5 ms·

>In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said, “Safety is important to Amazon and we want customers to shop with confidence on our stores. Third-party sellers ar

by astura 8y ago

>In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson said, “Safety is important to Amazon and we want customers to shop with confidence on our stores. Third-party sellers are required to comply with all relevant laws and regulations when listing items for sale in our stores. When sellers don’t comply with our terms, we work quickly to take action on behalf of customers.” >Amazon often doesn’t own or even touch the products bought and sold on its site—so in Amazon’s view, it’s not liable for defective products. In its response to David Jarrett’s legal complaint, the company said in a court filing that his alleged injuries “were caused by acts or omissions of third-persons or entities over which Amazon has no control.” Is it just me or are those completely contradictory? Both of those statements can't be true. You can't both reassure customers of the quality and safety of items sold on your platform AND say you have "no control" of your platform.

organsnyder 8y ago
They're not quite contradictory: notice that Amazon doesn't claim that they actively look for offenders; just that once they become aware of them, they'll take action. Though I'd argue that their "Safety is important" language is indeed bullshit. I've been shifting my buying away from Amazon toward smaller niche retailers that actually manage their own inventory. When I do opt for a free-for-all marketplace, I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system.
- abfan1127 8y ago
  which retailers have you found?
  - organsnyder 8y ago
    It really depends on what I'm buying. It seems like many product areas have niche retailers online, though finding the right one can be tricky (for instance, I ordered a couple of Z-wave products from one company and fulfillment seemed decent, but now they haven't answered a support email, so I'm less confident with them...). I'm also trying to find brick-and-mortar when possible.
  - bluGill 8y ago
    There are a ton of them. When looking for xyz: xyz.com xyzwarehouse.com xyzdepot.com... Generally I go for the one that has other information about the product (how to use it...) on their website as it is worth supporting someone to write that stuff down.
  - function_seven 8y ago
    For lithium-ion batteries specifically, the /r/electronic_cigarette subreddit has a great list of reputable vendors in their wiki. www.imrbatteries.com liionwholesale.com batterybro.com www.illumn.com www.orbtronic.com www.rtdvapor.com www.akkuteile.de ecoluxshopdirect.co.uk www.nkon.nl For many other niches, finding an active subreddit is a good way to find reputable vendors in that space. E-cig users are especially vulnerable to counterfeit lithium-ion cells. For one, we tend to draw way more current from them than most other consumer electronics devices. Two, the batteries are in our face or pocket all the time.
- saidajigumi 8y ago
  I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system. I cannot overstate the irony I find in this reversal: In the early days of Amazon vs. eBay in online retail, a huge brand point for Amazon was its reliability and trustworthiness for consumers vs. the "free-for-all"(!) of early-days eBay. And I agree, the change has been rather dramatic, for both companies.
  - nolok 8y ago
    Meanwhile both are competing for the worse searching/discovery system possible. Great feeling when you factually know the product you're looking for is there but you can't get to it easily because their suggestions keep pushing other stuff to you. As an aside, I feel like Ebay is one of those few "early behemoths" that actually figured out why they were working: you could know how reliable this john smith has been as a seller. And when internet payment was still terrible, they doubled down on it with Paypal (say what you want about paypal as a seller, but as a buyer it's still gold today, so ten years ago ...). Most selling communities that survived here in France either have also their own reputation system, or they're cash in hands. I find it kind of funny when compared to more "modern" tech giants like, say, Twitter; a company which has no idea why their product works.
  - imtringued 8y ago
    How is that ironic? On Ebay you're buying products from a seller that isn't Ebay. The same product will be listed multiple times by different sellers. On amazon it's exactly the opposite. I go to Amazon to buy from Amazon. The same product is listed with multiple sellers and even products explicitly marked with "shipped by Amazon" are actually just random sellers using Amazon's fulfillment service. It is very hard to differentiate between legitimate sellers and Amazon. Therefore random sellers effectively get to sell under the same reputation as Amazon and can just sell fakes without any repercussion. On Ebay information about the trustworthiness of the seller is immediately shown to you on the product page and therefore sellers who sell fake products will lose their reputation and future sales.
- jlarocco 8y ago
  > They're not quite contradictory: notice that Amazon doesn't claim that they actively look for offenders; just that once they become aware of them, they'll take action. Maybe not contradictory, but according to the article it isn't true. They know the batteries can explode, but haven't done anything.
- SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
  > When I do opt for a free-for-all marketplace, I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system. I just wanted to second this. I've been doing a lot of buying and selling on ebay recently and have had nothing but excellent experiences. Even when things (inevitably) go wrong they seem to be handled fairly. This is a fairly recent development btw (I've been a member since 2002). I'd urge anyone who has been avoiding ebay due to their reputation from 10 years ago to give it a second chance. Either they've changed or Amazon has lowered the bar so far that ebay doesn't seem so bad these days!
OrgNet 8y ago
I've had more problem with products manufactured for/by Amazon then anything else (Amazon basics and Amazon Fire tablets for example). Even the warranty service for the kid's Fire tablet was really bad. Luckily I never had a battery explode yet.
tastygreenapple 8y ago
I tried selling a beauty product with AA batteries from Amazon on Amazon as a third party and the AA batteries from amazon triggered some safety review - I had to share safety data about the batteries and Amazon said their own MSDS didn't meet their standards for me to sell their batteries on their platform. It's a clown town over there.

by astura 8y ago

organsnyder 8y ago

They're not quite contradictory: notice that Amazon doesn't claim that they actively look for offenders; just that once they become aware of them, they'll take action. Though I'd argue that their "Safety is important" language is indeed bullshit. I've been shifting my buying away from Amazon toward smaller niche retailers that actually manage their own inventory. When I do opt for a free-for-all marketplace, I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system.

abfan1127 8y ago
which retailers have you found?
- organsnyder 8y ago
  It really depends on what I'm buying. It seems like many product areas have niche retailers online, though finding the right one can be tricky (for instance, I ordered a couple of Z-wave products from one company and fulfillment seemed decent, but now they haven't answered a support email, so I'm less confident with them...). I'm also trying to find brick-and-mortar when possible.
- bluGill 8y ago
  There are a ton of them. When looking for xyz: xyz.com xyzwarehouse.com xyzdepot.com... Generally I go for the one that has other information about the product (how to use it...) on their website as it is worth supporting someone to write that stuff down.
- function_seven 8y ago
  For lithium-ion batteries specifically, the /r/electronic_cigarette subreddit has a great list of reputable vendors in their wiki. www.imrbatteries.com liionwholesale.com batterybro.com www.illumn.com www.orbtronic.com www.rtdvapor.com www.akkuteile.de ecoluxshopdirect.co.uk www.nkon.nl For many other niches, finding an active subreddit is a good way to find reputable vendors in that space. E-cig users are especially vulnerable to counterfeit lithium-ion cells. For one, we tend to draw way more current from them than most other consumer electronics devices. Two, the batteries are in our face or pocket all the time.
saidajigumi 8y ago
I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system. I cannot overstate the irony I find in this reversal: In the early days of Amazon vs. eBay in online retail, a huge brand point for Amazon was its reliability and trustworthiness for consumers vs. the "free-for-all"(!) of early-days eBay. And I agree, the change has been rather dramatic, for both companies.
- nolok 8y ago
  Meanwhile both are competing for the worse searching/discovery system possible. Great feeling when you factually know the product you're looking for is there but you can't get to it easily because their suggestions keep pushing other stuff to you. As an aside, I feel like Ebay is one of those few "early behemoths" that actually figured out why they were working: you could know how reliable this john smith has been as a seller. And when internet payment was still terrible, they doubled down on it with Paypal (say what you want about paypal as a seller, but as a buyer it's still gold today, so ten years ago ...). Most selling communities that survived here in France either have also their own reputation system, or they're cash in hands. I find it kind of funny when compared to more "modern" tech giants like, say, Twitter; a company which has no idea why their product works.
- imtringued 8y ago
  How is that ironic? On Ebay you're buying products from a seller that isn't Ebay. The same product will be listed multiple times by different sellers. On amazon it's exactly the opposite. I go to Amazon to buy from Amazon. The same product is listed with multiple sellers and even products explicitly marked with "shipped by Amazon" are actually just random sellers using Amazon's fulfillment service. It is very hard to differentiate between legitimate sellers and Amazon. Therefore random sellers effectively get to sell under the same reputation as Amazon and can just sell fakes without any repercussion. On Ebay information about the trustworthiness of the seller is immediately shown to you on the product page and therefore sellers who sell fake products will lose their reputation and future sales.
jlarocco 8y ago
> They're not quite contradictory: notice that Amazon doesn't claim that they actively look for offenders; just that once they become aware of them, they'll take action. Maybe not contradictory, but according to the article it isn't true. They know the batteries can explode, but haven't done anything.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
> When I do opt for a free-for-all marketplace, I've found eBay to have a much more trustworthy reputation system. I just wanted to second this. I've been doing a lot of buying and selling on ebay recently and have had nothing but excellent experiences. Even when things (inevitably) go wrong they seem to be handled fairly. This is a fairly recent development btw (I've been a member since 2002). I'd urge anyone who has been avoiding ebay due to their reputation from 10 years ago to give it a second chance. Either they've changed or Amazon has lowered the bar so far that ebay doesn't seem so bad these days!

OrgNet 8y ago

I've had more problem with products manufactured for/by Amazon then anything else (Amazon basics and Amazon Fire tablets for example). Even the warranty service for the kid's Fire tablet was really bad. Luckily I never had a battery explode yet.

tastygreenapple 8y ago

I tried selling a beauty product with AA batteries from Amazon on Amazon as a third party and the AA batteries from amazon triggered some safety review - I had to share safety data about the batteries and Amazon said their own MSDS didn't meet their standards for me to sell their batteries on their platform. It's a clown town over there.