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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 t
by 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 agoI 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 agoIve 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 agoWhy 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 agoIt takes a minute, they often have the best price, and vetting a new vendor -- with their own unknown challenges -- is non-trivial.
- colanderman 5y agoB&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 agoB&H might be closed half the year for holidays, but I never worry they'll send a fake.
- katbyte 5y agoPersonally 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 agoI 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)
- katbyte 5y agoProblem is return policy. Amazon I feel comfortable ordering anything because if it’s not great I return it. Small vendors not so much.
- jtbayly 5y agoSo 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 agoI'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?
- judge2020 5y agoMy 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 agoAmazon 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 agoAbsolutely 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.