4 ms·

Imagine going on a trip nearly 1000 miles away and finding out after the fact that you got a crappy fake SD card from Amazon that made 90% of your photos unreco

Imagine going on a trip nearly 1000 miles away and finding out after the fact that you got a crappy fake SD card from Amazon that made 90% of your photos unrecoverable. Happened to me. Once.

res0nat0r 8y ago
Can't everyone just pay attention to the seller if they're worried about fake goods? Just make sure you're buying an SD card fulfilled by Amazon sold by Samsung if you're worried, not from 3rd party seller.
- toast0 8y ago
  If it's fulfilled by Amazon, it may be commingled with inventory from other sellers, depending on the seller's settings that purchasers can't see.
  - res0nat0r 8y ago
    But when you're buying an item it always shows who the seller is, just don't purchase the item if it doesn't show the actual brand of company vs. some random seller name. I've never purchased a scam item from Amazon and I've had an account since 1999.
    - ribosometronome 8y ago
      The problem is that Fulfilled by Amazon items have co-mingled inventory, so items bought from amzn_bob_1985 may actually be coming from stickers_on_alibaba_crap99's comingled inventory. If you do receive fake goods, there's no guarantee that it's actually the fault of the specific seller you purchased from.
    - germanier 8y ago
      Amazon mixes their own inventory with the third-party sellers. Even if says "Sold and shipped by Amazon" on the checkout page they will ship whatever item they find most convenient. It could be sourced by them or added to their warehouse without any verification by a random seller. There is no indication during the checkout whose item you get (likely they don't even know it themselves at that stage).
    - toast0 8y ago
      I'm not sure if you understand what commingled inventory means. When inventory is commingled, Amazon puts all of the sellers' products (for a given product ID aka ASIN) into one urn. When a user makes a purchase of that item from any of those sellers, Amazon retrieves an item from the urn and ships it to the purchaser. As a purchaser of items sold by multiple sellers with fulfillment by Amazon, it's not possible to know if each seller has their own urn, or if it's a single urn for multiple sellers. The distribution of the urn by source is also unknown. I won't purchase easily counterfeited objects from Amazon, unless there is only one seller listed, and if that seller is either Amazon or an account that seems like the manufacturer. A random Samsung sd card[1], though; who knows . Something like this Anker usb car charger [2] looks reasonable (I'm not specifically endorsing Anker, usb chargers are just a product in a crowded, junky space, and Anker is a brand that's trying to present itself as selling good products. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B06XX29S9Q/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B06XX29S9Q/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00VH84L5E/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00VH84L5E/
- wpietri 8y ago
  How is it that somebody here will always manage to blame the victim, no matter how obviously absurd that is? Amazon was originally the seller for everything they offered. In an important sense, they still are: we still shop on their site, still give them money, and still mostly receive the goods from them. Amazon could have chosen differently, but didn't, because they were looking to dominate e-commerce. they set it up like this, and could undo it in a moment if they wanted. If you're looking to blame somebody, blame the person with the most power over the situation, not the person with the least.
  - res0nat0r 8y ago
    How are they supposed to prevent counterfit goods, besides banning all third party sales, or inspecting millions of items? There isn't a reasonable fix except issuing refunds when it happens and banning accounts, or not having 3rd party sales at all, which isn't reasonable.
    - jimnotgym 8y ago
      Exactly this. If Amazon can't police their marketplace then bad luck, you thought you had become more competitive by solving real world problems with tech, but actually you had just found novel ways to ignore the law. "I can't comply with the law because that would break my novel business idea", is exactly the thing that I keep hearing from tech companies, and it is the same level of nonsense as complaining that trading-standards (or whatever you guys have in the US) shut down for market stall for selling knock-off goods. If the goods are on your site, then you are responsible for them being there. Sure it costs a lot, like it costs a lot to run an auction house. Boo hoo
      - res0nat0r 8y ago
        So they hire tens of thousands of inspectors? Specialists at spotting fake SD cards? Specialists at spotting fake perfume? Specialsts at spotting fake Nike's? Do they disassemble each product as it comes in and inspect it? How much do they break it down? None of this is realistic. We're commenting on an article that says Amazon has half of the e-commerce biz right now. The small but vocal contingent on HN might seem to make it that counterfeit goods are rampant everywhere but it's not the case.

Imagine going on a trip nearly 1000 miles away and finding out after the fact that you got a crappy fake SD card from Amazon that made 90% of your photos unrecoverable. Happened to me. Once.

res0nat0r 8y ago

Can't everyone just pay attention to the seller if they're worried about fake goods? Just make sure you're buying an SD card fulfilled by Amazon sold by Samsung if you're worried, not from 3rd party seller.

toast0 8y ago
If it's fulfilled by Amazon, it may be commingled with inventory from other sellers, depending on the seller's settings that purchasers can't see.
- res0nat0r 8y ago
  But when you're buying an item it always shows who the seller is, just don't purchase the item if it doesn't show the actual brand of company vs. some random seller name. I've never purchased a scam item from Amazon and I've had an account since 1999.
  - ribosometronome 8y ago
    The problem is that Fulfilled by Amazon items have co-mingled inventory, so items bought from amzn_bob_1985 may actually be coming from stickers_on_alibaba_crap99's comingled inventory. If you do receive fake goods, there's no guarantee that it's actually the fault of the specific seller you purchased from.
  - germanier 8y ago
    Amazon mixes their own inventory with the third-party sellers. Even if says "Sold and shipped by Amazon" on the checkout page they will ship whatever item they find most convenient. It could be sourced by them or added to their warehouse without any verification by a random seller. There is no indication during the checkout whose item you get (likely they don't even know it themselves at that stage).
  - toast0 8y ago
    I'm not sure if you understand what commingled inventory means. When inventory is commingled, Amazon puts all of the sellers' products (for a given product ID aka ASIN) into one urn. When a user makes a purchase of that item from any of those sellers, Amazon retrieves an item from the urn and ships it to the purchaser. As a purchaser of items sold by multiple sellers with fulfillment by Amazon, it's not possible to know if each seller has their own urn, or if it's a single urn for multiple sellers. The distribution of the urn by source is also unknown. I won't purchase easily counterfeited objects from Amazon, unless there is only one seller listed, and if that seller is either Amazon or an account that seems like the manufacturer. A random Samsung sd card[1], though; who knows . Something like this Anker usb car charger [2] looks reasonable (I'm not specifically endorsing Anker, usb chargers are just a product in a crowded, junky space, and Anker is a brand that's trying to present itself as selling good products. [1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B06XX29S9Q/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B06XX29S9Q/ [2] https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00VH84L5E/ https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00VH84L5E/
wpietri 8y ago
How is it that somebody here will always manage to blame the victim, no matter how obviously absurd that is? Amazon was originally the seller for everything they offered. In an important sense, they still are: we still shop on their site, still give them money, and still mostly receive the goods from them. Amazon could have chosen differently, but didn't, because they were looking to dominate e-commerce. they set it up like this, and could undo it in a moment if they wanted. If you're looking to blame somebody, blame the person with the most power over the situation, not the person with the least.
- res0nat0r 8y ago
  How are they supposed to prevent counterfit goods, besides banning all third party sales, or inspecting millions of items? There isn't a reasonable fix except issuing refunds when it happens and banning accounts, or not having 3rd party sales at all, which isn't reasonable.
  - jimnotgym 8y ago
    Exactly this. If Amazon can't police their marketplace then bad luck, you thought you had become more competitive by solving real world problems with tech, but actually you had just found novel ways to ignore the law. "I can't comply with the law because that would break my novel business idea", is exactly the thing that I keep hearing from tech companies, and it is the same level of nonsense as complaining that trading-standards (or whatever you guys have in the US) shut down for market stall for selling knock-off goods. If the goods are on your site, then you are responsible for them being there. Sure it costs a lot, like it costs a lot to run an auction house. Boo hoo
    - res0nat0r 8y ago
      So they hire tens of thousands of inspectors? Specialists at spotting fake SD cards? Specialists at spotting fake perfume? Specialsts at spotting fake Nike's? Do they disassemble each product as it comes in and inspect it? How much do they break it down? None of this is realistic. We're commenting on an article that says Amazon has half of the e-commerce biz right now. The small but vocal contingent on HN might seem to make it that counterfeit goods are rampant everywhere but it's not the case.