Would You Prefer To Buy Brand Name Products Or Non-Brand Products
Would You Prefer To Buy Brand Name Products Or Non-Brand Products - Brand name are More Expesive. Both Products have The Same Warrenty And Specs????
by
thedailyflik
asked 7 months ago
I'm ok with trying off brand, but some things are better not to buy generic. You know, paper towels, nuclear reactors...
Totally depends on the product. Never buy off-brand electronics.
This question actually made me stop and think.
I honestly feel like I don't care about brand names, and buy strictly on whether or not I like the style...however, around 75% of the stuff I own is, in fact, brand name. This makes me wonder if their styles truly are better, or if I'm just psychologically drawn to them more because of advertising/status appeal...
I generally don't care about brand, as long as I know the off-brand works well.
Again it depends, if I am in a store and there are store brand adhesive strips on sale I will buy them over bandaid. But if I am getting junk food the store brands tend to be much worse than the major brands.
Sometimes generic products of over-the-counter medications are the same as the more expensive brand names. I buy those all the time. Paper goods? Whatever's on sale.
Electronics? Maybe. Had a bad experience buying an Acer computer when they 1st started production. A total lemon & a nightmare. Have heard that they went bankrupt, reorganized & are making a good product now. Bought a Digital Research 32" TV - had never heard of it. Still working perfectly after 6 years.
Some in-store products are actually made by 'brand name' companies. It's a crap-shoot. Usually works well for me. On electronic purchases I look for good warranties and buy an extended warranty from Square Trade. Have bought refurbs & had excellent luck w/them, too.
Same warranty ... but do will it be honored the same? One aspect about brand names is that they are likely to be able to be serviced in the future. If two items have a one year warranty, but the off-brand requires it to be sent in while the brand-name has local authorized service centers, the latter will be worth more to me.
To go one step further, I have seen products in which the warranty terms of the distributor has you sending the product to the manufacturer in China! How likely will you do that?
If it's something significantly cheaper and has a low likelihood of failure, or I only need it to work a few times, then sure(*). Otherwise, I rather stick with a brand name instead; I know service parts will be available.
* - I bought a couple cheap 4" wet tile saws a while back for $20, figuring that if it lasts two rooms, I'm ahead already. Well, it survived two bathroom remodels, and two more for my neighbor already. Still works, and the second one is still in the box.
Short Answer: "Famous Maker" monitors. I am using one to post this message. Woot cognoscenti will get the reference. Love it, and the other 3 I have.
A Brand name is rarely the deciding factor in my purchases. I look for functionality, quality, etc. Many store brands are just private labeled goods from more well known companies. With food, I taste test items to find what I like. Clothes, I want to feel the cloth and stitching. Other items -- case by case.
As mentioned above, my nuclear reactor comes from a name brand company -- they just recalled 40 of their earlier installations, because they realized they had a design flaw. On the other hand, their light bulbs still seem OK. A big name does not mean all their products are equally good.
So yes, I do buy name brands, but not because of the name. I buy because it works well alongside equivalent products. Warranty is a factor, but again, you have to evaluate the company and distributor.
Depends on what we're talking about. I tend to start with a name brand when looking at something but end up with an off brand a good bit of the time.
For pasta, it doesn't much matter. In terms of food items, I've found a number of generic or store brands that are as good and sometimes better than the popular national brands, frequently at half the (normal) price.
For electronics and computers, I've had way more problems with name brands than with generic stuff, much more so than can be explained by my buying mostly name brands for these items. Also, name brand warranties can be as hard or harder to exercise than generic ones.
For appliances, tools and the like, I consider how often I'll be using it and frequently buy better names. But this doesn't always give the best results. For example, my best kitchen knife is a $5 POS from Target: the bolster has pitted but the blade takes and keeps the best edge of any of my knives, even ones costing 35x more.
Brand name doesn't mean much to me. But, I do research the name of the brand.
This all depends. When it comes to most items made by kraft or Betty Crocker I find that store brand doesn't when hold a candle in the flavor department.
Tough question indeed.
Bottom line is I'd always rather pay for quality than not. The real question is whether brand=quality.
For home electrics (blenders, toasters, coffee makers) I buy only name brands... But that's my field and I -know- the corners that are cut on the off-brand stuff.
At the same time... I don't give a rat's butt about what logo floats over my left nipple on my shirts or what name is embroidered on my unmentionables...
What I often find I put most faith in is the RETAILER brand, with an eye toward service. I'll buy shoes at Nordstrom without a care for what "label" they are. I'll pay a bit extra to buy an identical item on Amazon versus who-the-heck.com for the return policy, etc.
As I've said before, probably too often... with most of my buying online these days... Show me a site with a good return policy, an 800# answered by an actual English speaker... and you got a way better chance of seeing my business!
@kcjones99: Bravo! Well said.
Wish they had generic gasoline... If it looks like gasoline, smells like gasoline, burns like gasoline and costs 50¢ less a gallon, hell yeah I'd buy a generic brand.
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