What is Buy For Life?
The Origin of Buy For Life
This page was originally developed based on the content of the Subreddit r/BuyItForLife where people are searching for practical, durable and quality made products.
I was always looking for a place to overcome cheap products and share product recommendations. The subreddit served me well, but most posted products weren't available anymore. One user explained the problem with the BIFL subreddit very well in his post:
"I joined this sub for the purpose of buying stuff like lifetime warranty backpacks (osprey), great tools, camp gear, kitchen wear ect. Yet this sub has basically became an Instagram for the old shit people find in they're grandparents house which offers no benefit to me now. I'm not going to buy, nor could I even find a kitchen aid mixer you grandma still uses from the 70s. Most stuff back then was made to last, we know that. I want stuff thats still made today with quality."
Why we started this community
Wouldn't it be great to have an independent place to find information about a product and its manufacturer? And that's why we started this project.
It should become the Rotten Tomatoes for products, almost like you check the trustworthy rating of a movie before you watch it, people could check a product and its manufacturer before they purchase it.
We want to change the way people review products. We should review broken and almost worn-out products to teach how to identify cheap products (where are the stress points, what manufacturing techniques exist to alleviate those). Then compare those with used products well past their warranty period that hasn't broken, and look at why they haven't.
Shifting the consumer mindset towards a more sustainable lifestyle
The most important deciding factor when shopping is still the price. We want to change that.
- We are collecting data for every step in the life cycle of a product. How long does it last? Can I fix it if it breaks?
- We aggregate reviews from the most trusted sources like Reddit to see if a product's quality has changed or gone down at some point.