You can find anything on Amazon—plus thousands of versions of that thing. If its virtual shelves were translated into a brick-and-mortar storefront, it would probably be the most overstimulating space in the world. Take power banks, for example. Search “power bank” on Amazon and you'll get more than 40,000 results, ranging from well-known brands like Anker and Belkin to obscure brand names with zero product reviews. There are hundreds of companies and sellers to sift through, with varying capacities, port options, and charging speeds.
So how do you know which brands are high-quality? Which listings are legitimate? What’s a good price to pay? Are any of these power banks actually on sale and worth buying, or are the discounts fake?
It's remarkably easy to sell products on Amazon (as evinced by its millions of sellers). That means there are plenty of subpar product listings that come from sketchy sellers—often with gibberish names or multiple sellers that are using the same photos and claiming to sell the same product. While many items on Amazon are safe and legitimate, you do need to be aware of the risks when you're shopping. The site has problems with fake reviews and counterfeit items. Amazon has fairly good return policies, including an A-to-Z guarantee for items sold by third parties, but ideally you want to avoid having to deal with a return in the first place.
We can help. Below are a few tips for shopping at the Everything Store, especially ahead of Prime Day on June 23 to 26, to make it more likely everything will arrive as advertised.
Updated June 2026: I’ve refreshed this story with current tips and information.
When possible, you should buy items directly from Amazon. Amazon keeps a better eye on its own inventory than it does on items sold by third-party sellers. Items it sells directly are more likely to arrive as advertised and qualify for free two-day Prime shipping. Because Amazon manages everything, returns are usually painless. Sometimes you can even get refunds for defective items without having to return them at all.
If you’re already checking out a product on Amazon, like our favorite iPad, always make sure the seller info says "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com." This information is typically in one of two places. Either it’s under the red price (and green "In Stock" text) or under the yellow Add to Cart and orange Buy Now buttons on the right rail. It's also under those buttons on the Amazon app.
If you’re browsing through Amazon listings, filter the site’s search results to only show items sold by Amazon.com. It will likely improve the quality of the items you see, cutting out a lot of less relevant, lower-quality search results. And again, the items are vetted, so you’ll probably get what you expect and have an easier time returning it, if need be. I'll use the Google Pixel 10a as an example of a product you might search for. It is our pick for the best affordable phone after all.
Step 1: Search for a particular item in Amazon’s search box with category set to “All.” In this case, I searched for "Pixel 10a."
Step 2: Amazon's search should select the right department automatically, but if needed, you can navigate to the top of the left rail and click on a department that fits.
Step 3: Once the page refreshes, scroll to the bottom of the left rail and choose "Amazon.com" as your seller.
Step 4: Now you will only see "Pixel 10a" products sold directly by Amazon.com.
If you still don't see "Amazon.com" as a seller, try hitting the See More button. It will bring up a dense but readable alphabetical list of sellers. If Amazon is one of those sellers, it will show up in the list. You can use CTRL+F (or Command+F on Mac) to search for the phrase "Amazon.com." Sometimes you'll see Amazon Warehouse, which only sells used and refurbished items, listed as well.
One thing to note about trusted third-party sellers: In some instances, a product manufacturer might be the seller fulfilling the order. This is the case, for example, with many Anker products. This is OK; Anker is a widely known and trusted seller. But if it's a seller or manufacturer you haven't heard of before, you may want to think twice (or dig in deeper, as we'll show you how below).
Seeing a product we want on sale can trigger a wave of excitement. Instead of thinking about how much we’re spending, we start to think about how much we’re saving. Coupons and discounts exist because they create a sense of urgency, leading us to buy things we normally wouldn’t. Some sellers abuse that pricing power. There are a lot of products on Amazon that are endlessly "on sale," and this makes it difficult to know whether you’re getting an actual bargain.
There’s an easy way to check. Just copy the URL or ASIN and paste it into CamelCamelCamel. You'll get a page with a graph on it showing every price fluctuation in the past year. A lot of products have deceptive list prices, to varying degrees. Knowing the actual going rate for a product puts you in charge.
Alternatively, the Keepa extension for Chrome will add a similar box right onto Amazon pages for you—though it does try to get you to register, and it can slow your browsing down.
Tools like Keepa and CamelCamelCamel may also help you determine the best time to buy an item. Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max, for instance, consistently fluctuates between its normal $60 price down to $40. As of press time, it has sold for lower than $40 only a couple of times, meaning that if you see it on sale for $40, you (probably) don't need to wait to better a good deal—unless you care a lot about the $7 difference and you're willing to hold off for as long as it takes for that rock-bottom price to come around again. The tools can help you spot similar trends in other products, like televisions, which tend to get a lot cheaper around Christmas or the Super Bowl.
Amazon's five-star review system is supposed to make it easier to choose between products, but it's easily manipulated. If you’re looking at an expensive product from a company you’ve never heard of, or if there are hundreds or thousands of very positive reviews, do a little sleuthing. Many sellers try to use fake reviews to get their products listed more prominently on Amazon (or to make you more likely to purchase them).
There aren't a ton of reliable ways to double-check for fake reviews anymore, but it's helpful to trust your gut and pay attention to middling reviews rather than overwhelmingly positive or critical ones.
You can also browse the reviews yourself. Click on the link to reviews under the product name on a page and you'll end up on a dedicated reviews section. To start, browse through the customer questions. You can use the search box above them to scan questions and reviews for keywords that may indicate issues with a product, like "break,” “bad,” “defective,” “customer service,” or "return." Amazon has also implemented an AI-generated summary of reviews on most product pages, but take these with a grain of salt. For example, this blender's AI-generated summary says that customers like the quality and durability of the blender, but that some customers find it to be quiet while others think it's too loud. That's not very useful information—you're better off reading the reviews on your own.
I don’t give much credence to one- or five-star reviews. They're often filled with too much elation or anger to be useful. You can usually learn more by reading two-, three-, and four-star reviews. These reviewers tend to have a more balanced perspective and may elaborate on the good and bad aspects of a product. Verified buyers are also more trustworthy than non-verified, but they could still be receiving compensation for purchasing and reviewing a product. You also want to be alert for reviews that sound alike, reviews that repeat key marketing phrases, or any that seem overly happy and wordy. (This can be hard to do in the era of generative AI, but I believe in you.)
And finally, I'm biased, but trusted, in-depth reviews from professionals—such as those we publish on WIRED—can help you narrow down worthwhile products.
Most third-party sellers won't try to scam you or sell you fraudulent goods, but it’s good to be extra vigilant when you’re buying from a seller other than Amazon.com. Amazon doesn’t do a great job policing third-party sellers and doesn’t require them to follow the same return policies.
Here are a few tips to help you know if a product listing or seller is trustworthy.
There are a few other quick tips to help you avoid outright scams. You should never be asked to leave Amazon.com to complete a purchase. That indicates that something is majorly wrong. Amazon also won't ever ask for your social security number or anything incredibly sensitive like that, so alarm bells should start ringing in your brain if that ever happens.
Watch out for fake emails as well. Since Amazon is the most popular retailer online, a lot of phishing attack emails pretend they are from Amazon. A good rule of thumb is to not click links in an email unless you know Amazon sent it. You can find Amazon's messages to you in its notification center. If an email is legitimate or important, it should be here. Be sure to report any suspicious emails to Amazon.
For help with returns or other issues, check Amazon's support site. Your recent orders should show up on this page if you want to initiate a return.
How do you make smart buying decisions on Amazon? Do you have your own methods and techniques for not getting ripped off? Let me know in the comments below.
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Source: Wired
