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Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall.

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart at the seams. Welp, Amazon said they can’t refund me. Multiple times my packages are either not delivered on time or aren’t delivered at all. 2 times they were half way across the state. When I called them to ask, they wanted me to confirm my address since they magically and suddenly couldn’t find my address anymore. Well guys you’ve delivered 10k+ worth of goods to me at this address this year alone. WTF?! My customer service experience also degraded every other instance. When they missed my last delivery date I called them and threatened to cancel and the rep said “Sure, Sir, let me do that after I reorder this item”. He figured it was quicker or reorder an item than wait for it to get back from across the state.

zarriak 8y ago
Amazon doesn't deliver the things you bought. I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. There is a reason designer stores exist. There are many reasons that Amazon as a company and service are bad but almost none of what you describe is a valid complaint.
- golf1052 8y ago
  Amazon does do deliveries. This is also a valid complaint. Amazon doesn't say don't order X, Y, or Z; they let you order anything. They just need to work harder on solving these issues because I've seen many other complaints like this.
- Someone1234 8y ago
  Amazon logistics deliver at least 1/3 of the items I purchase from them. A "Prime" branded van literally pulls up to my house and someone who I assume works for Amazon drops the package on my stoop. > I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. I read this sentence four times and still don't quite understand it. Particularly in response to someone who said they tried to return an item to Amazon exactly because they realized it was counterfeit. Can you rephrase whatever it was you were trying to say there?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - briandear 8y ago
    Those Prime branded vans are often third party contractors as well.
    - village-idiot 8y ago
      Yeah, but Amazon is paying them and branding their trucks with the amazon logo, they should take responsibility for quality of service.
  - zarriak 8y ago
    I meant to say distinguish between counterfeit goods and the genuine article. I just think when you spend at least 4 digits on something you should either have experience in the area or buy with someone who does. Should Amazon do a better job on stopping counterfeit? Yes but that doesn't stop you from using common sense. Also the use of Amazon logistics is very regional and I assumed the OP would have mentioned that. There is always going to be a good enough margin for selling counterfeit goods of luxury brands that this will most likely never stop.
- fucking_tragedy 8y ago
  > I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. His wife bought him a gift. I assume she thought that a company as big as Amazon wouldn't allow sales of counterfeit items on their platform, like I once did. > My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall.
  - vadym909 8y ago
    This is a serious problem. My wife goes to Amazon and just buys the top seller of whatever she's looking for(even if its from a no name marketplace seller). I don't think she realizes people can game this system.
    - astura 8y ago
      Most people I've spoken to don't even realize Amazon is a "marketplace" that has multiple sellers.
      - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
        Until 2010ish, I thought that Amazon sold all of their listed items and that I had to specifically choose "New & Used" from other sellers to purchase an item from someone else.
- giancarlostoro 8y ago
  Amazon has been known to deliver counterfeits including counterfeit books which was a popular story here on HN a while back. Edit see here on Amazon counterfeit books specifically Python for Kids being counterfeit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546
BugsJustFindMe 8y ago
Technically, the pervasive Amazon counterfeit problem is unrelated to the fake review problem. Both are serious problems that Amazon does little to combat, but they're not the same. The counterfeiting is more insidious because Amazon is entirely at fault for mixing legit merchandise with counterfeits. Fake reviews on the other hand aren't Amazon's fault. That's just the world being filled with heinous assholes out to make a buck by cheating, lying, and stealing from everyone else. At best Amazon could independently audit and review all products themselves. Actually if they did that I'd probably start buying from them again...
- nkozyra 8y ago
  > Actually if they did that I'd probably start buying from them again Not that it would inherently solve the problem or prevent pay for play, but it would be a great strategy for Amazon to have an independent review company. There are problems, though: 1. How do we trust that there's some objectivity, particularly as it relates to things that compete with Amazon products? 2. How could reviewers possibly cover any significant amount of the vast number of products Amazon sells?
  - markdown 8y ago
    I'd bet a lot of the fake reviews would disappear if they just: 1. Limited users ability to post reviews to say, 3 per year and no more than 1 in any given month. 2. Limit users ability to post more than one review per vendor, per year. 3. Only allow reviews by verified purchasers.
    - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
      I think they'd just put in 365000 fake accounts, and continue posting 1000 fake reviews a day
      - markdown 8y ago
        365,000 credit cards, 365,000 delivery addresses? If bots worked, they wouldn't have had to resort to real humans on Facebook to get reviews.
user5994461 8y ago
I've had the case that the delivery company didn't get the full address to deliver to. They tried to deliver multiple times and said every time that the address didn't exist or couldn't be found. I called the transportation support to complain and I was dumbfounded that they simply didn't have a correct address. I don't know who screwed up, Amazon or the delivery company but something definitely went wrong on either side.
walrus01 8y ago
Amazon customer service is now quite terrible. Anecdote: I know somebody who has an office that is literally within a 2 block radius of Amazon HQ in Seattle (the new Doppler and Day One buildings). Getting Amazon's third party delivery contractors to successfully deliver to their office suite door, in a high-rise office tower, has been an amazing struggle. Deliveries get sent back as "rejected" all the time, when the delivery person has actually not even bothered to sign in at the lobby and go up to the office suite floor. More than a half dozen phone calls and chats with Amazon customer service, requesting that they edit the delivery info for the building, have been pretty much fruitless.
- tomjakubowski 8y ago
  This reminds me a bit of my own giant techco bugbear: for the longest time, Google Maps mishandled my home address - literally across the street from their local office - because it didn't recognize the 1/2 in the house number. It would direct users to 1 Fake St rather than N 1/2 Fake St.
  - CamperBob2 8y ago
    To be fair, I imagine a lot of systems don't handle noninteger house numbers very robustly. That "1/2" business just seems like asking for trouble. The best solution might be to convince your building landlord or management to rename the units as 1 Fake Street Unit A and Unit B, or something like that. Assuming they don't have to fight City Hall to make that happen, they might be willing to help.
    - walrus01 8y ago
      You would think, however, that the "1/2" works fine in the text field used for a standard North American address... At least with Amazon and 99% of ecommerce sites there's two separate freeform text entry fields for street address. It's not like these are fields that require a precise integer. This should enable the actual human making the delivery to see the same thing printed on the label, and visually match it to whatever is labeled "1/2" on the building.
tyfon 8y ago
I wonder how this is in Europe where the buyer can get very hefty fines for buying counterfeit goods and even heftier fines for bringing said goods across borders. Personally I don't shop at Amazon so I don't know if it's a problem here.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- kolmogorov 8y ago
  I was used to always buying on Amazon in Europe and I never had issues. Then I moved to the US and the whole experience is so much worse. Counterfeits, opened/unsealed packages, disappearing packages, 1 day delivery fee paid and package arrives 5 days later and so on. It's as if it was a different company.
  - jupiter 8y ago
    Prly only a matter of time as everything comes to Europe a bit later. The amount of crap from China on Amazon seems to grow every day here also.
- jobigoud 8y ago
  I've never had a counterfeit item, as in not the actual brand I bought. There is a lot of crappy cheap stuff though. One thing I've noticed is items with the "top seller" tag but if you actually check the category in which they are top seller, it's a category that has nothing to do with the product.
- rasz 8y ago
  "His name had been flagged by CBP for importing counterfeit goods " https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits-global-entry-customs https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits...
randycupertino 8y ago
We basically stopped getting any products that go on or in your body from Amazon due to the pervasiveness of fake products on there. Tons of fake makeup, shampoos, vitamins, electronics. imo Amazon is worse than ebay lately with the amount of counterfeit goods.
RileyJames 8y ago
Regarding a counterfeit product, is the return period relevant? It’s a case of fraud. It seems it would be an open and shut case for a small claim court, if they didn’t provide a refund.
- Spooky23 8y ago
  You can pursue chargebacks with the credit card as well. I’ve been told that they will eventually banish you if you do it often.
- astura 8y ago
  Doesn't Amazon have binding arbitration? I know they do on the seller side.
deleted 8y ago
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deleted 8y ago
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drb91 8y ago
Why aree you ordering brands off amazon rather than from the brand? You get what you pay for. Good luck on the fraud charge.
- vehementi 8y ago
  > Why aree you ordering brands off amazon WTF? Because fraud is illegal and amazon often has lower prices on goods.
  - orbifold 8y ago
    Well clearly there is a reason for the lower prices.
    - ceejayoz 8y ago
      There could be various legitimate reasons, though. The brand could be overstocked in a particular item and want to get rid of inventory without harming their brand cachet - you're probably not going to find a clearance section on Gucci's website, but that doesn't mean they don't have a need for it.
      - drb91 8y ago
        This is true. But why would they have an overstock? Either it is unpopular and not worth counterfeiting or it’s counterfeited immediately because it’s popular to undercut. The scenarios seem difficult to distinguish.
        ceejayoz 8y ago
        The consumer looking it up on Amazon isn't going to know which of those two scenarios it is. Thus, my point - blaming the consumer for purchasing it is unfair. There are legitimate reasons for a consumer to think the product is a) real and b) cheaper than usual.
        deleted 8y ago

zarriak 8y ago

Amazon doesn't deliver the things you bought. I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. There is a reason designer stores exist. There are many reasons that Amazon as a company and service are bad but almost none of what you describe is a valid complaint.

golf1052 8y ago
Amazon does do deliveries. This is also a valid complaint. Amazon doesn't say don't order X, Y, or Z; they let you order anything. They just need to work harder on solving these issues because I've seen many other complaints like this.
Someone1234 8y ago
Amazon logistics deliver at least 1/3 of the items I purchase from them. A "Prime" branded van literally pulls up to my house and someone who I assume works for Amazon drops the package on my stoop. > I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. I read this sentence four times and still don't quite understand it. Particularly in response to someone who said they tried to return an item to Amazon exactly because they realized it was counterfeit. Can you rephrase whatever it was you were trying to say there?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- briandear 8y ago
  Those Prime branded vans are often third party contractors as well.
  - village-idiot 8y ago
    Yeah, but Amazon is paying them and branding their trucks with the amazon logo, they should take responsibility for quality of service.
- zarriak 8y ago
  I meant to say distinguish between counterfeit goods and the genuine article. I just think when you spend at least 4 digits on something you should either have experience in the area or buy with someone who does. Should Amazon do a better job on stopping counterfeit? Yes but that doesn't stop you from using common sense. Also the use of Amazon logistics is very regional and I assumed the OP would have mentioned that. There is always going to be a good enough margin for selling counterfeit goods of luxury brands that this will most likely never stop.
fucking_tragedy 8y ago
> I don't understand why you are buying luxury goods off of Amazon when you aren't able to distinguish between counterfeit goods. His wife bought him a gift. I assume she thought that a company as big as Amazon wouldn't allow sales of counterfeit items on their platform, like I once did. > My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall.
- vadym909 8y ago
  This is a serious problem. My wife goes to Amazon and just buys the top seller of whatever she's looking for(even if its from a no name marketplace seller). I don't think she realizes people can game this system.
  - astura 8y ago
    Most people I've spoken to don't even realize Amazon is a "marketplace" that has multiple sellers.
    - fucking_tragedy 8y ago
      Until 2010ish, I thought that Amazon sold all of their listed items and that I had to specifically choose "New & Used" from other sellers to purchase an item from someone else.
giancarlostoro 8y ago
Amazon has been known to deliver counterfeits including counterfeit books which was a popular story here on HN a while back. Edit see here on Amazon counterfeit books specifically Python for Kids being counterfeit: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546

BugsJustFindMe 8y ago

Technically, the pervasive Amazon counterfeit problem is unrelated to the fake review problem. Both are serious problems that Amazon does little to combat, but they're not the same. The counterfeiting is more insidious because Amazon is entirely at fault for mixing legit merchandise with counterfeits. Fake reviews on the other hand aren't Amazon's fault. That's just the world being filled with heinous assholes out to make a buck by cheating, lying, and stealing from everyone else. At best Amazon could independently audit and review all products themselves. Actually if they did that I'd probably start buying from them again...

nkozyra 8y ago
> Actually if they did that I'd probably start buying from them again Not that it would inherently solve the problem or prevent pay for play, but it would be a great strategy for Amazon to have an independent review company. There are problems, though: 1. How do we trust that there's some objectivity, particularly as it relates to things that compete with Amazon products? 2. How could reviewers possibly cover any significant amount of the vast number of products Amazon sells?
- markdown 8y ago
  I'd bet a lot of the fake reviews would disappear if they just: 1. Limited users ability to post reviews to say, 3 per year and no more than 1 in any given month. 2. Limit users ability to post more than one review per vendor, per year. 3. Only allow reviews by verified purchasers.
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    I think they'd just put in 365000 fake accounts, and continue posting 1000 fake reviews a day
    - markdown 8y ago
      365,000 credit cards, 365,000 delivery addresses? If bots worked, they wouldn't have had to resort to real humans on Facebook to get reviews.

user5994461 8y ago

I've had the case that the delivery company didn't get the full address to deliver to. They tried to deliver multiple times and said every time that the address didn't exist or couldn't be found. I called the transportation support to complain and I was dumbfounded that they simply didn't have a correct address. I don't know who screwed up, Amazon or the delivery company but something definitely went wrong on either side.

walrus01 8y ago

Amazon customer service is now quite terrible. Anecdote: I know somebody who has an office that is literally within a 2 block radius of Amazon HQ in Seattle (the new Doppler and Day One buildings). Getting Amazon's third party delivery contractors to successfully deliver to their office suite door, in a high-rise office tower, has been an amazing struggle. Deliveries get sent back as "rejected" all the time, when the delivery person has actually not even bothered to sign in at the lobby and go up to the office suite floor. More than a half dozen phone calls and chats with Amazon customer service, requesting that they edit the delivery info for the building, have been pretty much fruitless.

tomjakubowski 8y ago
This reminds me a bit of my own giant techco bugbear: for the longest time, Google Maps mishandled my home address - literally across the street from their local office - because it didn't recognize the 1/2 in the house number. It would direct users to 1 Fake St rather than N 1/2 Fake St.
- CamperBob2 8y ago
  To be fair, I imagine a lot of systems don't handle noninteger house numbers very robustly. That "1/2" business just seems like asking for trouble. The best solution might be to convince your building landlord or management to rename the units as 1 Fake Street Unit A and Unit B, or something like that. Assuming they don't have to fight City Hall to make that happen, they might be willing to help.
  - walrus01 8y ago
    You would think, however, that the "1/2" works fine in the text field used for a standard North American address... At least with Amazon and 99% of ecommerce sites there's two separate freeform text entry fields for street address. It's not like these are fields that require a precise integer. This should enable the actual human making the delivery to see the same thing printed on the label, and visually match it to whatever is labeled "1/2" on the building.

tyfon 8y ago

I wonder how this is in Europe where the buyer can get very hefty fines for buying counterfeit goods and even heftier fines for bringing said goods across borders. Personally I don't shop at Amazon so I don't know if it's a problem here.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
kolmogorov 8y ago
I was used to always buying on Amazon in Europe and I never had issues. Then I moved to the US and the whole experience is so much worse. Counterfeits, opened/unsealed packages, disappearing packages, 1 day delivery fee paid and package arrives 5 days later and so on. It's as if it was a different company.
- jupiter 8y ago
  Prly only a matter of time as everything comes to Europe a bit later. The amount of crap from China on Amazon seems to grow every day here also.
jobigoud 8y ago
I've never had a counterfeit item, as in not the actual brand I bought. There is a lot of crappy cheap stuff though. One thing I've noticed is items with the "top seller" tag but if you actually check the category in which they are top seller, it's a category that has nothing to do with the product.
rasz 8y ago
"His name had been flagged by CBP for importing counterfeit goods " https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits-global-entry-customs https://www.racked.com/2018/1/8/16849298/amazon-counterfeits...

randycupertino 8y ago

We basically stopped getting any products that go on or in your body from Amazon due to the pervasiveness of fake products on there. Tons of fake makeup, shampoos, vitamins, electronics. imo Amazon is worse than ebay lately with the amount of counterfeit goods.

RileyJames 8y ago

Regarding a counterfeit product, is the return period relevant? It’s a case of fraud. It seems it would be an open and shut case for a small claim court, if they didn’t provide a refund.

Spooky23 8y ago
You can pursue chargebacks with the credit card as well. I’ve been told that they will eventually banish you if you do it often.
astura 8y ago
Doesn't Amazon have binding arbitration? I know they do on the seller side.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

drb91 8y ago

Why aree you ordering brands off amazon rather than from the brand? You get what you pay for. Good luck on the fraud charge.

vehementi 8y ago
> Why aree you ordering brands off amazon WTF? Because fraud is illegal and amazon often has lower prices on goods.
- orbifold 8y ago
  Well clearly there is a reason for the lower prices.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    There could be various legitimate reasons, though. The brand could be overstocked in a particular item and want to get rid of inventory without harming their brand cachet - you're probably not going to find a clearance section on Gucci's website, but that doesn't mean they don't have a need for it.
    - drb91 8y ago
      This is true. But why would they have an overstock? Either it is unpopular and not worth counterfeiting or it’s counterfeited immediately because it’s popular to undercut. The scenarios seem difficult to distinguish.
      - ceejayoz 8y ago
        The consumer looking it up on Amazon isn't going to know which of those two scenarios it is. Thus, my point - blaming the consumer for purchasing it is unfair. There are legitimate reasons for a consumer to think the product is a) real and b) cheaper than usual.
        deleted 8y ago