7 ms·

Yes, I've stopped buying from Amazon because of their stickerless commingled inventory program and get all my electronics from B&H Photo, and more and more othe

by fmajid 8y ago

Yes, I've stopped buying from Amazon because of their stickerless commingled inventory program and get all my electronics from B&H Photo, and more and more other goods from Target.com. Amazon is getting to eBay levels of lawlessness.

ipqk 8y ago
I, too, stopped buying there because I can never assume anything I buy there is authentic. And I actually canceled my Prime subscription that I've had since the Prime program started. The only thing I really still buy from Amazon is Toilet Paper, which seems unlikely to be counterfeited (so far).
- gambiting 8y ago
  I keep hearing about these issues all the time, but I guess they are US-only? I buy loads and loads of stuff off Amazon here in UK and I've never had a single counterfeit item. I always buy items marked as "sold and shipped by Amazon" and never had any issues. I guess on this side of the pond Amazon doesn't comingle the inventory with 3rd party inventory?
  - stevekemp 8y ago
    When I lived in the UK I did receive a couple of counterfeit items, one was a "Global" knife, and the rest were all compact-flash cards. Handling the returns was mostly painless, but if I were to live in a country with a local Amazon-site I would only use it for books/similar these days.
  - bosie 8y ago
    Also uk based, I stopped buying clothing as it just doesn't seem reliable. Ordered the same shirt with quantity 3 and got 3 (slightly) different shirts. pair of Levis jeans also feels very different than the same pair bought at House of Fraser. Don't know what is going on there.
    - jghn 8y ago
      Your Levi’s example might just be Levi’s. They have numerous sub-categories and different vendors will be selling different ones. Also their QA is notoriously bad so things like fit between any two pairs can be a toss up
    - fjsolwmv 8y ago
      A common practice is to sell the same branded product at a lower quality level when sold through a different retailer. Either intentionally or because QA rejects get sold cheap to wholesalers for use at discount stores. The modern twist is that these rejects can now get commingled back into the QA-approved inventory thanks to Amazon.
  - singularity2001 8y ago
    I had a 'new' iPhone with a replaced display sent to Germany
  - DanielleMolloy 8y ago
    Based in central Europe, have received counterfeit products that were indistinguishable from the real one. On the surface counterfeits have become difficult to identify, it is not about blurry and misspelled labels anymore. Especially if it comes to electronics they are not less dangerous. Non-electronic items like books get counterfeited too. But I had more trouble with fake reviews selling me mediocre (often Chinese) products. I check the same US Amazon product on Fakespot for almost everything now (but the fake reviewers will game that system too). Amazon is clearly outsourcing their job to the customers. Been a (happy) Amazon customer since I'm legally allowed to buy there and liked marketplace in the beginning for second-hand products and buying from smaller scale shops (the scale of the family winery in Saarland), but rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese counterfeit "economy" is just dangerous given that Amazon's number one rule that made them successful is keeping customer trust. Co-mingling - I don't see how anybody at Amazon could have believed that 1-day shipping is a more important metric than selling genuine products. I wish they temporarilly blocked Chinese marketplace sellers as a whole until these issues are solved, by whatever entity. As a customer I don't care that this is unfair towards a handful of moral sellers, I care about not getting shocks from electronic equipment that I bought at full price. When I want to buy terrible Xiaomi products for some reason (e.g. because I fell for the Apple counterfeit's fake reviews) I can still go to eBay or Alibaba like back in the days. The other solution would be visibly and strongly separating marketplace again, like in the beginning, or putting it on a separate dedicated website that crosslinks with main Amazon.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    I always buy items marked as "sold and shipped by Amazon" and never had any issues. That doesn't protect you from co-mingling of inventory. It just helps minimize the time between when you place your order, and when the order is shipped.
  - wool_gather 8y ago
    For me it's not about counterfeiting as such (I haven't experienced any either). It's the simple fact that the majority of the time now I'm not buying from a single retailer that I have some level of trust in (Amazon). It's some hole-in-the-wall seller, with crappy pictures and no assurance that I'm going to get the product I actually ordered in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable shipping cost. (I rarely do 1-day shipping; I'm totally fine waiting a week or so, but I do want to know.) I have gotten wrong model/color a couple of times, which has never happened when buying directly from Amazon. Shopping on Amz has no value to me if they're just a shitty webstore search engine.
  - ersiees 8y ago
    It is a problem in Germany too. You might try searching for “Apple EarPods” and see if the results look trustworthy.
- Shorel 8y ago
  You should make a website like www.istoiletpapercounterfeit.com and update it regularly. Then we know when the shit has hit the fan in Amazon.
  - fencepost 8y ago
    Then we know when the shit has hit the fan in Amazon. I think you misspelled "finger"
- fencepost 8y ago
  It's basically made Prime feel useless for its original purpose of free shipping on warehouse items, because if I'm buying most things that would come out of their warehouse I'd rather pay for shipping direct from a specific vendor because I don't trust anything shipped from Amazon. Maybe it's still worthwhile for other services (music, video, groceries, whatever). Sure I can get my money back if I get a detectable counterfeit, but what about my time dealing with it and without having what I ordered? And what about items that aren't easily detected as fake but which are notably substandard when used (e.g. odd-size or lithium batteries that die in 6 months rather than 2 years)? It's not like ordering from Amazon is really notably cheaper than other options these days anyway.
rhizome 8y ago
And while the selection is much much worse, Target will match Amazon prices if you do find something you want there. Heck, they match the Target website as well, which is regularly much cheaper than the retail prices.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  How does price matching the Target web site work? Do you have to notice the discrepancy at the checkout, and then go to customer service for a refund, or do you dispute the price with the cashier, or some other method?
  - Spooky23 8y ago
    You can do both, but it’s easier to go to the desk because a supervisor needs to override. Amazon usually isn’t very price competitive so it is harder to use than one might think. Grab a screenshot of the price outside the store as Amazon prices will change inside of some stores.
  - rhizome 8y ago
    You bring up the product on your phone and show the price to the checker, then they charge you the lesser price.
platinium 8y ago
Yeah I go to Target first now -- I like the hassle-free returns (same as Amazon) but with the guarantee that items are verified authentic. I've noticed that Target has, however, slowly begun to list inventory that I am guessing it doesn't have stock for, since there's literally pages and pages worth -- let's hope that Target does NOT pull the marketplace-sourced inventory scheme, because then there would be no difference between Target and Amazon anymore.
KWD 8y ago
I've not completely stopped, but I am going to local alternatives more often now, all because of the counterfeit issue. In addition to Target, I'm also shopping at Best Buy again, so these competitors should take notice of this vulnerability for Amazon.
coaxial 8y ago
I very occasionally still Hy things from Amazon when I have absolutely no other chance. But I do everything I can to find the time locally and buy it instore or from another more reputable online retailer than amazon (which is pretty much anyone except ebay and aliexpress) When I want commodity items that don't have a specific manufacturer (HDD enclosures, small tools, etc), I'll go to aliexpress because it's exactly the same things as sold on amazon but for a quarter of the price. I just have to wait 3 weeks longer than on amazon. I don't even get books from Amazon anymore, because there are pirate prints of books. It's all fun and games when it's just about having the item break after a couple of weeks because it was a low quality copy, but amazon also sells more dangerous things like Christmas lights with fake CE and UL markings or PPE that aren't sturdy enough to meet the norms they supposedly adhere to. Not even mentioning the returned and used items sold as new for the full price, or the appalling way in which Amazon treats its workers. It doesn't even make life that much more complicated, and thinking whether I want something so much as to go to the store or wait a month to get it from China is an excellent filter to block impulse purchases.
- danielam 8y ago
  > I don't even get books from Amazon anymore, because there are pirate prints of books. I once bought such a counterfeit. The amusing thing was that, apart from the utterly shoddy quality of the printing, the content of the book (Pierce) didn't even correspond to the title (Harper).

by fmajid 8y ago

ipqk 8y ago

I, too, stopped buying there because I can never assume anything I buy there is authentic. And I actually canceled my Prime subscription that I've had since the Prime program started. The only thing I really still buy from Amazon is Toilet Paper, which seems unlikely to be counterfeited (so far).

gambiting 8y ago
I keep hearing about these issues all the time, but I guess they are US-only? I buy loads and loads of stuff off Amazon here in UK and I've never had a single counterfeit item. I always buy items marked as "sold and shipped by Amazon" and never had any issues. I guess on this side of the pond Amazon doesn't comingle the inventory with 3rd party inventory?
- stevekemp 8y ago
  When I lived in the UK I did receive a couple of counterfeit items, one was a "Global" knife, and the rest were all compact-flash cards. Handling the returns was mostly painless, but if I were to live in a country with a local Amazon-site I would only use it for books/similar these days.
- bosie 8y ago
  Also uk based, I stopped buying clothing as it just doesn't seem reliable. Ordered the same shirt with quantity 3 and got 3 (slightly) different shirts. pair of Levis jeans also feels very different than the same pair bought at House of Fraser. Don't know what is going on there.
  - jghn 8y ago
    Your Levi’s example might just be Levi’s. They have numerous sub-categories and different vendors will be selling different ones. Also their QA is notoriously bad so things like fit between any two pairs can be a toss up
  - fjsolwmv 8y ago
    A common practice is to sell the same branded product at a lower quality level when sold through a different retailer. Either intentionally or because QA rejects get sold cheap to wholesalers for use at discount stores. The modern twist is that these rejects can now get commingled back into the QA-approved inventory thanks to Amazon.
- singularity2001 8y ago
  I had a 'new' iPhone with a replaced display sent to Germany
- DanielleMolloy 8y ago
  Based in central Europe, have received counterfeit products that were indistinguishable from the real one. On the surface counterfeits have become difficult to identify, it is not about blurry and misspelled labels anymore. Especially if it comes to electronics they are not less dangerous. Non-electronic items like books get counterfeited too. But I had more trouble with fake reviews selling me mediocre (often Chinese) products. I check the same US Amazon product on Fakespot for almost everything now (but the fake reviewers will game that system too). Amazon is clearly outsourcing their job to the customers. Been a (happy) Amazon customer since I'm legally allowed to buy there and liked marketplace in the beginning for second-hand products and buying from smaller scale shops (the scale of the family winery in Saarland), but rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese counterfeit "economy" is just dangerous given that Amazon's number one rule that made them successful is keeping customer trust. Co-mingling - I don't see how anybody at Amazon could have believed that 1-day shipping is a more important metric than selling genuine products. I wish they temporarilly blocked Chinese marketplace sellers as a whole until these issues are solved, by whatever entity. As a customer I don't care that this is unfair towards a handful of moral sellers, I care about not getting shocks from electronic equipment that I bought at full price. When I want to buy terrible Xiaomi products for some reason (e.g. because I fell for the Apple counterfeit's fake reviews) I can still go to eBay or Alibaba like back in the days. The other solution would be visibly and strongly separating marketplace again, like in the beginning, or putting it on a separate dedicated website that crosslinks with main Amazon.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  I always buy items marked as "sold and shipped by Amazon" and never had any issues. That doesn't protect you from co-mingling of inventory. It just helps minimize the time between when you place your order, and when the order is shipped.
- wool_gather 8y ago
  For me it's not about counterfeiting as such (I haven't experienced any either). It's the simple fact that the majority of the time now I'm not buying from a single retailer that I have some level of trust in (Amazon). It's some hole-in-the-wall seller, with crappy pictures and no assurance that I'm going to get the product I actually ordered in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable shipping cost. (I rarely do 1-day shipping; I'm totally fine waiting a week or so, but I do want to know.) I have gotten wrong model/color a couple of times, which has never happened when buying directly from Amazon. Shopping on Amz has no value to me if they're just a shitty webstore search engine.
- ersiees 8y ago
  It is a problem in Germany too. You might try searching for “Apple EarPods” and see if the results look trustworthy.
Shorel 8y ago
You should make a website like www.istoiletpapercounterfeit.com and update it regularly. Then we know when the shit has hit the fan in Amazon.
- fencepost 8y ago
  Then we know when the shit has hit the fan in Amazon. I think you misspelled "finger"
fencepost 8y ago
It's basically made Prime feel useless for its original purpose of free shipping on warehouse items, because if I'm buying most things that would come out of their warehouse I'd rather pay for shipping direct from a specific vendor because I don't trust anything shipped from Amazon. Maybe it's still worthwhile for other services (music, video, groceries, whatever). Sure I can get my money back if I get a detectable counterfeit, but what about my time dealing with it and without having what I ordered? And what about items that aren't easily detected as fake but which are notably substandard when used (e.g. odd-size or lithium batteries that die in 6 months rather than 2 years)? It's not like ordering from Amazon is really notably cheaper than other options these days anyway.

rhizome 8y ago

And while the selection is much much worse, Target will match Amazon prices if you do find something you want there. Heck, they match the Target website as well, which is regularly much cheaper than the retail prices.

reaperducer 8y ago
How does price matching the Target web site work? Do you have to notice the discrepancy at the checkout, and then go to customer service for a refund, or do you dispute the price with the cashier, or some other method?
- Spooky23 8y ago
  You can do both, but it’s easier to go to the desk because a supervisor needs to override. Amazon usually isn’t very price competitive so it is harder to use than one might think. Grab a screenshot of the price outside the store as Amazon prices will change inside of some stores.
- rhizome 8y ago
  You bring up the product on your phone and show the price to the checker, then they charge you the lesser price.

platinium 8y ago

Yeah I go to Target first now -- I like the hassle-free returns (same as Amazon) but with the guarantee that items are verified authentic. I've noticed that Target has, however, slowly begun to list inventory that I am guessing it doesn't have stock for, since there's literally pages and pages worth -- let's hope that Target does NOT pull the marketplace-sourced inventory scheme, because then there would be no difference between Target and Amazon anymore.

KWD 8y ago

I've not completely stopped, but I am going to local alternatives more often now, all because of the counterfeit issue. In addition to Target, I'm also shopping at Best Buy again, so these competitors should take notice of this vulnerability for Amazon.

coaxial 8y ago

I very occasionally still Hy things from Amazon when I have absolutely no other chance. But I do everything I can to find the time locally and buy it instore or from another more reputable online retailer than amazon (which is pretty much anyone except ebay and aliexpress) When I want commodity items that don't have a specific manufacturer (HDD enclosures, small tools, etc), I'll go to aliexpress because it's exactly the same things as sold on amazon but for a quarter of the price. I just have to wait 3 weeks longer than on amazon. I don't even get books from Amazon anymore, because there are pirate prints of books. It's all fun and games when it's just about having the item break after a couple of weeks because it was a low quality copy, but amazon also sells more dangerous things like Christmas lights with fake CE and UL markings or PPE that aren't sturdy enough to meet the norms they supposedly adhere to. Not even mentioning the returned and used items sold as new for the full price, or the appalling way in which Amazon treats its workers. It doesn't even make life that much more complicated, and thinking whether I want something so much as to go to the store or wait a month to get it from China is an excellent filter to block impulse purchases.

danielam 8y ago
> I don't even get books from Amazon anymore, because there are pirate prints of books. I once bought such a counterfeit. The amusing thing was that, apart from the utterly shoddy quality of the printing, the content of the book (Pierce) didn't even correspond to the title (Harper).