4 ms·

That's the behavior that I would like to see Amazon encourage as a solution. Tracking the product back to it's actual origin of manufacturer (and showing us th

That's the behavior that I would like to see Amazon encourage as a solution. Tracking the product back to it's actual origin of manufacturer (and showing us the consumer). Where, exactly, was the factory? The lot number and date of manufacturer? Official model and revision number? Requiring these things will give buyers better hard data to detect and exclude middle-level-marking shenanigans as well as combat 'bait and switch' (even if not intentional) changes to product configurations sold under the same general marketing moniker.

pwaai 9y ago
How would you go about tracing the steps? Are there some large database of OEM factories where you can contact them in English (assuming China). I too would love to know exactly where and who made it, how many middle-men have stepped in with their own markup to finally Amazon. Because it's clear that Amazon doesn't give two shit about who and what gets sold, they just care about volume. Fixing reviews is not part of that strategy.
- coredog64 9y ago
  Wouldn't this be a classic use case for block chain technology?
  - SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
    Of course not. It's not a distribute problem (Amazon is centralized) it doesn't require trustlessness (Amazon trusts itself), but it is something where you want an auditable ledger. Say, an append-only database.
- mjevans 9y ago
  You require the data to be part of the listing, and you share that data with the consumer. It thus becomes a statement that can be enforced as part of advertising to a customer. Counterfeits would be one thing to go after. Lying to customers would be another. After a while 'dodgy factories' and/or sellers that lie more often than not would be able to be sorted out and removed from listings. More importantly factories and sellers could build actual solid reputations for telling the truth. Most importantly, it would make middle-level-marketing stuff much more obvious.
  - RhodesianHunter 9y ago
    I wish it we're this simple, but after working in this space I can tell you that getting that data is a Herculean task.
- RhodesianHunter 9y ago
  With great difficulty. Most major brands never even touch their products. They design them and have them built by contract manufacturers. They then get sent through distributors, shippers, brokers, etc. Each of which has terribly old systems which may or may not track each individual item. Most links in this chain are also disinterested in any third party knowing what and how many products they move, including and especially the brand itself.
  - astura 9y ago
    I think your last paragraph is absolutely key - many players treat that information as strictly proprietary. A big reason is because oftentimes a supplier makes identical (other than the packaging) products for two different customers, one sold as generic, one name brand.
petra 9y ago
I wonder if Amazon isn't particulary interested in solving the problem(which happens mostly in lower end products, higher end use strong brands), since such a solution could be copied by their big competitiors, but instead they think about how to create private labels at scale ? a private label for every product category ? Because if sucsessful, it would be a huge competitive advantage. And they do already have 34 private labels in varied areas, but i think they are still in the learning phase.
alok-g 9y ago
>> Tracking the product back to it's actual origin of manufacturer. >> Where, exactly, was the factory? The lot number and date of manufacturer? Official model and revision number? Check out Amazon Transparency: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=15466573011 https://www.amazon.com/b?node=15466573011

pwaai 9y ago

How would you go about tracing the steps? Are there some large database of OEM factories where you can contact them in English (assuming China). I too would love to know exactly where and who made it, how many middle-men have stepped in with their own markup to finally Amazon. Because it's clear that Amazon doesn't give two shit about who and what gets sold, they just care about volume. Fixing reviews is not part of that strategy.

coredog64 9y ago
Wouldn't this be a classic use case for block chain technology?
- SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
  Of course not. It's not a distribute problem (Amazon is centralized) it doesn't require trustlessness (Amazon trusts itself), but it is something where you want an auditable ledger. Say, an append-only database.
mjevans 9y ago
You require the data to be part of the listing, and you share that data with the consumer. It thus becomes a statement that can be enforced as part of advertising to a customer. Counterfeits would be one thing to go after. Lying to customers would be another. After a while 'dodgy factories' and/or sellers that lie more often than not would be able to be sorted out and removed from listings. More importantly factories and sellers could build actual solid reputations for telling the truth. Most importantly, it would make middle-level-marketing stuff much more obvious.
- RhodesianHunter 9y ago
  I wish it we're this simple, but after working in this space I can tell you that getting that data is a Herculean task.
RhodesianHunter 9y ago
With great difficulty. Most major brands never even touch their products. They design them and have them built by contract manufacturers. They then get sent through distributors, shippers, brokers, etc. Each of which has terribly old systems which may or may not track each individual item. Most links in this chain are also disinterested in any third party knowing what and how many products they move, including and especially the brand itself.
- astura 9y ago
  I think your last paragraph is absolutely key - many players treat that information as strictly proprietary. A big reason is because oftentimes a supplier makes identical (other than the packaging) products for two different customers, one sold as generic, one name brand.

petra 9y ago

I wonder if Amazon isn't particulary interested in solving the problem(which happens mostly in lower end products, higher end use strong brands), since such a solution could be copied by their big competitiors, but instead they think about how to create private labels at scale ? a private label for every product category ? Because if sucsessful, it would be a huge competitive advantage. And they do already have 34 private labels in varied areas, but i think they are still in the learning phase.

alok-g 9y ago

>> Tracking the product back to it's actual origin of manufacturer. >> Where, exactly, was the factory? The lot number and date of manufacturer? Official model and revision number? Check out Amazon Transparency: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=15466573011 https://www.amazon.com/b?node=15466573011