4 ms·

This has been going on for years. I can't find the particular listing anymore, but I once went searching Amazon for an EnOcean (wireless protocol) motion sensor

This has been going on for years. I can't find the particular listing anymore, but I once went searching Amazon for an EnOcean (wireless protocol) motion sensor and found a phone case with a photo of a motion sensor on it. Presumably most of these are never purchased, but they generate thousands of listings and print them on demand if one ever gets an order.

SyneRyder 9y ago
There was also someone who had a bot that made "Keep Calm And [Random Bot Text]" t-shirts. Unfortunately I can't find the link to the news story about it though. From memory, that one was actually making money.
- simias 9y ago
  Yeah I remember that story as well. The reason it made the news is that the bot went a bit too far at times: http://www.rawstory.com/2013/03/ceo-automated-process-led-to-misogynistic-rape-shirts-on-amazon/ http://www.rawstory.com/2013/03/ceo-automated-process-led-to... You have the same type of listings for hoodies, mugs and many other "consumables" that are cheap to print on demand.
schoen 9y ago
Yeah, I wanted to get an RFID-blocking passport wallet and I searched on Amazon, only to find thousands of options (the vast majority of which I assume have never been physically produced) with different slogans in different languages, which looked to be the output of a script that plugged in things into a template. You can see for yourself: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_sa_fashion?url=search-alias%3Dfashion&field-keywords=neonblond+rfid+passport https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_sa_fashion?url=searc... Many of them look quite plausible but if you keep looking you come across bad transliterations from other languages, extremely specific "I [Place|Activity|Relative|Pet]", "World's Hottest [Profession]", and lots more. The most implausible to me is that they have "I love you" in foreign languages but not always using the foreign languages' actual writing system, sometimes using unofficial transliterations. (Although apparently people are willing to get tattoos of this kind of thing, so maybe they're also willing to buy passport holders with it...) I bet this company is still small potatoes compared to the overall scale that the script-assisted product listing game can reach on Amazon. Another thing was a company that produced custom e-books of Wikipedia articles about different Amazon search terms, so if you searched for "hypochondria" or something, they would be selling an e-book about hypochondria, consisting of a print-out of the Wikipedia page about it.
lftl 9y ago
The weird part about these is that they're listed as prime and shipped and sold by Amazon. Is there some way to list on demand products that way?
- AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
  I'm hoping there isn't and someone realizing the premium for prime/FBA products produced a ton of them after picking designs algorithmically and shipped them to Amazon. Somewhere, in an Amazon warehouse near you, there is a Samsung S3 infected toe phone cover. What a time to be alive.
- AaronNewcomer 9y ago
  Yes, Amazon now offers Seller Fulfilled Prime. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html/?itemID=201812230 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html/?itemID=2... (need to be logged into a seller account to see this page. "Seller Fulfilled Prime allows you to list your products as Prime-eligible and handle the fulfillment yourself. You can display the Prime badge on the products you already ship directly to customers with 2-day shipping and free standard shipping. There is no fee to enroll in Seller Fulfilled Prime. Before you can participate, you must satisfy performance requirements during a trial period to demonstrate that you can meet customers' service expectations. After successfully completing the trial, you're automatically enrolled in the program."

SyneRyder 9y ago

There was also someone who had a bot that made "Keep Calm And [Random Bot Text]" t-shirts. Unfortunately I can't find the link to the news story about it though. From memory, that one was actually making money.

simias 9y ago
Yeah I remember that story as well. The reason it made the news is that the bot went a bit too far at times: http://www.rawstory.com/2013/03/ceo-automated-process-led-to-misogynistic-rape-shirts-on-amazon/ http://www.rawstory.com/2013/03/ceo-automated-process-led-to... You have the same type of listings for hoodies, mugs and many other "consumables" that are cheap to print on demand.

schoen 9y ago

Yeah, I wanted to get an RFID-blocking passport wallet and I searched on Amazon, only to find thousands of options (the vast majority of which I assume have never been physically produced) with different slogans in different languages, which looked to be the output of a script that plugged in things into a template. You can see for yourself: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_sa_fashion?url=search-alias%3Dfashion&field-keywords=neonblond+rfid+passport https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_sa_fashion?url=searc... Many of them look quite plausible but if you keep looking you come across bad transliterations from other languages, extremely specific "I [Place|Activity|Relative|Pet]", "World's Hottest [Profession]", and lots more. The most implausible to me is that they have "I love you" in foreign languages but not always using the foreign languages' actual writing system, sometimes using unofficial transliterations. (Although apparently people are willing to get tattoos of this kind of thing, so maybe they're also willing to buy passport holders with it...) I bet this company is still small potatoes compared to the overall scale that the script-assisted product listing game can reach on Amazon. Another thing was a company that produced custom e-books of Wikipedia articles about different Amazon search terms, so if you searched for "hypochondria" or something, they would be selling an e-book about hypochondria, consisting of a print-out of the Wikipedia page about it.

lftl 9y ago

The weird part about these is that they're listed as prime and shipped and sold by Amazon. Is there some way to list on demand products that way?

AdamJacobMuller 9y ago
I'm hoping there isn't and someone realizing the premium for prime/FBA products produced a ton of them after picking designs algorithmically and shipped them to Amazon. Somewhere, in an Amazon warehouse near you, there is a Samsung S3 infected toe phone cover. What a time to be alive.
AaronNewcomer 9y ago
Yes, Amazon now offers Seller Fulfilled Prime. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html/?itemID=201812230 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html/?itemID=2... (need to be logged into a seller account to see this page. "Seller Fulfilled Prime allows you to list your products as Prime-eligible and handle the fulfillment yourself. You can display the Prime badge on the products you already ship directly to customers with 2-day shipping and free standard shipping. There is no fee to enroll in Seller Fulfilled Prime. Before you can participate, you must satisfy performance requirements during a trial period to demonstrate that you can meet customers' service expectations. After successfully completing the trial, you're automatically enrolled in the program."