'Knockoff' Browser Extension Hides Sketchy Brands On Amazon (404media.co)
- Reference: 0184361452
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/07/08/1643256/knockoff-browser-extension-hides-sketchy-brands-on-amazon
- Source link: https://www.404media.co/knockoff-browser-extension-hides-sketchy-brands-on-amazon/
> A software developer made a Chrome and Firefox extension called [2]Knockoff that [3]automatically hides, grays out, or filters products from sketchy brands on Amazon , which highlights just how many shady brands are on the platform and how commonly they show up on searches for basic items. In just a few minutes of using the extension, Knockoff dimmed product listings for screwdrivers made by "SUNHZMCKP," spoons made by "SACATR," and a lamp made by "ROTTOGOON."
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> In a tweet announcing the extension, developer Josh Pigford wrote "Sorry to brands like WNPETHOME, EHEYCIGA, YXYL, LU&MN, JOYIN, TOMY, GODONLIF, YOOJEE, LINGTENG, LANEIGE, VISCOO, BIODANCE, COOFANDY, BALENNZ, TOSY, and LUENX." The extension can also hide all sponsored product listings. The extension [4]quickly went viral as a much-needed filter for people who still use Amazon and, for those who don't use Amazon because of its horrendous labor practices and other concerns, it is evidence of what an incredible wasteland the platform has become.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~alternative_right
[2] https://knockoff.shopping/
[3] https://www.404media.co/knockoff-browser-extension-hides-sketchy-brands-on-amazon/
[4] https://x.com/Shpigford/status/2074476150059835754
Why? (Score:3)
They are just random brands selling the same exact products to workaround amazon system. I personally don't care what is on the label. Why would I pay more for the same stuff from a "reputable" brand, when all of them are just names owned by the same 3 companies?
TOMY is legit (Score:5, Informative)
TOMY is totally legit!!!!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomy
https://us.tomy.com/
Re: (Score:1)
ZOIDS! ZOIDS! ZOIDS!
Marketplace filter (Score:2)
I found a site that filters out marketplace sellers [1]https://katrina.life/s/ [katrina.life]
See how little Amazon actually sells directly.
[1] https://katrina.life/s/
It's easy to do without an extension (Score:2)
All you need is common sense, skepticism and an understanding of how Amazon works.
Some cheap Chinese stuff sold by sellers with nonsense names is good enough.
Some is total crap.
It's easy to tell them apart.
Re: (Score:3)
Sometimes I just want to look for stuff made by brands I want because I'm doing something somewhat professional and need the name brand to not be SHJWEHAS or I'll get made fun of relentlessly. Its the cost of being accepted and getting work sometimes. You over pay for the hammer to communicate something to the other people you're swinging it with. I don't like it, but I can't change it.
Re: (Score:2)
This is wrong and literally dangerous.
Firstly a lot of people don't really understand the whole idea of a hybrid marketplace where it is a legit brand but also hosts ones selling dangerous crap. Especially most people don't realise that it's somehow fine for Amazon to sell stuff which is illegal. Amazon is hosting it, providing the storefront, processing the sale and payment. To most people that's selling.
And even if you do know, it's really hard to identify what's merely cheep cheese and actively dangerous
Ublock Origin FTW (Score:3)
Ublock Origin already blocks sponsored results. Why aren't you using it? Why would I want to block the cheaper products on Amazon? Check the prices on Aliexpress and ebay, as what you want may be cheaper elsewhere.
This is an outrage! (Score:4, Funny)
I absolutely love my EHEYCIGA electric scooter and OH GOD IT'S ON FIRE. Quick where is my WNPETHOME brand fire extinguisher!? Oh God it's full of bees! Why is it full of bees!? They aren't even live bees!!
Re:This is an outrage! (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, but that will happen with your Kodak scooter and Bell and Howell Fire extinguisher too, which are the same exact products
Re: This is an outrage! (Score:2)
You can sue known brands. Thatâ(TM)s the benefit you get of itâ(TM)s a Kodak fire extinguisher. Canâ(TM)t sue a Chinese brand that just closes and opens another random name
I would be terrified putting this out (Score:1)
If it gets any kind of traction then one of those brands is going to sue him sooner or later. Possibly multiple brands. If he's in the United States he'll just get bankrupted by the lawsuits and if he's in Europe they don't have the same Free speech protections we do so he's looking at a pretty serious libel suit...
As an American I don't have a hell of a lot of civil liberties left but I can't at least talk shit about bad companies. I mean for the time being and all...
Hold Amazon Should Responisble for its Brands (Score:3)
If you owned a Brick-and-Mortar store you would be responsible for all of your products.
Paradox (Score:2)
The people who really need this don't know what a browser extension is or how to install or use them.
Uh, not sure these are really knock-offs? (Score:3)
I guess it's all subject to interpretation. But to me, a true knock-off is defined as a product trying to trick someone into thinking it's one made by a name-brand manufacturer -- doing its best to copy-cat the original.
What I see on Amazon constantly are Chinese-made products that have no real equivalent I can find with brand-name alternatives, but they all like to use those "gibberish" names made of random letters. And in most cases? The exact same product, or a very slightly altered variant, is sold under multiple "gibberish" names. Pretty sure a lot of these come from the same Chinese factory but they market it under various brands to improve visibility and to pump up sales numbers?
Just one recent example would be one of the "power bank" type charges for your mobile devices that has built-in cables to work with USB-C, Lightning, Micro USB and then standard USB: [1]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF... [amazon.com]
Whoever VRURC is, I'm sure it's just another nonsense alphabetic name ... but I haven't seen one quite like this sold at retailers like Micro Center. I suspect it's partially because the Lightning connector is owned by Apple and you have to pay them to obtain certified ones to use in your products? Chinese vendors often just get around these extra costs by recycling/repurposing existing salvaged Lightning ports/cables. Helps allow them to sell these devices affordably.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF29CBZW?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Re: (Score:3)
The whole thing sounds pretty arbitrary. I've got an electric screwdriver with some name like "Goofun" on it that was clearly designed by engineers who wanted to make the best electric screwdriver they could. I've also got one from "Black and Decker" that is of much lower quality.
WTF is "Black and Decker" anyway? Or "Google?" "Microsoft" sounds like a sex joke, and last time I had "Coca-Cola" it didn't contain any of either.
Re: (Score:2)
Black and Decker, you know... Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker?
Perhaps you've heard of them. Oh, wait, yes, you have heard of them, because they put their names on your screwdriver.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree these are often not knock-offs.
Often they're nearly identical but from different factories, but it's the same CAD drawings for all the parts that are shared between factories as part of their social network.
Sometimes you'll find one that's nearly identical but especially bad, falls apart, or doesn't work at all. And you might wonder about QA, but often there is no QA; it's presumed that it's a working design, and they only QA the designs, not the output.
Sometimes you find one that has some small des
I wanted to see ... (Score:2)
... if this was compatible with the Edge browser. But Microsoft seems to have completely dropped off the Internet.
Re: (Score:2)
You can use the Google Chrome extensions store from Edge and install any add-on directly. Edge is really just Chrome.
Amazon Basics (Score:2)
*poof*...gone
Too late (Score:2)
This extension may have helped back around 2016 when Amazon was starting its enshitification campaign. But today's Amazon, no way in hell I'm wasting my money on that site. It has turned into a Chinesium flea market full of cockroaches.
Re: (Score:2)
Can't blame the Chinese. Or really Amazon. They are only selling what Americans are demanding.
Re: (Score:2)
I would agree, except that in most cases the brick & mortar specialty store that used to sell the higher quality product doesn't exist anymore. In the cases where a quality product is still manufactured, I can usually go the the company's website and buy it direct, or buy it from the company's official Amazon storefront for less .
At a box store, the products are the same as the ones on Amazon, but more expensive. Though you can at least take a closer look at what they skimped on.
What I find funny is th
Re: (Score:2)
"except that in most cases the brick & mortar specialty store that used to sell the higher quality product doesn't exist anymore"
This right here. Local markets have been decimated. I would much rather pay more for better quality. Not all Americans want the cheap Chinese shit.
OEM dropshippers (Score:2)
That's what most of those brands seem to be: dropshippers carrying OEM versions of products made for larger and more well-known brands. I'm used to dealing with that, techies have after all been getting OEM products from China et. al. since forever since they're often exactly the same thing as the name brands just without the branding on the case. The explosion of different "brands" on Amazon just highlights the same problem we had back then: distinguishing the reliable ones (who sold the OEM version of the
Knockoff (Score:1)
Looks like it is really only trying to create a market for American made. Is everything else really a knock-off?
YMMV - But the knockoffs have a legit market (Score:3)
Sometimes I don't mind cheap chinesium. I just bought a pack of 60 dinner forks because my kids inexplicably loose dinner forks. I don't care about Bokon, Tinnin, ZXVFY, or whatever made up brand it is. I know I'm buying cheap chinese stuff. If I was buying life-safety equipment, well, Amazon might not be the place to start anyway.
Re: (Score:2)
I have to agree. Now, I really wish they'd make an actual brand name for themselves and label the products that way, but half the time those "SEGBDGEDC" brand items for things like screwdrivers, drills, etc actually work plenty good enough for home DIY type stuff. I wouldn't use them if I was using a tool every day for work but for around the house its fine.
To some degree "VEVOR" has started doing that though. A lot of the "cheap but ok" stuff has been started to be branded VEVOR pretty frequently.
Re: (Score:2)
Agree, I buy a lot of fiber optic cables for work and many of the cheaper brands on there have been solid with no problems (Yutianhome is one in particular). While i try to prefer more "reputable" suppliers like LANShack I have to say the quality is comparable. Ditto for SFP adapters, Amazon is where I came across 10GTek and they have always been solid and reliable by my anecdotal experience.
Re: (Score:3)
> I really wish they'd make an actual brand name for themselves and label the products that way,
I recently bought a set of three Sheffield pocket knives for $20USD. I didn't even know there was a town named Sheffield in Guangdong province.
Re: (Score:2)
I have a BearMoo magnifying glass. It works perfectly growlcow.
Re: (Score:2)
Knockoffs do have a legit market, but if I choose to buy them I prefer to do it on Aliexpress where I can cut out the middleman and save a few bucks (in exchange for slightly longer shipping times).
Re: (Score:2)
Depends on whether I want to wait for the longer shipping.
For me, there are three classes of products:
Need now - Something I'm actively working on is waiting for parts, and I need them quickly and/or food is involved.
For name-brand stuff, Walmart is my top pick, because they can deliver same day. (Amazon occasionally can, but rarely, and only in big cities; Walmart can deliver same day even to my mom's house in Tennessee.) Amazon is my second choice.
For things where quality doesn't matter, Amazon is mo
Re: (Score:2)
When you buy this stuff from Amazon, you are paying for Amazon's notoriously customer friendly return policy: If there is a problem (quality, did not arrive, etc.) Amazon gives you your money back.
There is also a measure of privacy protection when purchasing thru Amazon. Amazon filters thing like your email address from the seller -reducing spam. They do share address and telephone numbers with the seller if they are shipping direct (not from Amazon's FBA warehouses), but they prohibit direct contact by p
Re: (Score:2)
Ugh, I agree with you in general, but forks that go in mouths.... of ... kids... You don't care what those things are made of ? At all? Thats where you lose me. But I'll buy a flash light or screw driver from WE*(H(*@#!HUW#QEUGHGFSWUIHSGE for $5 delivered same day.
Re: (Score:2)
You know, there are these things called yard sales and flea markets where you can get forks, or entire sets, for less than what you pay on Amazon.
Re: (Score:2)
I think this extension is a very cool idea.
That said... I own several shirts, a set of pajamas, and a sport coat from COOFANDY. They are cheap. They look good. They fit well. They are durable enough to have lasted several years of use so far.
Cheap chineseum is not necessarily bad... but it is not necessarily good either. It is cheap. The quality is a crapshoot.
Re: YMMV - But the knockoffs have a legit market (Score:1)
I don't mind Coofandy either. I have trouble finding clothes that fit sometimes, which requires ordering clothes from brick and mortar stores instead of buying in the store. I have some Coofandy items that fit well and are comfortable.