5 ms·

I Spent $925 on a Fake Canada Goose Coat

37 points by cr1895 8y ago

xfitm3 8y ago
Very dramatic article. Author made a lot of assumptions, a common pitfall, and got a fake product. She reports she received a refund. I can’t fault anyone but the buyer here.
- Zdechlak 8y ago
  Precisely.
  - throwaway2048 8y ago
    There is an upvote button, Use it instead of replying like this.
- endorphone 8y ago
  If someone went on shadyripoffsite.cn and paid 1/10th the normal price for a counterfeit product then sure, blame the buyer for not seeing red flags. But buying a product on Amazon that claims it's by the official seller, selling at the normal retail price of the product, should be a trustable, reasonable exercise. That Amazon lets anyone seemingly be anyone, even major brands, as sellers, and lets blatant frauds continue for long periods of time, is a serious problem. This isn't the buyer's fault whatsoever. Good they got a refund, but it's nice that they shine a light on it.
  - alistairSH 8y ago
    But buying a product on Amazon that claims it's by the official seller This is the key, at least from my perspective. If I go to Amazon (or any other online vendor) and an item is listed as being by "International Brand X", I expect that the item is, in fact, being sold by "International Brand X". Amazon doesn't list the seller separate from the brand. The way the page is lad out, it is clearly meant to indicate the manufacturer is the seller.[0] 0 - http://oi65.tinypic.com/30t2ykm.jpg http://oi65.tinypic.com/30t2ykm.jpg
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  you could also fault amazon for not preventing fraudulent listings. It seems strange to me that instead of expanding their range that comes direct from manufacturers, they decided to merge their own sales with essentially a horde of unvetted eBay stores. Many people still buy from Amazon thinking they're essentially buying from an online outlet store, but they're often buying from random unvetted strangers with very little culpability. At the very least they could add a "verified/unverified" badge to store names and give verified status to manufacturer outlets.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- koboll 8y ago
  >Author made a lot of assumptions I, too, am guilty of assuming when I buy a product it is actually the product and not a different product. The fault lies with Amazon for knowingly and intentionally adhering minimally to the law because it is more profitable to do so than to launch an effective crackdown against counterfeiters. If they forced sellers to get verification from the companies whose products they purported to be selling, or proactively banned sellers who are obviously hawking counterfeits (before a journalist shines a spotlight on them), they'd lose profit. We need laws that require these things, and levy fines large enough to be a clear deterrent against those who break them. Indeed, their behavior is illegal even under current law. They intentionally obfuscate the seller, and prevent revealing a seller as a counterfeiter on product pages. This is knowing abetting of counterfeiting. Amazon is almost certainly the largest and most flagrant abetter of counterfeiting in the United States.
- hoaw 8y ago
  Never understood why so many people are interested in supporting scammers. These people are criminals engaging in fraud, not a mistake. There is little else to it. Why should we take your opinion seriously?
  - xfitm3 8y ago
    The buyer looked at a list of authorized retailers after the fact. This should have been done before the purchase. To me - this article is a reminder to be personally responsible when shopping online.
elcomet 8y ago
Are Canada Goose coats really worth it in the first place ? I don't own one, but it seems to me that they are very expensive due to marketing and being trendy, but that you could get the same quality or better for much less.
- jayalpha 8y ago
  "Are Canada Goose coats really worth it in the first place ?" Define "worth"? There are many nice jackets for 1k US$ that you can buy. This being said, I am not aware of any military Unit wearing feather coats. And this is not a money problem. AFAIK, feather coats are warm but not well suited for continuous outdoor activity.
- criddell 8y ago
  > Why would you buy a Canada goose in the first place? Because you want a Canada Goose coat. For some people the high price is a feature, not a problem.
- randlet 8y ago
  It's a fashion statement first and a warm coat second. So the question "Are they worth it" is highly individual (I reside on the "hell no" side of the fence!).
  - endorphone 8y ago
    They are very effective cold weather jackets, and have been designed and made for practical usage. High end outerwear is expensive across all brands. That it oddly took off as a fashion statement doesn't diminish the utility. Though I do think they are hitting the peak exposure moment, and soon they're going to have to remove the outer branding to allow utility buyers to not look like fashionistas.
    - cal5k 8y ago
      This. Living in Toronto means living in a sea of Canada Goose wearers come winter. They're very well-made and warm coats - honestly far too warm for typical Toronto temperatures - but I wouldn't buy one currently because of the overt branding.
nradov 8y ago
Duplicate https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18989132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18989132
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Not very useful. No discussion and no traction over there, whereas this made the front page and is attracting comments.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
_asummers 8y ago
So she blames Canada Goose because Amazon doesn't have proper quality controls around the vendors, then proceeds to buy another coat from Amazon (of course!) as a point of bragging?
- cr1895 8y ago
  >So she blames Canada Goose What gave you that impression?
  - _asummers 8y ago
    The author chose to buy a coat from a different company and use their platform to encourage others to do the same. Buying a different coat is a totally reasonable choice, but had they bought from an authorized retailer, then this article would have had a much different conclusion. The fake vendor is obviously the bad actor here, but Amazon facilitated them, and Amazon is rewarded at the end with another purchase. The only party here that did not benefit is Canada Goose.
    - claudiulodro 8y ago
      The author was unable to purchase a coat from Canada Goose so she went to Amazon. I assume by the time the whole ordeal was sorted it was still not possible to purchase a coat from the Canada Goose site. It's hard to support the company when they are sold out on their site . . .
      - _asummers 8y ago
        There's 23 authorized retailers in New York according to Canada Goose's website. While it's possible they were all sold out, that seems unlikely to me, especially since some of those retailers include large companies like Bloomingdales with warehouses of their own and websites accordingly. They could have walked into any of the 23 and purchased one physically. If they wanted one, they could have gotten one, above board. The real thing that happened here is the author had buyer's remorse and had the opportunity to rectify the situation, and while that's completely fine, this article should be much more indicting of Amazon than it is as they're really the culprit for this author's problem.
criddell 8y ago
> He reports that his team has also identified about 12,000 merchant accounts linked to four banks in China, one of which just lost its Visa privileges permanently. Only one and only Visa? If you buy a counterfeit product through Amazon and then do a credit card chargeback, does that hit Amazon or the seller?
- freeone3000 8y ago
  It hits Amazon, because Amazon charged your card. There's no way to tell who Amazon gave your money to.
jccalhoun 8y ago
Terribly overwritten article. The author bought a coat on Amazon. It was a fake. Got a refund. Amazon has a problem with fakes but this is not a very insightful article about the problem.
virtuexru 8y ago
Buying a Canada Goose jacket off Amazon... what could go wrong!? They have authorized retailers on their website for a reason. :)
manjana 8y ago
Why are these articles in HN feed? Feed used to be great but there have been a lot of irrelevant content for the last month it seems to me?
- martin_a 8y ago
  Can I vote stuff like this (the article) down? Do I need a specific amount of points for that?
  - BartBoch 8y ago
    Yes, not sure if it's 500 or 1,000.
  - grzm 8y ago
    Submissions can be upvoted or flagged. There's no separate downvoting for submissions. I believe the karma threshold for flagging submissions is 31. https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#flaggingvouching https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#flaggi...
Traster 8y ago
Here's a pro-tip for the apparently uninformed journalist: When you spent $1000 dollar on a fake coat and realized you were being conned the correct thing to do was NOT to go back to the same retailer to buy your next coat! I mean, really? If that's how you behave there's only so much sympathy you deserve.
- tzar 8y ago
  “... can't get fooled again.”
- hoaw 8y ago
  Yes, really. It is essentially downside protection. If you find yourself in a uncertain situation, it is a reasonable strategy. She now already know that Amazon can handle a refund, what to look for when buying and got a recommendation from a friend for a jacket. Could she have walked into a physical store instead? Probably, but at this point she probably didn't want to buy an expensive jacket anymore which is also reasonable. You are the one not thinking. I'll give you a different example. Say you are in a foreign city and you use Uber. After a while you have a bad experience. Say, the driver insists you pay something which should have beem included. You contact Uber and you get a refund. So what is the resonable choice now? A. Stay with Uber and be mindful of paying extra fees. B. Take other taxis which might be better, or just scam you without any recourse. For most people it would be A. Large brands win when the market is dysfunctional.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
GNU_IS_UNIX 8y ago
I have a knock off version named Canada super triple goose that cost about 1/5 the price. It's a really good and warm coat, I've had it for like 8 years now.
deytempo 8y ago
Wouldn’t owning one violate the migratory bird act?
lunchladydoris 8y ago
The first time I heard of Canada Goose was when I saw the Top Gear trio make their way to the North Pole in that red Toyota. Not long after I started noticing them more and more, and then recently they exploded. I wonder how much the Top Gear guys had to do with getting the ball rolling.

37 points by cr1895 8y ago

Very dramatic article. Author made a lot of assumptions, a common pitfall, and got a fake product. She reports she received a refund. I can’t fault anyone but the buyer here.

Zdechlak 8y ago
Precisely.
- throwaway2048 8y ago
  There is an upvote button, Use it instead of replying like this.
endorphone 8y ago
If someone went on shadyripoffsite.cn and paid 1/10th the normal price for a counterfeit product then sure, blame the buyer for not seeing red flags. But buying a product on Amazon that claims it's by the official seller, selling at the normal retail price of the product, should be a trustable, reasonable exercise. That Amazon lets anyone seemingly be anyone, even major brands, as sellers, and lets blatant frauds continue for long periods of time, is a serious problem. This isn't the buyer's fault whatsoever. Good they got a refund, but it's nice that they shine a light on it.
- alistairSH 8y ago
  But buying a product on Amazon that claims it's by the official seller This is the key, at least from my perspective. If I go to Amazon (or any other online vendor) and an item is listed as being by "International Brand X", I expect that the item is, in fact, being sold by "International Brand X". Amazon doesn't list the seller separate from the brand. The way the page is lad out, it is clearly meant to indicate the manufacturer is the seller.[0] 0 - http://oi65.tinypic.com/30t2ykm.jpg http://oi65.tinypic.com/30t2ykm.jpg
beaconstudios 8y ago
you could also fault amazon for not preventing fraudulent listings. It seems strange to me that instead of expanding their range that comes direct from manufacturers, they decided to merge their own sales with essentially a horde of unvetted eBay stores. Many people still buy from Amazon thinking they're essentially buying from an online outlet store, but they're often buying from random unvetted strangers with very little culpability. At the very least they could add a "verified/unverified" badge to store names and give verified status to manufacturer outlets.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
koboll 8y ago
>Author made a lot of assumptions I, too, am guilty of assuming when I buy a product it is actually the product and not a different product. The fault lies with Amazon for knowingly and intentionally adhering minimally to the law because it is more profitable to do so than to launch an effective crackdown against counterfeiters. If they forced sellers to get verification from the companies whose products they purported to be selling, or proactively banned sellers who are obviously hawking counterfeits (before a journalist shines a spotlight on them), they'd lose profit. We need laws that require these things, and levy fines large enough to be a clear deterrent against those who break them. Indeed, their behavior is illegal even under current law. They intentionally obfuscate the seller, and prevent revealing a seller as a counterfeiter on product pages. This is knowing abetting of counterfeiting. Amazon is almost certainly the largest and most flagrant abetter of counterfeiting in the United States.
hoaw 8y ago
Never understood why so many people are interested in supporting scammers. These people are criminals engaging in fraud, not a mistake. There is little else to it. Why should we take your opinion seriously?
- xfitm3 8y ago
  The buyer looked at a list of authorized retailers after the fact. This should have been done before the purchase. To me - this article is a reminder to be personally responsible when shopping online.

elcomet 8y ago

Are Canada Goose coats really worth it in the first place ? I don't own one, but it seems to me that they are very expensive due to marketing and being trendy, but that you could get the same quality or better for much less.

jayalpha 8y ago
"Are Canada Goose coats really worth it in the first place ?" Define "worth"? There are many nice jackets for 1k US$ that you can buy. This being said, I am not aware of any military Unit wearing feather coats. And this is not a money problem. AFAIK, feather coats are warm but not well suited for continuous outdoor activity.
criddell 8y ago
> Why would you buy a Canada goose in the first place? Because you want a Canada Goose coat. For some people the high price is a feature, not a problem.
randlet 8y ago
It's a fashion statement first and a warm coat second. So the question "Are they worth it" is highly individual (I reside on the "hell no" side of the fence!).
- endorphone 8y ago
  They are very effective cold weather jackets, and have been designed and made for practical usage. High end outerwear is expensive across all brands. That it oddly took off as a fashion statement doesn't diminish the utility. Though I do think they are hitting the peak exposure moment, and soon they're going to have to remove the outer branding to allow utility buyers to not look like fashionistas.
  - cal5k 8y ago
    This. Living in Toronto means living in a sea of Canada Goose wearers come winter. They're very well-made and warm coats - honestly far too warm for typical Toronto temperatures - but I wouldn't buy one currently because of the overt branding.

nradov 8y ago

Duplicate https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18989132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18989132

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Not very useful. No discussion and no traction over there, whereas this made the front page and is attracting comments.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

_asummers 8y ago

So she blames Canada Goose because Amazon doesn't have proper quality controls around the vendors, then proceeds to buy another coat from Amazon (of course!) as a point of bragging?

cr1895 8y ago
>So she blames Canada Goose What gave you that impression?
- _asummers 8y ago
  The author chose to buy a coat from a different company and use their platform to encourage others to do the same. Buying a different coat is a totally reasonable choice, but had they bought from an authorized retailer, then this article would have had a much different conclusion. The fake vendor is obviously the bad actor here, but Amazon facilitated them, and Amazon is rewarded at the end with another purchase. The only party here that did not benefit is Canada Goose.
  - claudiulodro 8y ago
    The author was unable to purchase a coat from Canada Goose so she went to Amazon. I assume by the time the whole ordeal was sorted it was still not possible to purchase a coat from the Canada Goose site. It's hard to support the company when they are sold out on their site . . .
    - _asummers 8y ago
      There's 23 authorized retailers in New York according to Canada Goose's website. While it's possible they were all sold out, that seems unlikely to me, especially since some of those retailers include large companies like Bloomingdales with warehouses of their own and websites accordingly. They could have walked into any of the 23 and purchased one physically. If they wanted one, they could have gotten one, above board. The real thing that happened here is the author had buyer's remorse and had the opportunity to rectify the situation, and while that's completely fine, this article should be much more indicting of Amazon than it is as they're really the culprit for this author's problem.

criddell 8y ago

> He reports that his team has also identified about 12,000 merchant accounts linked to four banks in China, one of which just lost its Visa privileges permanently. Only one and only Visa? If you buy a counterfeit product through Amazon and then do a credit card chargeback, does that hit Amazon or the seller?

freeone3000 8y ago
It hits Amazon, because Amazon charged your card. There's no way to tell who Amazon gave your money to.

jccalhoun 8y ago

Terribly overwritten article. The author bought a coat on Amazon. It was a fake. Got a refund. Amazon has a problem with fakes but this is not a very insightful article about the problem.

virtuexru 8y ago

Buying a Canada Goose jacket off Amazon... what could go wrong!? They have authorized retailers on their website for a reason. :)

manjana 8y ago

Why are these articles in HN feed? Feed used to be great but there have been a lot of irrelevant content for the last month it seems to me?

martin_a 8y ago
Can I vote stuff like this (the article) down? Do I need a specific amount of points for that?
- BartBoch 8y ago
  Yes, not sure if it's 500 or 1,000.
- grzm 8y ago
  Submissions can be upvoted or flagged. There's no separate downvoting for submissions. I believe the karma threshold for flagging submissions is 31. https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#flaggingvouching https://github.com/minimaxir/hacker-news-undocumented#flaggi...

Traster 8y ago

Here's a pro-tip for the apparently uninformed journalist: When you spent $1000 dollar on a fake coat and realized you were being conned the correct thing to do was NOT to go back to the same retailer to buy your next coat! I mean, really? If that's how you behave there's only so much sympathy you deserve.

tzar 8y ago
“... can't get fooled again.”
hoaw 8y ago
Yes, really. It is essentially downside protection. If you find yourself in a uncertain situation, it is a reasonable strategy. She now already know that Amazon can handle a refund, what to look for when buying and got a recommendation from a friend for a jacket. Could she have walked into a physical store instead? Probably, but at this point she probably didn't want to buy an expensive jacket anymore which is also reasonable. You are the one not thinking. I'll give you a different example. Say you are in a foreign city and you use Uber. After a while you have a bad experience. Say, the driver insists you pay something which should have beem included. You contact Uber and you get a refund. So what is the resonable choice now? A. Stay with Uber and be mindful of paying extra fees. B. Take other taxis which might be better, or just scam you without any recourse. For most people it would be A. Large brands win when the market is dysfunctional.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

GNU_IS_UNIX 8y ago

I have a knock off version named Canada super triple goose that cost about 1/5 the price. It's a really good and warm coat, I've had it for like 8 years now.

deytempo 8y ago

Wouldn’t owning one violate the migratory bird act?

lunchladydoris 8y ago

The first time I heard of Canada Goose was when I saw the Top Gear trio make their way to the North Pole in that red Toyota. Not long after I started noticing them more and more, and then recently they exploded. I wonder how much the Top Gear guys had to do with getting the ball rolling.