7 ms·

The issue is that the listing is for a genuine product, but then you get sent a fake (even when 'fulfilled by Amazon') Happened to me once with a watch strap,

The issue is that the listing is for a genuine product, but then you get sent a fake (even when 'fulfilled by Amazon') Happened to me once with a watch strap, but the price wasn't high enough for me to go through the hassle of returning it

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago
And I guarantee that that strap had a >4.5 star rating. The whole site is nothing but >4.5 star ratings now, hmmmm.
- genericone 7y ago
  4.5 stars with +1000 reviews for a brand that has only existed for a year.
  - arkitaip 7y ago
    Another fraud pattern allowed by Amazon. They simply should allow sellers to modify major aspects of a product listing once it's been published.
  - tartoran 7y ago
    And if you look at the reviews they reference a different product or are too generic to be taken seriously. Amazon has allowed this to happen on a big scale. I personally avoid Amazon now.
OnlineGladiator 7y ago
> Happened to me once with a watch strap, but the price wasn't high enough for me to go through the hassle of returning it In my experience, Amazon will just refund cheap items without even asking for you to return anything. I have no idea how many things I've returned to Amazon over the years, but it's a lot - easily many dozens of products. I'd guess about 20% of the time, because the item is cheap, they just let me keep it and give me back my money.
- wffurr 7y ago
  And then what am I supposed to do with a cheap, fake watch strap I don't want? Throw it in the trash? No thanks. I'd rather not get sent the item in the first place.
  - FDSGSG 7y ago
    >Throw it in the trash? No thanks. Why not? I'd understand the problem if you were talking about some large appliance, but you're talking about a watch strap.
    - derwiki 7y ago
      It's still wasteful.
      - FDSGSG 7y ago
        Spending time worrying about the wastefulness of tossing a fake watch strap worth a couple of cents would be far more wasteful.
  - derefr 7y ago
    The waste occurred when the item was manufactured, not when it was sent to you. Given that nobody wants it, creating it was a destruction of the value of the raw materials that went into it. Whether you throw it away or do anything else with it is irrelevant; the value is already destroyed. Worrying about the fate of that watch-strap is a bit like fishing some food-soaked plastic wrap out of your garbage bin, and then feeling bad about throwing it back into the garbage bin. The plastic became non-recyclable earlier on, when it interacted with the food during packaging. It interacted with the food before you ever bought it. The standalone recovery-value of the plastic wrap was destroyed in the manufacturing facility, and would be destroyed whether or not you chose to buy the item. Just like those cheap watch straps nobody wants would have been manufactured whether or not there was demand for them. (Because there isn't demand for them, and they still clearly are manufactured.)
apazzolini 7y ago
Stop buying from Amazon, simple solution.
- balls187 7y ago
  I've gone this route. Started shopping local again. I miss the convenience but getting too many open-boxed items was enough to push me over the edge.
  - jschwartzi 7y ago
    For me it stopped being convenient because I was getting too many fakes and too much garbage. Yes, those aluminum tent stakes are cheaper but they're also not designed with the same level of care as the ones you get locally. And it really matters if you're expecting them to stay in the ground and not saw through your guy lines.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- sp332 7y ago
  You mean stop thousands of other people from buying cheap watchbands from Amazon, unless and until they get better quality control, as determined by some impartial third party, who then signals to thousands of people that it's ok to buy again? Or maybe stop thousands of other people from buying watchbands from Amazon forever? Because if one person stops buying, it's not a solution, and to get many people to stop buying is not simple.
texasbigdata 7y ago
Name 3 things in your entire life that were fake. Theres likely a bunch of 200 packages a year people in this thread. What could you be buying that lacks sufficient reviews and is of such opaqueness and simultaneously over a nominal amount? Not an Amazon apologist but it seems a bit ridiculous. How do they get paid? The customer first mantra is nice but do they not prefer a higher price too?
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  1. Apple Chargers, multiple 2. Anker Chargers, multiple 3. SanDisk memory cards, multiple 4. Otterbox phone case It doesn't matter what price you pay. Even if you pay recommended retail, if Amazon co-mingles, you run the risk of counterfeits. I buy all my electronics elsewhere now. And discourage anything that goes in or on your body from being bought from Amazon.
  - texasbigdata 7y ago
    Asked for 3 got 12. Fair enough. Actually I've had something similar. Samsung charges better with Samsung usb cables (per ATT in store and tmobile in stores ppl). But the Samsung USB cables are realllllly poorly labeled. Like suspiciously so.
- op00to 7y ago
  1. USB Chargers 2. Apple TV 4K Siri remote 3. Sensodyne Toothpaste 4. Pretty much any name brand clothing 5. Maui Jim Sunglasses ... I’m an idiot. Plenty more that I ignore.
  - kortex 7y ago
    Wow, things are pretty bad when people are slinging bootleg toothpaste
    - BooneJS 7y ago
      That you put in your mouth and partially ingest.
throwaway_tech 7y ago
>The issue is that the listing is for a genuine product, but then you get sent a fake (even when 'fulfilled by Amazon') That would be the issue the first time, but I agree with the parent down voted into the gray...You are knowingly doing business with a company that knowingly and willfully fulfills your orders with fakes. At a certain point you have to stop saying Amazon's counterfeit practices are the problem, but the problem is customers. They will never stop advertising legit products and shipping counterfeits, because people will keep buying and even just accept it.
basch 7y ago
"Shipped and sold by Amazon" means amazon sold it to you. Fulfilled by amazon means someone rented amazons warehouse and used their logistics services and payment services (and multiple suppliers stocks may have mixed together.) If shipped and sold by amazon is an option around the same price, you can choose not to involve the reselling middle man.
- gruez 7y ago
  >(and multiple suppliers stocks may have mixed together.) this applies to sold by amazon items as well.
- jedberg 7y ago
  > If shipped and sold by amazon is an option around the same price, you can choose not to involve the reselling middle man. They commingle all inventory, whether or not it is shipped and sold by Amazon.
  - basch 7y ago
    Im mostly looking at it from the perspective of "if I have to return this because its not right, its a ton less hassle if Amazon is the party I have to deal with the return through."
- astura 7y ago
  TFA claims Amazon themselves are selling counterfeits though. >"Multiple times we discovered that Amazon itself had sourced counterfeit product and was selling it alongside our own product," he noted. >He asserted that Amazon representatives would tell him over the phone: "If we don't get it, then we're going to source product from the gray market."
alistairSH 7y ago
So stop buying from Amazon. Period. They have obviously decided that they'd rather sell you crap, telling you it's a genuine item, than the real thing. Why give them any more of your money?
- sp332 7y ago
  We have fraud laws to starve fraudsters of new victims. We have fraud laws so we don't each individually have to vet every seller. The more due diligence we have to do, the less business we're going to get done. It's better for the economy as a whole as well as us buyers individually if we can hold Amazon accountable when they fuck us over.
  - jka 7y ago
    Are you referencing any fraud laws in particular? They could be useful resources for folks on this thread who've received fake/counterfeit items. As I understand it, although purchases are made through a single service (Amazon), products are sourced from a large number of sellers who list items on their marketplace. It could be useful to find out how the laws you mention are written and enforced in that kind of environment. At the moment I'd suspect Amazon are keen to handle disputes/concerns directly which might lead to fewer regulatory complaints from customers and avoid scrutiny.
  - alistairSH 7y ago
    Yes, and the most direct way you can hold a vendor accountable is to stop giving them your business. If there are other legal, political, or regulatory avenues you wish to pursue, that's not mutually exclusive to taking your personal dollars elsewhere in the meantime.

JohnJamesRambo 7y ago

And I guarantee that that strap had a >4.5 star rating. The whole site is nothing but >4.5 star ratings now, hmmmm.

genericone 7y ago
4.5 stars with +1000 reviews for a brand that has only existed for a year.
- arkitaip 7y ago
  Another fraud pattern allowed by Amazon. They simply should allow sellers to modify major aspects of a product listing once it's been published.
- tartoran 7y ago
  And if you look at the reviews they reference a different product or are too generic to be taken seriously. Amazon has allowed this to happen on a big scale. I personally avoid Amazon now.

OnlineGladiator 7y ago

> Happened to me once with a watch strap, but the price wasn't high enough for me to go through the hassle of returning it In my experience, Amazon will just refund cheap items without even asking for you to return anything. I have no idea how many things I've returned to Amazon over the years, but it's a lot - easily many dozens of products. I'd guess about 20% of the time, because the item is cheap, they just let me keep it and give me back my money.

wffurr 7y ago
And then what am I supposed to do with a cheap, fake watch strap I don't want? Throw it in the trash? No thanks. I'd rather not get sent the item in the first place.
- FDSGSG 7y ago
  >Throw it in the trash? No thanks. Why not? I'd understand the problem if you were talking about some large appliance, but you're talking about a watch strap.
  - derwiki 7y ago
    It's still wasteful.
    - FDSGSG 7y ago
      Spending time worrying about the wastefulness of tossing a fake watch strap worth a couple of cents would be far more wasteful.
- derefr 7y ago
  The waste occurred when the item was manufactured, not when it was sent to you. Given that nobody wants it, creating it was a destruction of the value of the raw materials that went into it. Whether you throw it away or do anything else with it is irrelevant; the value is already destroyed. Worrying about the fate of that watch-strap is a bit like fishing some food-soaked plastic wrap out of your garbage bin, and then feeling bad about throwing it back into the garbage bin. The plastic became non-recyclable earlier on, when it interacted with the food during packaging. It interacted with the food before you ever bought it. The standalone recovery-value of the plastic wrap was destroyed in the manufacturing facility, and would be destroyed whether or not you chose to buy the item. Just like those cheap watch straps nobody wants would have been manufactured whether or not there was demand for them. (Because there isn't demand for them, and they still clearly are manufactured.)

apazzolini 7y ago

Stop buying from Amazon, simple solution.

balls187 7y ago
I've gone this route. Started shopping local again. I miss the convenience but getting too many open-boxed items was enough to push me over the edge.
- jschwartzi 7y ago
  For me it stopped being convenient because I was getting too many fakes and too much garbage. Yes, those aluminum tent stakes are cheaper but they're also not designed with the same level of care as the ones you get locally. And it really matters if you're expecting them to stay in the ground and not saw through your guy lines.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
sp332 7y ago
You mean stop thousands of other people from buying cheap watchbands from Amazon, unless and until they get better quality control, as determined by some impartial third party, who then signals to thousands of people that it's ok to buy again? Or maybe stop thousands of other people from buying watchbands from Amazon forever? Because if one person stops buying, it's not a solution, and to get many people to stop buying is not simple.

texasbigdata 7y ago

Name 3 things in your entire life that were fake. Theres likely a bunch of 200 packages a year people in this thread. What could you be buying that lacks sufficient reviews and is of such opaqueness and simultaneously over a nominal amount? Not an Amazon apologist but it seems a bit ridiculous. How do they get paid? The customer first mantra is nice but do they not prefer a higher price too?

FireBeyond 7y ago
1. Apple Chargers, multiple 2. Anker Chargers, multiple 3. SanDisk memory cards, multiple 4. Otterbox phone case It doesn't matter what price you pay. Even if you pay recommended retail, if Amazon co-mingles, you run the risk of counterfeits. I buy all my electronics elsewhere now. And discourage anything that goes in or on your body from being bought from Amazon.
- texasbigdata 7y ago
  Asked for 3 got 12. Fair enough. Actually I've had something similar. Samsung charges better with Samsung usb cables (per ATT in store and tmobile in stores ppl). But the Samsung USB cables are realllllly poorly labeled. Like suspiciously so.
op00to 7y ago
1. USB Chargers 2. Apple TV 4K Siri remote 3. Sensodyne Toothpaste 4. Pretty much any name brand clothing 5. Maui Jim Sunglasses ... I’m an idiot. Plenty more that I ignore.
- kortex 7y ago
  Wow, things are pretty bad when people are slinging bootleg toothpaste
  - BooneJS 7y ago
    That you put in your mouth and partially ingest.

throwaway_tech 7y ago

>The issue is that the listing is for a genuine product, but then you get sent a fake (even when 'fulfilled by Amazon') That would be the issue the first time, but I agree with the parent down voted into the gray...You are knowingly doing business with a company that knowingly and willfully fulfills your orders with fakes. At a certain point you have to stop saying Amazon's counterfeit practices are the problem, but the problem is customers. They will never stop advertising legit products and shipping counterfeits, because people will keep buying and even just accept it.

basch 7y ago

"Shipped and sold by Amazon" means amazon sold it to you. Fulfilled by amazon means someone rented amazons warehouse and used their logistics services and payment services (and multiple suppliers stocks may have mixed together.) If shipped and sold by amazon is an option around the same price, you can choose not to involve the reselling middle man.

gruez 7y ago
>(and multiple suppliers stocks may have mixed together.) this applies to sold by amazon items as well.
jedberg 7y ago
> If shipped and sold by amazon is an option around the same price, you can choose not to involve the reselling middle man. They commingle all inventory, whether or not it is shipped and sold by Amazon.
- basch 7y ago
  Im mostly looking at it from the perspective of "if I have to return this because its not right, its a ton less hassle if Amazon is the party I have to deal with the return through."
astura 7y ago
TFA claims Amazon themselves are selling counterfeits though. >"Multiple times we discovered that Amazon itself had sourced counterfeit product and was selling it alongside our own product," he noted. >He asserted that Amazon representatives would tell him over the phone: "If we don't get it, then we're going to source product from the gray market."

alistairSH 7y ago

So stop buying from Amazon. Period. They have obviously decided that they'd rather sell you crap, telling you it's a genuine item, than the real thing. Why give them any more of your money?

sp332 7y ago
We have fraud laws to starve fraudsters of new victims. We have fraud laws so we don't each individually have to vet every seller. The more due diligence we have to do, the less business we're going to get done. It's better for the economy as a whole as well as us buyers individually if we can hold Amazon accountable when they fuck us over.
- jka 7y ago
  Are you referencing any fraud laws in particular? They could be useful resources for folks on this thread who've received fake/counterfeit items. As I understand it, although purchases are made through a single service (Amazon), products are sourced from a large number of sellers who list items on their marketplace. It could be useful to find out how the laws you mention are written and enforced in that kind of environment. At the moment I'd suspect Amazon are keen to handle disputes/concerns directly which might lead to fewer regulatory complaints from customers and avoid scrutiny.
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Yes, and the most direct way you can hold a vendor accountable is to stop giving them your business. If there are other legal, political, or regulatory avenues you wish to pursue, that's not mutually exclusive to taking your personal dollars elsewhere in the meantime.