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Are hagiographies the norm here? That mythological Amazon (pun intended) is long dead. Now you have a 50/50 chance to get a good item, the rest will be counterf

Are hagiographies the norm here? That mythological Amazon (pun intended) is long dead. Now you have a 50/50 chance to get a good item, the rest will be counterfeited crap.

JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
Wish he was relentless on doing something about all the fake 4.5 star reviews. It really sours my ability to buy efficiently. And it must affect their bottom line because I return every single bad item. At least they have the incredible return system, which I assume he had some hand in.
- Operyl 6y ago
  The major problem with the return system for this is that it's great and easy, until you hit some of the anti-fraud systems and your entire account is at jeopardy, :/.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  I’d be too scared to return that much. Getting banned from Amazon would be annoying. Unless you aren’t actually returning that much.
Pfhreak 6y ago
I was going to add that he was relentless with his employees as well. I had a kid and was expected to be on call with a newborn, after spending all my vacation because there was no parental leave. Getting paged at 2am with a tiny baby is terrible. I was repeatedly told that working on games outside office hours was not allowed, then later was permitted but only if you were willing to give Amazon all related IP. Oh, and you could not collaborate with people outside Amazon, so no game jams with friends. To say nothing of the treatment of workers in the FCs, relatively low engineering compensation, etc.
- andrepd 6y ago
  But hey, stuff gets to your house in 2 days rather than 3! That makes everything worth it /s
  - bhupy 6y ago
    Well, COVID showed us that it's not just that stuff gets to your house in 2 days (rather than 3!), stuff gets to your house in 2 days even during worldwide pandemic with widespread supply chain disruption. Also, starting an online business is easier than ever due to democratized access to infrastructure that was once only available to large blue chip companies with access to 1000s of high skilled engineers, and has seeded an industry of small/medium sized tech companies that has resulted in further consumer surplus and wealth creation. Not saying that there's an obvious "correct" point of view, but once you add a little more nuance, it actually does make everything worth it for a lot of people.
    - Pfhreak 6y ago
      > stuff gets to your house in 2 days even during worldwide pandemic with widespread supply chain disruption. On the backs of warehouse and distribution workers who put themselves at serious risk for Covid (or just backbreaking work environments).
      - bhupy 6y ago
        Warehouse and distribution workers that are paid $15/hr at a minimum, enjoy the same group health insurance benefits as their software engineering and product management coworkers, and enjoy the same 401k matching as their desk-bound co-workers — benefits that are unavailable to almost any other entry-level job that requires no college education. And while it's definitely difficult that they have to put themselves at serious risk for Covid, that's true for any essential worker too. Ultimately most people agree that this is a worthwhile tradeoff to ensure that people continue to get access to food, supplies, COVID tests (in the case of frontline nurses), etc. I'll re-iterate, there's no obvious correct answer, and it's difficult to agree on the best way to litigate these issues. One thing I can say for sure is that blithe one-line HN comments is the worst possible way to litigate them, much less understand them.
ansible 6y ago
I'd definitely switch over to a webstore that sold items that were sourced from the manufacturers or their authorized / official distributors. And who could prove it. Bonus points for getting the manufacturers themselves to link to this company directly from their own websites. Obviously, they'd have to cut a sweet deal for providing the fulfillment services, but for many items, I'd rather pay a slight premium to ensure I'm getting the real thing.
allenbrunson 6y ago
in all these amazon threads over the years, i've never chimed in before, but what the hell, just this once. i think you can have a better than 50/50 chance of getting a decent item from amazon. you just have to be picky about what you buy from them. for example, i would never buy an apple charging cable from amazon. no matter what the listing says, it is probably going to be a cheap chinese knockoff that might set my house on fire. for that particular case, i'd buy it from apple instead. about ten years ago, i paid US$1500 for a brand-new sony teevee, from amazon. it has always worked fine, and i am still using it today. (i'm glad i bought it before "smart" teevees that phone home to the mothership became the norm.) my trust in amazon was much higher in those days. really doubt i would ever do that again. for any moderately expensive piece of high tech gear, i'd try to buy it directly from the manufacturer, or from a reseller that specializes in that particular type of thing. if you limit your amazon purchases to medium-expensive items that are not easily cloned in china, you'll probably be fine. it is kind of a shame that you have to be so cautious, though. okay, actually, i lied: i wouldn't buy anything at all from amazon these days. they are looking far too much like a monopoly for my tastes, and i do not approve of the way they treat their minimum-wage workers. it has been a struggle, but i recently abandoned my amazon account, created in 1998, and have moved 100 percent of my substantial amount of e-commerce to other sites: chewy.com, target.com, crutchfield.com, b&h photo and video, newegg, ebay, and so on. almost all of them have a substantially worse experience than amazon did, but i am willing to suffer a bit of inconvenience for this particular bit of principle.
- jbullock35 6y ago
  > i do not approve of the way they treat their minimum-wage workers Amazon doesn't have minimum-wage workers, at least in the United States [1]. The starting wage at Amazon, $15 USD per hour, is more than twice the U.S. minimum wage. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/business/amazon-minimum-wage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/business/amazon-minimum-w...
  - allenbrunson 6y ago
    okay, fair point! they still aren't treated very well, though.
ag56 6y ago
Where does this 50/50 myth come from? I have used Amazon prime as my first choice for all shopping since 2014. Only if I can’t find an item on Amazon will I buy elsewhere. (This is a convenience and customer service decision, I am relatively price insensitive.) Now I have kids and a larger family, this usually means 1 or 2 packages a _day_. I have exactly _once_ received an item that was obviously fake. Every time I purchase elsewhere I am shocked to be charged shipping, wait days for the item to be shipped, and go through hell if I need to return something. Amazon wins because it’s a better product in every way.
criddell 6y ago
What are some examples of counterfeited items you've received? In the past 20 years I've probably ordered about a thousand things from there and have never received a counterfeit item.
TheTrotters 6y ago
I have made at least 200 orders from Amazon (USA, UK, and DE) and I've never had this issue.
xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago
Jeff Bezos is rich. Rich people are smart and good. Ipso facto, Jeff Bezos is smart and good. Are you new here?
burnte 6y ago
I've never gotten a single counterfeit good from Amazon. I also look at what I'm buying carefully.

Are hagiographies the norm here? That mythological Amazon (pun intended) is long dead. Now you have a 50/50 chance to get a good item, the rest will be counterfeited crap.

JohnJamesRambo 6y ago

Wish he was relentless on doing something about all the fake 4.5 star reviews. It really sours my ability to buy efficiently. And it must affect their bottom line because I return every single bad item. At least they have the incredible return system, which I assume he had some hand in.

Operyl 6y ago
The major problem with the return system for this is that it's great and easy, until you hit some of the anti-fraud systems and your entire account is at jeopardy, :/.
skinnymuch 6y ago
I’d be too scared to return that much. Getting banned from Amazon would be annoying. Unless you aren’t actually returning that much.

Pfhreak 6y ago

I was going to add that he was relentless with his employees as well. I had a kid and was expected to be on call with a newborn, after spending all my vacation because there was no parental leave. Getting paged at 2am with a tiny baby is terrible. I was repeatedly told that working on games outside office hours was not allowed, then later was permitted but only if you were willing to give Amazon all related IP. Oh, and you could not collaborate with people outside Amazon, so no game jams with friends. To say nothing of the treatment of workers in the FCs, relatively low engineering compensation, etc.

andrepd 6y ago
But hey, stuff gets to your house in 2 days rather than 3! That makes everything worth it /s
- bhupy 6y ago
  Well, COVID showed us that it's not just that stuff gets to your house in 2 days (rather than 3!), stuff gets to your house in 2 days even during worldwide pandemic with widespread supply chain disruption. Also, starting an online business is easier than ever due to democratized access to infrastructure that was once only available to large blue chip companies with access to 1000s of high skilled engineers, and has seeded an industry of small/medium sized tech companies that has resulted in further consumer surplus and wealth creation. Not saying that there's an obvious "correct" point of view, but once you add a little more nuance, it actually does make everything worth it for a lot of people.
  - Pfhreak 6y ago
    > stuff gets to your house in 2 days even during worldwide pandemic with widespread supply chain disruption. On the backs of warehouse and distribution workers who put themselves at serious risk for Covid (or just backbreaking work environments).
    - bhupy 6y ago
      Warehouse and distribution workers that are paid $15/hr at a minimum, enjoy the same group health insurance benefits as their software engineering and product management coworkers, and enjoy the same 401k matching as their desk-bound co-workers — benefits that are unavailable to almost any other entry-level job that requires no college education. And while it's definitely difficult that they have to put themselves at serious risk for Covid, that's true for any essential worker too. Ultimately most people agree that this is a worthwhile tradeoff to ensure that people continue to get access to food, supplies, COVID tests (in the case of frontline nurses), etc. I'll re-iterate, there's no obvious correct answer, and it's difficult to agree on the best way to litigate these issues. One thing I can say for sure is that blithe one-line HN comments is the worst possible way to litigate them, much less understand them.

ansible 6y ago

I'd definitely switch over to a webstore that sold items that were sourced from the manufacturers or their authorized / official distributors. And who could prove it. Bonus points for getting the manufacturers themselves to link to this company directly from their own websites. Obviously, they'd have to cut a sweet deal for providing the fulfillment services, but for many items, I'd rather pay a slight premium to ensure I'm getting the real thing.

allenbrunson 6y ago

in all these amazon threads over the years, i've never chimed in before, but what the hell, just this once. i think you can have a better than 50/50 chance of getting a decent item from amazon. you just have to be picky about what you buy from them. for example, i would never buy an apple charging cable from amazon. no matter what the listing says, it is probably going to be a cheap chinese knockoff that might set my house on fire. for that particular case, i'd buy it from apple instead. about ten years ago, i paid US$1500 for a brand-new sony teevee, from amazon. it has always worked fine, and i am still using it today. (i'm glad i bought it before "smart" teevees that phone home to the mothership became the norm.) my trust in amazon was much higher in those days. really doubt i would ever do that again. for any moderately expensive piece of high tech gear, i'd try to buy it directly from the manufacturer, or from a reseller that specializes in that particular type of thing. if you limit your amazon purchases to medium-expensive items that are not easily cloned in china, you'll probably be fine. it is kind of a shame that you have to be so cautious, though. okay, actually, i lied: i wouldn't buy anything at all from amazon these days. they are looking far too much like a monopoly for my tastes, and i do not approve of the way they treat their minimum-wage workers. it has been a struggle, but i recently abandoned my amazon account, created in 1998, and have moved 100 percent of my substantial amount of e-commerce to other sites: chewy.com, target.com, crutchfield.com, b&h photo and video, newegg, ebay, and so on. almost all of them have a substantially worse experience than amazon did, but i am willing to suffer a bit of inconvenience for this particular bit of principle.

jbullock35 6y ago
> i do not approve of the way they treat their minimum-wage workers Amazon doesn't have minimum-wage workers, at least in the United States [1]. The starting wage at Amazon, $15 USD per hour, is more than twice the U.S. minimum wage. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/business/amazon-minimum-wage.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/02/business/amazon-minimum-w...
- allenbrunson 6y ago
  okay, fair point! they still aren't treated very well, though.

ag56 6y ago

Where does this 50/50 myth come from? I have used Amazon prime as my first choice for all shopping since 2014. Only if I can’t find an item on Amazon will I buy elsewhere. (This is a convenience and customer service decision, I am relatively price insensitive.) Now I have kids and a larger family, this usually means 1 or 2 packages a _day_. I have exactly _once_ received an item that was obviously fake. Every time I purchase elsewhere I am shocked to be charged shipping, wait days for the item to be shipped, and go through hell if I need to return something. Amazon wins because it’s a better product in every way.

criddell 6y ago

What are some examples of counterfeited items you've received? In the past 20 years I've probably ordered about a thousand things from there and have never received a counterfeit item.

TheTrotters 6y ago

I have made at least 200 orders from Amazon (USA, UK, and DE) and I've never had this issue.

xirbeosbwo1234 6y ago

Jeff Bezos is rich. Rich people are smart and good. Ipso facto, Jeff Bezos is smart and good. Are you new here?

burnte 6y ago

I've never gotten a single counterfeit good from Amazon. I also look at what I'm buying carefully.