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I haven’t had too many issues ordering from Amazon, but I go through much effort making sure seller is reputable every time and listing was not swapped. Both A

I haven’t had too many issues ordering from Amazon, but I go through much effort making sure seller is reputable every time and listing was not swapped. Both Adorama and B&H sell on Amazon too, but for photo/video gear I would go to B&H direct.

Jolter 7y ago
Amazon will swap in fakes no matter what seller you're using, as long as they're using Amazon's fullfillment services. Search this site, there is like one article a month about it.
- goblin89 7y ago
  I keep hearing stories but am yet to be burned with a fake myself. Perhaps paying attention to the seller and the listing makes a difference after all (I don’t know how others do it), or Amazon US uses different procedures when shipping internationally, or I’m just lucky and haven’t been buying that much (fewer than ten tech items in an average year). If anyone chooses to order memory cards or the like from Amazon US specifically for whatever reason, I find that at least an hour reading reviews and surveying listings is required for me personally to be reasonably hopeful I will get what I want. Trying to spot dishonest reviews or signs that older reviews are for a different product (swapped listing). I imagine if I were in the US I could simply order multiple product variations from different listings & sellers and then pick the most genuine-looking one, returning the rest, but that would be a major hassle when ordering overseas.
  - goblin89 7y ago
    A quick informal survey confirmed my impression that most customers who care to identify sellers and resist going for the cheapest listing typically receive items with no issues (or within the margin of human error), but there does exist a vocal minority who were affected allegedly despite those measures.
- gambiting 7y ago
  Please please please clarify that it's exclusively the problem of Amazon US. As far as I'm aware no other Amazon branch does this.
  - goblin89 7y ago
    Right—if Amazon did anything of the sort in, say, Japan, that market would be as good as permanently lost.

Jolter 7y ago

Amazon will swap in fakes no matter what seller you're using, as long as they're using Amazon's fullfillment services. Search this site, there is like one article a month about it.

goblin89 7y ago
I keep hearing stories but am yet to be burned with a fake myself. Perhaps paying attention to the seller and the listing makes a difference after all (I don’t know how others do it), or Amazon US uses different procedures when shipping internationally, or I’m just lucky and haven’t been buying that much (fewer than ten tech items in an average year). If anyone chooses to order memory cards or the like from Amazon US specifically for whatever reason, I find that at least an hour reading reviews and surveying listings is required for me personally to be reasonably hopeful I will get what I want. Trying to spot dishonest reviews or signs that older reviews are for a different product (swapped listing). I imagine if I were in the US I could simply order multiple product variations from different listings & sellers and then pick the most genuine-looking one, returning the rest, but that would be a major hassle when ordering overseas.
- goblin89 7y ago
  A quick informal survey confirmed my impression that most customers who care to identify sellers and resist going for the cheapest listing typically receive items with no issues (or within the margin of human error), but there does exist a vocal minority who were affected allegedly despite those measures.
gambiting 7y ago
Please please please clarify that it's exclusively the problem of Amazon US. As far as I'm aware no other Amazon branch does this.
- goblin89 7y ago
  Right—if Amazon did anything of the sort in, say, Japan, that market would be as good as permanently lost.