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I recently discovered some really bad effects from Amazon third party sellers. For a lot of item, 3rd party sellers are listing inventory they don't actually ha
by aero142 8y ago
I recently discovered some really bad effects from Amazon third party sellers. For a lot of item, 3rd party sellers are listing inventory they don't actually have. I think what is happening is that if they are out of an item the listed, they just order from another store, like Bed Bath and Beyond and ship it directly to the customer. It even arrives as ordered by a random person you have never heard of from BB&B. It might even be a slightly different product brand name but probably the same manufacturer. I believe there is another variant of this where you simply list inventory at a higher price and hope to pick up orders. For example, maybe BB&B lists an item at $30. The seller lists the item at $40 on Amazon and if someone orders, they just direct ship from BB&B and pocket the difference. This gets really bad for gift registries. You list an item when it was in stock at $30 on Amazon. That item goes out of stock but one of these 3rd parties lists it for $40 and someone buying you a gift decides to purchase that instead. Next think you know, a random BB&B order shows up at your door from some random person you don't know. Amazon has your package marked as shipped, but can't produce a shipping number, and everyone is very confused what this BB&B item is. It's such a mess and I can't believe Amazon is tolerating this crap. I just told Amazon the item didn't arrive because they can't produce a shipping number and the item is slightly different. I just cancelled the order and got my money back. I'm not going to do extra work because some person in North Dakota wants to play Amazon games.
- sithadmin 8y agoI strangely had the exact opposite happen recently: ordered an item directly from an OEM (Creative) via their site, but had an Amazon Prime package show up to deliver it. Even weirder, as far as I can tell, the item has never even been listed as available for sale on Amazon.
- aero142 8y agoThis is really bad because I've stopped ordering from Amazon because of the counterfeit problem. I would be so mad if I paid extra to order direct from the manufacturer and have Amazon bring it to me. Now I have the counterfeit problem again but paid full price.
- toasterlovin 8y agoI am almost certain that companies using Amazon for fulfillment can only ship out products that they, themselves, have shipped to Amazon. Otherwise Amazon would be shipping out other sellers' merchandise. I am not sure what this means with regard to Amazon co-mingling inventory from multiple sellers for the same product, however.
- toasterlovin 8y agoThe manufacturer is probably using Amazon to fulfill their non-Amazon orders. I do just that. The difference being, though, that my products are also listed for sale on Amazon. But listing them on Amazon is not a requirement.
- sithadmin 8y agoDidn't realize Amazon was also doing pure dropship type distribution for items not listed on Amazon as well. Thanks!
- ganoushoreilly 8y agoThere are merchants that use Amazon to ship on their behalf without listing on Amazon, it's weird, but it does happen. I buy a lot of random computer hardware from Europe, most recently a Louqe Ghost small form factor case. All us orders for it are first sent freight to Amazon, then amazon dispatches out the cases. As of current, they do not sell on Amazon.