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Products where paying extra is a scam

Deleted member 2834

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Oct 25, 2017
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Let's get some easy ones out of the way:

- wine
- coffee
- cholocate
- beer

All that shit tastes the same wether you paid 1€ or 1000€. Everybody would fail a blind test on those things.

Possibly more controversial:

- headphones (or audio equipment in general)

It's not quite as clear-cut in this case. Going from your garbage 20€ headphones to mid-range Beyerdynamic BT 770 Pro is absolutely worth it and a huge leap. Past the mid-range, diminishing returns definitely kick in, although I opted for <200€ headphones myself and I'm happy I did. >300€ headphones don't strike me as being worthwhile under any circumstances, and I consider audiophiles as largely deluded.
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,625
Sweden
nope to all of those you mentioned

you get diminishing returns beyond a certain point but for all of them, mid-range products are a lot better than the cheapest products.

My answer would be microtransactions in full-price video games
 
zombiejames

zombiejames

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,088
Smartphones. I'm still rocking a Nexus 5 and I don't see how anyone can think of spending upwards of $1000 for one, let alone half of that.
 
weemadarthur

weemadarthur

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,656
That is a terrible OP.

Chocolate tastes incredibly different depending on the ingredients, and american chocolate...isn't.
 
Roberto Larcos

Roberto Larcos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
607
I've also yet to meet anyone that can honestly tell the difference between Kellogg's Cornflakes and own-brand.

If someone can, please let me know in what way they taste different.
 
CellarDoor

CellarDoor

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
316
Errrr NO.

You can taste the difference in higher quality chocolate than cheap processed imitation crap.

I for one am a semi-connoisseur of dark chocolate.
 
meppi64

meppi64

Self-Requested Ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,479
Chocolate?
Are you from the US by any chance?
Because that doesn't make sense in the slightest.

Living in Belgium for over 40 years now, I dare you to give me a blind taste test of good chocolate and cheap, shitty chocolate.
Heck, I even had a friend in the UK who would request "care packages" of Belgium chocolate since he found the local stuff to be either bland or even vile. He told me the US stuff was even worse than what he was able to get in regular stores.
 
FUME5

FUME5

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,421
Imp the Dimp said:
Let's get some easy ones out of the way:

- wine
- coffee
- cholocate
- beer

All that shit tastes the same wether you paid 1€ or 1000€. Everybody would fail a blind test on those things.

Possibly more controversial:

- headphones (or audio equipment in general)

It's not quite as clear-cut in this case. Going from your garbage 20€ headphones to mid-range Beyerdynamic BT 770 Pro is absolutely worth it and a huge leap. Past the mid-range, diminishing returns definitely kick in, although I opted for <200€ headphones myself and I'm happy I did. >300€ headphones don't strike me as being worthwhile under any circumstances, and I consider audiophiles as largely deluded.
Click to expand...
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You, my friend, do not know shit about wine, coffee, chocolate, beer or audio equipment.

Legit answer - HDMI cable.
 
Baka Sempai

Baka Sempai

Member
Oct 30, 2017
304
Imp the Dimp said:
Let's get some easy ones out of the way:

- wine
- coffee
- cholocate
- beer

All that shit tastes the same wether you paid 1€ or 1000€. Everybody would fail a blind test on those things.

Possibly more controversial:

- headphones (or audio equipment in general)

It's not quite as clear-cut in this case. Going from your garbage 20€ headphones to mid-range Beyerdynamic BT 770 Pro is absolutely worth it and a huge leap. Past the mid-range, diminishing returns definitely kick in, although I opted for <200€ headphones myself and I'm happy I did. >300€ headphones don't strike me as being worthwhile under any circumstances, and I consider audiophiles as largely deluded.
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Click to shrink...

I really have to disagree on all the listed ones, but specifically the "beer", ...
If you really can't tell between a $30 bottle of st. Bernardus vs a $1.50 bud light, then, there's definitely an issue, and yes, there's even pricier beer (distilled craft beer such as the XX from johnny walker which ran for around $100 a bottle)
 
lacer

lacer

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,693
You couldn't have come up with worse examples than coffee, chocolate and beer to illustrate your point. Next you're gonna be saying you should only pay bottom dollar for weed too
 
LionPride

LionPride

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,804
Um....you can taste a difference in Beer, Chocolate, Wine, and tell the difference in Headphone quality
 
Futureman

Futureman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,460
as per the OP, I agree on wine and chocolate but definitely not with beer and coffee.

LionPride said:
Um....you can taste a difference in Beer, Chocolate, Wine, and tell the difference in Headphone quality
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wine is one of those examples where even "expert wine tasters" can be fooled with a $15 bottle of wine.
 
Roberto Larcos

Roberto Larcos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
607
Maybe more controversial: Watches.

My Seiko 5 keeps time just as well as any Rolex. No-one needs a 1.000 € watch. Scam is probably too harsh, but racket is fair.

Anyone remember Vertu, by the way?
 
signal

signal

Member
Oct 28, 2017
40,405
Imp the Dimp said:
Let's get some easy ones out of the way:

- wine
- coffee
- cholocate
- beer

All that shit tastes the same wether you paid 1€ or 1000€. Everybody would fail a blind test on those things.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

You have severe damage to your senses if you couldn't be able to tell the difference between at least some of those items within the 1 to 1000 euro range. As someone who hates wine and beer I probably couldn't, but coffee and chocolate definitely.

Roberto Larcos said:
Maybe more controversial: Watches.

My Seiko 5 keeps time just as well as any Rolex. No-one needs a 1.000 € watch.

Anyone remember Vertu, by the way?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Considering things like "prestige", warranties, resale value, etc., I wouldn't call it a "scam". Maybe not worth it to most people, though.
 
zychi

zychi

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
4,064
Chicago
OP, I disagree on beer. Drink a good, snobby craft beer, than go drink a Bud Light or something like that. The taste is totally different.
 
HyperFerret

HyperFerret

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,140
Folding knives over $70 in my opinion.

Rather spend $100+ on a fixed blade. But I'm biased a bit :P
 
Davidion

Davidion

Charitable King
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,290
Wine, coffee, chocolate, and beer all are often better by going up a grade or two. It doesn't mean the top shelf products that cost an exorbitant amount of money is worth it, but none of those works. Headphones? lol

While still water isn't necessarily better the more you pay for it, there's absolutely different taste between different brands.

Cable, mostly true. OTC pills, mostly true.
 
NinjaScooter

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,823
Roberto Larcos said:
Maybe more controversial: Watches.

My Seiko 5 keeps time just as well as any Rolex. No-one needs a 1.000 € watch. Scam is probably too harsh, but racket is fair.

Anyone remember Vertu, by the way?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

People who are buying a Rolex (or any other expensive premium brand watch) aren't buying it solely for its ability to tell time.

This thread and OP seems like it highlights some people's inability to realize that not everyone places value in the same things.
 
LegendofJoe

LegendofJoe

Member
Oct 28, 2017
12,126
Arkansas, USA
You have somewhat of an argument with wine given the elitist culture around it but lol at the rest of your list. You should look up some videos that detail the craftsmanship that goes into making chocolate, brewing beer, and cultivating/roasting coffee beans they might open your eyes.

My answer to this question is bottled water and non-gmo food.
 
ItRhymesWithDoom

ItRhymesWithDoom

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,722
Interesting choices for a guaranteed thread backfire. Don't mess with mah chocolate, man. Cheap chocolate is basically filled up with plant oils, which is honestly just gross. Also, the amount of sulfates in cheap wine is much higher than in most 'good / normal' wines, it's just beyond that point that the difference stop. Beer is actually a different taste per brew, so that's a straight 'no' to that one. Coffee is highly suspect indeed, but unfortunately the actually cheaper versions are "melanges" rather than regular coffee. It's like comparing margarine and butter and then calling them the same. Shame on anyone who recommends that poison, margarine, over butter to anyone.

I was thinking like, hardware, or extra insurance packages (EU, baby! ), and yes: those crappy headphones Apple makes.

One legit foodstuff is bottled water though. It literally comes out of the tab from basically free.
 
Hollywood Duo

Hollywood Duo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
43,001
Bottled water
Any sort of electronic cabling
High octane gas for 99% of cars
Anything sold at Whole Foods
 

Jay1V

Member
Oct 28, 2017
517
Modem/routers anyone? Not sure if there's a huge difference between a $40 one and a $200 one besides being able to utilize higher download and upload speeds. Correct me if I'm wrong though
 
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