Amazon's Choice

Posted on November 17, 2019 by Strotter Support | 0 Comments

Most of our customers, at least in the USA, are Amazon Prime members. We all shop on Amazon often, enjoying a wide selection of goods and extremely fast, and free, shipping. We love it as consumers.

Amazon is great when you know exactly what you are looking for: basically, you are price shopping, you like the convenience of the one click; and you perhaps trust Amazon more than some independent website.

However, situation changes when you do not exactly know what you need. Let's say you are trying to find a hands-free iPad case, like our Strotter Across cases. Type in "hands-free iPad case" and you will be presented with an endless array of choices. Most are cheap sub-$20 and even $10 cases from overseas sellers who somehow have tons of extremely positive and enthusiastic reviews. Also, there are "sponsored" listings in the mix.

Guess what Amazon puts on top of its search results? Products that Amazon thinks would sell the best, and increase its profits - and it is totally understandable: Amazon runs a business. Also, merchants are paying for advertising - these are the sponsored listings. You, a consumer, need to sift through these sponsored listings, many of which are irrelevant to your search. The number of overseas (Chinese) sellers has exploded since 2015. There are so many offerings, of seemingly the same product with a different brand name, that it became extremely difficult to find what you are looking for.

From time to time we order cases from our competitors on Amazon, just to see what's out there. Yes, you can buy an iPad case that also claims to be "hands-free", with a shoulder strap, for $20-$30 or so. Some of these (definitely not all) are useable and perform their utilitarian functions (sort of). They look like a $20 case. So what that the Pencil is not charging or falling out in some cases? Plastic buckles semi-permanently attached to corners are not a big deal either. Shoulder strap is not easily adjustable. In some cases the iPad would not stay "face-up" when suspended one user's chest, because of the wrong placement of the attachment points for the strap clips. The case does protect the tablet, however. And it is just $20!

Recently, Nike has announced they will no longer sell on Amazon. 'Brands don't need Amazon', said Jefferies analyst Randy Konik.

We have already pulled our FBA listings from Amazon, and will likely stop selling on Amazon altogether.

iPad 12.9 Pro red leather case with shoulder strap - made in Italy