Did you buy it on Amazon? Can I buy this on Amazon? Can I find this on Amazon?

One of my many hobbies is archery, and at the range, there’s this new guy who asked me if he could find some archery stuff on Amazon, because apparently that’s the only place he buys stuff from.

One week he’s shooting this recurve bow that seems improperly sized for him, then he comes back another week with a compound bow and complains about the draw length being too short. I tell this guy to go to an actual archery website to buy decent equipment since the combined cost of all his current shitty equipment will cover a decent beginner recurve and some additional accessories. He tells me, '“if I can shoot on shitty bows then I can shoot on anything”, after that, an arrow bounces off the target and we found out the arrow tip is poorly glued on.

Any of the numerous hobbies I take part in, you don’t buy this shit on Amazon. Machined pens, specific airsoft components, balisongs, rock climbing equipment, scuba diving gear, even little fucking resistors on electrical equipment you don’t buy on Amazon.

The combination of the easy one place shop for everything and ignorant people will kill people one of these days.

Key takeaway is that I ask all of you in any hobby groups to direct newbies towards places where they can get started in a way where they’re not getting garbage equipment that will end up costing them or hurting themselves (and others)

  • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    The combination of the easy one place shop for everything and ignorant people will kill people one of these days.

    Almost certainly already has.

    Even when you’re buying an established brand on Amazon (or you think you are), counterfeits are rampant and Amazon mixes all the suppliers (real and counterfeit), so whether you get a real one or not is just luck of the draw. And they sell a bunch of different things that could put someone’s life at risk if done poorly. Medical equipment, car brake parts, power tools, batteries*, bicycle and motorcycle helmets, climbing gear, sailing equipment, etc, etc, etc.

    Never buy from Amazon for anything important. (Ideally, never buy from them at all. But especially, don’t buy anything important from them that actually needs to work and could cause damage/injury if it doesn’t work right.)

    *Poor quality batteries can start unexpected and difficult-to-extinguish fires, when charging or discharging, or sometimes even just randomly for no reason.