Never buy on Amazon: these items are to avoid!
Amazon has become a staple in most of our homes, and while it is convenient to use, there are some limits. By this, we mean there are items you should never buy on Amazon, no matter how much you would like to do so! It can be easy to fall down the rabbit hole and end up with some items in your cart that actually have no place being there in the first place.
This is not because you should not shop on Amazon, as it is one of the most convenient ways to get certain items for some of us, but because you can most of the time get better deals if you avoid shopping there. It can be easy to just use the online retailer because it is convenient, but just because you can buy them on Amazon does not mean that you should be doing it!
Since you can pretty much find anything under the sun on Amazon, it can be hard to narrow down which items you should avoid getting there and which not, so we decided to make your life easier! Here are the items we think you should never buy on Amazon, along with the reasons why, so that you can avoid making the mistakes we did!
Have you ever regretted buying something on Amazon? What do you think is something you should not buy on Amazon? Let us know your answer in the comments!
1. Useless add-on items you don’t actually need
Yes, this is one of the things you should never buy on Amazon, even if it seems like it is one of the best choices at the moment. If you have not seen these items before, then it is possible that you have not paid attention to them or that you have never ordered under a certain threshold.
If you have not reached the $25 threshold, then you will probably see these “add-on” products, which are going to have great, affordable prices, but they are going to make you have to reach the total of $25.
They may seem like a great deal, but if you do not reach that threshold, you basically have to spend money in order to theoretically save money. But these items are not actually discounted by default, and if you have to keep adding items in order to get the low-priced ones, then you are not doing yourself any favors.
You are actually spending more than you intended, and while you may be able to justify the purchase at the moment, in the long run, you may find yourself regretting this move.
The bottom line is to not fall for these add-on items. Be it that you reached the limit and found yourself with an offer for something you needed, or that you needed to buy something else to reach the threshold for the add-on item you needed.
Just get the ones that you need that are actually included on your grocery or shipping list, and try to resist the temptation to buy something more!
2. Kirkland brand products
It may seem like a great idea to end up shopping on Amazon when it comes to Costco products, especially if you do not want to spend the money on a Costco membership. It may not seem like a good move for you, especially if you do not go shopping there often, and let’s be honest, while warehouse stores are useful, you do not need several pounds of nuts more than once or twice a year.
So a lot of us end up thinking that getting those Kirkland items we love from Amazon is a good compromise: you do not have to pay for the membership, and you still get access to your favorite Csotco brand products. The sad reality is that this way of thinking is actually wrong!
When you see Kirkland products on Amazon, know that they are not actually sold by Costco. You are actually buying from third-party resellers that have bought them from the actual warehouse store and then are reselling them online, usually for quite a lot of profit.
Not only will you end up paying more for the items you could have gotten in person at Costco, but you are also going to put yourself at risk. You do not know when those products have been purchased, and you can end up receiving damaged or expired goods. This is in addition to the fact that you never know how those items have been stored.
Do yourself a favor and avoid the Kirkland products on Amazon. You can easily go to the warehouse store, or you can buy online from their own site. And if you do not have the membership, you can get yourself a Costco gift card and use it online if you are okay with paying the surcharge!
3. Trader Joe’s items
Speaking of items you should never buy on Amazon, Trader Joe’s items are in the same situation as the Kirkland ones. The ones you can find online on Amazon are actually not sold by the actual company, but rather by these third-party sellers that are looking to make a huge penny off the brand name and clueless customers.
Like earlier, you can never guarantee the quality of these items you would be getting online, as they have been bought at one point in the physical store and then kept in unknown conditions until they are mailed to you.
You can end up with expired or completely damaged items that you cannot return to the store. Not to mention, you can never actually verify that these items are actually what they say they are.
There have been instances where people are actually creating counterfeits of these types of items. Sure, the listing may look legit, but you may be getting an old container filled with other products sold online for a profit.
Trader Joe’s has also released a statement that denounces the reselling of their products and warns customers that they cannot stand behind anything that is not bought directly from their physical stores.
4. Accessories for Apple devices
It may seem like a no-brainer: you can easily find cheaper accessories for your Apple products on Amazon, so you do not need to pay a high price for the original ones. While there are some that you can buy off Amazon with no issues (like phone, Mac, or iPad cases, watch bracelets, and the like), there are some Apple accessories you should never buy on Amazon.
It may not seem like an issue when your Apple charger seems to be on its last days. You can go online on Amazon and buy a knock-off charger for a fraction of the price, and you are set for another few months. It is cheaper in the long run and more convenient, especially if you have a Prime membership; it will get delivered to your front door with no charge!
Yet, those knockoffs have one big problem: they can easily damage the motherboard of your iPhone. It is not something that happens often, but there have been enough instances that it has become a well-known problem online. Not all of the knock-offs are going to give you this problem, but somehow we do not want to be the ones to whom this happens.
The problem with damaging the motherboard is simple: not even the tech support at the Apple Store is going to be able to help you in that case. You will have to purchase a new phone, and since these smart devices are not actually that cheap in the grand scheme of things, we recommend you not take the risk and never buy these types of products on Amazon.
Of course, you can take your damaged phone to an independent repair shop that offers motherboard repairs, but you will also have to pay quite a penny for that too. So we recommend that you lay off the knock-off chargers!
5. Amazon Fresh produce
This one may surprise you to see it on the never-buy on Amazon list, but hear us out! Amazon Fresh can end up being an amazing service, especially if you are in a pinch or you are looking for certain ingredients that are hard to source in your area during that time of the year.
Yet, if you are not in a special situation, we recommend that you avoid buying your fresh produce from Amazon Fresh.
You may not have had problems with it so far, but you can never know what will happen. After all, you are relying on an employee to end up doing the shopping for you. They are going to be the ones to choose the produce, and you may not be getting what you imagined or wanted, be it in quantity or quality of the produce.
In the end, they are not going to choose the freshest and best-looking produce, but rather just pick the first ones they have seen so they can get your order to you as fast as possible.
You can easily avoid any problems with your produce by going to your local grocery store or even by going to a farmer’s market on the weekends, so you can get the best bang for your buck!
6. Third-party sellers for designer items
We have discussed third-party sellers when it comes to food items, and while a lot of things may not seem like a problem getting other items through this method, we say that you should be extremely careful when it comes to designer items.
We are not saying that you should never buy on Amazon any sort of designer item, but rather that you should be very suspicious of every listing and check it thoroughly before purchasing it. This way, you can make sure that it is indeed the company selling the item and that you are not getting it from a third-party seller. It may not seem like a problem, but here we encounter the issue with bootleg items.
You may not be getting something resold, but a fake item. However, you will be paying the full designer price for something that was probably bulk-bought on some wholesale retail market that is not being resold on Amazon for a pretty penny.
This is especially the problem with clothing items with specific patterns, as those cannot be patented, and even more worrying when it comes to make-up. You do not want to be putting counterfeit makeup on your skin!
The bottom line is that you cannot tell if your items are going to be real and authentic, and you should not be willing to take this risk!
We know we are discussing the items you should never buy on Amazon, but let’s be honest! There are a lot of items that are worth searching for in the online shop, and you can easily get some great deals if you are careful to get them from the authorized sellers and brands you trust. A great way to make sure you never miss any good deals is to check their deals tab every day. We managed to save quite a lot by doing this!
7. Paper towels
This is probably one of the items that can make someone confused when they read that they should never buy on Amazon. This is because paper towels are quite a commodity and have become quite essential to all households. It is easy to forget that you need to get them when in the grocery store, but you should not go buy them online in haste.
It may seem like the Amazon brand of paper towels is going to be a great deal, but when you pay attention to the per-square-foot price, you may end up being surprised. Both the Solimo and Presto brands (Amazon’s own brands) end up not being such good prices when compared to the Kirkland ones in terms of square foot price!
The surprise is that you may even be able to find better prices at Walmart and Target, which are known to have great prices for paper products!
On Prime Day, you may end up being lucky and finding them at a great price, but let’s be honest! Paper towels are not going to be on your mind when Amazon has its biggest sale of the year. So do yourself a favor and save some money by avoiding getting paper towels on Amazon.
8. Ikea items
Yes, you can in fact find Ikea items on Amazon, and you already know what we are going to say: never buy on Amazon! This is not because Ikea items are not good, but rather because Ikea stopped their partnership with Amazon a long time ago and no longer sells their items on Amazon.
Indeed, most Ikeas are not close enough to be able to go in-store, but that doesn’t mean that you should go to Amazon for the products that you want.
You are indeed going to be buying from a third-party seller again, and you can end up having quite a lot of problems with them. From damaged furniture items to actual counterfeit items, you can never know that you are going to be receiving genuine Ikea items.
Not to mention, it is easier to just buy from Ikea’s own website! It can end up being more expensive when you look at the shipping prices (since they start at $5.99), but it is worth the peace of mind that comes with knowing your items are genuine and that if there is something wrong with them, you can get a refund or a replacement item!
9. Weird review items
We do not mean that you should never buy on Amazon because of the reviews, but rather that you should be skeptical of certain items and their reviews. If you think that an item sounds too good to be true and the reviews are all spotless and rave about the item, there may be an issue there.
It goes against our nature to think that people are lying in reviews, but unfortunately, Amazon has had problems with fake reviews for years. And since there are companies out there that will pay people to write good, favorable reviews on their items, you should check if the reviews are real before committing to certain purchases.
Some of the fake review spotting tools we use are ReviewMeta and Fakespot, so next time you are skeptical about an item, you should check just how authentic their reviews are!
There are a lot of items you should avoid buying on Amazon, and these are just some of them that you should definitely avoid! However, here are some cleaning items you should get on Amazon, as they will make your life easier and your cleaning sprees seem like a walk in the park! Make sure you check out the most affordable cleaning products that will be a game changer in this article!
