If you have tried looking for anything on Amazon nowadays, you know that it is full of sponsored placements, low-quality products, and knockoff brands with names like BGOWATU, QGRSWBC, SEENSINY, RONDURE, CINSARY (which are all actual brands on Amazon btw), or anything that you could probably mash with a keyboard.
However, a new open-source tool is now available to help declutter your Amazon shopping experience.
Named Knockoff — Amazon Brand Filter, it is a new browser extension that identifies, flags, and filters out what it describes as “pseudo-brand listings.” Basically, instead of forcing users to scroll through endless pages of merchandise from brands they may not know, Knockoff gives shoppers the option to dim, label, or completely hide listings from brands the browser extension doesn’t consider “reputable.”
The extension primarily operates via local device-side filtering to maintain user privacy. It cross-references product listings against a list of roughly 5,000 well-known or “established” brands, as well as a community-run database that is updated daily.
Aside from being on-device, the extension also doesn’t require any user accounts, tracking cookies, or analytical background scripts.
Now, Knockoff does use some common rules to identify these brands, including unpronounceable consonant runs, vanishing vowels, and random all-caps formatting.
You can also customize the tool across three different filtering levels: Relaxed, Standard, or Strict. This all depends on how strict you want the algorithm to be, and there is even an option to filter Amazon’s sponsored content entirely.
I tried it myself, and honestly, it’s pretty good for a browser extension. It performs best when you actively search for something on Amazon. It doesn’t show up often on the home page, but for everyday item searching, it is super effective and something I’ll keep.
The extension is available on both the Chrome Web Store and Firefox.
Source: Android Authority
Header image credit: Shutterstock
