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You know what Amazon did to me? They delisted my product claiming it was counterfeit. Then they started to directly promote and sell my own inventory. I know i
by blago 5y ago
You know what Amazon did to me? They delisted my product claiming it was counterfeit. Then they started to directly promote and sell my own inventory.
I know it was mine because I contacted the brand to check if Amazon had bought from them. They hadn't. Also, I was the only one selling this item on Amazon so they couldn't have stolen from someone else. What's more, I was the only one importing it to the US. I know because I'm acquainted with the brand owners.
When I finally managed to get my stuff out of their warehouses, which took almost a year, they admitted that some of the inventory had been "lost" and compensated me pennies on the dollar.
It was a surreal, Kafkaesque, experience that still brings back painful memories. I avoid thinking about it but I hope that one day Amazon will crash, burn, and hopefully never recover.
- beervirus 5y agoWhy didn’t you sue?
- blago 5y agoForced arbitration and for the sake of my own mental health. I just don't want anything to do with this company anymore.
- cosmotic 5y agoForced arbitration that manages to paper over something like theft?
- CogitoCogito 5y agoYeah if the post here ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297139 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29297139 ) is correct, I don't see how criminal fraud could be fall under forced arbitration. Criminal prosecution isn't even up to the private parties. That said, I could certainly see why someone might want to avoid devoting their life to fighting Amazon over something like this.
- robertakarobin 5y agoSue a 500-pound gorilla?
- kordlessagain 5y agoOpen a ticket on the gorilla.
- beervirus 5y agoSure. There are lawyers who would take a case like this on contingency.
- op00to 5y agoPretty sure when you sell on Amazon you commit to binding arbitration. Like amazons not gonna stack that deck.
- beervirus 5y agoThere are also plenty of lawyers who would take a binding arb case on contingency. Amazon wrote the contract, but that doesn’t mean the arbitrator is in the bag for them.
- encryptluks2 5y agoWhat are their names?
- beervirus 5y agoIf you’re in Texas I know a few.
- throwaway1777 5y agoNot a lawyer but I don’t think arbitration would apply to criminal fraud charges.
- akudha 5y ago
- arenaninja 5y agoA quick question. How do you find manufacturers for a particular brand? I want to dabble in becoming a supplier (not for Amazon nor US) but so far I can't figure out the suppliers for brands you would find at Walmart, etc.
- Justin_K 5y agoAlibaba
- jazzyjackson 5y agoit surprises me every time a reverse image search turns up the same stock photo of the product on alibaba, so I second this and recommend pasting the products’ photo URL to tineye.com
- teitoklien 5y agoimport yeti will allow you to search for atleast imported goods (and if its made in usa, then atleast it lets you fetch records of its sourced parts) , https://www.importyeti.com https://www.importyeti.com This lets you search through the entire import records, and find out suppliers for various brands, note: some companies intentionally use a different name under which it imports the products (rare), but still is be a good place to start looking. Good luck with your business !
- akudha 5y agoHow is this site free? The ladings data is quite expensive and there are a bunch of vendors charging a hefty fee for it. Glad this site is free though :) I hope they stick around for a long time
- BogdanPetre 5y agoGreat site, thanks! wonder if we have something similar in Europe
- arenaninja 5y agoThat's the site! Unfortunately I don't see Covergirl, Maybelline, etc. I will keep looking
- cmurf 5y agoThis is fraud. If it's trivially provable the product is not counterfeit, then what they did is criminal. Not civil. If so, it should be documented. All the evidence with relevant vendor contact information, accounts, dates, events. Each state has their own consumer protection laws, so as this involves interstate commerce who to report it to will vary, but you can start by calling local police. They can tell you about jurisdiction, and escalate to stat consumer protection division. And states work together with the FTC on such cases as well.
- blago 5y agoI doubt my local police would've been eager to take on Amazon. I think I've had enough after more than a year of misery exchanging close to a 1,000 emails and 2 appeals with Amazon, writing my congressmen and senator (stock reply lauding their achievements with the CARES act), and reporting to FTC (no reply). At some point you have to move on and continue living your life.
- throwaway1777 5y agoKeep trying some of the other 3 letter agencies for stuff at Amazon scale. Surely some bureaucrat would love to take on FAANG.
- tyingq 5y agoIn some areas, small claims court might have been a reasonable avenue.
- starwind 5y agoIt may be worth contacting the federal prosecutor with jurisdiction in your area. There are a whole lot of government lawyers who would love to make a name for themselves by bringing charges or winning a settlement against Amazon
- giantg2 5y agoAt least you got replies from your representatives. I faced an issue with rights violations and I couldn't even get responses. Unfortunately, the experience was similar to what you described. The system is fundamentally broken.