5 ms·

To be specific, Amazon co-mingles inventory between Amazon, Sold by Amazon, and its third party sellers that are Fulfilled by Amazon. It doesn't matter who you

by dannyw 5y ago

To be specific, Amazon co-mingles inventory between Amazon, Sold by Amazon, and its third party sellers that are Fulfilled by Amazon. It doesn't matter who you buy from. The picker at the warehouse picks from the same box, the actual product could come from any seller, even if it's "Sold by Amazon". Who you purchase from is purely an accounting thing, unless they manage their own stock and is not part of Prime. If you would like assurance that the goods you purchased actually us genuine, you have to shop from other retailers.

addaon 5y ago
They don't co-mingle inventory on everything, it varies from product to product (although the majority are indeed co-mingled). While there's no visible way to tell if a product is co-mingled, Amazon support is able to look it up. Whenever I'm buying an item that I would be unhappy with a counterfeit (so anything expensive, electronic, or that goes in my mouth or body) I contact Amazon support by live chat and ask them about that particular item. It generally takes about one minute of my time, spread over half an hour as they chase things down and escalate -- probably ends up costing them a heck of a lot more in support costs than they make on the item, but perhaps if it costs them enough they'll just expose the info?
- altcognito 5y ago
  I bet they just don’t allow you to investigate this via customer service anymore. This would be a great area for regulation as well. If Amazon did it, someone else is bound to do it in the future as well.
  - errcorrectcode 5y ago
    "Investigate" what? Amazon would never disclose or discuss proprietary bizops.
- Melatonic 5y ago
  Ive also heard that they no longer comingle products multiple times so I am not sure what to believe anymore. Lots of people have told me that this is old data (in regards to Ships and Sold by Amazon). I have noticed less counterfeits these days
- snowwrestler 5y ago
  Why not just buy from somewhere else? I don’t understand why you would put this level of effort into shopping at a place you don’t trust.
  - addaon 5y ago
    It takes a minute, they often have the best price, and vetting a new vendor -- with their own unknown challenges -- is non-trivial.
    - colanderman 5y ago
      B&H and Adorama are increasingly my go-tos for anything with microchips. They've both branched out from photography to A/V gear to tech goods generally.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - Kye 5y ago
        B&H might be closed half the year for holidays, but I never worry they'll send a fake.
      - katbyte 5y ago
        Personally I have a list I go down the more critical a component is. Amazon if it doesn’t really matter. Then newegg/Best Buy. Then b+h.
        bluGill 5y ago
        I run my list in the opposite order. Prices are generally just as good and I prefer to support those I trust first. Actually before I get to amazon I will search for small specialized vendors that might be more expensive but the staff actually knows something about their product, and so the web recommendations are good (they will of course recommend what they sell over an equally good brand they don't, but they are selling the good brands)
- jtbayly 5y ago
  So you keep buying from them? Seems a bit crazy to me. I’d rather find a reputable seller for things where it matters.
  - coryrc 5y ago
    I'm not GP, but I just ordered from a reputable seller online. They're closed for several weeks because the warehouse staff is out due to COVID. Who knows when I'll get the several hundred dollars of stuff I ordered. I'd already have it if I had ordered from Amazon.
    - nickcox 5y ago
      > I'd already have it if I had ordered from Amazon. Because Amazon force their staff to keep working?
      - sp332 5y ago
        Source https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/two-amazon-warehouses-have-had-active-covid-19-outbreaks-spanning-more-than-565-days-report-says/ar-AAS5l3H https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/two-amazon-warehou...
      - netr0ute 5y ago
        That's how Amazon has the competitive edge.
- judge2020 5y ago
  My understanding is that the support is exactly why you'd buy Sold By Amazon - for others, the 3p seller might be the one to negotiate returns, while SBA is returnable no-questions-asked within the due date they list.
- Closi 5y ago
  “Co-mingling” doesn’t somehow make counterfeiting easier - Amazon uses chaotic storage such that more than one sku-receipt will never go into the same pickface (co-mingling isn’t talking about mixing the same SKUs together, it’s mixing all SKUs together but tracking them by location). Amazon can still locate all products of a particular SKU received from vendor X on a particular date, or know what receipt your sale was from.
  - jsmith45 5y ago
    Amazon may be able to determine the source of stickerless comingled inventory like this, but stickerless comingled inventory is treated as interchangeable on the fulfillment side. So if I order an item "Sold by ACME, Fufilled by Amazon" I may receive a copy that was shipped in by "Cyberdyne". Amazon's tracking will internally tell them I got an item that was sent in by Cyberdyne, but they don't tell me about that. This as a customer means I can order an item from ACME, that I know is extremely careful about not selling counterfeits, but end up getting a counterfeit, because Cyberdyne is super sloppy, and the one I got actually came from Cyberdyne. Even though amazon can track this internally, as a customer I have no idea the one I got came from Cyberdyne instead of ACME. For some products the counterfeits may look the same, and even function the same, but cut a lot of safety corners etc to be cheaper to make, and I might only know that I got a counterfeit after it catches on fire, and burns my house down, possibly losing family in the process. At this point if I complain Amazon can look it up, and point the finger at Cyberdyne, but it is a bit too late by then. If ACME instead went with the stickered non-comingled option, I will get one of the items that ACME actually sent in, even though they might need to send it from a further away warehouse, if the closer ones only have the comingled stuff.
    - Closi 5y ago
      Absolutely true - but it's the sales strategy that is 'co-mingled'. I was just responding to OP's point that implied that this is a side-effect of how the inventory is physically stored, rather than a decision on sales strategy by Amazon.
AnssiH 5y ago
> The picker at the warehouse picks from the same box That's not true. Commingled inventory is stored in separate bins so that the original source of the unit can always be determined. This is explicitly said on the Amazon seller help pages for commingling ( https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/200141480 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/20014148... , https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GEFKUGES6NSE7CBP https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G... ) There is also this Financial Times article from 2019: https://archive.md/kfABj https://archive.md/kfABj - quote from Amazon spokesman: > The system is purposefully designed so that similar products are not placed next to or near each other, and Amazon can also track the original seller of each unit. I guess the confusion came from the name "commingled inventory" - Amazon seems to have recognized this recently and is now referencing this feature as "virtual tracking" instead (quote from the above help pages): > Commingling is a term that was sometimes used to refer to virtual tracking. However, virtual tracking is a more accurate term, because we trace the source of eligible products throughout the fulfillment process. Identical items from different suppliers are not stored together.
- AlanYx 5y ago
  I may be misunderstanding the links you're providing, but to me they only appear to say that Amazon is aware of the original source of each unit sold. They don't appear to say that a consumer has any control over which bin a product is pulled from. i.e., A consumer may choose to buy a product "sold and shipped by Amazon" and it may get fulfilled from a bin supplied by a third-party. The Financial Times article you linked to seems to confirm this.
  - AnssiH 5y ago
    Your understanding is correct. My point was only that the claim "picker picks from the same box" is incorrect.

by dannyw 5y ago

addaon 5y ago

They don't co-mingle inventory on everything, it varies from product to product (although the majority are indeed co-mingled). While there's no visible way to tell if a product is co-mingled, Amazon support is able to look it up. Whenever I'm buying an item that I would be unhappy with a counterfeit (so anything expensive, electronic, or that goes in my mouth or body) I contact Amazon support by live chat and ask them about that particular item. It generally takes about one minute of my time, spread over half an hour as they chase things down and escalate -- probably ends up costing them a heck of a lot more in support costs than they make on the item, but perhaps if it costs them enough they'll just expose the info?

altcognito 5y ago
I bet they just don’t allow you to investigate this via customer service anymore. This would be a great area for regulation as well. If Amazon did it, someone else is bound to do it in the future as well.
- errcorrectcode 5y ago
  "Investigate" what? Amazon would never disclose or discuss proprietary bizops.
Melatonic 5y ago
Ive also heard that they no longer comingle products multiple times so I am not sure what to believe anymore. Lots of people have told me that this is old data (in regards to Ships and Sold by Amazon). I have noticed less counterfeits these days
snowwrestler 5y ago
Why not just buy from somewhere else? I don’t understand why you would put this level of effort into shopping at a place you don’t trust.
- addaon 5y ago
  It takes a minute, they often have the best price, and vetting a new vendor -- with their own unknown challenges -- is non-trivial.
  - colanderman 5y ago
    B&H and Adorama are increasingly my go-tos for anything with microchips. They've both branched out from photography to A/V gear to tech goods generally.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - Kye 5y ago
      B&H might be closed half the year for holidays, but I never worry they'll send a fake.
    - katbyte 5y ago
      Personally I have a list I go down the more critical a component is. Amazon if it doesn’t really matter. Then newegg/Best Buy. Then b+h.
      - bluGill 5y ago
        I run my list in the opposite order. Prices are generally just as good and I prefer to support those I trust first. Actually before I get to amazon I will search for small specialized vendors that might be more expensive but the staff actually knows something about their product, and so the web recommendations are good (they will of course recommend what they sell over an equally good brand they don't, but they are selling the good brands)
jtbayly 5y ago
So you keep buying from them? Seems a bit crazy to me. I’d rather find a reputable seller for things where it matters.
- coryrc 5y ago
  I'm not GP, but I just ordered from a reputable seller online. They're closed for several weeks because the warehouse staff is out due to COVID. Who knows when I'll get the several hundred dollars of stuff I ordered. I'd already have it if I had ordered from Amazon.
  - nickcox 5y ago
    > I'd already have it if I had ordered from Amazon. Because Amazon force their staff to keep working?
    - sp332 5y ago
      Source https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/two-amazon-warehouses-have-had-active-covid-19-outbreaks-spanning-more-than-565-days-report-says/ar-AAS5l3H https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/two-amazon-warehou...
    - netr0ute 5y ago
      That's how Amazon has the competitive edge.
judge2020 5y ago
My understanding is that the support is exactly why you'd buy Sold By Amazon - for others, the 3p seller might be the one to negotiate returns, while SBA is returnable no-questions-asked within the due date they list.
Closi 5y ago
“Co-mingling” doesn’t somehow make counterfeiting easier - Amazon uses chaotic storage such that more than one sku-receipt will never go into the same pickface (co-mingling isn’t talking about mixing the same SKUs together, it’s mixing all SKUs together but tracking them by location). Amazon can still locate all products of a particular SKU received from vendor X on a particular date, or know what receipt your sale was from.
- jsmith45 5y ago
  Amazon may be able to determine the source of stickerless comingled inventory like this, but stickerless comingled inventory is treated as interchangeable on the fulfillment side. So if I order an item "Sold by ACME, Fufilled by Amazon" I may receive a copy that was shipped in by "Cyberdyne". Amazon's tracking will internally tell them I got an item that was sent in by Cyberdyne, but they don't tell me about that. This as a customer means I can order an item from ACME, that I know is extremely careful about not selling counterfeits, but end up getting a counterfeit, because Cyberdyne is super sloppy, and the one I got actually came from Cyberdyne. Even though amazon can track this internally, as a customer I have no idea the one I got came from Cyberdyne instead of ACME. For some products the counterfeits may look the same, and even function the same, but cut a lot of safety corners etc to be cheaper to make, and I might only know that I got a counterfeit after it catches on fire, and burns my house down, possibly losing family in the process. At this point if I complain Amazon can look it up, and point the finger at Cyberdyne, but it is a bit too late by then. If ACME instead went with the stickered non-comingled option, I will get one of the items that ACME actually sent in, even though they might need to send it from a further away warehouse, if the closer ones only have the comingled stuff.
  - Closi 5y ago
    Absolutely true - but it's the sales strategy that is 'co-mingled'. I was just responding to OP's point that implied that this is a side-effect of how the inventory is physically stored, rather than a decision on sales strategy by Amazon.

AnssiH 5y ago

> The picker at the warehouse picks from the same box That's not true. Commingled inventory is stored in separate bins so that the original source of the unit can always be determined. This is explicitly said on the Amazon seller help pages for commingling ( https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/200141480 https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/20014148... , https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GEFKUGES6NSE7CBP https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/G... ) There is also this Financial Times article from 2019: https://archive.md/kfABj https://archive.md/kfABj - quote from Amazon spokesman: > The system is purposefully designed so that similar products are not placed next to or near each other, and Amazon can also track the original seller of each unit. I guess the confusion came from the name "commingled inventory" - Amazon seems to have recognized this recently and is now referencing this feature as "virtual tracking" instead (quote from the above help pages): > Commingling is a term that was sometimes used to refer to virtual tracking. However, virtual tracking is a more accurate term, because we trace the source of eligible products throughout the fulfillment process. Identical items from different suppliers are not stored together.

AlanYx 5y ago
I may be misunderstanding the links you're providing, but to me they only appear to say that Amazon is aware of the original source of each unit sold. They don't appear to say that a consumer has any control over which bin a product is pulled from. i.e., A consumer may choose to buy a product "sold and shipped by Amazon" and it may get fulfilled from a bin supplied by a third-party. The Financial Times article you linked to seems to confirm this.
- AnssiH 5y ago
  Your understanding is correct. My point was only that the claim "picker picks from the same box" is incorrect.