Piston Slap: A Brave New World In Automotive Branding

Hagerty Community Member DUB6 writes:

Sajeev,

For a long time, I read about (and watched on YouTube) using "jump packs" to start vehicles with low or dead batteries. My old-school mentality just kept me using chargers and jumper cables, but my curiosity finally got the better of me (well, curiosity and being stranded at a place where no one was around to give me a jump).

So I tried to do some research on what I maybe should buy. Wow - I couldn't believe how many options there are! I finally settled on one that I think meets my needs (GOOLOO GP4000) - but as with most purchases from such a large selection, I'm always gonna wonder if I picked right.

How about giving us your own views and opening it up to your readers to tell us what they picked and why?

Sajeev answers:

This is a fantastic question because it's an introduction to finding a good product in a sea of look-alike junk on places like Amazon and Walmart. The problem is so bad I almost want to tell people to buy automotive products from Summit Racing and JEGs. Both have a nice selection of jump boxes (Here and here), to be fair.

But let's be real: The stuff on Amazon and Walmart is much cheaper. These days everyone's looking to save a few bucks on a tool they will rarely use, and I can't judge anyone for choosing this path. Many moons ago, our nation collectively deemed it worthy to offshore large chunks of our manufacturing and supply chain fortitude to other countries. Since we can't unring this dystopian bell any time soon, I suggest we play the cards this Brave New World in Retailing has dealt us.

So let's look at these products with bizarre names on Amazon. Between DUB6's experience with GOOLOO (made by Hong Kong Haowei Technology, who might be in hot water right now with the U.S. International Trade Commission.) and my look at CTWJO (made by Dongguan Simer Electronics), we see a concerted effort to make a specific brand for online retailing by Chinese manufacturers. Ridiculous brand names for anything (not just jump packs) is a big problem these days. Or is it?

Not to get all Marketing 101 on you, but this could be a good thing: Brands can mature into something with a good reputation. Once a brand has a good footing, you can expect its manufacturer to stand by the product to keep all that brand equity. But what we see here is contradictory to building a quality brand. The brands we see on Amazon use the least amount of effort possible. There's a reason for this action, and it has to do with Amazon's presumably well-intentioned brand registry program.

This video provides a good explanation of the issue we're facing. Oddball names jamming up a search query feels like a problem that Amazon should have seen from a mile away. Perhaps they did, and they just don't care.

Either way, we have to separate the wheat from the chaff, and that's not easy. My best advice for everyone is to do two levels of online research on a brand before buying.

• Open up a second browser tab and paste the weird brand name in a Google search. See if there's a website for it, then go to the privacy policy page. Look for the parent company amongst the privacy information, and Google them up. If they seem to be in business for a long time and have a portfolio of products (on places like Alibaba.com) they might be worth your dollars.
• Since Amazon reviews for these products can be suspect, find a more independent, more honest series of reviews on the product on YouTube. The Project Farm channel on YouTube is one of those gold standards that deserve more publicity.

The spreadsheets at the end of their reviews are generally pretty good, though I welcome feedback to the contrary in the comments. And that's where we stand with all these weirdly named products seen on Amazon.

Here you go, Hagerty Community: Tell us what you think of these bizarre brands, and how you determine which one is worth your money.

Have a question you'd like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to [email protected]-give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.