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{Will, Does} Amazon report back to buyers that they've bought counterfeit merchandise?

by QUFB 7y ago

kerkeslager 7y ago
Currently, no. I bought a car part on Amazon that, when I opened it, was a chunk of blue clay in a box that was poorly-printed to look like the box of the correct part. I never bothered to return it because the cost of shipping and my time would have been more than the cost of the part. I'm sure this seller was eventually discovered to be selling obvious fraudulent goods, but I never received any notification saying as much.
- irrational 7y ago
  Cost of shipping? Time? Returning this kind of stuff is something Amazon if very good at. It won't cost you anything and they have dozens of ways of returning things (by mail, from a UPS store, from Kohls, they will come and pick it up, etc.) Returns are easy and free.
  - jrockway 7y ago
    Everything they do costs time. I have attempted to return several items to Amazon. One time they sent me a UPS label... but UPS wouldn't pick it up and I would have to walk it to a store. Another time it was a third-party vendor and I had to print the label myself, arrange for pickup, wait around for the pickup, etc... all because they sent me the wrong item. It is always a huge pain. Amazon's model is to get stuff to you, not to get it back from you.
  - merlyn 7y ago
    Amazon returns are not always free. Oftentimes you have to pay shipping to return it.
    - 0xffff2 7y ago
      This is only true for third-party sellers, right? I can't recall ever paying for a return for an item I purchased from Amazon.
      - kerkeslager 7y ago
        Why are we talking about this? I ordered a car part, I received a block of clay. This isn't a problem that is solved by any return policy.
        brewdad 7y ago
        True, but throwing away the block of clay and never even notifying Amazon of any issue surely does less than nothing to solve the problem.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        Why exactly is it my responsibility to make up for Amazon's misdeeds?
        somehnguy 7y ago
        Why do you keep saying that? You brought the topic up, don't do that if you're just going to get mad and say why are we talking about it over and over. You became a sucker and helped contribute to others being suckers by doing absolutely nothing after very obviously getting scammed.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        I made a mistake by bringing up returns. The truth is, returns would be irrelevant if Amazon had done their job.
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    My hourly rate after tax is about $50, let's say $60 for easy math. That means that returning a $7 item has to take less than 7 minutes to be worth it, less if there's other costs besides time. I'll easily spend that much time in the car. In many (most?) cases time=money is a false equivalence because time spent doing something isn't necessarily always time you would be spending working, but the local postal services are only open during hours I would be working, so it's not a false equivalence in my case. Receiving the item you ordered and paid for is easy and free. Returns are not. Why are we even having this conversation? They sent me a box of clay when I ordered a car part. This isn't an ambiguous situation.
    - j8014 7y ago
      For the time you spent typing this comment you could have created a return and had UPS come pick up your package or in my experience, Amazon wouldn't have even required you to return the item and would have just sent you a replacement. Also, I see your rationale and think you are really missing the point. You may have a small hourly rate of $60 and use that as justification but its complete garbage. I do better than that and I work with guys who literally make 10's of millions a year. Taking a preventable loss that only requires a phone call or a chat is foolish, even if it is $7.00.
      - kerkeslager 7y ago
        If we're going to talk about missing the point: Which is the better way to prevent the loss? 1. Order item from Amazon, discover item is a block of clay, go through the Amazon returns process, reorder item, which may be a block of clay again. 2. Order item from a site that ships me the item I order instead of a block of clay. So again, why are we talking about this? We can argue as much as we want about Amazon's return policies, but the return policy would be irrelevant if they had sent me the item I ordered instead of a block of clay.
      - jschwartzi 7y ago
        Unless it's shipped direct by the seller in which case Amazon requires you to pay for shipping even if you have to send it all the way back to China. And they don't refund anything until the seller confirms it's received. My fiancee had to ship a $20.00 dress that wasn't even the right color or anything like the picture back, costing $40.00, before Amazon would even refund her. And worse, the package actually bounced because the seller had folded at some point in the return period, so the package arrived right back on her doorstep. Because Amazon didn't have confirmation from the non-existent seller that the package had arrived at their non-existent company, she had to spend several hours on the phone with CSRs and different people haggling over what was essentially $60.00. So no it isn't easy.
ikeboy 7y ago
Sometimes. It depends on the level of proof they have. I've heard from a seller who was banned after a distributor sold them counterfeit goods and Amazon gave customers refunds to the tune of over 50k.

{Will, Does} Amazon report back to buyers that they've bought counterfeit merchandise?

by QUFB 7y ago

{Will, Does} Amazon report back to buyers that they've bought counterfeit merchandise?

Currently, no. I bought a car part on Amazon that, when I opened it, was a chunk of blue clay in a box that was poorly-printed to look like the box of the correct part. I never bothered to return it because the cost of shipping and my time would have been more than the cost of the part. I'm sure this seller was eventually discovered to be selling obvious fraudulent goods, but I never received any notification saying as much.

irrational 7y ago
Cost of shipping? Time? Returning this kind of stuff is something Amazon if very good at. It won't cost you anything and they have dozens of ways of returning things (by mail, from a UPS store, from Kohls, they will come and pick it up, etc.) Returns are easy and free.
- jrockway 7y ago
  Everything they do costs time. I have attempted to return several items to Amazon. One time they sent me a UPS label... but UPS wouldn't pick it up and I would have to walk it to a store. Another time it was a third-party vendor and I had to print the label myself, arrange for pickup, wait around for the pickup, etc... all because they sent me the wrong item. It is always a huge pain. Amazon's model is to get stuff to you, not to get it back from you.
- merlyn 7y ago
  Amazon returns are not always free. Oftentimes you have to pay shipping to return it.
  - 0xffff2 7y ago
    This is only true for third-party sellers, right? I can't recall ever paying for a return for an item I purchased from Amazon.
    - kerkeslager 7y ago
      Why are we talking about this? I ordered a car part, I received a block of clay. This isn't a problem that is solved by any return policy.
      - brewdad 7y ago
        True, but throwing away the block of clay and never even notifying Amazon of any issue surely does less than nothing to solve the problem.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        Why exactly is it my responsibility to make up for Amazon's misdeeds?
      - somehnguy 7y ago
        Why do you keep saying that? You brought the topic up, don't do that if you're just going to get mad and say why are we talking about it over and over. You became a sucker and helped contribute to others being suckers by doing absolutely nothing after very obviously getting scammed.
        kerkeslager 7y ago
        I made a mistake by bringing up returns. The truth is, returns would be irrelevant if Amazon had done their job.
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  My hourly rate after tax is about $50, let's say $60 for easy math. That means that returning a $7 item has to take less than 7 minutes to be worth it, less if there's other costs besides time. I'll easily spend that much time in the car. In many (most?) cases time=money is a false equivalence because time spent doing something isn't necessarily always time you would be spending working, but the local postal services are only open during hours I would be working, so it's not a false equivalence in my case. Receiving the item you ordered and paid for is easy and free. Returns are not. Why are we even having this conversation? They sent me a box of clay when I ordered a car part. This isn't an ambiguous situation.
  - j8014 7y ago
    For the time you spent typing this comment you could have created a return and had UPS come pick up your package or in my experience, Amazon wouldn't have even required you to return the item and would have just sent you a replacement. Also, I see your rationale and think you are really missing the point. You may have a small hourly rate of $60 and use that as justification but its complete garbage. I do better than that and I work with guys who literally make 10's of millions a year. Taking a preventable loss that only requires a phone call or a chat is foolish, even if it is $7.00.
    - kerkeslager 7y ago
      If we're going to talk about missing the point: Which is the better way to prevent the loss? 1. Order item from Amazon, discover item is a block of clay, go through the Amazon returns process, reorder item, which may be a block of clay again. 2. Order item from a site that ships me the item I order instead of a block of clay. So again, why are we talking about this? We can argue as much as we want about Amazon's return policies, but the return policy would be irrelevant if they had sent me the item I ordered instead of a block of clay.
    - jschwartzi 7y ago
      Unless it's shipped direct by the seller in which case Amazon requires you to pay for shipping even if you have to send it all the way back to China. And they don't refund anything until the seller confirms it's received. My fiancee had to ship a $20.00 dress that wasn't even the right color or anything like the picture back, costing $40.00, before Amazon would even refund her. And worse, the package actually bounced because the seller had folded at some point in the return period, so the package arrived right back on her doorstep. Because Amazon didn't have confirmation from the non-existent seller that the package had arrived at their non-existent company, she had to spend several hours on the phone with CSRs and different people haggling over what was essentially $60.00. So no it isn't easy.

ikeboy 7y ago

Sometimes. It depends on the level of proof they have. I've heard from a seller who was banned after a distributor sold them counterfeit goods and Amazon gave customers refunds to the tune of over 50k.