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Old Today, 07:50 AM
ThirdOfFive ThirdOfFive is offline
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Caveat Emptor! Things are not always what they appear to be.

Case in point: I like Ben Hogan golf shirts: they're a mite spendy, but they wear like iron and retain their look and color far longer than stuff you might buy more cheaply off the rack at (say) Target. They're made by Perry Ellis. It turns out that Perry Ellis makes TWO versions of Ben Hogan golf shirts; the "signature" line that you purchase from stores specializing in golf equipment and apparel, and the "performance" line, which end up in stores like Wal-Mart and sell for about half as much as the signature line. The thing is, both examples LOOK the same on the rack. They may be (probably are) labeled differently but who is really going to know the difference in quality between the two lines--both sound quite positive--unless they've researched it and know the difference going in?

The thing is, Amazon gets a lot of it's stuff via third-party sellers, a lot of it is then commingled at Amazon warehouses (they're called "fulfillment centers" for some esoteric reason) and the amazon personnel or computers might not know, or even care, if a product is "signature" or "performance". Bottom line: that Ben Hogan golf shirt that you just purchased from Amazon on Prime Day might be dirt cheap and look great at first, but after a few washings will be anything but.

Can this one example be generalized to other products? Who knows. But Jeff Bezos didn't get rich by giving away the store.