A software developer made a Chrome and Firefox extension called Knockoff that 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.
The only problem is that “knock off” brands are the only ones making products in at least some instances that used to be filled by the “brand names”.
This is the result of globalizing manufacturing. Eventually the brands that could pay for advertising stopped making things, and the void was filled by these “knock offs” (I don’t care for that term as it was applied in this article. These aren’t fake designer hand bags, they’re just products that don’t have a recognized brand name).
The correct industry term is white label products.
The amount of Kickstarters I waited years for, spent a fortune, and by the time it comes, the Chinese manufacturer has started making their own knockoffs for half the price…
Indeed. I’ve had that happen too. Those are actual knockoffs since they’re copying another specific product. It’s a shame that is the reality of our manufacturing industry.
Yeah, exactly! Literally.
At least I can sleep slightly better supporting creators?
They’re usually knock offs. They aren’t trying to present themselves as an item made by Versace or whatever, but they knock off someone else’s idea or product.
That’s still a knock off by most any definition.
It’s not a knockoff unless it’s intended as a copy of a different product. A cheap product in the same category is not a knockoff.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/knockoff
The products all do look the same. They’re just missing a specific logo or specific pattern. If you invented the ice cream cone, and then I made an ice cream cone that looked the same, only it had little triangle patterns instead of square patterns, it’s still a knock off.
It’s like how Oreos were blatant knock offs of Hydrox cookies. But the emblem in the middle of the cookie was different. Still a knock off.
Okay guy, you can define words however you want if that helps you feel good about not knowing the definition of words.
Actually; even using your own Cambridge dictionary definition and examples you linked, it fully shows that I’m correct. Like, just look at the example you provided that talks about a cheap knock off of lord of the rings, for example.
If you aren’t able to understand that, then I guess you’re just a bit too dumb to comprehend.
COOFANDY is not a scam. COOFANDY is a way to stay closer to maximizing best smiles in life to maximum outcomes as well as possible!
I was looking for a specific shirt for a themed party and that brand kept coming up. I bought a good one and one of theirs just to compare and yep, the coofandy one was crap. Too short, weird sleeves, the material was uncomfortable as hell, like wearing a trash bag.
Correct. COOFANDY is c.r.a.p.
C - COOFANDY
R - ® (Registered Trademark)
A - Awesome
P - Products
Which 14 product listings are left after that
Most “name brands” have long been acquired by large umbrella corporations, and shortly after doing so, the “brand recognition” is often leveraged to market white label products; which is increasingly the only differentiator between it and off-brand products. That, and the price-difference: simply paying more for a meaningless “name brand”, on an equally inexcusably poor quality product; besides a slightly less shitty customer experience, hopefully.
I really think it’s poor design to purely filter on appearance of brands, rather than actual brand reputation. Yes, it might serve as an overgeneralized indicator for questionable reputation, but marketable brands shouldn’t be treated as reputable either.
Yeah absolutely agree. I always but hydroflask bottles, but never through hydroflask. The exact same bottles and exact same lids are sold under a rolling list of random Chinese companies like this. Usually these companies do have real names, they’re just super Chinese and not worth properly localizing.
Hell, I recently got a new fancy video monopod. The official US name brand that sells it is harlowe. It sells for about a grand
I bought this exact same model from “yc onion” with a nonsensical name the “pineta pro” (said “pine-tah”) for less than half that.
I literally brought mine into a store after realizing how similar they are and compared them side by side. Even the stamp and sticker placement is identical. Like they clearly come from the exact same factory just with a different color and a different name printed into the same box on the side.
Why the fuck would anyone pay the 60% price hike just to have a known US company sell it to you? The really shitty thing is that I’m not sure how b and h is allowed to sell it. When I talked to my local camera store they said that they weren’t allowed to sell it because they were a brand partner to the US brand and couldn’t sell non us products without getting fined or dropped by their suppliers. Maybe b and h is just big enough to not have to care anymore, but that’s just going to be one more nail in the already dying camera store market.
Couple things.
First, those are likely “third shift” products. The Chinese company that’s making the original product does more than ordered, and off the books. Slap a different sticker on it, and you can sell it without worry of it being caught as a counterfeit.
Secondly, there is something to be said of going through the original manufacturer. They have warranties, and actually care about their name so will go to some extent to support you if something goes wrong.
Now is that worth doubling the price? Not likely. But it’s something to keep in mind.
I have issues with your monopode having three legs. Mostly I think it’s funny.
A alternative that works well for me for many things is buying from Lidl. They source from China, or wherever, but through European importers. They have a three year warranty, parts or replacement at least for that period, their branded products meet EU safety standards, and are good value. Not everything is perfect, but I’d say that about 80-90 % of what I buy meets or exceeds my expectations. Selection is orders of magnitude lower than Amazon, Aliexpress, etc, but their online catalog is growing fast.
Tools in particular are great value, they have a great battery ecosystem for their power tools, and even have a prosumer line (parkside performance, the black ones), that are impressively close to pro stuff from DeWalt, Makita, etc…)
I would live if the extension just blocked Amazon and directed you to actual company websites when you go to add a product to cart.
That would be great, except it seems that most companies are actively discouraging you from using their website, as it’s easier for them to list through Amazon. Recent experience was the product on the website was higher prices, slower shipping and a restocking fee if you need to return. Amazon? Next day, ‘free shipping’ and easy returns.
Not sure unless the place exists locally and you can go in store and actually buy something (that’s becoming rare as well), that there is a better way except to not buy anything in general.
I think there are browser extensions and add-ons out there that plug in alternative storefronts you can buy from when looking up an item on Amazon, but you’d have to dig them up. I don’t recall any of the names, I just know I’ve read about them.
One of them is called Vinegar (named to be the opposite of Honey scam). Still very new tho
I found my AliExpress stuff to be more reliable than my Amazon stuff.
Literally the same thing. Go to any “how to sell on Amazon” video and the “now you’re a real business person” step is always go to Alibaba and find a good distributor of the product you want to steal, er, become an independent distributor of. Have them slap your logo on it and bam, new millionaire coming right up!
Be sure to save money by purchasing surpluses of QA failures at a discount.
This is stupid. There are lots of great products from sellers without an established “brand”
Unless you know what you look for, choosing the white label products from Amazon can be risky. For someone like me with extensove experience working with China I can usually tell what is crap and what is good enough, but the average person might take postings at face value or choose a category of product that is high risk of causing harm (e.g. I won’t buy any no name plastic or rubber items that come in contact with food)
I can give another good anecdote for this.
Crank shaft holder for Toyota/Lexus. You attach it to a breaker bar, that you can let pin itself against the frame or ground, while reefing on a torque wrench to get the crank nut back on - something like 283 ft-lb for my truck iirc. Not a small amount of force if something breaks or slips and things go flying.
One of the good, brand name options is made by Oni. It’s also over $60. You can get a knockoff for between $15 to $25. The bad knockoffs are just the ring portion shoddily welded to the “arm” (where you connect your breaker bar), and those two halves often come apart at the welds under use. The good knockoffs are obviously cast as one piece from a mold that was probably made from an Oni or similar. They get a questionable dull black coating, lacking the polish and clean finish of the name brand, but they’re still a singular solid tool.
Not knowing which one will hold up and which one might give you summer teeth is a huge risk for any uninformed home gamer just trying to DIY some auto repairs on the cheap.
The developers name is pigford. I’m more than a little envious of their cool name
I’ve ordered products from some of the brands specifically mentioned, and the quality to price is often great.
Would I buy anything with a battery or an internet connection from them? Probably not. But are many things fine, and likely produced in the same sweat shops as household name brands.
It seems like a stretch to automatically hide every temu-esk brand… The brands themselves don’t even attempt to hide what they are.
The next level is getting it straight from AliExpress, skipping the 25% Bezos Yacht tax.
Is Aliexpress better than Temu?
No idea. AliExpress has some direct manufacturer stores and also resellers. Haven’t used Temu. I tend to find a manufacturer or a brand that people buy and like, then buy from their official store or reseller if no official store. For example Toopre bike tools are fairly well liked - https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-toopre.html.
Am I the only one who doesn’t care where my decorative sculpture comes from or highlighters or house shoes? I assume it’s the same quality as the stores around me.
So it can let me filter out any brand that is in all CAPSLOCK? or has no vowels?
people still buying from amazon in 2026 deserve to be ripped off imo
If the product is fine then who cares what “shady” brand is on it. Most knock-offs you’ll find on Amazon aren’t just as good as the original. Same with AliExpress. Half the time they’re literally the same product, just without the “not shady brand name”.
No not really. Two of the same thing can be made by the same company by the same staff and one be completely crap and one is perfectly crafted. They just sell the stuff that didn’t make it pass quality control and then they keep producing the product after they start to run out of proper materials and will begin to use what they can get their hands on. Temu makeup ftw
