4 ms·

So: amazon manages a fairly... unmanaged marketplace. There's a lot of cruft and some fraud. I get the impression it's not quite as bad here (amazon.de) as th

by emn13 9y ago

So: amazon manages a fairly... unmanaged marketplace. There's a lot of cruft and some fraud. I get the impression it's not quite as bad here (amazon.de) as the reports make amazon.com sound, but deception is a huge problem; and quality in general is variable. But having said all that - this is such a poor example to start complaining about. Nothing in the product description sounds like a counterfeit; it's simply yet-another possibly poor-quality competitor to the chrome cast. And sure, the supplier made the really dubious decision to include a chrome-logo-shape in the actual device. But the seller isn't amazon; and the description doesn't use anything to hint at it being a chromecast - so it's unlikely people looking for a chromecast will be mislead (or indeed even manage to find this thing). All in all: this sounds like the seller is possibly counterfeiting, but it's not a great example of amazon tolerating counterfeiting, because it's easy to imagine a reasonable middleman might never have noticed.

3pt14159 9y ago
The way Amazon handles disputes and poor quality goods is beyond frustrating. I bought a security camera with a motion sensor that was supposed to text me if there was movement (I was traveling through some less savoury countries and wanted to know if anyone was checking through my room) and the thing broke in the first day or two. Of course the buyer refunds me a token dollar and Amazon's refute process somehow doesn't work. My new strategy with Amazon is simple: If it's a book, sure. Otherwise no way, I can't trust anything there. I'm surprised there hasn't been a class action suit against them by now for all the counterfeit / poor quality goods / spyware.
- kpil 9y ago
  I've stopped buing books aswell. If only Netflix could buy over Jeremy Clarkson then all would be well.
- _emacsomancer_ 9y ago
  Oddly enough, I've found that I can usually find better deals on books from other sites. And the one time when I needed a book to arrive quickly and so had planned to buy from Amazon (to get fast shipping), they didn't have the book in stock.
- astura 9y ago
  Not even books are safe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546
chiefalchemist 9y ago
Re: "All in all: this sounds like the seller is possibly counterfeiting, but it's not a great example of amazon tolerating counterfeiting," Less than ideal example? Possibly. But still valid. Amazon. One of the few 800 lb tech terrors. And they're doing what to solve this problem? Tolerate is being too kind. When you're making the choices they're making you're an enabler. All the revenue. All those resources and...that gets them a free pass? That's disturbing.
- jhall1468 9y ago
  What should they do, exactly? Even they got sold a bunch of counterfit Apple chargers. The sellers are using OEM bar codes and the surface of the items match the OEM virtually perfectly.
  - tomohawk 9y ago
    Amazon is basically providing a goods laundering service for criminals. There's not much difference between what they're doing and what someone is doing who is fencing stolen goods. If they're going to comingle goods, then they need to put their own tracking onto the goods so that it is possible to know who provided the goods to which buyers. Either that or require that each item has a unique rfid or other identifier. This would allow tracing of counterfeit goods back to the supplier. As it is, when you buy something that turns out to not be legit, you have no real recourse, and often the wrong supplier gets dinged.
  - chiefalchemist 9y ago
    What should they do? Are you suggesting Jeff The Genius - who has aspirations to put a man on the moon - can't figure something out? Somehow? The better question: Why are they doing nothing? The answer is obvious.
  - Slansitartop 9y ago
    Pretty sure Amazon has the resources to: 1. Only stock counterfeit-prone items verifiably sourced from the real manufacturer, e.g. Apple, LV, Bose, etc. 2. Stop commingling inventory from multiple sources, which totally prevents any crowd-sourced detection of counterfeit sellers. 3. Increase manpower devoted counterfeit detection and enforcement. This could even include randomly pulling items from inventory and testing/inspecting them. 4. Detect obviously fake items, such as 1 TB microSD cards priced at $10. This can done through pre-listing manual reviews plus automation. 5. Give users obvious ways to signal the mothership about counterfeits, and take action on the signals. 6. etc. In short there's all kinds of stuff a company with the resources of Amazon can do to solve this problem. The fact that they're doing nothing is telling.

by emn13 9y ago

3pt14159 9y ago

The way Amazon handles disputes and poor quality goods is beyond frustrating. I bought a security camera with a motion sensor that was supposed to text me if there was movement (I was traveling through some less savoury countries and wanted to know if anyone was checking through my room) and the thing broke in the first day or two. Of course the buyer refunds me a token dollar and Amazon's refute process somehow doesn't work. My new strategy with Amazon is simple: If it's a book, sure. Otherwise no way, I can't trust anything there. I'm surprised there hasn't been a class action suit against them by now for all the counterfeit / poor quality goods / spyware.

kpil 9y ago
I've stopped buing books aswell. If only Netflix could buy over Jeremy Clarkson then all would be well.
_emacsomancer_ 9y ago
Oddly enough, I've found that I can usually find better deals on books from other sites. And the one time when I needed a book to arrive quickly and so had planned to buy from Amazon (to get fast shipping), they didn't have the book in stock.
astura 9y ago
Not even books are safe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

chiefalchemist 9y ago

Re: "All in all: this sounds like the seller is possibly counterfeiting, but it's not a great example of amazon tolerating counterfeiting," Less than ideal example? Possibly. But still valid. Amazon. One of the few 800 lb tech terrors. And they're doing what to solve this problem? Tolerate is being too kind. When you're making the choices they're making you're an enabler. All the revenue. All those resources and...that gets them a free pass? That's disturbing.

jhall1468 9y ago
What should they do, exactly? Even they got sold a bunch of counterfit Apple chargers. The sellers are using OEM bar codes and the surface of the items match the OEM virtually perfectly.
- tomohawk 9y ago
  Amazon is basically providing a goods laundering service for criminals. There's not much difference between what they're doing and what someone is doing who is fencing stolen goods. If they're going to comingle goods, then they need to put their own tracking onto the goods so that it is possible to know who provided the goods to which buyers. Either that or require that each item has a unique rfid or other identifier. This would allow tracing of counterfeit goods back to the supplier. As it is, when you buy something that turns out to not be legit, you have no real recourse, and often the wrong supplier gets dinged.
- chiefalchemist 9y ago
  What should they do? Are you suggesting Jeff The Genius - who has aspirations to put a man on the moon - can't figure something out? Somehow? The better question: Why are they doing nothing? The answer is obvious.
- Slansitartop 9y ago
  Pretty sure Amazon has the resources to: 1. Only stock counterfeit-prone items verifiably sourced from the real manufacturer, e.g. Apple, LV, Bose, etc. 2. Stop commingling inventory from multiple sources, which totally prevents any crowd-sourced detection of counterfeit sellers. 3. Increase manpower devoted counterfeit detection and enforcement. This could even include randomly pulling items from inventory and testing/inspecting them. 4. Detect obviously fake items, such as 1 TB microSD cards priced at $10. This can done through pre-listing manual reviews plus automation. 5. Give users obvious ways to signal the mothership about counterfeits, and take action on the signals. 6. etc. In short there's all kinds of stuff a company with the resources of Amazon can do to solve this problem. The fact that they're doing nothing is telling.