Cabmaker:
Yes, one ignores the new methodology of communication at one’s peril. Such is the ubiquitous phone, which is now being used for everything but a phone. (I get calls on Father’s Day, and texts the rest of the year.)
Much like you, I would make the trip to the brick and mortar store, get only what I came for, and leave. While that seems quaint, the mall parking lot is nonetheless still packed.
When the Internet reared its head, I thought that this was the perfect sales venue for items that were of a known quality (i.e., books and recorded music, as these are primarily fungible products that do not require tactile sensory perception). The upshot was that even the more obscure items were in stock if, much as myself, one does not run with the herd with respect to musical or literary tastes.
For other items, unless they were also of known quality, I always thought that there was some level of risk involved, as one could not perceive quality by looking at an item on the screen. This does not seem to matter to others in the way that it matters to me. But I digress.
All in all, I suppose that the crowd sourced platforms are nothing more than a digital sandwich board, merely pushing potential sales in your direction. Still, what I would find most troubling about the crowd sourced platforms is how someone can post negative feedback, apropos of no interaction with you, your products, or your business. This feedback seems to have a very long half-life.
And where this was once called libel, which is an actionable offense, there currently seems to be no recourse for this action. (That’s OK, I wasn’t using my constitutional rights anyway)
The providers of these platforms (Houzz, Angies List, etc.) seem to always want to “upsell” you, and have you purchase their service, which makes you a “preferred” vendor and bumps you up in the ordered listing, otherwise you get buried in the heap. These services are expensive, and there has been much debate on this forum about the cost-effectiveness of these services.
Perhaps you can just buy a reputation anymore, or have enough "friends" "like" you, such that a good reputation is percieved, rather than earned. As with anything, you pay your money and you take your chances.
TonyF