6 ms·

He said sold by Amazon. There are two ways: Fulfilled by Amazon or Sold and Shipped by Amazon. I am pretty sure he is talking about the latter. With the latter,

He said sold by Amazon. There are two ways: Fulfilled by Amazon or Sold and Shipped by Amazon. I am pretty sure he is talking about the latter. With the latter, Amazon is actually selling the item not some 3rd party. With Fulfilled by Amazon, Amazon only ships it to you, but the 3rd party is selling. It is pretty clear on the website.

skookum 10y ago
The poster you are replying to probably understands this distinction. They are referring to Amazon's co-mingling of inventory. When you buy an item on Amazon which is offered by more than one FBA merchant, Amazon does not necessarily fulfill your order out of that merchant's inventory. They will ship you an identical item from whichever inventory makes most sense for your order based on such factors as proximity of FC to you, ability to bundle other items for your order from a given FC, etc. In Amazon's fulfillment systems, Amazon itself is just another merchant so ordering "Sold and Shipped by Amazon" is no guarantee of getting an item that Amazon sourced. The only time you can have any confidence is when Amazon itself is the only offer on a given ASIN.
- chrisper 10y ago
  Oh wow. This is concerning considering I am buying flea medication from Amazon and make sure it is "sold by Amazon" so I do not get fake ones.
- anexprogrammer 10y ago
  Grief. I've made a point of actively choosing items sold by (not fullfilled by) Amazon or other sellers I trust for certain types of product specifically to avoid the fake crap. Surely Amazon must have some clue the damage this is doing to their brand? Seems time has come to buy from retailers that don't have highly suspect marketplaces intermingled on their sites.
- macNchz 10y ago
  I had no idea this was the case, makes me even warier now. Seems like a fairly big gamble to take with their brand image...most of the knockoff stuff I've encountered has been pretty obviously junk.
saosebastiao 10y ago
Co-mingling refers to inventory pooling, where physical units can exchange ownership at amazon's discretion. For example, let's say that SellerA has a fake iPad for sale via FBA and it is located in Philly, and Amazon has a real iPad located in Los Angeles. If someone from New York buys an iPad from Amazon, Amazon may swap ownership of their iPads in order to ship it a shorter distance. Then, in their records, SellerA now owns a real iPad, and the Amazon-only buyer in New York just got a fake.
- chrisper 10y ago
  Oh wow. That sounds super shady.
  - saosebastiao 10y ago
    They only do it with standardized products (like those that have registered UPC codes), so that they should be indistinguishable. They try to control the situation, but it has gotten so bad with some product types due to chinese knockoffs that they have had to shut it off for entire categories. A particularly humorous situation has evolved from this with matchbox toy cars. With matchbox cars, any 1 car box is entirely indistinguishable electronically from another 1 car box, as all 1 car boxes share the same UPC (as well as 2 car boxes and so on). Collectors now refer to buying from amazon as 6 bullet roulette, because it is now virtually impossible to actually get what you think you bought.
    - lisper 10y ago
      > they should be indistinguishable That seems to me to be missing the point rather badly (by Amazon, not by you). Counterfeits are designed to be indistinguishable, at least to casual inspection. Forging a UPC code is trivial.
      - hrktb 10y ago
        The system was not designed to fight counterfeit, but to optimize delivery for industrialy produced goods. Think ipod earbuds for instance, imagining they all actually Official ones, you wouldn't care which seller the one you ordered came from, as long as the product reference is the good one.

skookum 10y ago

The poster you are replying to probably understands this distinction. They are referring to Amazon's co-mingling of inventory. When you buy an item on Amazon which is offered by more than one FBA merchant, Amazon does not necessarily fulfill your order out of that merchant's inventory. They will ship you an identical item from whichever inventory makes most sense for your order based on such factors as proximity of FC to you, ability to bundle other items for your order from a given FC, etc. In Amazon's fulfillment systems, Amazon itself is just another merchant so ordering "Sold and Shipped by Amazon" is no guarantee of getting an item that Amazon sourced. The only time you can have any confidence is when Amazon itself is the only offer on a given ASIN.

chrisper 10y ago
Oh wow. This is concerning considering I am buying flea medication from Amazon and make sure it is "sold by Amazon" so I do not get fake ones.
anexprogrammer 10y ago
Grief. I've made a point of actively choosing items sold by (not fullfilled by) Amazon or other sellers I trust for certain types of product specifically to avoid the fake crap. Surely Amazon must have some clue the damage this is doing to their brand? Seems time has come to buy from retailers that don't have highly suspect marketplaces intermingled on their sites.
macNchz 10y ago
I had no idea this was the case, makes me even warier now. Seems like a fairly big gamble to take with their brand image...most of the knockoff stuff I've encountered has been pretty obviously junk.

saosebastiao 10y ago

Co-mingling refers to inventory pooling, where physical units can exchange ownership at amazon's discretion. For example, let's say that SellerA has a fake iPad for sale via FBA and it is located in Philly, and Amazon has a real iPad located in Los Angeles. If someone from New York buys an iPad from Amazon, Amazon may swap ownership of their iPads in order to ship it a shorter distance. Then, in their records, SellerA now owns a real iPad, and the Amazon-only buyer in New York just got a fake.

chrisper 10y ago
Oh wow. That sounds super shady.
- saosebastiao 10y ago
  They only do it with standardized products (like those that have registered UPC codes), so that they should be indistinguishable. They try to control the situation, but it has gotten so bad with some product types due to chinese knockoffs that they have had to shut it off for entire categories. A particularly humorous situation has evolved from this with matchbox toy cars. With matchbox cars, any 1 car box is entirely indistinguishable electronically from another 1 car box, as all 1 car boxes share the same UPC (as well as 2 car boxes and so on). Collectors now refer to buying from amazon as 6 bullet roulette, because it is now virtually impossible to actually get what you think you bought.
  - lisper 10y ago
    > they should be indistinguishable That seems to me to be missing the point rather badly (by Amazon, not by you). Counterfeits are designed to be indistinguishable, at least to casual inspection. Forging a UPC code is trivial.
    - hrktb 10y ago
      The system was not designed to fight counterfeit, but to optimize delivery for industrialy produced goods. Think ipod earbuds for instance, imagining they all actually Official ones, you wouldn't care which seller the one you ordered came from, as long as the product reference is the good one.