I’ve seen 4 site on FB (I know I know) all offering the same exact item (a mag safe adjustable phone stand that can clip to things or has a tripod and adjusts). They are literally all the same thing for the same price. I would assume they’re from the same manufacturer. So how can I find out which is the real source, or does it matter and just pick one.

  • junkthief@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    22 days ago

    They’re all dropshipped from the same manufacturer. Maybe they’ll make one different stop along the way to the customer to have a different branded decal put on or be put into branded boxes, but they all originate from the same place

    • Aliexpress has an increasing number of items that apparently can’t be shipped to my state, for some undisclosed reason. I use it only infrequently, but recently I had occasion to look for two items, and it wouldn’t let me add them to my cart unless I changed my exit node to a different country or state.

      I have no idea what that’s about, but it made me sad. Sometimes you just want a cheap nicknack that you’ll receive some months in the future after forgetting you ordered it.

      I’m not OP, BTW. I’m just injecting commentary.

      • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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        22 days ago

        They’ve been scaling back sales to the US due to the tariffs and changes to the exceptions not requiring import duties on things under $800

      • CameronDev@programming.dev
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        22 days ago

        I’m in Australia, only thing I’ve had issues with are archery stuff, which sometimes gets marked as firearms, which triggers our customs agents.

  • Secret Music@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    22 days ago

    Lol so is this just a thing with Facebook advertising these days? Last time I went on a couple of months ago, it kept advertising the exact same cardigans to me over and over but from different ‘shops’. There were even two with completely different shop names that had the same sob story about a “going out of business sale”, complete with crying face reactions as if life long fans of this shop were sad about the news.

    I find it kinda funny in a way. Here’s the social media powerhouse Meta making advertising central to their business but they can’t even bother doing a little quality checking and not letting it be flooded with obvious fake shops that can’t even do deception and trickery right.

    • jqubed@lemmy.world
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      22 days ago

      It’s not just Facebook, I’ve seen it a lot in ads on mobile games and a lot of them look like they’re made for social, Tik Tok and similar. A lot of them claim to be going out of business, and the one that really makes me laugh is the one that’s obviously an AI-generated old man talking about having to shut down his decades-old business making hand-crafted leather goods. If the leather goods they sell are hand-crafted I’m sure it’s coming from a sweatshop in China or somewhere even cheaper, not an artisanal workshop from a single craftsman.

  • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    It’s always the same steps.

    1. Reverse image search the stock photo

    2. You’ll get a lot of results obviously find your way to the wholesaler if you want bulk purchase

    3. If you just want one for yourself it will come up on aliexpress/dh gate/temu where you can also find similar items

  • leadore@lemmy.world
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    22 days ago

    Probably all the same company tracking which variations in how they advertise it get the most clicks.