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Electronics on Amazon in general seems to be a hit-or-miss made worse by inventory commingling. Recently bought a PS4 controller from Amazon (purportedly from S

by rajup 6y ago

Electronics on Amazon in general seems to be a hit-or-miss made worse by inventory commingling. Recently bought a PS4 controller from Amazon (purportedly from Sony). Did not last 3 months. The original controller I got with the PS4 itself still works great after more than 2 years.

TazeTSchnitzel 6y ago
Unfortunately I suspect everything on Amazon is unreliable now, we just notice technology item issues first because we know them better.
- LordDragonfang 6y ago
  Not necessarily; tech items have huge margins compared to raw materials cost, most of the expense is design and QC. Binned/inferior components marked as the genuine article are worth counterfeiting in a way that other items aren't, besides the other known exceptions (e.g. fashion items)
prashnts 6y ago
Interesting. I tore one down recently. It was a gift for my nephew but didn't work out of the box. Well, it did "work", as in, it identified as genuine controller; had all "real stuff" look, but buttons skipped, lagged, or just didn't work. The insides revealed a mix of genuine components (probably off of scrap?) and an assembly-line quality bodge-work. (I didn't take any pictures, but I still have it -- so I can post some pictures if anyone's interested.)
- stordoff 6y ago
  I would certainly be interested to see this.
  - prashnts 6y ago
    I posted some pictures and linked it in sibling comment.
- opless 6y ago
  Certainly would like to see this also; Would be quite good content to let other places know too - hackaday for example.
  - prashnts 6y ago
    I took a few pictures and uploaded them here [1]. I recall that I'd already de-soldered a few components (for the salvage-drawer!) and cleaned the awful flux residues so the my pictures look much cleaner than how it was when I opened it [2]. It still turns on though, so I might end up doing more digging into it. I'd add whatever I find in the repo soon. Hope that this is useful for "reasons"! [1] https://github.com/prashnts/mods/tree/master/devices/dubious-ps4-dualshock-controller https://github.com/prashnts/mods/tree/master/devices/dubious... [2] https://github.com/prashnts/mods/blob/master/devices/dubious-ps4-dualshock-controller/IMG_2969.jpeg https://github.com/prashnts/mods/blob/master/devices/dubious...
Wowfunhappy 6y ago
So what do you think actually happened here? Was the controller a really good counterfeit, or was it real but used? In the latter case, did it show signs of wear?
- coldpie 6y ago
  Yeah, there are fake PlayStation controllers floating around. Sony issued a warning about fake PS3 controllers a while back: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/warning-counterfeit-and-unlicensed-playstation-3-wireless-controller/ https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/warning-counterfeit-...
- rajup 6y ago
  Definitely a really good counterfeit.
cactus2093 6y ago
Does anyone know if "Shipped from and sold by Amazon.com" still guarantees not co-mingled inventory? That's been my one line of defense against knockoffs after hearing in the past that was the case. Whereas an item that's "Sold by Sony and fulfilled by Amazon.com" will pay Sony for the sale but might actually use co-mingled inventory that came from a fraudulent seller. I guess neither of them address the problem in the article though which is now a new source of issues I didn't know I needed to be looking out for, of getting a return which may have been tampered with or swapped out instead of a brand new product.
- fredophile 6y ago
  Did that ever guarantee you wouldn't get commingled inventory? The only guarantee I know is to buy amazon basics products. Unfortunately using this as a strategy to guarantee a minimum quality provides perverse incentives.
- Washuu 6y ago
  As of a few years ago even "Shipped from and sold by Amazon.com" resulted in comingled inventory for me. I was unable to purchase a new Sony phone without getting some other seller's comingled inventory. Which was problematic since that seller incorrectly labeled Hong Kong versions of the phone as US versions.
sixothree 6y ago
I bought gilette razors from Amazon and really was convinced Gilette was going downhill. Nope. They were probably counterfeits.
- ErikAugust 6y ago
  Wow. I thought the explanation was that also they were going downhill after my 5 year hiatus from shaving. This is a plausible explanation.

by rajup 6y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 6y ago

Unfortunately I suspect everything on Amazon is unreliable now, we just notice technology item issues first because we know them better.

LordDragonfang 6y ago
Not necessarily; tech items have huge margins compared to raw materials cost, most of the expense is design and QC. Binned/inferior components marked as the genuine article are worth counterfeiting in a way that other items aren't, besides the other known exceptions (e.g. fashion items)

prashnts 6y ago

Interesting. I tore one down recently. It was a gift for my nephew but didn't work out of the box. Well, it did "work", as in, it identified as genuine controller; had all "real stuff" look, but buttons skipped, lagged, or just didn't work. The insides revealed a mix of genuine components (probably off of scrap?) and an assembly-line quality bodge-work. (I didn't take any pictures, but I still have it -- so I can post some pictures if anyone's interested.)

stordoff 6y ago
I would certainly be interested to see this.
- prashnts 6y ago
  I posted some pictures and linked it in sibling comment.
opless 6y ago
Certainly would like to see this also; Would be quite good content to let other places know too - hackaday for example.
- prashnts 6y ago
  I took a few pictures and uploaded them here [1]. I recall that I'd already de-soldered a few components (for the salvage-drawer!) and cleaned the awful flux residues so the my pictures look much cleaner than how it was when I opened it [2]. It still turns on though, so I might end up doing more digging into it. I'd add whatever I find in the repo soon. Hope that this is useful for "reasons"! [1] https://github.com/prashnts/mods/tree/master/devices/dubious-ps4-dualshock-controller https://github.com/prashnts/mods/tree/master/devices/dubious... [2] https://github.com/prashnts/mods/blob/master/devices/dubious-ps4-dualshock-controller/IMG_2969.jpeg https://github.com/prashnts/mods/blob/master/devices/dubious...

Wowfunhappy 6y ago

So what do you think actually happened here? Was the controller a really good counterfeit, or was it real but used? In the latter case, did it show signs of wear?

coldpie 6y ago
Yeah, there are fake PlayStation controllers floating around. Sony issued a warning about fake PS3 controllers a while back: https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/warning-counterfeit-and-unlicensed-playstation-3-wireless-controller/ https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/warning-counterfeit-...
rajup 6y ago
Definitely a really good counterfeit.

cactus2093 6y ago

Does anyone know if "Shipped from and sold by Amazon.com" still guarantees not co-mingled inventory? That's been my one line of defense against knockoffs after hearing in the past that was the case. Whereas an item that's "Sold by Sony and fulfilled by Amazon.com" will pay Sony for the sale but might actually use co-mingled inventory that came from a fraudulent seller. I guess neither of them address the problem in the article though which is now a new source of issues I didn't know I needed to be looking out for, of getting a return which may have been tampered with or swapped out instead of a brand new product.

fredophile 6y ago
Did that ever guarantee you wouldn't get commingled inventory? The only guarantee I know is to buy amazon basics products. Unfortunately using this as a strategy to guarantee a minimum quality provides perverse incentives.
Washuu 6y ago
As of a few years ago even "Shipped from and sold by Amazon.com" resulted in comingled inventory for me. I was unable to purchase a new Sony phone without getting some other seller's comingled inventory. Which was problematic since that seller incorrectly labeled Hong Kong versions of the phone as US versions.

sixothree 6y ago

I bought gilette razors from Amazon and really was convinced Gilette was going downhill. Nope. They were probably counterfeits.

ErikAugust 6y ago
Wow. I thought the explanation was that also they were going downhill after my 5 year hiatus from shaving. This is a plausible explanation.