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I used to work in this space. It is incredibly easy to detect and counter. It just costs money. Amazons retail margins are too good to mess with. Customers are

I used to work in this space. It is incredibly easy to detect and counter. It just costs money. Amazons retail margins are too good to mess with. Customers are not leaving fast enough to make fixing it worth it. Every time you produce a model showing net present value going down due to fraud someone else will produce one that doesn’t. That guy gets promoted. Amazon is simply cashing in on its reputation. Once it’s gone you might as well buy from the Chinese source. People used to search stores for things they’d buy cheaper on Amazon. Now people are searching Amazon for things they’ll buy cheaper Alibaba. Personally, I’ve already shifted to buying DIY tools and supplies directly from China. I found the quality good enough. Some of the industrial consumables you can’t even buy retail in the US. For the high end stuff I buy direct from outlets. I don’t trust Amazon with that either. I could see a future where Amazon gets squeezed from both ends.

saiya-jin 6y ago
I am a minority but I never fully jumped on Amazon bandwagon. Compared to US, here in Switzerland they simply don't exist. Sending here from ie french or german site adds a massive postage fee on top of delay, and most of the times custom fee, so price skyrockets. Plus having warranty elsewhere ain't worth it in times when tons of stuff breaks quickly. One good thing that french amazon has - they can deliver to a network of 'post boxes' or compatible small shops to pick up the item usually within a week. That's basically about it, things ain't cheaper, and when ordering from china I don't have that doubt about quality - it is normally on the level of payment. These days, aliexpress and similar fill the needs.
- panpanna 6y ago
  Amazon is not nearly as dominant in EU as in the US. I think we will soon see large Chinese companies establishing themselves in Europe and take market share from both local stores and Amazon. Many large sellers on AliExpress have already started delivering from their European warehouses.
fock 6y ago
for basic, small stuff, which I actually need fast, at this point, I've switched to local stores, because as Amazon prices at this point (Europe) already include a heavy postage margin, the store is generally 2/3 of the price (up to around 10€ - e.g. kitchen hardware, paper stuff). That's especially apparent for stuff like USB-cables, where you have a hard-time finding (in the worst search experience on this planet) the few cost-competitive offers (on the marketplace, and they are ridiculous - like 1.5€ delivered with prime the next day). For "Amazon recommended", topsellers or their basic line, it's basically that if you need more than 1 cable (or buy one of the 3-packs...) you can order at a speciality store, pay 6€ shipping and 2€ for the cables (in much better quality - still marginally more expensive for one-off and "I need it now"-things, but as both things are not really sustainable, I consider this a bad habit as well....).
insickness 6y ago
The advantage of Amazon over buying directly from China is the fast shipping (if you have prime) and the no hassle return policy. I made the mistake of buying some masks through an ad on a website. While the masks were fine, what they didn't mention was that it took six weeks to deliver. There are plenty of negatives with Amazon (fake reviews, fake products, etc.) but fast shipping and guaranteed returns cover a multitude of sins.
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  You're just paying the markup for a domestic retailer to sell you the same thing you can buy on Aliexpress. I've done returns on Aliexpress before. I didn't have to send anything back and I got a 100% refund.

saiya-jin 6y ago

I am a minority but I never fully jumped on Amazon bandwagon. Compared to US, here in Switzerland they simply don't exist. Sending here from ie french or german site adds a massive postage fee on top of delay, and most of the times custom fee, so price skyrockets. Plus having warranty elsewhere ain't worth it in times when tons of stuff breaks quickly. One good thing that french amazon has - they can deliver to a network of 'post boxes' or compatible small shops to pick up the item usually within a week. That's basically about it, things ain't cheaper, and when ordering from china I don't have that doubt about quality - it is normally on the level of payment. These days, aliexpress and similar fill the needs.

panpanna 6y ago
Amazon is not nearly as dominant in EU as in the US. I think we will soon see large Chinese companies establishing themselves in Europe and take market share from both local stores and Amazon. Many large sellers on AliExpress have already started delivering from their European warehouses.

fock 6y ago

for basic, small stuff, which I actually need fast, at this point, I've switched to local stores, because as Amazon prices at this point (Europe) already include a heavy postage margin, the store is generally 2/3 of the price (up to around 10€ - e.g. kitchen hardware, paper stuff). That's especially apparent for stuff like USB-cables, where you have a hard-time finding (in the worst search experience on this planet) the few cost-competitive offers (on the marketplace, and they are ridiculous - like 1.5€ delivered with prime the next day). For "Amazon recommended", topsellers or their basic line, it's basically that if you need more than 1 cable (or buy one of the 3-packs...) you can order at a speciality store, pay 6€ shipping and 2€ for the cables (in much better quality - still marginally more expensive for one-off and "I need it now"-things, but as both things are not really sustainable, I consider this a bad habit as well....).

insickness 6y ago

The advantage of Amazon over buying directly from China is the fast shipping (if you have prime) and the no hassle return policy. I made the mistake of buying some masks through an ad on a website. While the masks were fine, what they didn't mention was that it took six weeks to deliver. There are plenty of negatives with Amazon (fake reviews, fake products, etc.) but fast shipping and guaranteed returns cover a multitude of sins.

heavyset_go 6y ago
You're just paying the markup for a domestic retailer to sell you the same thing you can buy on Aliexpress. I've done returns on Aliexpress before. I didn't have to send anything back and I got a 100% refund.