7 ms·

Being trusted to deliver counterfeit goods that are easily returned is very different from being trusted to steward one’s life savings.

by travoc 5y ago

DangitBobby 5y ago
I think you are vastly over-estimating how many people have this issue with Amazon. I can count on zero hands the number of counterfeit products I've gotten from Amazon. I hear people complain about being a customer of other online retailers, but I can't recall any conversations where someone complained about their experience with Amazon. You order it, it ships, it's the thing you ordered. Otherwise they refund you, or they ship you a new one and you keep the item they sent you be mistake.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  Even all the people complaining about them in tech circles seem to either be delivering second-hand complaints, or are buying like huge amounts of SD cards and got one supposedly counterfeit batch one time. I am fairly convinced that the counterfeit goods thing is something that happens vanishingly rarely, probably similar to the people who get an expensive camera box containing nothing but a rock.
  - kube-system 5y ago
    It really depends on what you’re ordering. I suspect they’ve put a lot of effort into solving this issue since I stopped using Amazon several years ago, but I had a couple issues in short succession that really got on my nerves. For me, it seemed to be niche Asian brands that were problematic. I got some counterfeit ham radio gear, and some counterfeit RC gear. One of my parents recently got a gray market laptop was advertised as new from Dell, but the laptop that showed up had specs different from its service tag. It’s shady crap like this that has made me happy to shop at specialty retailers. Sure, Amazon makes it easy to return, but I’ve found it easier to buy things from specialty retailers instead of processing returns. Especially now that many retailers have competitive pricing, quick shipping, and store pickup.
  - bcrosby95 5y ago
    I've bought roughly 6 electronics things from amazon over the past 10 years (really, mostly 5 years ago) and had problems with 3 of those things. 2 were not the right product (in the right packaging), 1 was obviously opened but not marked as opened when I bought it. I've never received something as obviously wrong as "a rock instead of a camera". My experiences may have been exceptional but they are my own. Now I just buy from Best Buy instead.
    - DangitBobby 5y ago
      That makes sense. My point was just that in general Amazon is a trusted brand.
- nebula8804 5y ago
  How do you know for sure that everything you have ordered isn't counterfeit? The counterfeits have gotten extremely good. Many times you don't discover until a long time later and other times you may just think the poor operation of the device is expected and you are now thinking this brand is junk. Sure if it is just some plastic widget maybe its not so bad but at the end of the day the money is going not to the innovator but to some third party who had no business inserting themselves into this transaction. Just the idea that what I receive is not what I expected to order is enough to doubt whatever arrives at my door.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    > How do you know for sure that everything you have ordered isn't counterfeit? The counterfeits have gotten extremely good. Trust in a brand isn't based on what I got, it's based on what I think I got.

Being trusted to deliver counterfeit goods that are easily returned is very different from being trusted to steward one’s life savings.

by travoc 5y ago

Being trusted to deliver counterfeit goods that are easily returned is very different from being trusted to steward one’s life savings.

DangitBobby 5y ago

I think you are vastly over-estimating how many people have this issue with Amazon. I can count on zero hands the number of counterfeit products I've gotten from Amazon. I hear people complain about being a customer of other online retailers, but I can't recall any conversations where someone complained about their experience with Amazon. You order it, it ships, it's the thing you ordered. Otherwise they refund you, or they ship you a new one and you keep the item they sent you be mistake.

tshaddox 5y ago
Even all the people complaining about them in tech circles seem to either be delivering second-hand complaints, or are buying like huge amounts of SD cards and got one supposedly counterfeit batch one time. I am fairly convinced that the counterfeit goods thing is something that happens vanishingly rarely, probably similar to the people who get an expensive camera box containing nothing but a rock.
- kube-system 5y ago
  It really depends on what you’re ordering. I suspect they’ve put a lot of effort into solving this issue since I stopped using Amazon several years ago, but I had a couple issues in short succession that really got on my nerves. For me, it seemed to be niche Asian brands that were problematic. I got some counterfeit ham radio gear, and some counterfeit RC gear. One of my parents recently got a gray market laptop was advertised as new from Dell, but the laptop that showed up had specs different from its service tag. It’s shady crap like this that has made me happy to shop at specialty retailers. Sure, Amazon makes it easy to return, but I’ve found it easier to buy things from specialty retailers instead of processing returns. Especially now that many retailers have competitive pricing, quick shipping, and store pickup.
- bcrosby95 5y ago
  I've bought roughly 6 electronics things from amazon over the past 10 years (really, mostly 5 years ago) and had problems with 3 of those things. 2 were not the right product (in the right packaging), 1 was obviously opened but not marked as opened when I bought it. I've never received something as obviously wrong as "a rock instead of a camera". My experiences may have been exceptional but they are my own. Now I just buy from Best Buy instead.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    That makes sense. My point was just that in general Amazon is a trusted brand.
nebula8804 5y ago
How do you know for sure that everything you have ordered isn't counterfeit? The counterfeits have gotten extremely good. Many times you don't discover until a long time later and other times you may just think the poor operation of the device is expected and you are now thinking this brand is junk. Sure if it is just some plastic widget maybe its not so bad but at the end of the day the money is going not to the innovator but to some third party who had no business inserting themselves into this transaction. Just the idea that what I receive is not what I expected to order is enough to doubt whatever arrives at my door.
- DangitBobby 5y ago
  > How do you know for sure that everything you have ordered isn't counterfeit? The counterfeits have gotten extremely good. Trust in a brand isn't based on what I got, it's based on what I think I got.