8 ms·

Agreed. As a long time prime user, it's been the rise in counterfeit goods that has really shook my unwavering loyalty to Amazon. I used to order everything o

Agreed. As a long time prime user, it's been the rise in counterfeit goods that has really shook my unwavering loyalty to Amazon. I used to order everything on there, without thinking twice. Now, I'm much more careful about what I buy on there, and often just avoid purchasing on Amazon entirely.

knowaveragejoe 10y ago
I'm mystified by this personally. I frequently purchase from Amazon, and haven't(to my knowledge) received counterfeit goods. Generally I stick to "fufilled by Amazon" or otherwise first-party sellers, so that may have something to do with it. Maybe I'm not purchasing niche enough products to run into this issue.
- jerdfelt 10y ago
  Unfortunately, Amazon does not appear to keep different sellers products separate in the warehouse. All it takes is one seller sending counterfeit products to the warehouse for their inventory to be contaminated by counterfeits. This makes "fulfilled by Amazon" more risky in some respects.
  - ethbro 10y ago
    If this is true (and I suppose Amazon's the only one who really knows, absent a supplier orchestrating a test), then I can't believe there wouldn't be grounds for a class action lawsuit. Because, crucial, Amazon also comingles reviews for the same product. I'd assume they have boilerplate in their legal agreements that waive rights to do so. But it seems blatantly obvious that if I put a novel item on Amazon, attract great reviews for its high quality, get comingled with counterfeits, have my reviews bombed by pissed off customers, Amazon has materially injured my business through no fault of my own.
    - throwaway55523 10y ago
      This has been discussed here in the past. If you look at the FBA program they explicitly charge extra to not co-mingle your inventory.
      - arti-fact 10y ago
        This is not true. They offer a service where they will add an FNSKU label to your products for .20/unit, which will mean your items will not be co-mingled. But as a seller, you can also apply the FNSKU to the items you send in and not be charged the additional .20/unit. It's up to the seller how they want to do it, but it's not a mandatory charge, just a convenience if you want Amazon to do it instead of yourself as the seller.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - gpawl 10y ago
      Amazon comingles _reviews_ for _different_ similar products.
      - ethbro 10y ago
        This is the thing that really annoys me. It doesn't seem that technically difficult (aside from the migration pain) that recognizes product:seller as a primary key, rather than just product. They're already swimming in reviews. So I can't see them not getting more than they're losing by empowering customers to torpedo bad sellers. Of course, this would also mean fundamentally changing their logistic practice, which is probably why they aren't interested in doing it.
    - phil21 10y ago
      > If this is true (and I suppose Amazon's the only one who really knows, absent a supplier orchestrating a test) This is true, and Amazon admits it. Co-mingling is a large part of their delivery platform.
  - arti-fact 10y ago
    This is not entirely true. Sellers have the option to send in items to the Amazon warehouses with the UPC as the barcode OR with an FNSKU barcode. The FNSKU is a unique barcode that identifies that particular product to you, the seller. If you send items in to the warehouse with the UPC, they will be considered co-mingled which means anyone else sending the same product with just the UPC will all be stored together. THIS is where you have the issue of the possibility of buying counterfeit products. If you send the items in with the FNSKU, they will be considered separate from the co-mingled inventory. Anyone that buys from a seller that has the FNSKU will get the items THAT seller sent in, and not from the co-mingled batch. For retail items, it's really up to the seller how they want to send the items in. For the sake of seller metrics, it would be wise to send in items with an FNSKU so you avoid the issue of a customer buying from you as the seller, but possibly getting a counterfeit item. To clarify another incorrect statement in this thread: Amazon does not charge extra to not co-mingle the items. They do offer a service where they will add the FNSKU label to your items at .20/piece, but that's only if the seller doesn't want to do it prior to sending the items in. Source: I'm a seller on Amazon.
    - FT_intern 10y ago
      Is there any way for the buyer to see this difference before buying? If not, these specifics don't really matter
- throwawaymsft 10y ago
  Try buying an Apple charger or cable on Amazon (even sold by Amazon directly): https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/19/amazon-fake-apple-chargers-cables/ https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/19/amazon-fake-apple-chargers-ca... https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2016/10/23/apple-nearly-90-of-genuine-iphone-chargers-on-amazon-are-fake/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2016/10/23/apple-n... Apple has the clout to force Amazon clean up their listings, most manufacturers don't. Why does Apple have to coerce Amazon to do this, instead of them being proactive?
  - EduardoBautista 10y ago
    Amazon is not an authorized seller of apple products.
    - ghurtado 10y ago
      Hopefully you don't expect the average consumer to realize this, when they are clearly selling Apple products.
    - SyneRyder 10y ago
      Are you sure? Amazon were on Apple's official list of authorized internet resellers back in June 2016, before the page was deleted from Apple's website: http://web.archive.org/web/20160609091210/http://salesresources.apple.com/sp/catalog/ http://web.archive.org/web/20160609091210/http://salesresour...
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - rubicon33 10y ago
    Or headphones.
  - baddox 10y ago
    It's not clear whether this refers to products on Amazon that claim to be made by Apple, or products on Amazon that just work with Apple products. As for the latter, I have bought a lot of Lightning cables and USB chargers and batteries from Amazon, mostly made by Anker, and I've never had an issue.
- mtw 10y ago
  Try searching for UnderArmour clothing or other popular clothing. Generally you will find items priced 30% to 50% less than elsewhere.
  - nine_k 10y ago
    So the risk of counterfeit is priced in? Market forces at work!
- exclusiv 10y ago
  Many times it's harder to tell. The counterfeits even extend to cosmetics which have huge margins if you fake the label and fill it with crap. Buying from first-party sellers may help but even then Amazon doesn't always ship YOUR inventory. If the "same" product is physically closer to a user than yours, but they bought from you, they might ship from another seller which can be counterfeit.
- throwasehasdwi 10y ago
  The issue is that the counterfeits look extremely close to the real thing, sometimes indistinguishable. It's the quality of the components inside that's far worse. A lot of names brands are having their reputations tarnished from this. Things I bought in the last year on Amazon that were fake: cookware, phone charger, headphones, power supply, phone battery, SD card I once used amazon almost daily so this is only a fraction of my purchases, but the fakes tend to be on expensive stuff. The convenience is not worth the chance of getting something worthless and I've stopped using amazon for anything.
  - rdudek 10y ago
    What kind of headphones did you buy that were fake?
    - throwasehasdwi 10y ago
      LG wireless headphones but I've heard it happens even with expensive models like Beats
- paulmd 10y ago
  Certain types of products are extremely commonly counterfeited. I would never consider ordering luxury goods like cologne/perfume/handbags, flash memory cards or sticks, or small mass-market electronics like chargers. Due to the way Amazon commingles their stock at the SKU level, there is simply no way to guarantee that what you're getting is genuine, even if you order "sold and shipped from Amazon". Even from an authorized retailer - the first thing I do with any flash card is fill it full of a test pattern using f3write, and then validate that it actually reads out fine. Counterfeiting of flash cards is absolutely rampant. http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/ http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/
  - user5994461 10y ago
    Get the flash card from wall mart, it works just fine. (feel free to replace with whatever shop you go by on your way to work).
    - paulmd 10y ago
      Or Adorama, or BH Photo Video. Or really anyone except Amazon and eBay and other hubs for cheap Chinese junk. Newegg is probably still OK too, although they are now fronting for third-party retailers I haven't heard of them commingling their stocks yet.
  - baddox 10y ago
    I've bought lots of flash cards, flash drives, chargers, and cables from Amazon and have never had a problem (or they were great counterfeits, in which case I'm not too upset). I don't do much research either, choosing mostly based on search results, brand name, reviews, and shipping/sold by Amazon.
    - kbart 10y ago
      I'd strongly advise against high-voltage/power, questionable quality electronics, because even counterfeit charger will work fine most of the time, until one day, it fails and burns your home down. It's usually not functionality that differs between cheap/counterfeit and quality electronics, but protection, failsafe mechanisms, durability and quality control. I do order myself plenty of cheap, low quality electronics, but nothing that touches more than 12V.
mattnewton 10y ago
I've also run into straight-up fraud more than once, for example buying a switch at above MSRP, only to be given a fake tracking number and nothing to show up on the delivery date. It was not easy to find recourse; the process starts with "asking for a return" which emails the seller and gives them two days to respond before you can escalate to Amazon, which was not intuitive at all.
mintplant 10y ago
For me it's been shipping issues. At some point Amazon became really unreliable with their delivery date "guarantees". I've had four separate packages simply not arrive at all, and plenty more that were a few days to a week late. Confusingly, the Amazon app seems to mark a package as "delivered" when the estimated date is reached, regardless of its actual status. When you dig into the tracking information, sometimes it shows a "shipping in progress, expected delivery:" message with a date in the past, other times a note that "something seems wrong here, we're not sure where your package is". This suggests disorganization in a company that talks itself up as a logistics giant. Upon calling support, you of course learn that their use of the word "guarantee" is meaningless. Even if you're paying $99/year for it with Prime, the best they'll do is (attempt to) send a replacement shipment.
- baddox 10y ago
  That must be a highly local phenomenon. I had great shipping experiences in rural Missouri, then when I moved to San Francisco they became ridiculously great. I was getting packages the next day long before they started offering next day shipping. In fact, I agree with other common complaints about Amazon (counterfeiting, higher prices) but still often go with them because I'm confident the product will show up quickly.
  - mintplant 10y ago
    I've experienced it in both San Jose and San Diego. Not exactly the middle of nowhere.
    - arrosenberg 10y ago
      I've rarely had a problem with Amazon in San Diego, but as someone who ships ~1,000 packages a month through USPS - our local postal service leaves a lot to be desired in terms of reliability and consistency.
- BurningFrog 10y ago
  You may also have a package thief.
samsolomon 10y ago
I'm in the same boat—long-time Prime user, but the counterfeiting has made me think twice about purchasing things from Amazon. I recently made two high-ticket purchases through Best Buy instead. It's not just electronics either. I now search comments for "fake" or "counterfeit" on nearly every Amazon purchase I make. I was about to buy cologne from Amazon and ended up just purchasing it from Macy's.

knowaveragejoe 10y ago

I'm mystified by this personally. I frequently purchase from Amazon, and haven't(to my knowledge) received counterfeit goods. Generally I stick to "fufilled by Amazon" or otherwise first-party sellers, so that may have something to do with it. Maybe I'm not purchasing niche enough products to run into this issue.

jerdfelt 10y ago
Unfortunately, Amazon does not appear to keep different sellers products separate in the warehouse. All it takes is one seller sending counterfeit products to the warehouse for their inventory to be contaminated by counterfeits. This makes "fulfilled by Amazon" more risky in some respects.
- ethbro 10y ago
  If this is true (and I suppose Amazon's the only one who really knows, absent a supplier orchestrating a test), then I can't believe there wouldn't be grounds for a class action lawsuit. Because, crucial, Amazon also comingles reviews for the same product. I'd assume they have boilerplate in their legal agreements that waive rights to do so. But it seems blatantly obvious that if I put a novel item on Amazon, attract great reviews for its high quality, get comingled with counterfeits, have my reviews bombed by pissed off customers, Amazon has materially injured my business through no fault of my own.
  - throwaway55523 10y ago
    This has been discussed here in the past. If you look at the FBA program they explicitly charge extra to not co-mingle your inventory.
    - arti-fact 10y ago
      This is not true. They offer a service where they will add an FNSKU label to your products for .20/unit, which will mean your items will not be co-mingled. But as a seller, you can also apply the FNSKU to the items you send in and not be charged the additional .20/unit. It's up to the seller how they want to do it, but it's not a mandatory charge, just a convenience if you want Amazon to do it instead of yourself as the seller.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - gpawl 10y ago
    Amazon comingles _reviews_ for _different_ similar products.
    - ethbro 10y ago
      This is the thing that really annoys me. It doesn't seem that technically difficult (aside from the migration pain) that recognizes product:seller as a primary key, rather than just product. They're already swimming in reviews. So I can't see them not getting more than they're losing by empowering customers to torpedo bad sellers. Of course, this would also mean fundamentally changing their logistic practice, which is probably why they aren't interested in doing it.
  - phil21 10y ago
    > If this is true (and I suppose Amazon's the only one who really knows, absent a supplier orchestrating a test) This is true, and Amazon admits it. Co-mingling is a large part of their delivery platform.
- arti-fact 10y ago
  This is not entirely true. Sellers have the option to send in items to the Amazon warehouses with the UPC as the barcode OR with an FNSKU barcode. The FNSKU is a unique barcode that identifies that particular product to you, the seller. If you send items in to the warehouse with the UPC, they will be considered co-mingled which means anyone else sending the same product with just the UPC will all be stored together. THIS is where you have the issue of the possibility of buying counterfeit products. If you send the items in with the FNSKU, they will be considered separate from the co-mingled inventory. Anyone that buys from a seller that has the FNSKU will get the items THAT seller sent in, and not from the co-mingled batch. For retail items, it's really up to the seller how they want to send the items in. For the sake of seller metrics, it would be wise to send in items with an FNSKU so you avoid the issue of a customer buying from you as the seller, but possibly getting a counterfeit item. To clarify another incorrect statement in this thread: Amazon does not charge extra to not co-mingle the items. They do offer a service where they will add the FNSKU label to your items at .20/piece, but that's only if the seller doesn't want to do it prior to sending the items in. Source: I'm a seller on Amazon.
  - FT_intern 10y ago
    Is there any way for the buyer to see this difference before buying? If not, these specifics don't really matter
throwawaymsft 10y ago
Try buying an Apple charger or cable on Amazon (even sold by Amazon directly): https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/19/amazon-fake-apple-chargers-cables/ https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/19/amazon-fake-apple-chargers-ca... https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2016/10/23/apple-nearly-90-of-genuine-iphone-chargers-on-amazon-are-fake/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2016/10/23/apple-n... Apple has the clout to force Amazon clean up their listings, most manufacturers don't. Why does Apple have to coerce Amazon to do this, instead of them being proactive?
- EduardoBautista 10y ago
  Amazon is not an authorized seller of apple products.
  - ghurtado 10y ago
    Hopefully you don't expect the average consumer to realize this, when they are clearly selling Apple products.
  - SyneRyder 10y ago
    Are you sure? Amazon were on Apple's official list of authorized internet resellers back in June 2016, before the page was deleted from Apple's website: http://web.archive.org/web/20160609091210/http://salesresources.apple.com/sp/catalog/ http://web.archive.org/web/20160609091210/http://salesresour...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- rubicon33 10y ago
  Or headphones.
- baddox 10y ago
  It's not clear whether this refers to products on Amazon that claim to be made by Apple, or products on Amazon that just work with Apple products. As for the latter, I have bought a lot of Lightning cables and USB chargers and batteries from Amazon, mostly made by Anker, and I've never had an issue.
mtw 10y ago
Try searching for UnderArmour clothing or other popular clothing. Generally you will find items priced 30% to 50% less than elsewhere.
- nine_k 10y ago
  So the risk of counterfeit is priced in? Market forces at work!
exclusiv 10y ago
Many times it's harder to tell. The counterfeits even extend to cosmetics which have huge margins if you fake the label and fill it with crap. Buying from first-party sellers may help but even then Amazon doesn't always ship YOUR inventory. If the "same" product is physically closer to a user than yours, but they bought from you, they might ship from another seller which can be counterfeit.
throwasehasdwi 10y ago
The issue is that the counterfeits look extremely close to the real thing, sometimes indistinguishable. It's the quality of the components inside that's far worse. A lot of names brands are having their reputations tarnished from this. Things I bought in the last year on Amazon that were fake: cookware, phone charger, headphones, power supply, phone battery, SD card I once used amazon almost daily so this is only a fraction of my purchases, but the fakes tend to be on expensive stuff. The convenience is not worth the chance of getting something worthless and I've stopped using amazon for anything.
- rdudek 10y ago
  What kind of headphones did you buy that were fake?
  - throwasehasdwi 10y ago
    LG wireless headphones but I've heard it happens even with expensive models like Beats
paulmd 10y ago
Certain types of products are extremely commonly counterfeited. I would never consider ordering luxury goods like cologne/perfume/handbags, flash memory cards or sticks, or small mass-market electronics like chargers. Due to the way Amazon commingles their stock at the SKU level, there is simply no way to guarantee that what you're getting is genuine, even if you order "sold and shipped from Amazon". Even from an authorized retailer - the first thing I do with any flash card is fill it full of a test pattern using f3write, and then validate that it actually reads out fine. Counterfeiting of flash cards is absolutely rampant. http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/ http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/
- user5994461 10y ago
  Get the flash card from wall mart, it works just fine. (feel free to replace with whatever shop you go by on your way to work).
  - paulmd 10y ago
    Or Adorama, or BH Photo Video. Or really anyone except Amazon and eBay and other hubs for cheap Chinese junk. Newegg is probably still OK too, although they are now fronting for third-party retailers I haven't heard of them commingling their stocks yet.
- baddox 10y ago
  I've bought lots of flash cards, flash drives, chargers, and cables from Amazon and have never had a problem (or they were great counterfeits, in which case I'm not too upset). I don't do much research either, choosing mostly based on search results, brand name, reviews, and shipping/sold by Amazon.
  - kbart 10y ago
    I'd strongly advise against high-voltage/power, questionable quality electronics, because even counterfeit charger will work fine most of the time, until one day, it fails and burns your home down. It's usually not functionality that differs between cheap/counterfeit and quality electronics, but protection, failsafe mechanisms, durability and quality control. I do order myself plenty of cheap, low quality electronics, but nothing that touches more than 12V.

mattnewton 10y ago

I've also run into straight-up fraud more than once, for example buying a switch at above MSRP, only to be given a fake tracking number and nothing to show up on the delivery date. It was not easy to find recourse; the process starts with "asking for a return" which emails the seller and gives them two days to respond before you can escalate to Amazon, which was not intuitive at all.

mintplant 10y ago

For me it's been shipping issues. At some point Amazon became really unreliable with their delivery date "guarantees". I've had four separate packages simply not arrive at all, and plenty more that were a few days to a week late. Confusingly, the Amazon app seems to mark a package as "delivered" when the estimated date is reached, regardless of its actual status. When you dig into the tracking information, sometimes it shows a "shipping in progress, expected delivery:" message with a date in the past, other times a note that "something seems wrong here, we're not sure where your package is". This suggests disorganization in a company that talks itself up as a logistics giant. Upon calling support, you of course learn that their use of the word "guarantee" is meaningless. Even if you're paying $99/year for it with Prime, the best they'll do is (attempt to) send a replacement shipment.

baddox 10y ago
That must be a highly local phenomenon. I had great shipping experiences in rural Missouri, then when I moved to San Francisco they became ridiculously great. I was getting packages the next day long before they started offering next day shipping. In fact, I agree with other common complaints about Amazon (counterfeiting, higher prices) but still often go with them because I'm confident the product will show up quickly.
- mintplant 10y ago
  I've experienced it in both San Jose and San Diego. Not exactly the middle of nowhere.
  - arrosenberg 10y ago
    I've rarely had a problem with Amazon in San Diego, but as someone who ships ~1,000 packages a month through USPS - our local postal service leaves a lot to be desired in terms of reliability and consistency.
BurningFrog 10y ago
You may also have a package thief.

samsolomon 10y ago

I'm in the same boat—long-time Prime user, but the counterfeiting has made me think twice about purchasing things from Amazon. I recently made two high-ticket purchases through Best Buy instead. It's not just electronics either. I now search comments for "fake" or "counterfeit" on nearly every Amazon purchase I make. I was about to buy cologne from Amazon and ended up just purchasing it from Macy's.