4 ms·

They're 3rd party sellers. Putting the blame on Amazon is a bit like blaming the postal service for all the faulty products they send. Being the most popular se

They're 3rd party sellers. Putting the blame on Amazon is a bit like blaming the postal service for all the faulty products they send. Being the most popular service as a common denominator doesn't make it the root cause of a problem.

epistasis 7y ago
Given how difficult it is to distinguish an Amazon product from a "3rd party" product from Amazon, not sure what the difference is here. Postal services don't advertise and serve as brokers for transactions, masking the identity of the seller.
- deleted 7y ago
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- bartimus 7y ago
  I rarely shop on Amazon. I just looked around and you are right it's not easy to see the seller information. But I wouldn't consider this the root cause of faulty products. I see it more as a global problem (can also happen on AliExpress for example). There have always been cheap white label products coming from China. They've just become more easily available than they used to be thanks to services like Amazon.
  - astura 7y ago
    Problem is we are used to legitimate American-based retailers doing some vetting of cheap Chinese white label products for safety. We know it's probably not going to be the highest build quality, we know it might not last, but we expect it to be safe! When you buy a cheap Chinese-made UL rated charger from Walmart, you can be pretty sure it's actually UL rated. In Amazon's case its close to a free-for-all but has the outward appearance of a legitimate American-based retailer.
dragontamer 7y ago
> They're 3rd party sellers. 3rd party seller merchandise commingles with Amazon products, leading to counterfeits... EVEN on "Sold by Amazon" and "Fulfilled by Amazon" products. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/amazon-caught-selling-counterfeits-of-publishers-computer-books-again/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/amazo... Amazon's supply chain is compromised. There are fakes and counterfeits all over the site. Its been this way for years and Amazon hasn't done anything to fix it. -------- I've been buying books directly from publishers and buying other stuff from more specialty shops (Adafruit, Digikey for Electronics, Newegg / Microcenter for computer parts, Target / Walmart for general merchandise)

epistasis 7y ago

Given how difficult it is to distinguish an Amazon product from a "3rd party" product from Amazon, not sure what the difference is here. Postal services don't advertise and serve as brokers for transactions, masking the identity of the seller.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bartimus 7y ago
I rarely shop on Amazon. I just looked around and you are right it's not easy to see the seller information. But I wouldn't consider this the root cause of faulty products. I see it more as a global problem (can also happen on AliExpress for example). There have always been cheap white label products coming from China. They've just become more easily available than they used to be thanks to services like Amazon.
- astura 7y ago
  Problem is we are used to legitimate American-based retailers doing some vetting of cheap Chinese white label products for safety. We know it's probably not going to be the highest build quality, we know it might not last, but we expect it to be safe! When you buy a cheap Chinese-made UL rated charger from Walmart, you can be pretty sure it's actually UL rated. In Amazon's case its close to a free-for-all but has the outward appearance of a legitimate American-based retailer.

dragontamer 7y ago

> They're 3rd party sellers. 3rd party seller merchandise commingles with Amazon products, leading to counterfeits... EVEN on "Sold by Amazon" and "Fulfilled by Amazon" products. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/amazon-caught-selling-counterfeits-of-publishers-computer-books-again/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/02/amazo... Amazon's supply chain is compromised. There are fakes and counterfeits all over the site. Its been this way for years and Amazon hasn't done anything to fix it. -------- I've been buying books directly from publishers and buying other stuff from more specialty shops (Adafruit, Digikey for Electronics, Newegg / Microcenter for computer parts, Target / Walmart for general merchandise)