:
[http://feeds.feedburner.com/goodcheapandfast/Uxxl](http://feeds.feedburner.com/goodcheapandfast/Uxxl)

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cityzen
Wish you could only pick 2

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echan00
I like the idea but directories are web 1.0

~~~
cortesoft
How is this problem supposed to be solved in the modern web?

~~~
TeMPOraL
People tried to crowdsource curation, and this is how we ended up with Amazon
reviews being gamed to death.

Real people having a real opinion backed by their own reputation may be "web
1.0", but it works.

~~~
jfk13
That might work, but it's not what this is; this is just a distillation of
(gamed) Amazon reviews.

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mrhappyunhappy
So an affiliate site that claims to have no bandwidth intensive images but
sends you to amazon to see said images. What is the point?

~~~
Cogito
None of the links I checked on the site are affiliate links.

The site looks like a fun, and well polished, side project. Someone wanted to
see if they could make a useful product aggregator.

They may have plans to monetise it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it remained
a hobby.

~~~
quickthrower2
They have a code after /dp/ \- what is that for? Looks like an affiliate code
to me.

Edit: doh!

~~~
greeneggs
Not an affiliate code. After the "dp" (detail product) is Amazon's product
code. You can delete the rest of the URL except for dp/thecode and it will
still go to the same product page.

