The Real Real got hit with a $5 million law suit because, according to the complaint, TRR “systematically inflated the total weights of small uncertificated gemstones knowing that the average consumer would have no way to know that the weights were inflated.” I’ve read rumblings about problems with TRR’s authentication process, but the allegation the company is actively defrauding buyers is stunning. Given my own bad experiences, I’m resolved to steer clear.
This public defender is a friggin’ saint: when being a good lawyer means dressing your client.
My Money Blog deconstructed Charlie Munger’s life and turned it into a financial independence blueprint. Munger’s approach–building up to 10x annual living expenses through saving his salary and then pivoting to more aggressive investments– seems like an appealing alternative to sticking it out with a job until I’ve reached 25x. I’m not a real estate investment sort of person, so I’d have to think of another type of business that’s scalable.
Seventeen states introduce right to repair legislation. Good, I say! The fact that only Apple can replace batteries on their laptops and mobile devices is absurd and anti-competitive.
Amazon announced their candidate cities for HQ2. Not to be a major NIMBY about it, but I really hope it doesn’t end up in my metro region. The recent immigration of highly-paid tech workers (myself included) is pushing local housing costs to their limit. The current rate of housing development already can’t keep up and is hollowing out the city’s middle and working class households. Not to mention my generally iffy feelings about Amazon and the absurd tax breaks cities are offering. For instance, Chicago proposed letting Amazon keep tax revenue generated by its employees. Bonkers! Is your city on the list?
After demonetizing a bunch of LGBTQ and mental health-related content last year, YouTube has decided to up the ante and cut money going to smaller vloggers by raising the standards for ad eligibility. Meanwhile, after years of pushing brands to pivot to video, Facebook overhauls their news feeds algorithm to, you guessed it!, “de-prioritize videos, photos, and posts shared by businesses and media outlets”. It’s almost as if these huge online platforms don’t care about their content creators at all.
Not all technology is bleak though. For instance:
Yet Another PF Blog 
Darn about TheRealReal. I don’t feel comfortable (with my targeted price point and tastes plus my relative lack of knowledge about higher-end brands) buying anything more expensive than Tory Burch on there. I’ve been… somewhat patched into the world of high-end replica bags after following a r/femalefashionadvice rabbit hole (I’d never buy, both because of the legal issues and the practical reality that those items are still $200-$400 a piece and a very “risky” buy even for, er, very experienced players) and… there are some really good replicas out there, and while there are usually still some consistent “tells” with the, er, best-replicated items, I’m not sure one could trust any one company to be familiar with all of those details for all designer brands. In short, I’d never buy a currently popular designer bag on there.
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I’m not at all versed in the world of designer bags. Are the high-end replicas high quality bags? If so, I could understand the appeal of getting a fake. If I were into the luxury market, I wouldn’t buy if I couldn’t inspect an item in person. Like you said, the potential loss you can incur is just so much bigger.
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