4 ms·

I feel the same way about Amazon. What tipped me over the line was a counterfeit pair of Ecco shoes. I mean, seriously? You cannot safely buy air or water filte

by culot 8y ago

I feel the same way about Amazon. What tipped me over the line was a counterfeit pair of Ecco shoes. I mean, seriously? You cannot safely buy air or water filters, SD cards, batteries, and so much more, but you have to even now be super cautious about buying shoes from Amazon? Its just not worth the convenience. It feels almost like an abusive relationship. I've started experimenting with Walmart to replace lots of the stuff I usually get from Amazon. Unsure about them yet. Unless Amazon ditches the 3rd party sellers, I won't be back.

Gustomaximus 8y ago
The solution doesn't have to be ditching 3rd parties as these can create great shopping value. Amazon should create a hurdle that keeps scammers away. While obvioudly there are better solutions than my off the cuff comment you could for example require a significant deposit for new sellers which is lost on sale of fake goods. Or payment terms are 120 days until you reach X reputation (supplier or item) allowing for full refunds to customers and zero payment to suppliers should fakes show up.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  Solution is simple, create a filter to only show items shipped and sold Amazon.com, and never commingle inventory. But amazon wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to offload all that inventory risk into others and it wants its customers to pay the same or more as other retailers who you can trust to not sell counterfeit goods. A consumer’s only solution is to switch your purchases to actual retailers who are selling goods you can trust.
  - flotzam 8y ago
    > never commingle inventory At the very least, Amazon should mark the commingled vs. non-commingled status for each offer. Right now, you only see this once you hold the item in your hands - if there's a barcode starting with "X" on the package, it's non-commingled AFAIK. (But I wonder if Amazon actually authenticates X-labeled incoming merchandise, e.g. by requiring a shared secret on the package slip. Otherwise, if an attacker sends in a fake item that's X-labeled as if it came from an honest seller, they would still be able to tank the reputation of the honest seller. Maybe this could even be done from the position of an Amazon customer, i.e. they would apply the fraudulent X-label to a swapped "returned" item. Who would believe the honest seller in this circumstance?)
  - ReconBob 8y ago
    I agree commingling is a problem. The unknowing customer buys a branded counterfeit, the brand loses a customer, but Amazon does not. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/
fma 8y ago
It used to be you can click "Amazon Prime" and get a reputable seller...but now I guess you gotta click on "Sold by Amazon". I hope they don't commingle Amazon's stuff with 3rd party sellers... If so...I'm just going to buy name brand items in stores and get a price match.
- Regardsyjc 8y ago
  Third party sellers can also sell directly to Amazon via something called Amazon Vendor Central. Their products will be "Sold by Amazon". I know someone who was accused of selling counterfeit products to Amazon. He has 3 different accounts all hooked up to its own network. Another Amazon horror story would be I was listening to an Amazon seller podcast. The person being interviewed sold supplements. He said he imported some herbs from South America, picked them up at the airport, dropped them off at the plant with some bottles, got them, and sent them off to Amazon. Nowhere did he mention fda or anything. I'm hoping things are a lot harder now to sell your own private label supplements on Amazon, like requiring GMP certificates or invoices from a credible manufacturer... Or even worse electronics from China that do not have any of the required testing that retail brick and mortar stores require. Or ah maybe the worst story of all. The Amazon seller who sells used bras as new on Amazon. I stopped buying bras on Amazon after I heard that one at an Amazon seller event.
  - colechristensen 8y ago
    >Nowhere did he mention fda or anything. "Dietary supplements" are essentially unregulated. The manufacturer is responsible for doing any quality control/inspections/etc. The FDA might come after you after you sell something, but they do absolutely no verification before. I can't find any evidence that the regulation requires anyone but the manufacturer to do anything and it doesn't seem there is any verification. (in other words, don't trust supplements no matter where you buy them) On the other hand, all meat that isn't privately sold is required to be inspected before and after slaughter and processing by the USDA. The packing plants have to shut down if there aren't inspectors there.
  - tiatia123 8y ago
    Dietary supplement and cosmetics are not very regulated in the US compared to other countries. Selling used bras? Some people might argue this justifies and even higher price.
SenseiMaster 8y ago
Anker usually are the only sellers on their item listings so I buy electronics from them on Amazon because their items won't be conmingled. Otherwise, I go to Best Buy and pay the premium for the quality control.

by culot 8y ago

Gustomaximus 8y ago

The solution doesn't have to be ditching 3rd parties as these can create great shopping value. Amazon should create a hurdle that keeps scammers away. While obvioudly there are better solutions than my off the cuff comment you could for example require a significant deposit for new sellers which is lost on sale of fake goods. Or payment terms are 120 days until you reach X reputation (supplier or item) allowing for full refunds to customers and zero payment to suppliers should fakes show up.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
Solution is simple, create a filter to only show items shipped and sold Amazon.com, and never commingle inventory. But amazon wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to offload all that inventory risk into others and it wants its customers to pay the same or more as other retailers who you can trust to not sell counterfeit goods. A consumer’s only solution is to switch your purchases to actual retailers who are selling goods you can trust.
- flotzam 8y ago
  > never commingle inventory At the very least, Amazon should mark the commingled vs. non-commingled status for each offer. Right now, you only see this once you hold the item in your hands - if there's a barcode starting with "X" on the package, it's non-commingled AFAIK. (But I wonder if Amazon actually authenticates X-labeled incoming merchandise, e.g. by requiring a shared secret on the package slip. Otherwise, if an attacker sends in a fake item that's X-labeled as if it came from an honest seller, they would still be able to tank the reputation of the honest seller. Maybe this could even be done from the position of an Amazon customer, i.e. they would apply the fraudulent X-label to a swapped "returned" item. Who would believe the honest seller in this circumstance?)
- ReconBob 8y ago
  I agree commingling is a problem. The unknowing customer buys a branded counterfeit, the brand loses a customer, but Amazon does not. Check out ReconBob- chrome extension that provides seller transparency. You can read about the company behind ReconBob in Google Cloud's case study: 3PM Solutions: Using data to detect, remove, and protect against online marketplace fraud. https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/ https://cloud.google.com/customers/3pm/

fma 8y ago

It used to be you can click "Amazon Prime" and get a reputable seller...but now I guess you gotta click on "Sold by Amazon". I hope they don't commingle Amazon's stuff with 3rd party sellers... If so...I'm just going to buy name brand items in stores and get a price match.

Regardsyjc 8y ago
Third party sellers can also sell directly to Amazon via something called Amazon Vendor Central. Their products will be "Sold by Amazon". I know someone who was accused of selling counterfeit products to Amazon. He has 3 different accounts all hooked up to its own network. Another Amazon horror story would be I was listening to an Amazon seller podcast. The person being interviewed sold supplements. He said he imported some herbs from South America, picked them up at the airport, dropped them off at the plant with some bottles, got them, and sent them off to Amazon. Nowhere did he mention fda or anything. I'm hoping things are a lot harder now to sell your own private label supplements on Amazon, like requiring GMP certificates or invoices from a credible manufacturer... Or even worse electronics from China that do not have any of the required testing that retail brick and mortar stores require. Or ah maybe the worst story of all. The Amazon seller who sells used bras as new on Amazon. I stopped buying bras on Amazon after I heard that one at an Amazon seller event.
- colechristensen 8y ago
  >Nowhere did he mention fda or anything. "Dietary supplements" are essentially unregulated. The manufacturer is responsible for doing any quality control/inspections/etc. The FDA might come after you after you sell something, but they do absolutely no verification before. I can't find any evidence that the regulation requires anyone but the manufacturer to do anything and it doesn't seem there is any verification. (in other words, don't trust supplements no matter where you buy them) On the other hand, all meat that isn't privately sold is required to be inspected before and after slaughter and processing by the USDA. The packing plants have to shut down if there aren't inspectors there.
- tiatia123 8y ago
  Dietary supplement and cosmetics are not very regulated in the US compared to other countries. Selling used bras? Some people might argue this justifies and even higher price.

SenseiMaster 8y ago

Anker usually are the only sellers on their item listings so I buy electronics from them on Amazon because their items won't be conmingled. Otherwise, I go to Best Buy and pay the premium for the quality control.